First DJ scratch on record?

Yemsky

Member
Nov 2, 2003
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Hello

Can somebody please confirm what is considered the first record to contain the sound of a DJ scratching.

I was just listening to The Men In The Glass Booth compilation on BBE and was surprised to hear this sound on a 1979 (?) remix by Bobby DJ Guttadaro. This was obviously not a commercial release at the time, but still...

https://youtu.be/jrv9AKZtrk8
 


finelikewine said:

Isn't this the regular 12" version?




I think you are right.
Not everything on that compilation is an acetate.
So it would 1979 for shure.
finelikewine said:Interesting nonetheless.
It is, isn't it?
What do the historians say?

 


Mek_Jagger said:

where's the scratch? the noise at the intro is a percussion sound no?

I guess Yemsky is referring to the sound at around 0:30. I don't think it is a scratch, more like a sound made by a bass guitar.
 


Mek_Jagger said:

where's the scratch?



The four rhythmic sounds on the beat which occur between 0:20 and 0:36.
I'd be surprised if this was a percussion instrument or the bass...
 
I'm with finelikewine - definitely not a scratch but i don't think it's a bass either. sounds like someone beating a percussion instrument. actually sounds like a bodhran but i doubt it's that. it's gotta be some type of hand drum that allows you to manipulate the pitch that gives it the descending tone you hear after the quick rhythmic part.
 
According to Bill Brewster's & Frank Broughton's "Last Night A DJ Saved My Life" the first scratch on record was in Malcolm McLarens's "Buffallo Girls" in 1982, quickly followed by "The Adventures Of Grandmaster Flash On The Wheels Of Steel" and Herbie Hancock's "Rockit".
 
Sounds like scratching but i don't think early scratches sounded that clean.
I think it's percussion. Maybe a filter/compressor/gate or something.