BPM Battle winner and sets

[Gizmo]

http://www.skratchworx.com/news3/comments.php?id=1066

[Jon]

Well done Sinical!

Looking back at this i can tell how nervous i was, I'm so jumpy and twitchy and it definitely effected my routine but it was my first battle so it was a good learning experience for me.

Just checking all the other sets now!

Thanks again to Mark/Audio Innovate/Pedestrian for sorting this all out!

[Blak Randy]

AY, joysey won. Good stuff. I ain't seen him in ages.

 

Well done Jon. Neci set mate.

[Wax On]

furious P should've taken the second day, but i still reckon sinical deserved to win overall

[Guest loop skywalker]

furious p took the whole thing in my opinion.....sinical ,as dope as he is was untidy ... but deffo won the final and a nice heap of booty too so my congratulations go out to him...i know how hard it is to get practice time and with sinical being a dad and all i take my hat off to him...good to see sinical back in the battles.

[Vekked]

Time for Vekked's no-holds-barred review of the sets:

 

DJ Rasp:

 

-aight dude, your juggle-ish thing (I think?) or whatever was bad, either you meant to go off beat, or you were experimenting with different time signatures, or something, but it definitely made no sense with the rest of the beat

 

-your cuts were clean and on beat, but it sounded like you took half bar loops of scratches and copy/pasted them right next to each other 8 times in a row, then switched techniques and did the same... like you seriously did every scratch the exact same like 8ish times in a row, then switched scratches like some sort of combo generator... except a combo generator does more than 1 technique at a time

 

Grade: F (Failure to make a good routine) with this said, though, I think I saw you do dope routines on youtube? not sure, but this routine isn't a keeper, and I think you know how to make a decent routine, so let's just leave it at that

 

Jon1st (is this you jon? and is your name gonna be jon 2nd in your 2nd battle? )

 

-hmm, ok the jury's out on the beat, it's weird, but the drums are still pretty bumpin, but it's not exactly a jump up and dance around party track (not that it has to be, but not sure how the crowd would feel it you know?), but... the drums are bumpin, and as long as it sure beats 808 hats with finger snaps for snares...

 

-next time you battle figure out how to be like a foot shorter or you'll be ringing church bells from a top of notre dame with rafik and klever in no time

 

-some traces of stage presence was detected, which is more than can be said for some of the other dj's

 

-nice little intro, 2 swears is pretty good, next time try to have more

 

-the hook synth thing was cool, I like how you cut it kinda catchy, but maybe you could flip it a bit harder, I like the first 2 bars or so, then the end seems a bit samey, try like doing some drags or something with it? (like at 1:24 kinda thing), I dunno

 

-I don't know what you are doing at 0:48, but it's cool

 

-nice variation in cuts/tranforms

 

-clean up your chirps

 

-your cuts were a bit sloppy when you did the hand-cross thing... probably just don't cross your hands, or only do it once or twice, it's kind of a lame body trick... either go all the way and do a comb-over spin on your mixer or just forget about them

 

-intro, outro, hook, verse, wtf? a routine with structure and composition, why not just scratch endless samples with no direction over a skipless drum beat? oh ya, cuz it sounds better, A+

 

-good first routine, probably better than any scratch routines I've done outside of my bedroom (inside my bedroom rafik would piss his lederhosen... no homo?)

 

Grade: C-, you passed, and with work you can make this routine solid, but more importantly, your direction with a battle routine in general is good, better than most first routines... just make it more 'efficient', about 2/3 of your routine was the hook, and you really only cut 2 samples... maybe make the hook parts half as long, the verse cuts twice as long, and see if you can cut another sample than ahhhh just to switch it up a bit, ya dig?

 

DJ Suspect:

 

-your beat is skipping, turn the weight on more or something?

 

-not much cut variation, and kinda sounds like you thought le jad record = routine... but no, you actually need to compose it and not just scratch random samples over a random beat

 

-second part was a lot better than the first, still not much for composition, but it sounded better and your cuts had more variation... more of this, less of first part

 

Overall: uhh... D, the first part was an epic fail, the second was getting there, but it's still a fail... spend more time composing a routine that isn't mostly freestyle, or using a scratch sentence you know over a beat you know... for this does not a scratch routine make

 

Johnny 1 Move:

 

-let me guess, the 1 Move is word play?

