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DJ Ruthless Ramsey presents his cassette-turntablism skills to students at Scottsdale Community College's Live-Performance DJ Technique's class. |
Disc Jockey 101: When did you first start to get interested in DJ'ing?
- DJ Ramsey: My uncle mixed disco when I was four years old and he would mix on three turntables. He would let me sit on a little stool next to his system and watch. I didn't really start to get interested in becoming a DJ until I saw Jam Master Jay and Mixmaster Ice. Mixmaster Ice wore this cool outfit with three emcees in the front. There were these big monster trucks crushing cars in front of this big crowd. All of a sudden -- with the crowd's backs turned from the DJ -- the jock just started cutting it up on the turntables. It was Mixmaster Ice. The crowd started going crazy. I figured that if he can sit in the back and do that, then I want to do the same thing; because I'm not one to be in the front. That's what spawned me to become a DJ.
- Disc Jockey 101: When was this?
- DJ Ramsey: I would say 1985 or 1986. That's when I first started mixing on my double cassette players. I was around seven years old at the time.
- Disc Jockey 101: So your uncle was showing you how to DJ?
- DJ Ramsey: Yeah, my uncle spun records. He had Technics turntables and was spinning disco. He would play three turntables at once and phase and flange. The difference is that when you play two records at once -- on top of one another -- the song would flange. When you take the EQ and mess with the grounds while the flange is still going, it's called phasing. Phasing nowadays ... it sounds different. It doesn't really sound like an actual phase.
- The definition of phasing -- back when disco DJ's did it -- is when the flange is going, you change the pitch of the flange -- you mess with the EQ -- and switched those knobs by hand.
- Disc Jockey 101: How old are you now?
- DJ Ramsey: 27
- Disc Jockey 101: Besides Jam Master Jay and Mixmaster Ice, who are your other major influences?
- DJ Ramsey: Terminator X (Public Enemy), DJ Maj, DJ Skillz, DJ Knuckles from Fla.vor Alliance.com, Q-Bert, Jazzy Jeff, and Cash Money. In Phoenix, I listen to AL-3.
- Disc Jockey 101: What styles do you play?
- DJ Ramsey: I play gospel-hip hop, R&B, dancehall reggae, house, Latin-house, and trance. I even go into old school. I'm really into B-boy breaks like Afrika Bambaataa, Johnson Crew, and a hand full of others from back in the day. When B-boy'ing was about the style of people and wasn't about violence, it was straight-up 'B-boy'ing.' It was all about the music and not about how hard you are. I'm trying to go back to those exclusive B-boy breaks.
- Disc Jockey 101: How did you get the idea to play on cassette decks?
- DJ Ramsey: I was broke and poor. I couldn't afford turntables. I lived on welfare. My clothes didn't fit me. I wasn't a popular guy. All I had, was this double cassette player in front of me. The thought occurred to me -- well if you can mix with two turntables, why not mix with a double cassette player -- if they're mixed at the same time. The only thing is that this unit didn't have a pitch control -- which was kind of good because it keeps you from doing stupid mixes from odd BPM's. I was seven at the time and would listen to the local mix shows like Hot Mix on KOPA and KZZP. I would record all the mix shows and go back the next morning and concentrate on blend mixing those same mixes on my cassette player. About a year later, I finally got a flange -- from a tape player -- in the same way that a DJ does it with two turntables. I had no idea at the time where that was going to lead.
- Disc Jockey 101: You grew-up in Phoenix?
- DJ Ramsey: I was born in south Minneapolis, Minnesota -- where it's cold. I moved to Phoenix in 1984.
- Disc Jockey 101: To your knowledge, there isn't anyone else that does this, right?
- DJ Ramsey: I've done research from Japan to Europe. If someone else was doing this, it would have eventually been brought to the forefront by now. I would give one person credit for stumbling on to it before he got turntables and that's Mixmaster Mike. I don't know what the year was, but he started rigging his tape players a certain way and -- all of a sudden -- when he got his turntables he just stopped and went straight to wax. I'm not sure whether he was a double or single cassette player and yeah, he kind of stumbled on to the idea. Of course, a lot of DJ's make 'pause' tapes -- when you record a song and then pause the tape and bring-in another song. I just took it to the next level by blending the tapes instead of pausing them. I wanted to blend the music like anyone using turntables.
