Grand Master Flash's "Peek-A-Boo" System

Today's fancy, schmancy mixer has influenced a DJ's cognitive performance, and not in a good way. Features like hot cue buttons and trigger pads, while providing instant access to the sounds you're manipulate during a set, are contributing to the decline of DJ I.Q.. Basic tasks like manually cueing up a sound in your headphones while music is playing on the opposite turntable have become foreign and complicated to many.
Feeling disoriented during the act of rewinding a record to the top of a sound or word is evidence your "DJ senses" aren't as developed as you think. That's the thing about technology. In making things easier, raw problem solving and execution get harder.
#WeTalkinBoutPractice #GrandMasterFlash #PeekABooSystem #RecordCueing

[@headphonetribe]

I am always impressed by your teaching style. You don't talk down to these students or belittle the things they bring up no matter how much they're missing the point and going leftfield. You roll with it. You incorporate what they say and bring them back on focus. My Philosophy Advisor back at Texas A&M was like that. Any idea was an idea worth looking into to him. Dude was a scholar and I was this Undergrad and he always listened to my ideas, my counter-arguments, and opinions like they were worth considering and added to the discussion. Most profs will destroy and dismiss, but not my Phil. Advisor. Before he died I heard students from all over campus were gathering in mass just to hear him talk. And I know its because he listened, he truly listened and then he taught you some shit you werent even thinking. You're like him. And I admire the work you do with the students.

[@djrobswift]

will walkr Damn bro. What you wrote here is humbling. Thank you!

[@cybersoundsintl]

learning to mix with your headphone while you are listening to another external sound requires skill that the new dj's of today don't have. you had to mix the sound in your head which required you to listen in mono. meaning your left ear is listening to one sound and your right ear is listening to another sound and then you had to sync the two sounds in your head before you put the finished sound out for the audience to hear, then you had to ride the pitch control or keep touching the vinyl to keep both vinyl in sync. there was no beat grid. I thinks all new Dj's should learn to mix old school first, to appreciate the skills and to get that feeling of joy/accomplishment, when you master that skills just like mixing to sounds and holding it to the end. When I learned to mix in the headphones and learn to mix two sounds, man you couldn't tell me nothing, I was on top of the world. But what i like about the new technology when it comes to mixing, it saves my ear, cause back in the day playing in the clubs, it would go like this, early in the club , the volume is at a low level, headphones and monitor in the booth is low, as the night progress, every volume in the club start elevating. The front of house, the monitor in the booth because the front of house got turned up, and of course you got to turn up the headphones over the monitor. in the end you are tearing up your ear. so the new technology does have some perks. i don't have to carry loads of vinyl any more, i don't need headphones any more, but I still carry them, (Habit) i can look at my screen and mix. I would never appreciate this new style of playing if I did not learn old school. Im GLAD you are doing what you are doing and keeping the spirit alive. We can't know where we are going if we don't know where we are from. wetalkinboutpractice.

[@shawngreene1225]

Neil Isaac my guy got a pair of headphones like that. mine aren't mind will either play one or both at the same time. I rarely do both at the same time though. I don't like one song in my left ear and the other in the right. the sound quality is fucking amazing though

[@DJEmirMixtapes]

It's still a fundamental skill that is necessary because you can't really count on the screen to do it all the time you need to be able to hear the difference for yourself as sometimes the visual may stutter under the load of the computer and you often hear it first before you see the stutter because the visuals sometimes take extra computer RAM to run extremely smoothly and it all depends on the size you like to have your waveforms at too some may go faster than others at different settings. Also, it's music, it's supposed to be felt not stared at... The waveforms should help in extreme cases where the monitors sound muddy or the music is either too low or too loud for whatever reason, too many people trying to talk to you etc... But the Cue points are a major move forward in technology that allow for even faster quick mixing, I mean we sort of have the same thing on real vinyl, there are lines where the start of songs or quiet parts are and we could place a sticker on our cue spots just the same to needle drop or as I used to place a sticker in the middle and write 1/2 way to indicate the the cue I'm looking for is approximately half way in the song and precisely starts around when the cue sticker passes the needle... after a while the record will get a little bit of needle burn from using that part of the song over and over and then you would visually see it on the record anyway LOL

[@kevinthebassfelon1304]

@ Neil Isaac...... "Practice, I mean, it's practice. Just practice, Nothing but Practice. Not A Game, But Practice. It's Practice man, I mean c'mon, it's Practice!!" LMGDMFAO @..... A.I. Absolutely Loved the little counter that ESPN put on the corner screen as he's speaking. And, Always Loved The Answer, Always picked him when playing on NBA Live...... Fukkin Cassic. Nice 1 Neil. Nice Reference. Beauty!!! Take Care Man.

[@scripturestalkdj1525]

pencil and paper vs calculator...

[@palomino13]

damn that was awkward.grandmaster package and his bad choice of pants

[@gk111127]

Thank you for letting us watch your teachings - please keep showing them so we all can progress

[@robswift1551]

You're welcome.

