ABSTRACT
Twenty-first-century culture has a love affair with the record player. The turntable has always been a technology of mass consumption. German composer Paul Hindemith and Austrian composer Ernst Toch transformed turntables into instruments in 1930, mixing tracks using a disc lathe to create short experiments with variable playback speed. Turntablism is the use of the turntable as a musical instrument. A vital and broadening DJ performance culture has emerged and grown during the past 40 years. DJ and hip-hop artists working in the Bronx, New York, established modern DJ techniques in the late 1970s. The modern DJ is equipped with any number of digital options to embellish turntable performances, from effects boxes, control pads, drum machines, and synthesizers to mixing software especially designed for live shows. Like any performance medium, turntablism has its experimentalists, who push the form in unexpected directions.
