BEST DJ VEKKED 2015 DMC WORLD CHAMPION!!! WHY??

[Danger Man]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnRVmiqm84k&list=RDNnRVmiqm84k&start_radio=1

Here's a guy killing it on the turntables a few years ago.

Can anybody on here explain to me why he is so good? I can sort of see why but I'd like some expert opinion on this.

[the]

BEST DJ VEKKED 2015 DMC WORLD CHAMPION!!!  WHY??

Because he was deemed to be the best competitor by the judges?

Is the routine in the video the routine he won with? I somehow think it wasn't as he's using a third deck and a keyboard.

What goes into a routine is very different in the post-Serato world, can't say I'm a fan but that's just personal preference.

[Better Midlands]

Im no expert but I'd imagine it's a combination of great technique, rhythmically spot on, very musical and plenty of variety with his scratches.

[momatt]

What goes into a routine is very different in the post-Serato world, can't say I'm a fan but that's just personal preference.

Yeah, I try not to be a real-vinyl snob, but I do prefer the old days of the competition.
I think at the moment,when it's largely button-mashing with a variety of different gadgets it's harder to see what the DJ is actually doing.  You know where you are with two turntables and a mixer. (even if it's often two quick to properly follow).  Plus the limitations made the crazy innovations all the more impressive.  That and the DJ would also have to be a crate-digger to some extent, not just being good at Googling sound effects.

At the moment it's not worse, but it is very different.

[Better Midlands]

Yeah, I try not to be a real-vinyl snob, but I do prefer the old days of the competition.
I think at the moment,when it's largely button-mashing with a variety of different gadgets it's harder to see what the DJ is actually doing.  You know where you are with two turntables and a mixer. (even if it's often two quick to properly follow).  Plus the limitations made the crazy innovations all the more impressive.  That and the DJ would also have to be a crate-digger to some extent, not just being good at Googling sound effects.

At the moment it's not worse, but it is very different.

I agree with both of you, I'm not especially into turntabilism - you might enjoy this guy rocking two 1200's and a box of 7"s

https://youtu.be/UXNE-POJBGI

[momatt]

Because he was deemed to be the best competitor by the judges?

Is the routine in the video the routine he won with? I somehow think it wasn't as he's using a third deck and a keyboard.

Yeah, I doubt it, but I'm not entirely sure what the rules/limitations are these days.
I think the keyboard is being used to control the pitch of the turntable (Vestax - Controller One), which you rarely see as it's not usually possible.
Still, really nice musical routine.

[kngen]

Im no expert but I'd imagine it's a combination of great technique, rhythmically spot on, very musical and plenty of variety with his scratches.

Yeah, he showcases about a dozen different techniques incredibly cleanly before he even brings the 3rd deck into it. All the bells and whistles seem to be in service of an entertaining routine, but there's nothing there to suggest that, if you were to give him two 1200s, a crackly Vestax and two copies of Lesson 1, he'd be anything less than pretty fucking amazing.

[monkfromhavana]

I agree with both of you, I'm not especially into turntabilism - you might enjoy this guy rocking two 1200's and a box of 7"s

https://youtu.be/UXNE-POJBGI

The legend that is Mark N. Absolutely fantastic DJ and maker (as part of Nasenbluten) of some of the world's finest lo-fi gabba.

His comments when a video of DJ David's winning set from 1991 became popular a few years back always made me laugh, and introduced me to the phrase "Dutch ruddering". I have no idea what it means, but it just sounds funny.

[kngen]

The legend that is Mark N. Absolutely fantastic DJ and maker (as part of Nasenbluten) of some of the world's finest lo-fi gabba.

Ah, no way! I've watched that before, and somehow never made the connection that it was Newlands. I've got a video somewhere (unfortunately an actual VHS) of him DJing a Gabber set, but turntablist style. I could be wrong but I don't think he did that too often (not surprisingly, as it looks fucking exhausting, crabbing the crossfade at 240bpm).

Oh fuck, here it is!

[the]

Serato

This has made me wonder whether DMC have a non-vinyl-emulation category in the competition? If not, I'm sure there'd be interest.

Mark N

Mark Newlands is an interesting guy, at times he has put himself across as something of a misanthropist who's only interested in cold funkless industrial stomp, but he clearly adores breaks and is a fucking great scratch DJ to boot.