- I started off with one cassette deck and didn't start using two decks until I was thirteen.
- Disc Jockey 101: Instead of just slamming or cutting tracks, you're able to blend mix with cassette decks?
- DJ Ramsey: Yes, it's a dual cassette player -- on the same boombox with the two taped parts mixed simultaneously. A lot of times when I'm at a party, I would get my songs ready ahead of time so I wouldn't have to do any open cueing. I didn't get a mixer until I was fourteen and then I started working with two double-cassette players instead of one.
- Disc Jockey 101: How are you able to cue on a cassette deck?
- DJ Ramsey: I can relate this to turntablism -- when I took all my records and put tape on them so I could drop the needle like a dime. In this instance, I would label my tapes to know where the song begins. I had to really know all my tapes.
- Disc Jockey 101: How is it that you're able to control the consistency of the volume of incoming and outgoing songs to create such smooth "normalized" sounding blend mixes?
- DJ Ramsey: Well, I now use a crossfader on a mixer. Basically, I manipulate two double cassette deck players exactly like I would manipulate two Technic's turntables. I would cue on a mixer -- just like everyone else.
- I didn't do too many parties when I was young -- so when I was a kid, I was always practicing behind closed doors.
- Disc Jockey 101: What do you call it? Cassette-turntablism? Since it appears that you invented it, do you have a name for it?
- DJ Ramsey: I don't know -- do you all have any ideas? Because I have to work just as hard as everyone else, I have to stay just as clean and practice, practice, practice. I've got to know my music and genres. I don't treat my tape player any differently than a turntable. There are some things I can't do on a tape player versus a turntable. I don't have pitch control on my decks, so I figured out how to do pitch control with my fingers. But that keeps me from doing outrageous mixes that don't go together. I can't spin the platter backwards.
- Disc Jockey 101: Do you look for certain features on a tape player?
- DJ Ramsey: The rollers need to be flat and cone-shaped to grip them with my thumbs. To control the pitch, I need to be able to grip the 'spokes' that stick out. I also need knobs that are easy to manipulate. I would like to get in contact with a tape-deck manufacturer and help them to design a deck -- and have a DJ pitch control option. That would be great!
- Disc Jockey 101: So you're able to scratch and do everything that a turntablist does?
DJ Ramsey: I am able to do scratching, flares, and chirps. I'm working on orbits. I can manually change the pitch to create different tones and get close to doing a crab by putting my thumb on the roller and using the crossfader on the mixer. As far as actual crabs on a tape deck, I just haven't figured that out yet. I can do everything else: drags, earthquakes, glides, transforms, lasers, turntable sounding brakes on the snare or kick-drum.
- Disc Jockey 101: How have other turntablists reacted to your techniques?
- DJ Ramsey: It varies. Some people like it and think that it's cool; while others take offense to it. I'm not here for that reason. I'm here as a speaker box. As DJ's, we've veered away from our roots. At first, we called the shots. We created the music and groove -- so people needed us. Particularly the promoters -- they needed us. The club owners needed us. We didn't need them because we had our own following because we created our own groove.
- From a hip hop sense, we were shoved-up in the ghettos and people didn't care about us. We were confronted with all kinds of negativity like drugs, prostitution, alcohol, and poverty. Hip hop, I believe, was given by god as a means for us to escape that. It said no we're not going to get involved with that negativity and instead get involved with school, make something of ourselves, and get off the streets. So hip hop was a means for us to come together and better ourselves and help each other and keep each other accountable. Now, what we were trying to stay away from, we let into our culture. That's not just for hip hop ... let's go to dance music, same thing. We don't know how to come together and get something done. We're not sending a message to the people anymore, instead, we're getting paid to play records that are supposedly hot -- even if it's poisoning our generation.
- Disc Jockey 101: How have you done in DJ competitions like DMC and Guitar Center?
