I'm just a guy with turntables

Over the past year, I’ve made a ton of music, none of which has been released publicly. In that time, I’ve been honing my skills and trying to narrow in on a few particular styles that I’d like to explore more. Once I think I’ve got the styles down, then I might release some EPs (might be a while though still). While I’ve been exploring other styles of music, I’ve always felt the urge to write more scratch beats, but I’ve never gotten around to it.

Fortunately, tonight was a slow Saturday night, so I decided to hammer out some new scratch beats. Scratch beats are a strange beast because you want good rhythm, but the drums and melody can’t be overpowering. A scratch beat needs to leave ample room for the turntablist to scratch over it without them clashing.

In this first track, I began with a drum beat and added a thick (but simple) bass line. The bass line’s rhythm carries the song (not its melody) and I’m hoping that it’s a fun rhythm to scratch along to. The pads and other synth line were thrown in there to give it a bit of depth. They might be too busy (and clash with scratching), but I’d be curious to hear a good turntablist scratch over top.

Give “Stroll” a listen or a download:

In this second track, I wanted to layer up the drums a bit more, so there’s a lot of hi-hats going on. I also stumbled across some retro bass guitar samples that I accidentally threw into the drum track, but because they’re short samples, it actually ended up making them easier to work with. (Notice the little bass guitar hits follow the drums’ rhythm.) While I tried to make the drums busier with this track, I made the melody almost nonexistent (it’s very simple). I also stumbled across some really cheesy (and tiny) scratch sample that I used to make some minor faux-scratching in there.

Give “Swirl” a listen or a download:

Enjoy!