Edition 2: DJ Dictionary – Popular Mixing Styles Terms

This second edition of the DJ dictionary covers mixing styles that are quite popular.

Train Wreck

This is the word used when two tracks are playing simultaneously and the beats are not in time. To the audience it may sound incoherent. It’s a jumble, hence the term train wreck. Often used by amateur DJs.

Turntablist

Is an individual who uses turntables and vinyl records in a way that cutting and scratching of records is done to give new musical sounds from sections of the records. They can use more than two records.

Hamster Style

A normal disc jockey setup involves the turntable on the right playing on channel on the right and the turntable on the left playing on the channel on the left. The hamster style has the opposite kind of setup. Right turntable-left channel and left turntable-right channel.

Hydroplane

This is performed by the disc jockey applying pressure with a finger or two as the record spins, but without stopping it. The idea behind it is to cause light friction that result in a bass kind of friction sound.

Looping

This is alternating between two different copies of the same record. To achieve this, the crossfader is used to cut a phrase in one of the records then cutting the same phrase in the second record. The same sound is played again and again. Looping is a foundation of hip-hop beats.

Strobing

This is beat juggling; where one alternates between two records while pulling or tapping the records slightly with a hand to control the tempo. 

A disc jockey can separate snares, kicks and cymbal sounds and make a new sounding. Strobing was first famously demonstrated and associated with DJs Shortkut and Yoshi. 

Scratching can take many forms and there are many types of executing different kinds of scratching techniques, which include airplane phasing/scratch, baby scratch, bubble scratch, chirp scratch, crab scratch, flare scratch and forward, as well as backward scratches. Some of the techniques are named after the entertainer who is believed to have introduced it, such as the flare scratch. The techniques may also be associated with the kind of sound it makes as the expert turns the tables. There you have it, a basic guide to mixing styles and the terms used in the field. The speed and consistency of the art of scratching will vary from one expert to the other, as the DJ skill is more of an art form.