Photo by Jeremy Noble

By Steven Ratz, Jr. 

         It was history in the making. The date was Wednesday, March 7th, 2001. The setting was the stately Frank Lloyd Wright designed Gammage Auditorium at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona. It was filled to capacity with over 3000 in attendance to witness the world premier of Concerto for Turntable, first movement.
        
          The symphony orchestra was in position. A figure wearing a black tuxedo, with a bright red Technics record bag slung from his shoulder, made his way toward the center-front of the stage, toward his instrument. The musician is known as DJ Radar, and his instrument was a single Vestax PDX-2000 turntable and 07 Pro ISP mixer.                
       
              The historic performance of the all-scratch composition, called Antimatter, is the result of a revolutionary method that Radar had developed, along with composer Raul Yanez, to record scratching and other turntable movements on paper, like sheet music. It is based on their application of the classical staff system (musical notes) such as used for every traditional instrument.
      
              The visionary Radar, otherwise known as Jason Bellmont, wanted to use his method to prove that the turntable is a legitimate instrument, just like any other. He explained, "I approached Raul about writing an orchestra piece. I wanted to have the turntable in an orchestra. Raul said if you want to do an orchestra piece, you've got to have melody. Orchestras are melodically based. So we worked for months, seeing how we're going to write the string parts around the turntable."
       
          To Radar, the thought of scratching and turntablism had always related musically to other instruments. "Even when I started scratching, when I would hear people scratch, it would always be rhythms that I would be hearing. It was always like 16th notes, and 8th notes. It was like a drum. I would just remember that rhythmic pattern. So I always thought of it musically," he revealed. 
       
                 The Vestax turntable was chosen for the orchestra piece, because of its unique characteristics, not shared by any other. "It had the range that I needed to make it a melodic instrument. With the Technics, I only had about a three note range. And we figured out immediately that we couldn't write any string arrangements with a three note range. It would have a 'Mary Had a Little Lamb' type of sound. So I found this turntable while I was in Tokyo, and I told Raul that with this turntable, I have an octave and a half now. I have all these notes to work with. So he started expanding the string parts, and it worked," said Radar.
         
            The exciting aspect of applying the classical staff system to the turntable is its versatility. "It doesn't have to be an orchestra. We can take this first movement and make it a Jazz piece. We can just take the bass lines and the string parts, and make it applicable for guitar. You just transpose it over, it's real simple. That's the cool thing about music, it's a universal language," Radar exclaimed.
         
           Radar challenges DJs to go back to the basics, in order to take turntablism further. "The art has gotten really advanced, but we have never taken the time to learn to make music for our instrument. In the past 25 years, there's hundreds of techniques now, but we've never documented them in a written format. I'm saying, if we just go back and learn how to write for this instrument, we can take it to a higher level. That's what composition does, it takes it to a whole different level, because your brain can only remember so much. The thing is, when you write musical notation, it frees your mind, and it allows you to improv even more."
       
              Currently, Radar is working with Yanez, completing the second and third movements of the Concerto for Turntable, possibly incorporating an entire section of turntables, such as a quartet, into the orchestra. Word is definitely spreading about his efforts as well. "Now that ASU has taken it seriously, there are a lot of orchestras that have contacted us and want to do it. We have plans of doing a whole mini-tour. That's the next step," Radar said. He has also been nominated as the world's first Concert Turntablist, which he said is quite an honor.
        
                 The trailblazing Radar is just getting started. Radar's legacy will be that, at the very least, he is helping to establish DJs as legitimate musicians, and proving that the turntable is indeed a legitimate instrument. Also, there's never been a written history of this artform, which will certainly change now. So far, Radar is offering a glimpse into the potential of writing scores to integrate turntables with traditional instruments. He is a true musical artist, who's mastered his instrument, is aware of the history and theory of the art, and is actively doing his part to move it forward.

After the concert, Radar (left) posed with Bombshelter partner, DJ Z-Trip

Radar would like to give credit to those who helped him realize his dream: Eddie Amador, Pete Salaz, his partners in the Bombshelter DJs Emile and Z-Trip, Raul Yanez, Joel Brown, and Kevin Stoller. Check out http://www.djradar.com