Thank you so much for the history lesson. I used to scratch at the turn of the millennium, back when the internet was just getting legs but still not sufficient to educate me on this. As for your analysis, I think I'd posit two more reasons. 1 The white noise makes the speed and acceleration of the scratch really satisfying and easy to hear at all parts of the sample. So we hear and enjoy the scratch better. 2 it's never out of tune. It can go anywhere on a record. I think you touched on its ubiquity making it a good staple by which we can judge the scratch, but also things with which we are familiar have an unfair advantage over other things when it comes to our preference. We like what we know so it is a positive feedback loop.
Insightful. You managed to put a lot of useful information in a relatively small amount of time, without rushing it. I'll definitely have to check out your other video's. This stuff is really fresh! 👍
I love videos where I'm not even particularly interested in the topic but it's so well-done and insightful and researched that it's fascinating and enjoyable.
The production value on your channel on what is somewhat a niche topic, is incredible. Mad respect. You've earned a subscriber. We need people like you for the culture.
Great video! I Great up in SF back when q- bert was around and this sample is impeded deep into my brain. Took a genius like you to break this all down!
When I started scratching I immediately started using the AHhhh sound because it was easy to hear what I was doing and not doing. Its true that its almost like reference tone
Early 80s,Double D and Steinski,Lesson 1 had every clichéd DJ soundbite on the planet,between Lesson 1-4,probably covered them all, including the "this stuff is really fresh"sample,they were also known as the payback mixes,the first one,Lesson 1 even featured humphrey boggart,a scene from the film casablanca with him saying "you played it for Harry,play it for me",Double D and Steinski were actually 2 young German DJs from Europe hanging around New York in the early 80s,but D and Steinski were big on sampling back in the day, Also,Hashim,al naafysh the soul"its time"is just as famous
I havent read the Dave Tompkins book but the scan you used was enlightening... It was Bill Laswells' Manager Trilling that repeated the term into a vocoder, but the record exec he was imitating with the famous phrase, was Bruce Lundvall, ex-CEO of the Blue Note Label ?! And imitating Lundvall, that's where the magic came from ? Fantastic, erm, stuff. Cheers fella.
I think he was also boss of Elektra Records in the '80s when Blue Note was effectively defunct. (He revived it later). Rumour has it that when he first heard Norah Jones' 3-track demo which included two cover versions of jazz standards he said "This stuff is realllllly fresh".
This clip found it’s way to my algorithm…albeit 3 yrs later but, better late than never 👍🏾. Excellent analysis…well thought out. As someone who was in the culture prior to this phenomenon, I will add that part of the initial mystique of that sound was that many inside the culture initially doubted if that was authentic scratching on Rockit…nobody had ever heard such clean and advanced technique (by the standards of the time)…a lot of people swore that it was synthesized sounds…until that Grammy’s performance…once DJ’s saw that it was real, that sound and technique immediately became the standard measure of skill. Improving on DSt.’s original pattern was a flex…which is why so many records of the mid 80’s featured DJ’s using that sound…it was a means of proving turntable virtuosity.
Thanks for the insight! Makes a lot of sense. Its hard for someone luke me who wasnt really there to understand things in such a way. Thanks for sharing
I remember spending ages trying to find out what this was in 1986 before the days of the internet. Then Ed 'Jack N Chill' Stratton did a brilliant remix of "Showing Out" by Mel & Kim using both scratches to brilliant excess. I managed to track it down around 1991 finally. My first band name was ADSR in '87. :Great Stuff.
Yup everything was very linear as we were limited by affordable tech . I had access to a Yamaha DX-100 and a TR505 drum machine and that was it . Quite limiting :)
Cheers man. Think I'm gonna take a break and do something a little more manageable though haha. Some kind of tutorial or something... I got a few more ideas for these vid essay type vids though.
Great video. Will show this to my students. We should also remember that because of the ‘white noise’ within the samples they cut through a mix a lot more clearly. Thanks again.