 

-ok that beginning word play was pretty sick if: 1) you didn't press those records, 2) you didn't make that intro and decide it'd be sick if your dj name was actually johnny 1 move, and changed your name to make the intro work... basically I don't know the song, but it seems suspect how it says 'because I'm number 1... competition is none' on 2 different records with 'johnny' after 1 part of the sentence and '1 move' after the other, but if that's on the original track and you dug that up, mad props

 

-transition from intro to the next word play part... was really bad, and for the next 30 seconds was pretty much trash until you gave the finger when the record swore, it redeemed you slightly... like dude, 'all you other djs' has been used in a million routines, all classic, all a million times better than you flipped it... 'dj fucking with all you other djs' isn't even a complete sentence, nor is it a hard diss that will make said 'other djs' cry... no tears = diss that missed the mark

 

-cuts at the end, pretty clean, decent variation, a little stiff or choppy sounding maybe, but I can't really say anything bad about them, more of this, less of custom pressed wordplay

 

Grade: D... if you didn't have like 45 seconds of pretty much filler (aka, you could've done only the intro and the end cuts and your routine would've been doper), you might've passed, but... not this time, I see ideas, just develop them more, get creative, try to get more flow in your routine, too many rough changes

 

DJ Sinical:

 

-just because you win doesn't mean you can't still fail

 

-see if you can find a sample that says 'no homo' to drop after the 'rippin up 12 inches' sample

 

-your cuts sounded like you have ears, this is a good thing, clean with variation, cool

 

-that looping/beat juggle thing you did seemed retarded at first, but it was ok once you got into it, but why did you cut over the beat again for like 5 seconds before switching to the next beat? no, switch to the next beat right away, please

 

-nice cuts again at the end, and an outro sample, all good

 

Your grade: C+, it'd be better if you were DJ Troubl because those are all his sounds and remind me of him, and there wasn't anything particularly interesting or creative about the routine, but there wasn't anything bad about it... your cuts are good... skills = good, composition = decent, creativity overall = lacking, nothing someone who can cut and loop records couldn't make up in a week or 2

 

Sole 1:

 

-juggling le jad juggle banks... no

 

-record this and listen to it

 

-did you do one actual juggle pattern or did you just loop parts, trick mix to the next part, and loop them again?

 

-you played like half the record waiting for a sample to cut at the end, what is the sticker even on there for?

 

-sloppy cuts

 

Overall Grade: N/A (zero). Don't battle yet, stay at home and learn how to do some basic cuts and juggles... I hope you just started, keep practicing, but battling with so little skills doesn't really help you much, unless you're just having fun with no expectation on competing, then fine, but I don't think other people want to hear it

 

Furious P:

 

-next time use an intro in english

 

-cuts are decent... cut more traditional samples, the guitar fuzz/tone things aren't working, they just sound like fuzz

 

-that looping that you do every time you get to a drum sample isn't dope, and it's not a juggle, looping in a scratch routine doesn't make a scratch/juggle combo set, and it doesn't really add much to the routine most of the time (at least not in this case)

 

-the samples you used just sounded bad and didn't fit the beat...

 

-I think your outro said 'something something cunt cunt', if so, nice outro, A+

 

Overall Grade: D. I mean, your cuts are ok, but the samples were just w/e, and it seemed like you just threw the looping into the routine so you'd touch the other record and make people say 'hey look, he's scratching with 2 records'. but you're not, and don't do stuff just because you feel like you have to put a beat cut here or loop the beat back there, do it cuz it sounds good or adds something to the routine.

 

 

Loop Skywalker:

 

-you know I like this routine, but no one's safe from my criticism, sorry

 

-you like to just start into routines with no real intro, I've heard this from you on a few occasions, it's not really bad, but I'm not sure if I like it, you need to ease people into it a little bit maybe, and it's not like you were running short on time (I'll get into this more in a sec)

 

-records kinda fuzzy but the cuts at the start with pulling the record back sound cool, and the transition from that to the next 'your on a trip' part is cool, and it's cool that you're cutting up something different, instead of some battle sample ish

 

-your cuts didn't seemed quite as on point as usual, and you're twiddling/crabbing a lot, get more of those funky transforms and stuff in there, I know you got em

 

-parts of the routine are a little repetitive, I mean you keep switching combo's and part of the routine, and it's not like you're repeating the same half bar 8 times in a row (see rasp), but you're repeating the same 4 bars or so the exact same 4 times in a row, I'm sure you can do some sort of variation