Fun Mark N interview segment

Hearing Nasenbluten stuff was the first (and only) time I understood that there was value in gabba, the gritty textures and hip hop build-ups are smashing. (Of course once it drops I tend to get bored, but then I was the same with jump-up DnB. The chopping and the build-up is the best bit.)


Back to DMC matters - something that's frustrating is, when you dig out old taped DMC routines on Youtube, the impact of of them is always squashed by the lifeless echoey sound mix (and not helped that a lot of them are rubbish 240p encodes too). Roc Raida's 1996 routine is exhilarating for example, but if you try and show it to someone it's totally flattened by the aesthetics of the audio and video.

[kngen]

Mark Newlands is an interesting guy, at times he has put himself across as something of a misanthropist who's only interested in cold funkless industrial stomp, but he clearly adores breaks and is a fucking great scratch DJ to boot.

Fun Mark N interview segment

To be fair, most folk from Newcastle, NSW, have that misanthropist streak but turn out to be decent blokes (in the local parlance) - it's that kind of place. It's funny how he mentions Scotland being the first place they played overseas - I'm pretty sure it was Greenock, which - somehow - had Scotland's first gabber night. There's probably a thesis to be written on how two decaying, post-industrial satellite towns on opposite ends of the world can come together in that manner.

Back to DMC matters - something that's frustrating is, when you dig out old taped DMC routines on Youtube, the impact of of them is always squashed by the lifeless echoey sound mix (and not helped that a lot of them are rubbish 240p encodes too). Roc Raida's 1996 routine is exhilarating for example, but if you try and show it to someone it's totally flattened by the aesthetics of the audio and video.

Not as bad as the ones from the late 80s/early 90s with all the bloody whistles. Thirty quid for 'Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!' any time a DJ did anything remotely interesting.

[momatt]

Back to DMC matters - something that's frustrating is, when you dig out old taped DMC routines on Youtube, the impact of of them is always squashed by the lifeless echoey sound mix (and not helped that a lot of them are rubbish 240p encodes too). Roc Raida's 1996 routine is exhilarating for example, but if you try and show it to someone it's totally flattened by the aesthetics of the audio and video.

Yes, I remember being really fucked off with the quality of those.  Paying £20-30 for really shitty camera work and quality (even for a VHS) and audio  that sounded like it was being recorded with a microphone inside a dustbin at the back of the room.
A direct audio recording was impossible for them for some reason.

Then Tony Prince and Cutmaster Swift shouting over it all like bell-ends.

[petercussing]

I know Vekked and he's come over to me and my chums-es open deck scratch jam, super scratch sunday, several times and indeed a few days after winning the world finals and i am also a turntabling man from since 1996 year. He's a lovely bloke.

This set is when he won the online dmcs, from which he won passage to the dmc worlds and won that.

The online dmc is video submission category in which you can incorporate other instruments and stuff and has much looser rules, which are more appropriate for these here modern times. In the dmc worlds he had to record the pitched bit he does with the keyboard (on a pdx 3000 not a c1 btw) into sections to be able to perform it as you are limited to the 2 deck one rane 62 mixer set up.

The sega bit is ace and the tune that he cuts over was in itself entirely made by him so that whole section is essentially a song done by him.

Also, his juggles are really tight and he extends the use of the effects in a creative way that is incorporated into the juggle and scratching well. He's a great scratcher too and does loads of new school and old school cuts really well, including faderless techniques that i like to think me doing loads when he visited encouraged him to do, but probably didn't lulzzzzzzzzzzz.  He also does a juggle of just some rocking guitars instead of a whole track in a very creative way that goes into a great scratch routine. The sega bit on the end is a great end point.

I do kind of prefer the vinyl sets, as mentioned up thread, it does force people to be super creative and you don't get away with skips like with timecode, but i really dont care that much as both have awesome stuff about them. Timecode vinyl has gone in all sorts of directions such as syntablism which people use the sine wave encoded vinyl to control synths and turn there decks into synth controllers, and the mixer is just a midi device you can reprogramme the parameters to be able to controls stuff too. It's defo not just button pushing, though that is rife these days and can be Hella boring. See Kypski and Sirkut for that stuff.