[@janjoson3843]

Thats the way I remember Dj's back in the day in my dad's disco. I used to roll with my cousins friend who was a DJ. Warching skills in mixing, blending, scratching was fun.

[@djlexzychuhwak9685]

this lesson changes everything i know about mixing without headphone...thanks you Dj lexzy from Kano, Nigeria

[@scripturestalkdj1525]

9:39... This helped me BIG time with understanding the first scratch lesson I purchased...

[@MrShowbizben]

Whenever my headphones broke on me I used to beatmatch and queue up using the sound from the cartridge. Didn't know there was a history to that technique. Dope vid, I can't believe new guys don't use the headphones for this anymore.

[@dj_mrx4546]

those were the gold ol days

[@djczone1]

All of these lessons are fantastic

[@scripturestalkdj1525]

8:59… those tear scratches are like BREATHING for you…

[@DuckAlertBeats]

So much wrong with this camera angle, specifically because of the...stuff on the right going on with Mr Interesting Replies

[@doctorigorbeats]

Thank you for the lesson

[@cdshawn]

Those three thumbs down are from people who mad that they messing up all them good disco records !

[@dirtyglovekennels616]

So most of you didn't watch The Get Down ... This joke slaps ass

[@Brotherman7]

3:58 you’re a delivery boy, Flash was a bicycle messenger.

[@janjoson3843]

Technology changed everything we do, but real skills are the basic rudiments to be a bad ass DJ.

[@djrobswift]

So true 👌🏾

[@MrDjC5]

How many times did i hear "yeah"? Wtf!

[@bluemantom77]

I still do that I started out that way I didn't start out with laptops and MP3s real vinyl 32 years ago

[@christophermayfield6492]

The best to ever do it that's why they call him grandmaster flash , now cool Hec had the merry go round system but flash created the pee A boo system making it the best ever. I live in the Bronx I know both of them .

[@leslyremy6002]

Lost my mind the first time I saw Rob at Tableturns (I think) doing flares on the cue fader through headphones as he prepared during another DJs set.

[@Baneumann66]

Nice!

[@maddog2020]

You feel the vibrations of the sound in your fingertips,. Where the vibration stops on the backspin is the beginning. Other points of drums, horns etc. You could feel the difference. Also you remember where on the record to drop the needle and feel out the vibes. This of course is when the music is playing in the house and putting your ear to the needle is useless.

[@BigHRD2]

Interesting history of djing.

[@caranprop]

Perfect song to teach scratching....

[@harveywatts4004]

Magic disco machine 👍👍👍

[@joekarate9424]

Rob is an awesome teacher 👍

[@vigilantverse]

real!!! Rob Swift a great teacher!!

[@rogermoore27]

I've seen some popular DJ's now using the cue buttons now. That part of the mixer is not being used anymore

[@rogermoore27]

I liked the old-time scratches

[@djdobson84]

This is excellent.

[@DJSt3rling]

3:34 So nobody else ain't gonna say nothing about that chair with NO BACK on it?

[@tomprice4016]

Ha. So busted.

[@weatherrain9276]

😂😂😂😂 u didn't miss a beat on that. ( pun intended)

[@djstallone3000]

Records wasn’t the only thing he was scratchin 🤔

[@dirtyglovekennels616]

The 80s was a crazy era... he's still a great man, what about yourself, sucker?

[@daveross5275]

Good job trying. Killed it!

[@rockybutler]

Are you kidding me? How could you dj and not know about the cue?

[@kevinwillis6686]

technology is great but sometime takes away from orignal way of djing , alot people would lost not having cue points or bpm or even screen to look at

[@cybersoundsintl]

true

[@djtrax909]

What Flash did was to use his knowledge of the cue fader and his engineering skill to come up with the first cross fader.

[@kendallandalannaellie3363]

000000000000000000000000

[@Vandalio_Saez]

Let's get back to 77'

[@MecdiAn]

bravo!

[@MaynardOwns]

Thoughts on not using the cross fader and mixing with the volume control have two songs playing at once through the speakers (obviously at the opportune time of the song and in time) and dropping one out Either with the volume alone or spinning it back as you drop the volume?

[@azenkwed]

Back in the days, we washed our clothes in the river.... these kids with their washing machines, just pressing buttons.

[@PuavWrestling]

😂😂😂 that’s rly how all these old heads sound! I’m all for original DJing, in fact I think it’s better and definitely more of a skill, but i don’t see the problem in using the technology available to you

[@weatherrain9276]

Uh river what river? Hudson, Bx River,. River Phoenix?

[@nevedofficial466]

Rob uses a controller......

[@Raffles666]

...using an old telephone handset... #oldskew

[@ahmet-balci]

man can you give me a list of the most populare breaks for ols school?

[@brolguin2742]

Yea, yea, yea, yea, yea...........not sure the lesson is being learned

[@memeagain4106]

hes scratching his balls more then hes scratching the record!🤣🤣

[@Mattia_22]

Yeah

[@ziorimau6301]

The song is "Get on up" by Soopastole, right?

[@jimmylee7422]

cant find it on a 12" though

[@shafiqmustafa2777]

What is the old school track they are playing

[@djfred5027]

Where can I find that instrumental at rob?