 

-this is only a 1 minute routine and should've ended at the 1:15 or so mark and then you should've done a beat juggle, or had an intro/outro to go along with the routine or something... I like when you cut the sample to make it sound good, the end sounded like you were cutting it just like it was an ahh or any old sample, I like to refer to this as someone cutting 'through' the sample, when the cuts don't really tailor to the sample and you could substitute the sample for pretty near anything else

 

Overall Grade: C-. For this performance. I think I've heard you with crisper cuts and without the end filler type stuff (or maybe I'm forgetting), and this routine is more like a B-... with work it could be even better, but you've used it already and are prolly near done with it, and you're gonna be battling for like 80 more years so just consider my comments for the next routine you make with some dirty old thrift shop record you dug up

 

Weetamix:

 

-refer to Sole 1's comments

 

-that's not a juggle dude, you're looping records, steve dee's prolly turning over in his, well, bed right now having nightmares of a generation of turntablists who completely forgot what juggling was and that it was original called 'the funk', not 'the loop', or 'the robot machine gun random sound effect repeating thingy'... like come on, I could baby scratch over a beat for a minute and make a better routine. no, I'm not even being unrealistic or exaggerating or anything, I seriously, honestly could, and if you read this, I will battle that same routines using a routines comprised solely of baby scratches, and I will dominate you... but it'd be such a waste of time, and if you actually wanted to take me up on it and you lost, how would you feel?

 

Overall Grade: Air.

 

Etch-A-Sqratch:

 

-best stage presence

 

-trying to do something musical, aight not bad (what record are you using?)

 

-lack of clean cuts makes it kinda hard to understand, your cuts seem ok, but cutting melody ish takes another level of precision and clean cuts to be able to do right

 

-that's about it

 

Overall Grade: D. Like it wasn't brutal, but it just wasn't much, if you spend more time on it, someday it could be a decent routine, it has some parts and stuff, just needs to be on point and make more sense, I think there was supposed to be a hook thing at the start and end but I'm not sure if it was the same or not... but yea, at least you were cutting 32nd note snare rolls and stuff like these other wack socks, A for effort to be different

[Vekked]

In summary, Loop, Jon, and Sinical have passed the Vekked's criteria for a decent routine. All of you have potential to beat most people who have never scratched before in a battle, and maybe even people who have scratched before.

 

In a perfect world, Loop's routine is the best and won. In the real world, Sinical pulled his off the cleanest. In the future, Jon will beat them both, because both of them have families which are apparently more important than inifinity click flares (lol.), and he should be hitting his prime just about the time that Loop will have to rely on a wheelchair to get around, therefore restricting him from getting on stage and using a proper DMC height setup. Unless they allow QFOs. Which aren't Technics and have ultra pitch, so I doubt it. So circa 2-3 years from now. 1.

[HeyNuts]

I'm not reading all of that, should I just assume you found everyone to be super fly?

 

Okay then.

[Vekked]

I'm not reading all of that, should I just assume you found everyone to be super fly?

 

Okay then.

 

I've been banned from this site more times than you've posted on it, and now I'm a mod so don't step or I'll IP ban every molecule in your entire dimension.

[Jon]

Jon1st (is this you jon? and is your name gonna be jon 2nd in your 2nd battle? )

 

-hmm, ok the jury's out on the beat, it's weird, but the drums are still pretty bumpin, but it's not exactly a jump up and dance around party track (not that it has to be, but not sure how the crowd would feel it you know?), but... the drums are bumpin, and as long as it sure beats 808 hats with finger snaps for snares...

 

-next time you battle figure out how to be like a foot shorter or you'll be ringing church bells from a top of notre dame with rafik and klever in no time

 

-some traces of stage presence was detected, which is more than can be said for some of the other dj's

 

-nice little intro, 2 swears is pretty good, next time try to have more

 

-the hook synth thing was cool, I like how you cut it kinda catchy, but maybe you could flip it a bit harder, I like the first 2 bars or so, then the end seems a bit samey, try like doing some drags or something with it? (like at 1:24 kinda thing), I dunno

 

-I don't know what you are doing at 0:48, but it's cool

 

-nice variation in cuts/tranforms

 

-clean up your chirps

 

-your cuts were a bit sloppy when you did the hand-cross thing... probably just don't cross your hands, or only do it once or twice, it's kind of a lame body trick... either go all the way and do a comb-over spin on your mixer or just forget about them

 

-intro, outro, hook, verse, wtf? a routine with structure and composition, why not just scratch endless samples with no direction over a skipless drum beat? oh ya, cuz it sounds better, A+

 

-good first routine, probably better than any scratch routines I've done outside of my bedroom (inside my bedroom rafik would piss his lederhosen... no homo?)

