ive been practicing scratching an cueing for fun the last week or so and now my mixer makes a crackling sound when i do cutting on the crossfader


i reversed the curve and its worse on the other input,
i reconnected the ground to the 555 and thats not the problem either
the needle seems fine

any suggestions?

What make of mixer are you using?

Crossfaders are the strong/weak point of a good scratch mixer. Just like guitarist virtuosos prefer to play ibanez guitars with humbucker pickups, scratch perverts will prefer vestax and rane mixers because of their crossfaders. If you really want to excel your skills with scratching you will have the most success starting with the right equipment.

On the note of crackling. It is usually the result a bad contact fader/pot. Your best shot is to try and clean the rail with some contact cleaner like crc 2-26. Most of the time you don't need to take your equipment apart. Just drench the slot and work the fader back an forth.

P.S.

crc 2-26 is also a lubricant. It will loosen up your crossfader. Your crossfader should have a very smooth transition from left to right and should not jiggle up and down. Another aspect of a good crossfader is the cut-in point at the sharpest curve. Standard mixers have 3mm crossover transition points while the scratch mixers will have 1mm cut-in points.

+1..


crossfader is dirty or worn out..

i got both the turntable and mixer very very cheap (direct drive and numark mixer 40 bucks) so i cant complain about quality. eventually i get quality stuff, but i find when learning an instrument its better to get good on the shitty stuff first so when you actually do get the high quality gear its like heaven.


thanks for the contact cleaner tip, ill be trying that. although i was kind of hoping to take the mixer apart

heres some live session that i did with the turntable and 555 looper
http://www.box.net/shared/66p9741zkd

Taking gear apart is fun. Take the crossfader out and drench it in contact cleaner. Then work the fader back and forth and drench it again.

A friend of mine bought cheap numark turntables and mixer to start scratching. We replace two of the same crossfaders within a 30 day period. After the 3rd we gave up and he saved up for a rane 56 and I ended up with a Vestax 07 pro. Like everybody else mentioned the gear really does make a difference when it comes to this stuff. If you buy the right gear the first time it will last you YEARS!

truth but i dont want to end up like those spoiled djs with 1000 effects on their mixer and no clue how to use them

i bought the gear for cheap because i just wanted to sample and listen to vinyl but now i need it to blow off steam because banging on pads doesnt give me the musical satisfaction i need.

so ill run this mixer into the ground untill its damn broke then the new mixer will seem like a godsend
you wouldnt give a new guitar player a les paul right? that kid better struggle with the squire first before he has the right to grace such a guitar

I see where you are coming from and that's a great attitude to have, but a guitar and dj mixer a lot different. Even $hitty guitars can have 6 strings in tune to play a song. A broken dj mixer won't let you do your cuts properly. Scratching and turntablism is all about precision. Just think if one of your pads on your SP didn't work "everytime"; I doubt you'd settle for that. $40 is an awesome deal for TTs and a mixer tho, but I'd never consider it anything to scratch on, but more-so just to listen/cue up records with.

You can still learn to a degree on shitty equipment. A good way to learn scratches is by using the turntable transcription method (http://www.ttmethod.com/).

check it out!!!

you could always get the innofader or pro x fade crossfader designed for scratching(both of those are $100+/-). they work with a variety of mixers, so if it fits in your mixer it should also fit in a new mixer if you choose to upgrade(and will most likely be better than the faders in even top of the line scratch mixers).

that site is pretty cool i remember coming across it a while ago. i understand how the sounds are made its just getting my hands to do it

ive been watching these
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wb4U5uCG ... re=related

qbert is the man for dropping all his knowledge like that, he also gives a quick history of the scratch

American Audio QD5 MKII is a cheap mixer with an excellent cross-fader. It's perfect for scratching.