You-tubing away as I do I came across a battle league called “Grind Time” this League is based on pre-written rhymes however the Mc’s that battle in this league are beasts!
I’ve watched this league grow to become the No. #1 battle league in the WORLD!!
A few favorite Mc’s of mine….Dumbfoundead, F.L.O, Locksmith, Conceited, Sahtyre…This league is U.S based but has battlers from around the globe. One day I hope to see an Australian off branch, Grind Time (Down Under) with your host D1, haha!
Hope You Enjoyed… Much Love // Ya.No.1 Guest Blogger D1…
Anyone who says that vinyl will never die is right. You don’t have to be a DJ to notice that the turntable is an icon of modern music culture — it has been elevated from its original intention as a lowly playback device to a musical instrument that is glorified by pop culture at large. Clearly, there’s something special about vinyl, but why do people hang on to this archaic 19th-century technology when modern tools like CD players and automatic computer software are everywhere?
Questions like these have been at the heart of arguments between vinyl purists and digital devotees for years. Fortunately, enterprising software engineers and savvy hardware companies have brought forth the best of both worlds with digital vinyl systems that allow DJs to control digital audio files with traditional analog vinyl.
One of the most common, and the current industry standard throughout the world is Rane — purveyor of some of the finest scratch DJ mixers available — and the high-end DSP coders at Serato, best known for its groundbreaking Pitch ‘n Time plug-in. Both manufacturers are leaders in their fields of expertise, and both continue that legacy by offering a digital vinyl system with rock-solid performance and unique tools aimed squarely at the turntablist market.
The Scratch Live hardware is a small, unassuming black box that’s slightly larger than a VHS cassette. The unit sports six pairs of RCA jacks for connecting to turntables and a mixer, a USB port to communicate with the host computer and a power jack for a wall-wart power supply. There’s also a ¼-inch input for connecting an external microphone. The hardware has an all-metal construction and, like all of Rane’s equipment, appears to be built to withstand the apocalypse. It’s large enough that it won’t be misplaced easily yet compact enough to fit conveniently in a record bag or a laptop carrier. The only glaring omission is the lack of a packaged power supply, a required accessory if you plan to play regular records through the unit without a laptop attached. Something I’ve managed to fix by visiting the local JayCar store with the power specifications.
Patching in the hardware isn’t all that difficult, but it does require a little cable jockeying and free access to the phono and line inputs on the DJ mixer. The unit plays audio from the computer through the mixer’s line inputs and acts as a pass-through for phono inputs, so if you need to throw some old-fashioned analog grooves into the mix, it’s as simple as switching from line to phono on your mixer.
One look at the vinyl that ships with Scratch Live, and it’s clear that Rane has spent a lot of time listening closely to what professional DJs want in a digital vinyl system. The Scratch Live records offer a wealth of information at a glance — thin, visible grooves mark each minute on the vinyl, and thicker grooves indicate five-minute marks. This feature is a serious help when needle-dropping to find a specific spot in a track.
One side of the vinyl is 15 minutes in length and the other is 10. The code on each record is identical (the grooves on the 10-minute side are simply further apart), so if one side becomes scratched or worn, you can flip it over and keep mixing. Because you’re not playing music from the records themselves, it doesn’t matter how worn the records become. As long as the system can still hear valid code from the coded vinyl, the music played from the Scratch Live system will sound as good as the day you recorded it.
The 10-minute side of the disc also has a special “vinyl select” area that allows you to choose songs without ever touching the laptop. Moving the record back and forth in this area skips forward and backward in the song browser. This very cool feature is great for DJs who would rather spend less time hunting and pecking on a laptop keyboard and more on the decks.
One of the primary reasons for switching from old-fashioned vinyl to a digital system like Scratch Live is the convenience of having thousands of records at your fingertips without the back-breaking work associated with carrying around an entire room’s worth of vinyl. There’s nothing quite like having the perfect record for the perfect moment, and Scratch Live gives you that power and flexibility
All of this tech wizardry is useless if the system does not perform like real vinyl. And Scratch Live simply steals the show when it comes to delivering flawless music with low latency. Cueing and scratching with Scratch Live is literally just like working with real vinyl. The system is so stable and responsive that it’s easy to completely forget that you’re working with MP3s streamed off of a computer and not analog music stamped on wax.
