Turntablist
A person who uses vinyl records and turntables in a manner that involves scratching and cutting the records back and forth to produce new musical output from fractions of the music contained on the records. Turntabilists perform the art of turntabism and know how to perform a variety of scratches and tricks involving playing music from two or more records.

Airplane Scratch/Phazing
This refers to taking two identical sounds and playing them simultaneously on both turntables with the crossfader in the middle position. Although the DJ is trying to match them up exactly, the beats will always be a little bit off (but not enough off for too much of a noticeable delay) so the end product does not sound the same as just one of the channels playing the beat on its own. The result is a flange/phaze sounding effect. This technique is also referred to as phazing.

Baby Scratch
The simplest of scratches, the baby scratch is performed without the use of the crossfader by simple moving the record back and forth. A simple example would be one forward stroke, and one backward stroke (or vice versa) in sequence.

Beat Juggling
To beat juggle, you use two records with a beat on each turntable and mix them together with the crossfader to create new combinations of beats or to create new beats altogether in a "cut and paste" fashion.

Bubble Scratch
First demonstrated by DJ Noize, this technique is achieved by moving the record back and forth while at the same time turning the EQ knob back and forth from minimum to maximum to get a sort of wah-wah pedal sounding scratch effect. This move is easier to perform on a Technics SHDJ1200 than on a Vestax 05/06 Pro since the SHDJ1200's EQ adjustment is different.

Chirp Scratch
The chirp scratch, perhaps most utilized in the style of DJ Jazzy Jeff, is performed by fading the sound out with the crossfader as you push the record forward and fading the sound back in with the crossfader as you pull the record back. Done slowly the effect might not be too impressive, but done quickly and accurately, a chirp sounding scratch is the effect. While the concept is easy to understand, chirps are one of the hardest scratches to perfect with great speed and consistency.

Crab Scratch
The crab scratch was invented by DJ Qbert as a variation on DJ Excel's "twiddle." It seems that the two met up in Japan for the Vestax DJ competition in 1995 and Excel was asking Qbert how to flare. When he showed Qbert how he thought the flare was done he was actually doing the twiddle instead by using his thumb as a spring and "twiddling" the fader with 2 fingers. After this meeting, Qbert took the idea back to San Francisco with him and after showing the scratch to DJ Disk, he ended up creating a move that utilized all 3 to 4 fingers and thus the crab was born. Later in 1995, while the DMC USA finals were being held in San Francisco, a group of DJs and judges which included The Beat Junkies, The X-Men (now called the X-ecutioners), and the rest of ISP among others got together for what would later be know as the "Famous Warehouse Session" at Yoga Frogs old mobile DJ warehouse. It was at this session that Qbert shared the new scratch.

While the name "crab" seems self explanatory since it makes your hand look like a crab when you curl all of your fingers to perform it, according to Qbert the name originated elsewhere. Apparently, he and Mixmaster Mike had just returned from Beirut, Lebanon around the same time that he invented it where they were served crepes one night after a show. He said that when the people over their pronounced crepes, it sounded more like "cccccreb" and since he thought it was funny, he used it to name the "cccccreb" scratch which everyone now pronounces as the crab.

To do a crab scratch the DJ quickly rubs/taps the fader knob with 3 or 4 different fingers in sequence starting with the pinkie or ring finger while using the thumb as a spring to cut the fader back out after each tap (or in if scratching hamster style). The result is much like a 3 or 4 tap transform (or a 3 or 4 click flare if you scratch hamster style) only much quicker than you could probably do with one finger. Many DJs find this move easier or more comfortable to perform hamster style by bouncing the fader off of the side of the fader slot, but the move can be performed both normal and hamster. As with orbits, crabs can be performed once as a single distinct move, or sequenced to produce a cyclical never ending type of crab sound.

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