One of the top most scratched record samples of all time: It’s been sampled in songs such as: ----------------------- Thrift Shop by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis feat. Wanz (2012) -------------------------- Paid in Full by Eric B. & Rakim (1987) ----------- Right Here by Justin Bieber feat. Drake (2012) -------- Rockit by Herbie Hancock (1983) ---------- So Far... by Eminem (2013) ---------- Finally Moving by Pretty Lights (2006) ----------- Yo Perreo Sola by Bad Bunny and Nesi (2020) ----------- Rhythm Rock Rapp by Daniel Sofer feat. The Unknown DJ and Dr. Dre (1984) ----------- Lamborghini by Trenchcoat (1987) ----------- P.S.K. - What Does It Mean? by Schoolly D (1985) ----------- I'm a Slave 4 U by Britney Spears (2001) ------------ Hey Young World by Slick Rick (1988) ------------- Face the Music by Crazy Town (1999) ------------- Cure for the Itch by Linkin Park (2000) -------------- Supersonic by J.J Fad (1987) -------------- Boyz-N-The-Hood by Eazy-E (1987) -------------- Hey Ladies by Beastie Boys (1989) -------------- U Can't Touch This (KMel Mix) by MC Hammer (1990) -------------- Stardust Speedway (Present) by Naofumi Hataya (1993) --------------- Posse in Effect by Beastie Boys (1986) ------------ Something 2 Dance 2 by N.W.A (1988) --------------- ‘Scrappy’s Rap’ from ‘Scooby Doo & The Ghoul School’ (1988) ---------------- And literally so many more!
Nice vid, thanks for putting it together. Because both sounds are noisy (e.g. there's no harmonic content in the AHHH and very little in the FRESH) they don't need to worry about being in the key of the song you're scratching over. E.g. If it was instead a single piano note being scratched, it'd sound terrible over music that isn't in that same key. Generally popular scratch samples don't have clear musical harmonics.
As much as I like scratches of "Ah" and "Fresh", my favourite bit of the original sample is the "Reeeeaallllly". It sounds like a proper robot from the future.
Actually producer Michael Beinhorn is the creator of the fresh sound. He was Freddy's producer for change the beat. Basically Beinhorn revolutionized sound design in hip hop and then once again in rock with Soundgarden, Marilyn Manson, Korn etc. He is killer in the sound design department
Excellent stuff man 👌🏼 still my 2 favourite samples to scratch with along with "all that scratching is making me itch" (has been since Qbert's Summit routine)
@@SiHargreaves you can check my other channel "Supaphonik". I've been qsu valedictorian 2016, there is a serie "supavocab" with a tone of combos to work on. Keep up the good work.
I own roland vocoder for a relativelly long time (way back from the 90's) but never though of using a white noise as a carrier, and never realized that is actually source of a countless hiphop/electrofunk tunes, and base for a classic scratch sound. Dumb.
@@SiHargreaves Yeah not having "knowhow" was a thing back then. Producers on local studios was mostly selfish and guardkept some things. People nowadays don't realize how valuable is internet and yt channels including yours. in late 80's/early 90's when I was young, and full of will, curiosity, and energy, only way to learn things was somehow connect to similar interests people (and that was hard without social networks and with interest for subculture/alternative and not pop)..., through the music magazines, and they surely haven't "bother" with this kind of stuff, mostly usual self praising, social commentary and anecdotes unrelated to detailed music production. Only way to somehow learn what people use was listening to d.j. anouncements on a radio show late night, specialized tv shows, and reading booklets on some records and cd's. It ended up with lot's of savings from various manual part time jobs into dumb things they dump on me on music shops, like Yamaha RX5, Akai XR10, thinking it would make me a electro funk producer:) Haven't got a clue about compression, or mastering :) Thanks!
@@SiHargreaves I was showing someone how flexible it was! 😂 This was when I was a teenager and didn’t know any better. He just burst out laughing. I bought it from Fat City Records in Manchester for a couple of quid. I still have the sleeve and every time I come across it I’m filled with regret! 😂
Why don't you state - at any point - the name of the track you've based your entire vid on? (Une Sale Histoire by Fab Five Freddy for anyone who's wondering, last few seconds: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ij-K629DFtg.html )
