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DJ history has been made interactive and fun by making use of flash and so
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| 1806 English physician and naturalist Thomas Young, records vibrations of a tuning fork on a rotating drum covered with wax. There was no way at the time to play this recording back. 1857 The phonoautograph is developed by French Researcher Leon Scott de Martinville. The device translates air pressure fluctuations caused by sound into a wavy line on a sooty surface by means of a large horn, a diaphragm and a pig's hair. This transcript, recorded on a rotating cylinder, is, however, unable to replay sound. |
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1877
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| 1887
An improved rival phonograph is invented by Chichester Bell and Charles Tainter at the Volta laboratories they call the machine the "Graphophone" and utilise a wax coated cylinder incised with vertical-cut grooves. |
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1919
The Invention of the Theremin was invented by Leon Theremin (Lev Sergeivitch Termen).The Theremin is considered the predecessor to the Moog Synthesizer. It is unique in that it is the first musical instrument that can be played without being touched. |
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| 1920 Electrical amplification (the microphone) was introduced. This invention forced engineers to re-design reproducers. The Victor Company's answer to this revolution in sound was the Orthophonic Sound Box, which was very sensitive to high and low frequencies. |
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1931
EMI researcher Alan Dower Blumlein invents Stereophonic Sound for recording. "Blumlein led an extraordinary life in which his inventive output rate easily surpassed that of Edison, but whose early death during the darkest days of World War Two led to a shroud of secrecy which has covered his life and achievements ever since. His 1931 Patent for a Binaural Recording system was so revolutionary that most of his contemporaries regarded it at as more than 20 years ahead of its time. Among his 128 Patents are the principle electronic circuits critical to the development of the world's first electronic television system." extract from by Robert Charles Alexander |
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| 1939 The invention of Magnetic tape first used by the Germans to play back the sound of Adolph Hitler in different cities around Germany. This was supposed to confuse the enemy as to where he was at any point in time. John Cage composes imaginary Landscape #1: the first piece to use electronic reproduction. The piece was performed on variable-speed tape machines with RCA test tones and other sounds. |
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1940
The first DJs emerge as entertainers for troops overseas. During WWII, persons armed with a turntable, an armful of records, and a basic amplifier would entertain troops in mess halls, spinning Glen Miller, the Andrews sisters, and Benny Goodman. It was much easier than sending an entire band overseas. 1949 RCA Victor introduce the 7-inch 45 rpm micro-groove vinyl single and compatible turn table. |
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1949 |
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1969
Kool Herc considered to be the first hip-hop DJ develops "Cutting Breaks." Kool Herc adapted his style by chanting over the instrumental or percussion sections of the day's popular songs. Because these breaks were relatively short, he learned to extend them indefinitely by using an audio mixer and two identical records in which he continuously replaced the desired segment. By using two identical records and playing the break over and over switching from one deck to the other. Hip hop derived from "hip hoppin" on the turntable. "Toasting" begins in dance halls - considered to be a direct link to rap music. Technics introduced the Direct Drive System, SP-10 |
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| 1970 Technics released the original SL-1200 as a hi-fi turntable.It is unclear who actually invented the Technics turntable. Apparently it was 2 Technics & Panasonic engineers that were working in Europe at the time. |
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1971
Hutter, Florian Schneider & Co. form Kraftwerk - the first electronic band. Kraftwerk were quite simply revolutionary's because they built there own equipment and so created there own distinctive sound. To hear other Kraftwerk tunes visit www.kraftwerk.com |
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| 1975
Grand Wizard Theodore discovers the scratch. The story behind the scratch is an invention of accident aparently he was mixing away in his bedroom making far to much noise and his mum called up and said turn it off or stop the music and instead of stoping the record with the stop button he used his hand instead and it made a nice sound. He then came back to the turntables and experimented with pulling the record back and forth across the needle. And so gave birth to the scratch. |
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1979 Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight" is released. While they didn't really utilize the skills of a DJ, this song had a profound influence on the sound of commercial hip-hop during the early 1980's. |
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| 1980
While playing at a club called the Warehouse, DJ Frankie Knuckles lays down drum machine-generated 4/4 beats on top of soul and disco tunes. 12" disco records that included long percussion breaks (ideal for mixing) contribute to the emergence of House Music |
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1980 Roland introduces the TB-303 bassline machine and the TR-808 drum machine which allows DJs to lay 4/4 drum beats over soul and disco tunes whilst cutting in and out to create a new mixed sound. |