He's an example from my good mate who won the idas uks in 2016 where he's essentially creating sample based tracks on the fly by triggering and cutting up the samples in real time, drumming ans such, in an awesome way which is way above button pushing (though he is pushing some buttons, ooooh)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnU0tHknoX0

Brace, who's Vekked's buddy and fresherthan crew member did a good set too the year after, it has good use of the fretless fader which is a mixer that's had the up faders replaced with a midi slider for the fader to go on so you don't have to take your hand off the fader to pitch it and he uses a wah with it. THe dude does have a controller one in this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44F0d2CbjM0&list=RDNnRVmiqm84k&index=2


My chum Jon 1sts, aka famous Jon, set is great too from a couple years prior. He's doing great stuff with Shield at the mo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYKGgktOL_M

plus he also did the ace Dj Vadim live remix, which is button pushy but in the best way

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqIBoxs2u7U

Amusingly Vekked really hated Doppelkorn who used to post on here and beefed with him in a funny way as dopp used to give him grief loads for being bro-ish on a forum. When i got a record sent over by him he instructed me to punch Dopp in the dick via a message written on it.

Anyway, if anyone here likes turntablism and scratching and fun then there are a couple of great events, community scratch games in galway each easter and community scratch bbq in Brighton on every august bank holiday which are much more interesting that comps and have far more interesting use of decks (and i may play) and are super fun. It's a real community feel, and we welcome everyone with open arms. They are basically the home of best turntablism and scratchers around and Birghton is becoming a bit of a global mecca from scratching. Vive la Scratchlords, NOZL, Nause Corp, Oslo Flow, Cut n paste records, Super Sratch sunday, up2scratch, Scratch link up and all my buddies.

[hummingofevil]

Scratch will always be this to me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qo3EwozH0Y

[Ferris]

I spent my English A level sitting at the back and talking to a future world DMC champion about old doctor who episodes.*

So there you go.

_{*he was a fellow student at the time, before any funny business is insinuated}

[mrfridge]

My chum Jon 1sts, aka famous Jon, set is great too from a couple years prior. He's doing great stuff with Shield at the mo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYKGgktOL_M

plus he also did the ace Dj Vadim live remix, which is button pushy but in the best way

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqIBoxs2u7U

He's fucking brilliant, thanks for sharing :)

[phes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnRVmiqm84k&list=RDNnRVmiqm84k&start_radio=1

Here's a guy killing it on the turntables a few years ago.

Can anybody on here explain to me why he is so good? I can sort of see why but I'd like some expert opinion on this.

I'm with dopplekorn on this one. What a punchable face. Was hoping a cartoon 10T weight would land on his head.
And what's with the totally shit phrases DJ's always choose to scratch

N N N N N N NEXT LEVEL!???

More like NEXT VIDEO >> am I rite lads etc

I am of course just hugely bitter as I dj'ed for over a decade but gave up on the idea of being a scratch dj almost immediately due to being awful at it

[petercussing]

^^ Hey you scamp, he's a really nice guy, he's canadian for cripes sake!

Well that next level bit he's retriggering the sample and pitching it with his hand with the effect like he's scratching it which is something people hadn't done in vids really and the whole vid is of much higher quality than most sets in recent times which have been based round having highly pre-sequenced sets where they do kind of fake beet juggling where they just go from side to side cutting in the sequences, so it's apt, plus it sounds good in the build up if you just listen to it as a piece  of music, so it's you who is who's the sausage, I say!

He's fucking brilliant, thanks for sharing :)

Cool, glad you like it. Check out his stufff with shield that's all over youtube. He's great live doing normal dj sets and his sets with shield doing their tunes are mint live. Here's an interview with him https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_5ZOBe5-_w

My mate Dubbadutch is the dj in Dat Brass who seem to be being popular now too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyocOvpKbpI

Here a vid about the tenth community scratch bbq too that's good, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cH-RSje73ao

plus some guys who are perform there or run it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHpw3FsM3Jw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHpw3FsM3Jw p

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPyOMpMcJw8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jk100C9AVcM

[monkfromhavana]

Scratch will always be this to me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qo3EwozH0Y

I've always loved that scene. The way the camera moves through the estate.

[petercussing]

^^^ Oh yeah, i meant to say, that scene really made me want to do scratch djing and influenced lots of french djs

[monkfromhavana]

This was meant to be pretty influential in the mid 80s (so I remember some documentary telling me)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPTHjZ6JYIU

Anyway, God bless Grand Wizard Theodore's mum for telling him to turn the music down.