[@gunchief0811]

Amoeba records... also try Sugar hill records label... and also try Amazon music..

[@RussRockwell]

GRANDMASTER FLASH DID NOT INVENT THE CUEING SYSTEM. The first cueing system was invented and built in 1971 by Alex Rosner and was called the "Rosie". It was created to allow DJ Francis Grasso to mix between two records at his residency at NYC club Haven. At the same time, Rudy Bozak created the commercially available Bozak CMA-10-DL2. which also had a cueing system and he consulted Alex Rosner during it's creation. Flash's "first mixer" the Sony MX-8 was released in 1976. Despite what Flash 'claims' he was 5 years late to the party, literally.

[@weatherrain9276]

Why was he late? Was it because he was a kid teaching himself how to become a name without social media. F L A S H are 5 well known letters. You wrote a whole book about who again? Not taking nothing from anyone but whatever time he got to the party, it didn't start til he walked in. To everybody who kept the party rocking back in the days, thumbs up to you. There is room for any & every w/ skills. No Hating Allowed !!

[@kevinwilliams3668]

You missed the part that he was the first "among his peers", Hip-Hop DJs. They could not afford the same technology, so they patched parts together or made it, Flash operated in that environment.

[@asaptenebrae2240]

Did you even listen? He said he didn't invent it between 5' and 6'.

[@MoralRichMedia]

nice vid as always...what's the name of that track?

[@thapoint09]

The Magic Disco Machine - Scratchin'

[@josecortez2526]

Should be called "peek a boom"

[@caranprop]

Too many FX DJs... and no Mix DJs

[@RodneyBarber2]

The word your looking for is replicated. Not created.

[@diego13sebastian]

What´s the name of the song?

[@waylandwallace2626]

Just wondering what turntables and mixer your using

[@DJ90-UK]

Wayland Wallace looks like 1200s with rane ttm57

[@djtrax909]

To say real djing is lost because of new technology is like saying I’m going to cut my grass. but, I’m gonna do it the old fashion way and use the thing grand dad had with the spinning blade and no engine. You still have to have skills regardless. In a real party situation you my have seconds to find that cue point. So, instead of spinning the record back or needle dropping to that point you just hit the cue.

[@decimalexercise7154]

djtrax909 exactly. I am so tired of this argument and its not just limited to DJ’ing. People are tribal as hell. So we got the old school dj tribe versus the new which is stupid. Dj’ing is 100 xs more technical than it could have ever been back in the day and thats cool. U wanna old school DJ? Go for it. Do you. But dont sit there and trash people coz it isnt what you are into

[@kevinthebassfelon1304]

@@decimalexercise7154 ...... Highly Disagree, except the "go for it" and "Do You"..... But more Technical, Because of CD Turntables or computer based Serrato, Nope. disagree. I won't trash anyone that isn't trash. I have heard these cats that mix using computers or Beat Sync and it's sad, Usually followed by Horrible. As for that trashing, Most times I just walk away, but there have been a few times I have spoke up. As for Old School DJ, OK, so, Expanding on djtrax909 comment about "cutting the grass", His Analogy of DJing, was good, but forgot {Not Saying Any One Person or Trying to be an ASShole.} to point out..... "Turning into a Bunch of Lazy Fucks."

[@decimalexercise7154]

Beeblebrox One bro we get it. Your a hardcore turntablist and to some extent you are correct but your way off on some of that. There are so many ways to add flavor with a digital deck. Even with a cue button, setting your curve, start stop time of cue button. Not to mention throwing samples or one shots in there. Its all in what you can think of. It just allows you so much more flexibility and there are tons of old old old school djs mixing it up on new gear so I dont even how u can say some of that. I have my old turntables of which I only use one now plugged into a 4 channel controller. And grabbing and dropping in on the one via a controller vs a turntable is not too different especially on motorized haptic decks. Having a visual interface is not a big deal. It really depends on how you utilize what you got. Sure there are lots of synch and play djs out there but you if they have no fundamentals u can spot them real quick.

[@kevinthebassfelon1304]

@Beeblebrox One....... That is EXACTLY what I was getting at; What I wanted Everyone to know is that very last sentence in my reply to chaz the men..... but I had so much to say, it got lost until Summation.

[@kevinthebassfelon1304]

@@decimalexercise7154.... Now ur starting to get it.... To a point, I know what you are saying and to fully disagree like I did with your first comment would be wrong, as I have always enjoyed newer gear, but still practicing & playing old-school. SIDE Note.... fuck pioneer & their one sec "sampler".... Denon DN-S5000 was spot on in scratching, holding beat-match and their two 15 sec sampler that u can reverse, adjust speed & volume; Plus playing two songs from same (OR Mirror Mix.) CD. pioneer=Industry Standard, my ass!! All the REAL Turntablists know who & what & how good they are and that is what DMC is for. Putting it in perspective: Most of the really good DJ's that are way above the standard house, resident, or garage DJ can't hold their own against a 4th place DMC participant.... IMO, Actually more so fact than just an opinion.

[@Maykoolmix]

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