Scratch Live is a robust digital vinyl system that easily holds its own against competing products. The system’s unusual interface takes some getting used to, but many DJs will find the unique features — such as frequency-colored waveforms, beat-matching tools and marker points — well worth the effort. The hardware is built like a tank and leaves little to be desired, aside from a built-in power supply, and the sound and responsiveness of the system is second to none.
There really isn’t much to dislike about Scratch Live, I’ve been using it since the beginning of 2009, about 5 years or so after seeing it used in a nightclub I previously worked in, but it seems like the best solution for me, the mobile and nightclub DJ who simply doesn’t have the room in the car for all my vinyl or CDs. I have used most of the available forms to DJ that are available today – Vinyl, CDs, and computer software.
No matter what other DJs say to me who aren’t using it, you are really DJing. Even I get annoyed when you go to a party or nightclub and see the “DJ” using an auto-mixing piece of software on a computer or laptop. Serato does not do auto mix for you and what you see is what you get. If you were a mediocre DJ on real Vinyl and CDs then you will be exactly that with Serato. It is simply a simpler way of moving to the future without killing the art form known as the Disc Jockey.
If you’re looking for a solid, reliable digital vinyl system from a company with an intimate understanding of the turntablist’s needs, Scratch Live could be the one for you.
Mr. John Safran, how are you sir? John Safran: Well, I just spoke to someone from The Age who saw the first two episodes and said she thought the show was outrageous. Apparently she was really disturbed by it. It’s really weird.
Really? So you didn’t learn from the exorcism episode of your last series?
Clearly not. And this is a bit different to the last three shows which were on SBS, where people had to actively seek me out. Race Relations is going to be on the ABC in the middle of the week, which is kind of like nailing a billboard up in the city square. It’s a much more public space. It’s going to be interesting.
But your stuff is smart and funny. Have you felt compelled to make each series more controversial than the one before?
Not really. They just end up there. Race Relations actually started out as a book, which evolved into a TV show. While researching the book, I went out and did a few interviews, during which I obviously humiliated myself, and each time I was like, “Why aren’t I filming this?” For some reason when you’re being filmed it’s way less humiliating because people just assume you’re doing it for television. Whereas if you just have your notepad and you stand up at a public talk, people really think you have a screw loose. Anyway, when you start editing something like this, you kind of just have to go with the strong stuff. You know what I mean?
Surely that’s what people want to see. So, for this show you turned black, female, and elephant man. How did that go for you?
Well the black episode was one of the first things we filmed and we pulled it off so we were really excited for the rest of the show. When I was growing up and had my hip-hop posse, my friends used to tell me to stop acting black. The idea was to really experience what it’s really like to walk in someone else’s shoes so I go undercover in Barack Obama’s hometown, Chicago.
Were you a convincing black man?
Yeah, well, we realized pretty quickly that it’s pretty easy to make someone look black for camera but that it’s much more difficult to look black to another black person who’s standing five centimeters away from you. We tried everything from really low rent stuff, which didn’t work at all, so finally ended up with the guys who won the academy award for prosthetics on Benjamin Button. One of them flew to Australia and took a face cast and did his thing. It started off as a five-minute story but because it ended up being so expensive, we made a bigger deal of it and it became an entire episode. Which made it cheap.
Sounds great.
Yeah, well I actually failed. I think that’s probably why comedy is so screwed up – people who can’t be funny are trying to be funny and people who are actually funny are out there trying to prove what artists they are by being bleak and dark. With this show, I just wanted it to be funy – that’s it. As it turns out though there’re some really awkward moments and towards the end it kind of becomes unwatchable.
In one episode you get crucified, which is pretty insane.
Yeah, I was thinking that this is why I’m fucked in the head and never get anywhere. As most people get more successful and more shows, they use their leverage to try to get more money or a better deal or whatever. I, however use my leverage to try to do things they wouldn’t let me do last time. For example, I didn’t have the leverage in the town during Vs God to be nailed to a cross but now that I’m older and have my own production company, I can sit there and threaten people with not going with their network or whatever if they don’t let me do stuff on the show. It makes no sense. I use my leverage to fuck myself over.
