If there’s one big new trend in the DJ world in 2016, it has been the rise of portablism. This is the art of cutting and scratching with portable turntables. The use of easily transportable gear means that portablists can perform almost anywhere they want, often leaving DJ booths and nightclubs for more exciting locations. See portablism in action and learn the tools of the trade in today’s article.
The header image is a screenshot from this YouTube video, “Skratcher TV”, featuring in-car scratching from Wundrkut, Mike MSA & Paul Skratch.
Portabalism In Action
There’s a movement that’s bringing turntablism out of the darkness – literally – and into daylight settings. Busking with 45s or cutting it up in a car with your friends are great ways to practice fader skills in a lower pressure environment than when playing a gig.
Portablism is the practice of DJing (most commonly in a turntablism-style fashion) with easily transportable gear.
Portablism has become possible because of a unique type of product that has appeared in the last two years: pocket / portable faders (more on these below). They allow DJs to have crossfader control over audio without any other controls. No mixer needed.
It’s the natural follow-up to turntablism and controllerism, but with a specific focus on enjoying the creative adventure of practicing a craft in a new and unique places. A great example is in the above new video via DJ City (part of the cleverly-named “Off The Beat and Path” series).
But not every portablist set is a huge production with drones and gasoline generators. Sessions are more often shared on Instagram, which lends itself to more on-the-fly videos of performers:
Portablist Tools Of The Trade
What makes portablism different from turntablism is the type of gear used. You can’t lug a heavy Technics SL-1200 in your backpack, and a full-sized mixer is unnecessary for most.
Here’s the gear that we’ve seen used (this list might not be complete, so feel free to share your additions in the article comments):
- Portable Turntables: They weigh much less than any typical DJ turntable, are battery-powered, and usually belt-driven. The most common ones used by portablists are the Vestax Handy Trax (~$350, discontinued but are still sold online) and the Numark PT01USB ($99). Older retro gear also can work well – like the below Columbia GP-3:
- Pocket Faders: These are the devices that have made portablism possible. Before pocket faders, there wasn’t a truly portable solution for cutting audio in and out on the fly. The first one we saw on the market was the Frisk Fader, which simply cut audio in and out from a single source with two 1/8″ jacks – one for the input and one for the output.There are a few other competitors out now, including the Raiden Fader, Jesse Dean’s JDDX2R, and even the wireless Mixfader (a Bluetooth option for use with an iPhone app). Watch the Raiden Fader VVT-MK1 in the video below:
Many portablists will mount their crossfader directly on their turntable with heavy-duty adhesive. DJ Woody came up with an even crazier idea – a mount for the pitch fader:
- Scratch Records: These are already a tool of the trade in the turntablism world, but often portablists will want 7″ records to cut with instead of full-sized 12″ records. In recent years, a lot more of these have popped up. Check out some from Texas Scratch League, Ritchie Ruftone, and of course Qbert’s Thud Rumble.Watch Ritchie cut it up on his own 7″ release below:
What do you think the future of portablism could look like?
Share your thoughts in the comments below.
[…] ossia il praticare DJing con attrezzatura di facile trasporto. Sul sito web DJTechTools è uscito un piacevole articolo che riguarda questo fenomeno, e probabilmente l’estate è il […]
[…] tulisan yang gak disengaja inih. semoga bermanfaat […]
[…] Portablism is making waves, with more DJs delivering scratch routines in the wild. While some companies have already created equipment that has been co-opted by the portablism movement, there hasn’t been very much gear made just for this audience – until now. Introducing the PTO1 Scratch turntable from Numark. The new turntable is the only all-in-one solution featuring a mini-speaker and crossfader built-in. […]
[…] Portablism is making waves, with more DJs delivering scratch routines in the wild. While some companies have already created equipment that has been co-opted by the portablism movement, there hasn’t been very much gear made just for this audience – until now. Introducing the PTO1 Scratch turntable from Numark. The new turntable is the only all-in-one solution featuring a mini-speaker and crossfader built-in. […]
I use rasteri’s nanofader board with a vestax pcv fader its the shit fuck all the portable faders mod a real fader into it shits all over these crappy ripoff faders like raiden
Kiaora World, here from New Zealand were embracing Portablism most difficult is finding Tables our location in the pacific doesnt help any, im scratching on a cheap cash coverters turntable (still powered by mains il mod it somehow) for now good fun gotta a few vids on my IG @DJPOROUFESSOR #djporoufessor good fun and has taken me back to basics hand control x
[…] ossia il praticare DJing con attrezzatura di facile trasporto. Sul sito web DJTechTools è uscito un piacevole articolo che riguarda questo fenomeno, e probabilmente l’estate è il […]
Fad
my boy Brian is all about this..
https://www.facebook.com/bholka/videos/10208728384741098/
Cut & Paste Records doing some dope 7″ scratch records too 🙂
I’m really curious as to how the stylus is weighted enough for these dudes to be bouncing their knees and scratching without it flying everywhere. Better be 180g vinyl, too…
[…] post What Is Portablism? 2016 Is The Year Of The Portable Turntable DJ appeared first on DJ […]
great article, just wanted to let you guys know in case you overlooked it bu tyou’re missing the T in Ritchie
Thanks for the note, I’ve fixed it!
It would be great if the industry didn’t try raping all the DJs that wanted to join the portable turntable move by charging steep prices for 7″ vinyl and only releasing a limited number of copies. I know it’s their market tactic but I feel like its doing more damage than good. I personally own the handy trax and a few 7″ vinyl but I’ve lost interest because the of small number of 7″ scratch records available. By doing so, I think the portable scratch industry really shot itself in the foot.
I wonder if this has to do with the costs associated with doing a small run of 7″ vinyl. Physical media starts to make money when you do large volume, but I know many bands that have put out 7″s and been lucky to break even..
But also one could cut larger ones into small with some heat and scissors…
I can’t speak for the other companies mentioned but…
A) pressing a 7″ costs the same as a 12″. It’s the process that’s expensive not the materials.
B)consider the cost of the disposable things you buy vs. A record (and tool) you will have forever – are the records that expensive ?. E.g. a McDonald’s meal is £6 and a record is £10.
C) the companies listed are independent and use all money made from records to fund future projects, hence limited runs are the only affordable way to go. On top of that catering for a niche within a niche means careful planning for realeases. It’s pretty cynical to think it’s a marketing technique for the small independents..
Your point would make sense if it was this time last year but compare last year to now and it’s a completely different story.
Ik dj rig?
For me, Mixfader is the best fader for portablism ! Killin’ the game !