- DJ Ramsey: It wasn't acceptable right away because it was a "turntable" competition. When the CD decks first entered the contests, DJ Deeko of the Jivin Scientists argued that if a CD was acceptable, why not a cassette deck? It wasn't until a year ago that I actually did win in Phoenix. It really depends on the judges -- even though I don't do it for judges.
- Disc Jockey 101: Isn't the bottom line, it's what comes out of the speakers that matters and whatever means that you employ shouldn't be a factor? But for some DJ's, it is a factor, right?
- DJ Ramsey: Right. Well no one else is doing it and the tape players that I use you can't find anymore. I strongly believe that this was a gift from god.
- Disc Jockey 101: Do you think other DJ's will follow your lead and start to use cassette decks?
- DJ Ramsey: No, because you will have to take the time to learn how to blend two songs and use the roller itself. You have to train yourself on something totally new -- when you already got turntables and CD players. I didn't go public with it until I was fifteen.
- Disc Jockey 101: Do you have a preferred brand of tape?
- DJ Ramsey: Maxell, because it has a see-through (clear) case. I can mark the cassettes -- like putting a sticker on a record. I need to see what I'm looking at. I use TDK for high-performance sound. When I record a vinyl disc or CD on to a cassette tape, I import extra bass and channel everything else on to the EQ to make it sound good quality.
- Disc Jockey 101: What are your future plans?
- DJ Ramsey: All I want to do is raise my daughter, be a better brother to the community, and help out those in the street. I just want to be a better person in society.
- Keen Electronic Music Fans Donate Time And Bandwidth To Largest Web-Radio Site Digitally Imported Radio spawns a cult-like following of die-hard volunteers.
- by Tyler Wright
New York Ari Shohat's Digitally Imported Radio grew from a Binghamton U. dorm room to a Manhattan office with 15,000 to 35,000 people tuned in to www.di.fm at any time. The network is run by a handful of mostly part-time staff, while dozens of electronic music fanatics and DJs program the site's channels on their own time and resources out of loyalty to the cause.
Webcast Metrics, an independent third-party audience measurement platform, recently ranked www.di.fm as the top independent web-radio site. As Ari, a native European, saw the need to share electronic music with Americans his fan base grew, and people offered to help diversify and quickly expand the radio network with more channels. "Listeners write in, wanting to be a part of uniting this large, fragmented culture of electronic-crazed listeners," Ari says. There are also companies and people that donate bandwidth to Digitally Imported Radio so that the music can reach more listeners. "You'd be surprised at how many young CEOs and Executives are addicted to trance and house music," says Ari, 25.
Most major US cities have one to two designated electronic radio stations, which are limited to mainstream electronic favorites. The industry, however, is largely made up of thousands of "bedroom DJs", some of whom also perform at local clubs and program songs to play on www.di.fm. Ari's network of devout DJs around the globe spend their own money building up their collections for play on the network. "As we expose different sub-genres of electronic music DJs are being discovered by labels and other industry giants." Ari says. "Listeners look forward to the live shows on our different channels each day. This leads to people writing in with ideas and requests to help, which fuels our growth and popularity." Digitally Imported Radio has never advertised.
Ari believes his listenership, which is posted on the home page and updated every minute, is high also because the service is free. "Most web radio stations require a monthly fee, or bombard listeners with a lot of advertising and password requirements," Ari says. "This is more of a passion than a high-profit venture, and we're just getting started." This year, Digitally Imported Radio will launch at least five more channels, and begin using Coding Technology's aacPlus format, so higher quality music can play on a much lower bandwidth, allowing dial-up and PDA users to listen to higher quality audio with ease.
www.di.fm
- Industry News
- * The dancefloor featured in the disco-era feature film Saturday Night Fever was sold to a Hollywood memorabilia company from Brooklyn's 2001 Odyssey nightclub. See BBC News
- * WD40 lubricant has been adopted by several Bristol, England barkeepers as a means of stopping cocaine use in their bathrooms. According to the Guardian Unlimited, the lubricant's invisible film absorbs cocaine from bathroom surface areas -- including toilet seats. See Guardian Unlimited
- * Nightclub & Bar Magazine has released its list of the top 100 nightclubs in the United States for 2005. See Nightclub & Bar
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