 

Grade: C-, you passed, and with work you can make this routine solid, but more importantly, your direction with a battle routine in general is good, better than most first routines... just make it more 'efficient', about 2/3 of your routine was the hook, and you really only cut 2 samples... maybe make the hook parts half as long, the verse cuts twice as long, and see if you can cut another sample than ahhhh just to switch it up a bit, ya dig?

 

Dude thanks so much for taking the time to lay down some criticism, i really appreciate it. Nerves got to me a bit and the table was a lot lower than i'm used to so i couldn't get my chirps down properly etc. When I was practicing the routine at home I had laid down sections in my head so that i never repeated a technique or trick but it all went to shit on the day and it turned into a bit of a freestyle and I completely missed a zigzag-tastic breakdown out. I'll nail it next time for sure.

I agree about the beat, I was going to go for something a bit more punchy but i liked how it has a breakdown in the middle that i could use as a quick intro while i cued up my record. That scratch at 0:48 is the way i do woodpeckers, I've been doing those for quite a while now, maybe three years? People only really comment on them when they see me do them on video or when we jam but not when i do them on practice files etc, it's weird!

 

I'm not planning on entering any major competitions for quite some time, I want to make sure I'm at least in your B rankings before i do that!

 

Once again, thanks for taking the time out to critique on our videos. I'mma msn you soon, it's been too long sir!

[Vekked]

Oh ya, I should probably put what the grades meant to give some concept of what I just put out there:

 

Grade A: World class battlle routnes (see: klever, a-trak, tigerstyles, etc)

 

Grade B: National class routines (see: people like i-dee, pfel, izoh, guys who won nationals but didn't quite make it at the worlds)

 

Grade C: Regional class routines (see: people who got to national finals, but not quite the worlds, a lot of guys at the u.s. finals from 98-01 who brought heat but didn't quite pull it all together)

 

Grade D: Might place at a regional, not at a strong one, has some ok parts but is flawed.

 

Grade F: Won't place at a regional unless it's really weak or you're friends with the judges, maybe you have skills, but keep working.

 

N/A: Not ready to battle yet, not much time spent practicing/preparing apparent.

[Jon]

-next time you battle figure out how to be like a foot shorter or you'll be ringing church bells from a top of notre dame with rafik and klever in no time

 

I am actually kinda worried about this. My posture is going to shit. too much leaning over when playing guitar sitting down and watching my hands when i scratch are slowly bending my spine I'm sure of it.

[Vekked]

-next time you battle figure out how to be like a foot shorter or you'll be ringing church bells from a top of notre dame with rafik and klever in no time

 

I am actually kinda worried about this. My posture is going to shit. too much leaning over when playing guitar sitting down and watching my hands when i scratch are slowly bending my spine I'm sure of it.

 

put your decks up close to your belly button for practice at home, take them down a notch for a week or so if you're prepping for a battle and you have an idea of the expected table height (1 meter high for DMC I think?), having an ergonomic setup is key though imo, especially if you get down to the odd couple hours practice session, otherwise you'll be in the perma-fetal position in no time

[Guest broke]

Vekked that was a huge effort, writing a review in that much detail. You also pull no punches with your criticism. I like that.

[Vekked]

Vekked that was a huge effort, writing a review in that much detail. You also pull no punches with your criticism. I like that.

 

I'm in battle mode, WHAT!

[johnny 1 move]

Johnny 1 Move:

 

-let me guess, the 1 Move is word play?