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| 1982 Grandmaster Flash's 1982 single "The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel" was Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five's first record to demonstrate hip-hop deejaying skills. This record also helped to popularise the scratch sound. |
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1982 Afrika Bambaata's "Planet Rock" samples Kraftwerk and creates electro. Afrika Bambaata's influence was massive as they had a new sound that was very distinctive and original. Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five's "The Message" becomes a hit. "The Message" is seen by many as the first serious rap record. |
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| 1986 First affordable samplers (Akai s900) hit the market, which enable musicians to capture and manipulate existing sounds. Other Hip-hop DJs in New York begin to use the spinback capabilities of the Technics 1200 turntable for "scratching", and to extend grooves and "breaks" by cutting back and forth between 2 copies of the same record as first exhibited by Grandmaster Flash. |
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1987 The DMC (Disco Mix Club) holds its first annual DJ Competition. This is run by technics and is a massive achievement for any dj to win this competition. The competition has been getting stronger and stronger over the years with the development of new ideas and mixing techniques. This competition needs to be scene to be believed as there is little or no Disco and lots of extreme hip hop turntablism. |
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| 1988
Hip Hop was then popularised by informas rap artists like ICET, Public Enemy, NWA and RUN DMC. The music at this time exploaded in the USA and the UK and in parts of europe. The contraversy surrounding the groups lyrics only helped to sell more copies and inspire other hip hop acts. 1989 De La Soul make a landmark album "3ft high and rising" which breaks nearly all production rules and quite simply redefines what hip hop can be. The genius behind the album was now very well known hip hop producer Prince Paul. |
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1989 The rave scene came out of Acid House and became so big that promoters came up with the idea of putting on huge events in the countryside outside London - events that held thousands of people and went on all night. Police tried to close them down due to public safety issues and because of the amount of drugs that were being taken at these (peaceful Non violent) events.The Prodigy help popularize rave music and break beat and also manage to gain a large American audience. In 1993 the Criminal justice bill was rushed through parliment allowing police to seize any and all equipment at these events. This is an infringement on human rights that has still not been lifted in the UK! |
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| 1991 Scratch DJ Innovator/Perfectionist DJ QBert gains worldwide attention at the DMC. 1992 DJ Flare introduces the "Flare" scratch. 92' also marks the year of the first scratch / battle record that was designed for ease of kutting and tricks because of the samples being on beat one after the other. It was called "Battlebreaks". The idea was then given to Darth Fader and the rest is history. Mixmaster mike follows his career with the beastie boys. 1995 In a DMC competition Qbert and Mix Master Mike retire from the DMC to become judges and enter a new challenge, the creation of music with turntables. |
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1996
The I.T.F. (International Turntablist Federation) holds it's first world champioinship competitions. Showcasing the new era of turntablism, the historic battle at the Rocksteady Reunion between ISP and the X-Men (now called the X-Ececutioners) took place. QBert gets filmed as a starring role in the movie, "Hang the DJ", which gets picked up by Miramax and plays in theatres in Europe, Canada, and the U.S. |
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| 2001
Final scratch from Stanton purchace the world patent from Mark Bastian (N2it company) relating to the use of vinyl on a deck that would relay its position to a computer in real time (low latency) in order to play back audio from your computer. This is given mass acclaim as a great breakthrough in turntablism and DJ-ing, allowing DJs to mix their own music and down load music from the internet and use that in a live set. There have been reports that the vinyl wares out to quickly because you always use the same two coded records. The price of £499.00 or $700.00 is also going to be a deciding factor on weather you purchase this product. |
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2007 Optical DJ is a new device due for release in 2007 by the beuis company. We can not give you all the information as it is top secret. However we have managed to get some information from the inventor that sounds like science fiction! Apparently the needle never skips because the device is using a LASER to track everything you do on a turntable. I wish we could show you this device as it comes with many other innovations in its software as well as the hardware. This device not only promises to be the best dj cartridge in the world but also a device which will change the rules of turntabalism and dj culture by setting new standards. All you need is a 4 output sound card and it will work with windows XP. |
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Thanks to the Internet you to can be apart of history by creating the next level of DJ technology by doing lots and lots of research and investigating new emerging technologies. The way to do this would be to start a degree in music technology or try to gain funding for an investigation into any problems that need solving within this industry. Once you have found a problem you can then start looking for the solution. |
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