Back in the 1960s you would have to go to a disco to find a club DJ. This was the only place they had access to professional DJ equipment, at a time when it was too expensive to be widely available. As with other trades and crafts, DJ skills were passed down between DJs, and they were known only to disco enthusiasts until they started to appear on radio.
In the mid-seventies, Technics made a major impact on the scene by introducing the first direct drive turntables. Until that point, DJs had been using belt-driven turntables. Belts have a tendency to stretch with age, which can result in sound distortion. The new turntables could be used for mixing and scratching without the risk of either breaking or stretching any belts.
DJ techniques evolved as the DJ equipment did. Hip hop was a massive influence with DJs Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash and Grand Wizard Theodore introducing scratching and looping. It was becoming common practice to use these skills to transform the music into something new.
Once the late eighties arrived, a new musical genre was becoming more popular. Acid house music brought rave culture and its DJs. DJ equipment was no longer just available in clubs; it was being taken out into the fields and warehouses across the country.
DJ equipment became easier and cheaper to get hold of, so fans began practising in bedrooms and organising raves in abandoned warehouses. The internet made it easier to get hold of new music and to share information about the latest releases, thus reducing the power DJs had to influence the musical landscape.
The evolution of DJ equipment and techniques has gone hand in hand and these developments both technical and in terms of expertise have driven the way that music is now produced. Thanks to the possibilities offered by the kit, electronic music has changed from being purely a static reproduction to being the basis for a new creation.
In the mid-seventies, Technics made a major impact on the scene by introducing the first direct drive turntables. Until that point, DJs had been using belt-driven turntables. Belts have a tendency to stretch with age, which can result in sound distortion. The new turntables could be used for mixing and scratching without the risk of either breaking or stretching any belts.
DJ techniques evolved as the DJ equipment did. Hip hop was a massive influence with DJs Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash and Grand Wizard Theodore introducing scratching and looping. It was becoming common practice to use these skills to transform the music into something new.
Once the late eighties arrived, a new musical genre was becoming more popular. Acid house music brought rave culture and its DJs. DJ equipment was no longer just available in clubs; it was being taken out into the fields and warehouses across the country.
DJ equipment became easier and cheaper to get hold of, so fans began practising in bedrooms and organising raves in abandoned warehouses. The internet made it easier to get hold of new music and to share information about the latest releases, thus reducing the power DJs had to influence the musical landscape.
The evolution of DJ equipment and techniques has gone hand in hand and these developments both technical and in terms of expertise have driven the way that music is now produced. Thanks to the possibilities offered by the kit, electronic music has changed from being purely a static reproduction to being the basis for a new creation.