 

It's because of the way I play Tekken and I needed a DJ name and it stuck

 

-ok that beginning word play was pretty sick if: 1) you didn't press those records, 2) you didn't make that intro and decide it'd be sick if your dj name was actually johnny 1 move, and changed your name to make the intro work... basically I don't know the song, but it seems suspect how it says 'because I'm number 1... competition is none' on 2 different records with 'johnny' after 1 part of the sentence and '1 move' after the other, but if that's on the original track and you dug that up, mad props

 

They are customs, but the reason I like that intro is because I was thinking how to get a 4 beat skipless, then thought it might be interesting to have two beats on each record and stick my name in the other beat. It was meant to be a clever way of getting round the fact that skipless at hip hop tempo is only 3 beats, and a crown friendly intro to boot. It's not meant to be technically impressive skillswise, more the way I thought about using customs.

 

-transition from intro to the next word play part... was really bad, and for the next 30 seconds was pretty much trash until you gave the finger when the record swore, it redeemed you slightly... like dude, 'all you other djs' has been used in a million routines, all classic, all a million times better than you flipped it... 'dj fucking with all you other djs' isn't even a complete sentence, nor is it a hard diss that will make said 'other djs' cry... no tears = diss that missed the mark

 

Yep - I had a record on the wrong way round cos I jumped on without double chekcing when Sinical had a technical problem. Not a great transition anyway cos that's where I hashed last year's and this years DMC set together to try and make a packed 90 seconds. It would have been a lot better if I'd had the record on the right way round but I think I covered it reasonably well considering though! My fault for not checking in the heat of the moment though...

 

Most people picked the 3 click drumming bit as a highlight of this years DMC set - horses / course I guess. I know what you're saying about the diss being a bit awkward but it's more about the "Dj fucking with the beat" and then a transition.

-cuts at the end, pretty clean, decent variation, a little stiff or choppy sounding maybe, but I can't really say anything bad about them, more of this, less of custom pressed wordplay

 

I'm least happy with this part - I always find it hard to keep calm and scratch smoothly in a battle, that's why I entered this - for a bit more experience in the heat of the moment.

 

Grade: D... if you didn't have like 45 seconds of pretty much filler (aka, you could've done only the intro and the end cuts and your routine would've been doper), you might've passed, but... not this time, I see ideas, just develop them more, get creative, try to get more flow in your routine, too many rough changes

 

Fair enough - it was a compression of two routines to pack stuff into 90 seconds so didn't have much flow, it's basically 3 separate bits. Given your grading sytem then D is probably about right as I normally place in DMC regionals but haven't won one yet.

 

Fairly incisive feedback, you've analysed it well but I guess we have a different of opinion on customs and on the drumming bit. Thanks for taking the time - most people who post comment usually say it's either amazing or shit without justification.

[dextrous]

Time for Vekked's no-holds-barred review of the sets:

 

DJ Rasp:

 

-aight dude, your juggle-ish thing (I think?) or whatever was bad, either you meant to go off beat, or you were experimenting with different time signatures, or something, but it definitely made no sense with the rest of the beat

 

-your cuts were clean and on beat, but it sounded like you took half bar loops of scratches and copy/pasted them right next to each other 8 times in a row, then switched techniques and did the same... like you seriously did every scratch the exact same like 8ish times in a row, then switched scratches like some sort of combo generator... except a combo generator does more than 1 technique at a time

 

Grade: F (Failure to make a good routine) with this said, though, I think I saw you do dope routines on youtube? not sure, but this routine isn't a keeper, and I think you know how to make a decent routine, so let's just leave it at that

 

Jon1st (is this you jon? and is your name gonna be jon 2nd in your 2nd battle? )

 

-hmm, ok the jury's out on the beat, it's weird, but the drums are still pretty bumpin, but it's not exactly a jump up and dance around party track (not that it has to be, but not sure how the crowd would feel it you know?), but... the drums are bumpin, and as long as it sure beats 808 hats with finger snaps for snares...

 

-next time you battle figure out how to be like a foot shorter or you'll be ringing church bells from a top of notre dame with rafik and klever in no time

 

-some traces of stage presence was detected, which is more than can be said for some of the other dj's

 

-nice little intro, 2 swears is pretty good, next time try to have more

 

-the hook synth thing was cool, I like how you cut it kinda catchy, but maybe you could flip it a bit harder, I like the first 2 bars or so, then the end seems a bit samey, try like doing some drags or something with it? (like at 1:24 kinda thing), I dunno

 

-I don't know what you are doing at 0:48, but it's cool

 

-nice variation in cuts/tranforms

 

-clean up your chirps

 

-your cuts were a bit sloppy when you did the hand-cross thing... probably just don't cross your hands, or only do it once or twice, it's kind of a lame body trick... either go all the way and do a comb-over spin on your mixer or just forget about them

 

-intro, outro, hook, verse, wtf? a routine with structure and composition, why not just scratch endless samples with no direction over a skipless drum beat? oh ya, cuz it sounds better, A+

 

-good first routine, probably better than any scratch routines I've done outside of my bedroom (inside my bedroom rafik would piss his lederhosen... no homo?)

