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Strictly for DJs: Pitch this!

30 May, 2010 | 11.09PM

Written by: Beatportal
Filed under: Music News: strictly for djs

Strictly for DJs is a new, occasional feature in which we’ll be exploring the tricks of the DJ’s trade from a variety of angles, from the software we use to the way we organize our files. The art of the DJ is evolving rapidly, and we hope to encourage practices that do more than just replicate old models. Share your thoughts in the comments below.

There’s a fascinating article in last week’s Guardian that suggests that all these years, we’ve been listening to Robert Johnson, the King of the Delta Blues, pitched up at an incredible +20. Whatever the reason—perhaps the original 78 recordings were mastered incorrectly, or perhaps the recordings “were deliberately speeded up to make them sound more exciting"—that’s a huge difference, and one that is causing critics to rethink their basic assumptions about the music.

To put that in more familiar terms, if my math is correct, it’d be like playing a 33RPM record at 45, pitched down to -8. (Or, if it’s easier to imagine, spinning a 120BPM track at 144, or taking a midtempo house track into territory north of dubstep.)

It got me thinking about the DJ’s use of pitch control as a creative tool in its own right. One of the boons of digital DJ technology is that we’re no longer shackled to the hardwired poles of 33 and 45RPM, with a plus or minus 8 percent leeway in either direction. Pioneer’s CDJ-1000 offers tempo ranges of plus or minus 8, 10, 16, 70, and 100 percent, and Traktor Scratch allows similar flexibility (8, 10, 35, 50, and 100 percent).

I’m sure that the blurring of tempo brackets is one of the things fueling the increasing crossover between house and dubstep, allowing for the blending of compatible beats no matter what tempo they were recorded at. Hopefully, it’ll spur more DJs to screw with their records—pun intended, in honor of Texas’ infamously slow-mo “chopped ‘n’ screwed” style.

A few examples: Back in 2002, Miss Kittin slowed Autechre‘s ‘Flutter’ to 33 on her Radio Caroline mix, to delirious effect. My old housemate, Omar Leon of Barcelona’s Moog club, was fond of playing Boards of Canada’s ‘Nlogax’ sped up to 45, prodding its shuddering trudge into an electro gallop. Lately, I’ve been having a ball playing Justus Köhncke’s ‘It’s Gonna Be Alright’ pitched way, way down, as though it were a skulking funk burner. And out on the fringes of techno, Surgeon, Monolake , and T++ all craft rapid-fire beats so dense, that wonderfully warped rhythms emerge when you apply the brakes.

Who else is playing with the pitch fader? Share your own favorite records that sound better at the “wrong” speed in the comments below.

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Strictly for DJs is a new, occasional feature in which we'll be exploring the tricks of the DJ's trade from a variety of angles, from the software we use to the way we organize our files. The art of the DJ is evolving rapidly, and we hope to encourage practices that do more than just replicate old models. Share your thoughts in the comments below. 

There's a fascinating article in last week's Guardian that suggests that all these years, we've been listening to Robert Johnson, the King of the Delta Blues, pitched up at an incredible +20. Whatever the reason—perhaps the original 78 recordings were mastered incorrectly, or perhaps the recordings "were deliberately speeded up to make them sound more exciting"—that's a huge difference, and one that is causing critics to rethink their basic assumptions about the music.

To put that in more familiar terms, if my math is correct, it'd be like playing a 33RPM record at 45, pitched down to -8. (Or, if it's easier to imagine, spinning a 120BPM track at 144, or taking a midtempo house track into territory north of dubstep.) 

It got me thinking about the DJ's use of pitch control as a creative tool in its own right. One of the boons of digital DJ technology is that we're no longer shackled to the hardwired poles of 33 and 45RPM, with a plus or minus 8 percent leeway in either direction. Pioneer's CDJ-1000 offers tempo ranges of plus or minus 8, 10, 16, 70, and 100 percent, and Traktor Scratch allows similar flexibility (8, 10, 35, 50, and 100 percent).
Strictly for DJs is a new, occasional feature in which we'll be exploring the tricks of the DJ's trade from a variety of angles, from the software we use to the way we organize our files. The art of the DJ is evolving rapidly, and we hope to encourage practices that do more than just replicate old models. Share your thoughts in the comments below. 

There's a fascinating article in last week's Guardian that suggests that all these years, we've been listening to Robert Johnson, the King of the Delta Blues, pitched up at an incredible +20. Whatever the reason—perhaps the original 78 recordings were mastered incorrectly, or perhaps the recordings "were deliberately speeded up to make them sound more exciting"—that's a huge difference, and one that is causing critics to rethink their basic assumptions about the music.

To put that in more familiar terms, if my math is correct, it'd be like playing a 33RPM record at 45, pitched down to -8. (Or, if it's easier to imagine, spinning a 120BPM track at 144, or taking a midtempo house track into territory north of dubstep.) 

It got me thinking about the DJ's use of pitch control as a creative tool in its own right. One of the boons of digital DJ technology is that we're no longer shackled to the hardwired poles of 33 and 45RPM, with a plus or minus 8 percent leeway in either direction. Pioneer's CDJ-1000 offers tempo ranges of plus or minus 8, 10, 16, 70, and 100 percent, and Traktor Scratch allows similar flexibility (8, 10, 35, 50, and 100 percent).

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