Scratch Breakthrough!!

So this is the mixer I had...the Realistic joint made by Radio Shack, as mentioned in the earlier post

as I also mentioned, or maybe I didnt, the crossfaders back in this day were STIFF, and this one in particular had a little notch in the middle of it so you knew that you had the fader exactly in the center.

Above the 2 phono channels, there are SUPER little switches for Phono / Line inputs that I could only grab with my fingertips...more on this in a sec.

Tom Bustos, my OG DJ partner came up DJ'ing with me and had gotten his own set of gear...if memory serves me correct, he had Realistic turntables, but he had a GLI PMX 5000 mixer, which wasnt TOP level, but it was up there...the only picture I could find is a PMX 9000 mixer which i think was GLI's top of the line.

Now, with the GLI mixers, their Line / Phono switches were more like todays...an actual "pole" type switch thats easy to handle.

So one day Tom and I were having our usual DJ session at his house...I would play a tune, then he would mix, like, 4 or 5, then I would get to mix 1...then he would mix 4 or 5...he was a bit of a hog.

I dont remember why, but I started cutting the sound out...like...a "pause" kind of....with the Line switch while a song would play (just cutting out, say, a snare here and there), but then a lightbulb went off about trying to scratch using that switch.

(little did I know, that alot of DJ's were already on to this...i had no idea)

So before I could try this on his GLI, it was time for me to go home..

I must have worked at scratching with my tiny switches for HOURS, because, when I finally figured out the hand / fader (well...switch) coordination, it was 10:30 at night, and I think I got home that day at 4 or 5.

I HAD to call Tom and report my breakthrough...he was sleeping when I called, but I told his mom to wake him up.

"ugherhghem....whats up?"
"DUDE...I LEARNED HOW TO HICCUP!!!"

("hiccup" is what we called Transforming...we thought it sounded like hiccupping)
"cool..show me tomorrow"

So the next day, I grabbed some records and rode my bike to his house and showed him the switches on his mixer.

"youre not supposed to use those for scratching...youre only supposed to use the fader" (this from a guy I had to almost FORCE to use the pitch control...he thought that shouldnt have been messed with either...true story)

"oh yeah? watch this"

diggadiggadigga

"WOAH!! LET ME TRY!!"

and the rest, as they say, is history...I wore my little Realistic switches OUT over the years I had that mixer...I need to find one on ebay with another set of Belt Drive turntables to put in my collection.

Next time, I go into the spots for records.