 

Grade: C-, you passed, and with work you can make this routine solid, but more importantly, your direction with a battle routine in general is good, better than most first routines... just make it more 'efficient', about 2/3 of your routine was the hook, and you really only cut 2 samples... maybe make the hook parts half as long, the verse cuts twice as long, and see if you can cut another sample than ahhhh just to switch it up a bit, ya dig?

 

DJ Suspect:

 

-your beat is skipping, turn the weight on more or something?

 

-not much cut variation, and kinda sounds like you thought le jad record = routine... but no, you actually need to compose it and not just scratch random samples over a random beat

 

-second part was a lot better than the first, still not much for composition, but it sounded better and your cuts had more variation... more of this, less of first part

 

Overall: uhh... D, the first part was an epic fail, the second was getting there, but it's still a fail... spend more time composing a routine that isn't mostly freestyle, or using a scratch sentence you know over a beat you know... for this does not a scratch routine make

 

Johnny 1 Move:

 

-let me guess, the 1 Move is word play?

 

-ok that beginning word play was pretty sick if: 1) you didn't press those records, 2) you didn't make that intro and decide it'd be sick if your dj name was actually johnny 1 move, and changed your name to make the intro work... basically I don't know the song, but it seems suspect how it says 'because I'm number 1... competition is none' on 2 different records with 'johnny' after 1 part of the sentence and '1 move' after the other, but if that's on the original track and you dug that up, mad props

 

-transition from intro to the next word play part... was really bad, and for the next 30 seconds was pretty much trash until you gave the finger when the record swore, it redeemed you slightly... like dude, 'all you other djs' has been used in a million routines, all classic, all a million times better than you flipped it... 'dj fucking with all you other djs' isn't even a complete sentence, nor is it a hard diss that will make said 'other djs' cry... no tears = diss that missed the mark

 

-cuts at the end, pretty clean, decent variation, a little stiff or choppy sounding maybe, but I can't really say anything bad about them, more of this, less of custom pressed wordplay

 

Grade: D... if you didn't have like 45 seconds of pretty much filler (aka, you could've done only the intro and the end cuts and your routine would've been doper), you might've passed, but... not this time, I see ideas, just develop them more, get creative, try to get more flow in your routine, too many rough changes

 

DJ Sinical:

 

-just because you win doesn't mean you can't still fail

 

-see if you can find a sample that says 'no homo' to drop after the 'rippin up 12 inches' sample

 

-your cuts sounded like you have ears, this is a good thing, clean with variation, cool

 

-that looping/beat juggle thing you did seemed retarded at first, but it was ok once you got into it, but why did you cut over the beat again for like 5 seconds before switching to the next beat? no, switch to the next beat right away, please

 

-nice cuts again at the end, and an outro sample, all good

 

Your grade: C+, it'd be better if you were DJ Troubl because those are all his sounds and remind me of him, and there wasn't anything particularly interesting or creative about the routine, but there wasn't anything bad about it... your cuts are good... skills = good, composition = decent, creativity overall = lacking, nothing someone who can cut and loop records couldn't make up in a week or 2

 

Sole 1:

 

-juggling le jad juggle banks... no

 

-record this and listen to it

 

-did you do one actual juggle pattern or did you just loop parts, trick mix to the next part, and loop them again?

 

-you played like half the record waiting for a sample to cut at the end, what is the sticker even on there for?

 

-sloppy cuts

 

Overall Grade: N/A (zero). Don't battle yet, stay at home and learn how to do some basic cuts and juggles... I hope you just started, keep practicing, but battling with so little skills doesn't really help you much, unless you're just having fun with no expectation on competing, then fine, but I don't think other people want to hear it

 

Furious P:

 

-next time use an intro in english

 

-cuts are decent... cut more traditional samples, the guitar fuzz/tone things aren't working, they just sound like fuzz

 

-that looping that you do every time you get to a drum sample isn't dope, and it's not a juggle, looping in a scratch routine doesn't make a scratch/juggle combo set, and it doesn't really add much to the routine most of the time (at least not in this case)

 

-the samples you used just sounded bad and didn't fit the beat...

