Tazer Battle Winner / Ox Flare Battle Announced

Tue, 08/19/2014 - 3:20pm
Written by ArtistWorks_Help
Topics: battle, qsu, skratch

qsu battle ox flare

qsu tazer battle badge

We're happy to announce the winner of the Tazer Battle is a dual win between ManOfTheTreeZ and Beha! They each have a special prize being shipped his way and our congrats go out to them! Their winning videos are now linked to the official lesson page so be sure to check them out in the Level 3 Area of the Lessons.

The next battle is on a skratch that Q learned on his recent trip to Germany. It's called the Ox Flare and you can see Q break it down in the latest Welcome video. Basically, it starts with an OG Flare and ends with two Tears coming back. It's a good one to try out different speeds and rhythms, so do some experiments to find your own unique flow. Q also recorded an official lesson for this and put it up in Level 4 so be sure to check it out:

Lessons --> Level 4 --> Ox Flare

The winner of this battle will receive a Special Limited Edition Gold Beedle Record and also have their video featured on the official lesson page until the end of time. The Deadline to submit your 1 minute entry video is Monday, September 8th. Good luck! 

Thoughts on Turntablism by Alex Sonnenfeld

Fri, 08/08/2014 - 3:42pm
Written by Alex Sonnenfeld

Hey what’s up folks - this is Alex Sonnenfeld from Berlin, Germany. Since 2011 I’ve been a Guest Professor at Qbert Skratch University and also have published around 400 tutorials on Turntablism which you can check out on my YouTube channel (Tonspielzeug). I am reaching out to the Turntablism community in hopes that some of you may be interested to work with me on some related upcoming projects.

After 15 years of research and practical training on Turntablism, in 2011 I published Bewegungslehre as a German eBook. I developed this 300 page thesis in order to provide the first musical analysis of Turntablism, based on a written system called “S-Notation” -  which follows the orthographical rules of classical music notation in order to be able to “communicate” with “traditional” musicians outside of Turntablism.

Pic 1: Drum Scratching pattern by D-Styles

drum scratching pattern by d-styles

Qbert's New Album / The Tazer Battle

Tue, 07/15/2014 - 11:42am
Written by ArtistWorks_Help
Topics: battle, qbert, qsu, skratch

dj qbert new album extraterrestria

Greetings to all throughout the skratchosphere! We are very excited about the official release of Qbert's new double album, Extraterrestria / GalaXXXian, which is now available and well worth the wait. This is the first album since 1998's seminal Wave Twisters, Qbert's first concept album which also went on to be an award winning animated film. The new albums are in heavy rotation over here and sound amazing. From the production to the skratching to the concepts and guest appearances... it's got something for everyone - even cameos from past QSU Valedictorians Zeke and IQ

Be sure to pick visit www.djqbert.com and get yourself a copy if you have not already. Also check the tour dates, he may be coming to a city near you!

stewie skratch battle winnerIn Battle News, we want to extend our congratulations to JB Wizardry! This long time student here won the recent Stewie Skratch Battle and is now the recipient of the coveted golden 45. His winning entry is also linked to from the Stewie Skratch Lesson page (Lessons --> Level 2 --> Stewie Skratch) as a demonstration of this unique combo in action. This marks JB's second battle win here, as he also won the Chirp Battle last year

Now, the next battle is on Tazers, which were first showed to Qbert by the world champion DJ Rafik from Germany way back when. Similar to Lazers, Tazers involve flinging the record back and forth with one hand while doing a 2-click motion on the fader much like an OG Flare. Make sense? Don't worry, these little guys are tricky, but the good news is that there's a lesson for that (Lessons --> Level 3 --> Tazers) - so be sure to spend some time practicing it before you record a video on it.

You have until August 4th to enter with a 1 minute video that shows all your Tazer skills… good luck!

Skratch Training Speed Booster by DJ Grotask

Mon, 06/30/2014 - 5:20pm
Written by DJ Grotask

infamous toadman speed booster

The idea for this came in two parts. The first is that I am also an MC and love to kick freestyles over instrumental beats, and the second is the Speed Booster at QSU [Located in the Training Dojo area of the Lessons, the Infamous Toadman plays a beat from Qbert's SP-1200 and increases the tempo by 1 BPM every 4 bars until it reaches twice the original speed. He also dances and smiles for you].

I wanted to combine these two ideas and create my own Speed Booster using some beats that I love to skratch with. So I did, and it really helped with getting some skratch techniques in double and triple time. So, I wanted to share it with rest of the world. If it works for me then it might help others as well! 

 

infamous toadman speed booster

The idea for this came in two parts. The first is that I am also an MC and love to kick freestyles over instrumental beats, and the second is the Speed Booster at QSU [Located in the Training Dojo area of the Lessons, the Infamous Toadman plays a beat from Qbert's SP-1200 and increases the tempo by 1 BPM every 4 bars until it reaches twice the original speed. He also dances and smiles for you].

I wanted to combine these two ideas and create my own Speed Booster using some beats that I love to skratch with. So I did, and it really helped with getting some skratch techniques in double and triple time. So, I wanted to share it with rest of the world. If it works for me then it might help others as well!