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The Art of Scratching
D.J. Swamp Gives Berklee's First Turntable Clinic
By Tim Lyons
March 24, 2000
Car horns, cartoon voices, and kick drums. These are just a few of the seemingly limitless array of sounds D.J. Swamp coaxed out of his turntables during his visit to Berklee in mid-February. Drawing from his huge library of 12-inch vinyl, Swamp concocted grooves from samples he's created over the years, borrowing from Japanimation sound bites, '60s Motown bass and drum grooves, and heavy metal guitar riffs.
The first D.J. ever to give a clinic at Berklee, Swamp visited campus a few hours before a Saturday night performance with Beck at Boston's Orpheum Theater. At his Fenway recital hall clinic, Swamp kept the standing-room-only crowd energized with his innovative approach to remixing and scratching. The highlight of the session was a seven-minute off-the-cuff performance, during which Swamp showed off his beat-juggling and scratching chops. The scratcher spinkled humor throughout his improvisation, surprising the crowd at one point with a medley of classic rock guitar riffs that he produced by dropping the needle over one guitar chord and varying its pitch by changing the revolution speed of the record.
Swamp grew up in the suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio, and began his forays into D.J.-dom at age 15, when he bought his first turntable. With the acquisition of a second a few months later, Swamp began making mix tapes for college radio stations, creating his own remixes, as well as producing and performing on several recording projects with rap groups throughout the Cleveland area.
He spent the majority of the late 1980s and '90s in his home studio, crafting new mixes and brushing up on his scratching skills, and playing small club dates with dozens of groups. In those days, Swamp sometimes signed contracts for gigs as a dancer since the term "turntablist" was not officially recognized by the musicians union at that time.
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| Berklee Music Production and Engineering Professor Steve Webber (left) set up the clinic with D.J. Swamp. |
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| Photos by Tim Lyons |
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The turntablist took his first steps into the spotlight when he entered the DMC National D.J. Championship "just to be on the videotape," and because he was confident he "wouldn't be the worst guy out there." In the end, Swamp scratched his way to first prize in the competition, earning the right to participate in the DMC World Competition in Italy.
The video of Swamp's performance at the World Championships eventually found its way into the hands of Grammy-award-winning recording artist Beck, who later invited Swamp to join him on his world tour. It was a rise to fame that occurred almost overnight. "One month I was driving a street sweeper, then next month I was on TV with Beck at the Grammys," says Swamp. "I quit the street sweeper job after that."
Although his new high-profile gig pushed Swamp into a higher tax bracket, he didn't allow himself to become complacent. Between tour dates with Beck, he has produced a large number of remixes and new tracks and loaned his scratching skills to several recordings, including projects by Crystal Method, Cool Keith, Chris Rock, Save Ferris, and Hanson. Traveling with a Pro-Tools-equipped PowerBook, Swamp is able to sample, scratch, mix, and edit from anywhere in the world, the ramifications of which he says have "changed [his] life."
In the coming months, D.J. Swamp will continue touring the world with Beck, visiting Germany, Spain, Italy, and elsewhere before returning to the U.S. in the late summer. He also plans to complete his first solo record by the end of the year. After giving Berklee students a sneak-peak of one of the album's yet-unfinished tracks, Swamp reminded them of the importance of perseverance in their burgeoning careers: "You've gotta work, it's not just going to come to you, it doesn't really work that way. You've gotta do the work."
Tim Lyons is division technical coordinator in Berklee's Office of Institutional Advancement and guitarist/bassist in the Boston-based pop/rock/soul band Dr. Awkward.
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