 

-I think your outro said 'something something cunt cunt', if so, nice outro, A+

 

Overall Grade: D. I mean, your cuts are ok, but the samples were just w/e, and it seemed like you just threw the looping into the routine so you'd touch the other record and make people say 'hey look, he's scratching with 2 records'. but you're not, and don't do stuff just because you feel like you have to put a beat cut here or loop the beat back there, do it cuz it sounds good or adds something to the routine.

 

 

Loop Skywalker:

 

-you know I like this routine, but no one's safe from my criticism, sorry

 

-you like to just start into routines with no real intro, I've heard this from you on a few occasions, it's not really bad, but I'm not sure if I like it, you need to ease people into it a little bit maybe, and it's not like you were running short on time (I'll get into this more in a sec)

 

-records kinda fuzzy but the cuts at the start with pulling the record back sound cool, and the transition from that to the next 'your on a trip' part is cool, and it's cool that you're cutting up something different, instead of some battle sample ish

 

-your cuts didn't seemed quite as on point as usual, and you're twiddling/crabbing a lot, get more of those funky transforms and stuff in there, I know you got em

 

-parts of the routine are a little repetitive, I mean you keep switching combo's and part of the routine, and it's not like you're repeating the same half bar 8 times in a row (see rasp), but you're repeating the same 4 bars or so the exact same 4 times in a row, I'm sure you can do some sort of variation

 

-this is only a 1 minute routine and should've ended at the 1:15 or so mark and then you should've done a beat juggle, or had an intro/outro to go along with the routine or something... I like when you cut the sample to make it sound good, the end sounded like you were cutting it just like it was an ahh or any old sample, I like to refer to this as someone cutting 'through' the sample, when the cuts don't really tailor to the sample and you could substitute the sample for pretty near anything else

 

Overall Grade: C-. For this performance. I think I've heard you with crisper cuts and without the end filler type stuff (or maybe I'm forgetting), and this routine is more like a B-... with work it could be even better, but you've used it already and are prolly near done with it, and you're gonna be battling for like 80 more years so just consider my comments for the next routine you make with some dirty old thrift shop record you dug up

 

Weetamix:

 

-refer to Sole 1's comments

 

-that's not a juggle dude, you're looping records, steve dee's prolly turning over in his, well, bed right now having nightmares of a generation of turntablists who completely forgot what juggling was and that it was original called 'the funk', not 'the loop', or 'the robot machine gun random sound effect repeating thingy'... like come on, I could baby scratch over a beat for a minute and make a better routine. no, I'm not even being unrealistic or exaggerating or anything, I seriously, honestly could, and if you read this, I will battle that same routines using a routines comprised solely of baby scratches, and I will dominate you... but it'd be such a waste of time, and if you actually wanted to take me up on it and you lost, how would you feel?

 

Overall Grade: Air.

 

Etch-A-Sqratch:

 

-best stage presence

 

-trying to do something musical, aight not bad (what record are you using?)

 

-lack of clean cuts makes it kinda hard to understand, your cuts seem ok, but cutting melody ish takes another level of precision and clean cuts to be able to do right

 

-that's about it

 

Overall Grade: D. Like it wasn't brutal, but it just wasn't much, if you spend more time on it, someday it could be a decent routine, it has some parts and stuff, just needs to be on point and make more sense, I think there was supposed to be a hook thing at the start and end but I'm not sure if it was the same or not... but yea, at least you were cutting 32nd note snare rolls and stuff like these other wack socks, A for effort to be different

 

 

 

Post a file.

 

 

Ps what was up with the knee high tables?

[johnny 1 move]

I'm not planning on entering any major competitions for quite some time, I want to make sure I'm at least in your B rankings before i do that!

 

Jon - I took a break from DMC after coming 3rd in a heat in 2003. I figured I wouldn't enter again until I felt good anough to have a chance of winning a heat. Looking back I think I probably would have won a heat by now if I had kept entering - if nothing else having something to focus on helps you improve. I'm sure 2nd in Liverpool last year would have been first had I kept gaining experience in the intervening 4 years.

 

You would definately get through to the evening of any UK DMC regional heat, and depending on other entrants could easily get top 3 in one, and even win one of the weaker heats. I think you are probably better than some people who have won heats in the last few of years.