But do you come to any grand realizations?
I’m not going to give that away but I do think that whatever shit goes down when it’s on air it’ll all ultimately be OK because it all leads to something. It’s actually full of pathos and might throw people around a bit but it’s all for a reason. The good thing is that I’m going to have a copy in my hand so regardless of what happens, I plan to get it out there.
As a Jewish guy, if you don’t marry a Jewish girl, what would your mum’s preference of partner be in terms of race, religion, and sex? A gay, non-Jewish guy presumably being at the bottom of the list.
Ha, yeah I guess after that would come a gay Jewish man, then Arab and Persian. I guess a non-Arab Muslim is probably better than an Arab Muslim. Then you get up to Asian. But then maybe it’s better just to go with someone who no one’s going to ask questions about. You could argue that at least an Arab girl could pass as Jewish, whereas if you bring an Asian into the room, you’re really making an announcement. Just watch the show maybe.
Is this going to make it easier for you to get girlfriends do you think? No, not only will I not be able to get a girlfriend, I’m not going to be able to make eye contact at anyone at parties. It’s just going to be too embarrassing.
Cheers mate…..
thanks to the vibe crew for putting this together!
Second to take up the guest blogger tag is a old friend that i know will write some shit that you’ll be interested in….Daniel “BODZ” Boddington (on the left OBVIOUSLY) will be adding to the strong team as of this week, also hopefully he will give me something to post soon….knowing him he is probably writing something NOW!
Well hope everyone will enjoy our guests and treat em mean to keep em keen…..
” ITS YOUR BOI D1 ” Nate aka-D1 is the first guest blogger to be added to the itspinky blog, we look forward to his articles and retrospect on all things D1…..hopefully we will get his first post early this week…enjoy peeps!
It has been raining for the last 24 hours and im sorry to tell you but if this rain keeps up we will definately be flooded by november 25, 2012…..yes 2012, im hoping that the rain slows up as i really dont wanna have to buy a boat.
So your probably thinking to yourself….HUH? but it wouldnt be the 1st time Geelong has flooded, i remember when i was younger that the barwon river flooded over and covered the sunday market and halfway up k-mart’s car park, was wicked.
That was either in the really late 80’s or the mid 90’s, i remember seeing kids on boogie boards floating across where a road use to be and trees and shit floating along what use to be a river….lol, what a site!
So remember when your outside in this weather it is possible that it wont stop and Xmas will be flooded and so will NYE! or not…..knowing Geelong as well as i do it will be 30′ + degrees celcius next week and the grass will be dead once again and we will not see any rain for 6 months! or then again it is Geelong so it might rain whilst its 30 + degrees…..lol
As we already know people either like or hate the JORDAN FUSIONS that have been released over the last couple years, this latest edition to the family would have to be 2nd best to the IV’s that have recently been released.
Looks like they are going with some OG colourways for the 8F’s, the pics are pretty detailed and ill tell you the truth im actually feeling these alot, lets hope we can get these down under either they will end up @ footlocker or the Nike factory outlet in collingwood, either way ill be getting myself a pair…..will you?
How often do you see a guy doing backflips on a bike that has ‘tires’ made of skateboarding sneakers? Once, apparently, as DC Shoes-sponsored master of all motorsports Travis Pastrana is seen above doing that very act, somewhere deep in the Utah desert. Designed by Pastrana and Ken Block, ‘The Shoe Bike’ was built with DC lowtops attached to a six-spoked hub and appeared on MTV’s ‘Nitro Circus’ and one of DC’s currently-running print ad campaigns. Peep the up-close photos and video of the making, use and destruction of this crazy sneaker-wheeled dirt bike. Cheers to my boys @ sneakernews for this one…..lol
Well were back…..after 2 months of having a broken computer were finally back! we will be updating the blog as much as possible with all your favourate bits and pieces. I will be adding guest bloggers this month from all over the globe so stay tuned for that, and also my exclusive interview with Carlos Sanchez aka SNEAKGEEKZ, as well as others……so stay tuned!
We have some catching up too do so ill get back too it and get some posts ready for this afternoon….
