The Best Remixes for Wedding DJs 2023
Wedding season has arrived! DJcity’s Remix Director Sir Marcus has put together a list of wedding-friendly tracks guaranteed to freshen up your DJ sets and...
Grandmaster Flash (credit: grandmasterflash.com)
DJ and hip-hop pioneer Grandmaster Flash recently gave a lecture at New York’s Hot 97 on the development of hip-hop DJing. The presentation came just one week after the debut of The Get Down, a new Netflix series that explores the rise of hip-hop in the late ’70s.
The hour-long lecture focused on Flash’s technical contributions to hip-hop DJing, including the “peek-a-boo” system, which combined a microphone mixer, preamps, and a studio mixer. As Scratch DJ Academy’s book On the Record states: “this new setup enabled [Grandmaster Flash] to preview the combined sound of two records through headphones before it went through the speakers.”
Flash also explained and demonstrated his “quick mix theory,” which was made possible by the peek-a-boo system. Quick mixing enabled Flash to extend the drum break of a song indefinitely so that crowd could keep dancing to it. The technique was not only a major advancement in hip-hop DJing but led to the development of rap music.
While the innovations that Flash discussed were introduced over 30 years ago, they are still considered standard DJing techniques today.
Watch the full video below.
Topics discussed:
– Some of the most famous samples in hip-hop history (7:00)
– Discovering that the conical stylus is the best type of needle for DJing (13:10)
– Inventing the slipmat (15:10)
– Discovering that the Technics SL-23 was the best turntable at the time for DJing (17:50)
– Inventing the “peek-a-boo” system (21:00)
– His fascination for electronics as a child (22:50)
– Inventing the “clock theory” and “quick mix theory” (28:00)
– Embracing the latest DJ technology (34:00)
– Mentoring Grand Wizzard Theodore, who is credited as the inventor of scratching (36:50)
– Demonstrating his “quick mix theory” and finger drumming with the “beatbox” (42:00)
– The story behind the beatbox (52:00)
Related: Hot 97 Honors Grandmaster Flash
Wedding season has arrived! DJcity’s Remix Director Sir Marcus has put together a list of wedding-friendly tracks guaranteed to freshen up your DJ sets and...
We just launched our biggest sale of the year! Get 90% off a DJcity membership and join for just $1 (regular price $10) for the first month when you check...
Here at DJcity, customer satisfaction is crucial, and therefore we always take input and feedback from our customers and DJ community very seriously. Due t...
ATCG. Last Thursday, DJcity revealed its most downloaded tracks of 2023. Today, we dive deeper to uncover the most popular remixes, bootlegs, and edits of...
New tracks that DJs should know about.
At DJcity, we are always working to make sure that the way our record pool functions reflects the needs of our users. Therefore in our latest update, we sw...
Mr. M!X. (Source:Instagram) Dutch DJ/producer MR. M!X has delivered a remix of 50 Cent's birthday anthem "In Da Club." The moombahton-inspired flip is avai...
Lady Gaga has released a new track featuring R. Kelly from her upcoming album, Artpop. The song features production from DJ Snake and comes less than a wee...
New tracks that DJs should know about.
Some fans were skeptical when they discovered that Skrillex and Diplo's debut Jack U album includes a song with Justin Bieber. "Where Are U Now" has...