 

Enter the DMC 2009 bitch

[johnny 1 move]

-next time you battle figure out how to be like a foot shorter or you'll be ringing church bells from a top of notre dame with rafik and klever in no time

 

I am actually kinda worried about this. My posture is going to shit. too much leaning over when playing guitar sitting down and watching my hands when i scratch are slowly bending my spine I'm sure of it.

 

put your decks up close to your belly button for practice at home, take them down a notch for a week or so if you're prepping for a battle and you have an idea of the expected table height (1 meter high for DMC I think?), having an ergonomic setup is key though imo, especially if you get down to the odd couple hours practice session, otherwise you'll be in the perma-fetal position in no time

e

Top of table = 900mm for DMC, some of the entry forms say 800 and some 900 but it's meant to be 900mm

[Vekked]

Fairly incisive feedback, you've analysed it well but I guess we have a different of opinion on customs and on the drumming bit. Thanks for taking the time - most people who post comment usually say it's either amazing or shit without justification.

 

Word johnny, I'm just trying to be completely honest even if some of it's pretty harsh (like the baby scratching bit to weetamix).

 

My sig's a quote from a very well respected battle DJ about one of my routines that I showed him probably a year and a half ago now. I was fucking pissed when he said that, but it inspired my hugely after I got over my ego and realized he was so right. It was even better because I actually thought my routine was tight, and I probably wouldn't have listened to anyone else, but there was no other explanation as to why this guy would tell me that unless it was true. And it made me feel like my soul was wack for a while and there was no way I could be dope if I don't even recognize whether my stuff is dope or not. Now a bit over a year later, I'm still far from an uber sick battle DJ, but I see why he said my old routine was wack, and that's all I can really hope for, is that I can learn to recognize my weaknesses, because that's the first step to turning them into strengths.

 

Anyways, to be more a bit more specific, your intro wordplay as it is is ok, it works nice and stuff, it's just when I hear it, and at first I'm like 'whoa thats pretty cool', but then I think more critically about it, I think 'what is it about this wordplay intro makes it cool?', well it's the creativity. But, is it what you're doing as a DJ that's creative, or what you did as a producer making the record? Well, more so producing the record, since all that's left to do is connect the dots once you lay it out on the record. And the biggest problem with this is, although you can still judge a custom scratch routine on the technical skills, and creative techniques, what can you judge a custom wordplay routine on? I mean, for a showcase or something outside of battle, it's all good, it serves it's purpose, the end sound is all that matters, but in a dj battle, it's not just about what you hear, it's about how it was done. Just a bit of food for thought.

 

As for your drumming, I went back to look at it, and I kind of didn't take much notice of it the first time, and I realize why. It could be the sound quality of the video, but I know it's at least partially to do with the sounds you're using (le jad nervous shock if I hear right?), but it almost sounds more like acapella scratching that just drumming, like you're acapella scratching some synth noise as opposed to drum sounds. I'm almost positive some more prominent drums/better transition into the drums will make them stand out more, because your technique is solid for them, just the delivery needs work. Like throwing it in at the end of a scratch routine or a juggle maybe, because the way you went into them was just kind of anti-climactic.

 

It's obvious you've spent time practicing your cuts and scratching technique, but you need to spend just as much or more composing a good routine in order to make them stand out.

[johnny 1 move]

Yeah - deffo routine composition is my weak point.

 

I alwyas get distracted by sexy new techniques instead of making my routines rock solid

[Guest loop skywalker]

what a review.....but i think you are wrong vekked...furious p still takes the battle in my eyes...would have been cool to see him at least in the final.. in the day 2 battle it was for the crowd to decide between myself and weetamix..when furious p should deffo have been one of those places...my cutting was pretty awful that day,im not sure why...but i had watched a lot of porn that week hehe.

PROPS TO VEKKED FOR THE PULLING NO PUNCHES REVIEW...WAS A WICKED READ.

[TopherEightyFive]

damn, that table is horribly low..

[Gizmo]

Note to self should there be a next time:

 

1. Make decks higher

2. Don't let the crowd decide on the winner

3. Give a lot more notice for the battlers

4. Don't be too generous with the prizes

[Wax On]

you missed off:

 

5. Present Wax On with the lifetime achievement award for services to the scratchernet