The beginnings of House music

It all started in Chicago’s Southside in 1977, when a new kind of club opened. This new Chicago club called The Warehouse gave House music its name.
Frankie Knuckles, who opened The Warehouse, mixed old disco classics and new Eurobeat pop. It was at this legendary club where many of the experiments
were tried. It was also where Acid House got its start.
House was the first direct descendant of disco. In comparison with disco, House was "deeper", "rawer", and more designed to make people dance. Disco had
already produced the first records to be aimed specifically at DJs with extended 12" versions that included long percussion breaks for mixing purposes. The
early 80s proved a vital turning point. Sinnamon’s "Thanks To You", D-Train’s "You're The One For Me", and The Peech Boys "Don’t Make Me Wait", a
record that has been continually sampled over the last decade, took things in a different direction with their sparse, synthesised sounds that introduced dub
effects and drop-outs that had never been heard before.

House music did not have its origins just in American music. The popularity of
European music, specifically English electronic pop like Depeche Mode and Soft Cell
and the earlier, more disco-based sounds of Giorgio Moroder, Klein & MBO, as well as
Italian productions, they all gave rise to House music. Two clubs, the already
mentioned Chicago’s Warehouse and New York’s Paradise Garage, which promoted
European music, had at the same time broken the barriers of race and sexual preference
(for House music was in part targeted at the gay community). Before The Warehouse
opened, there had been clubs strictly designed to segregate race. However, The
Warehouse did not make any difference between Blacks, Hispanics, or Whites; the
main interest was simply music. And the music was as diverse as the clients.

People who influenced House

Frankie Knuckles

One of the leading DJs at that time was New York born Frankie Knuckles, also called the Godfather of House.
Indeed, he was more than a DJ; he was an architect of sound, who experimented with sounds and thus added a new
dimension to the art of mixing. In fact, he took the raw material of the disco he spun and added pre-programmed
drum tracks to create a constant 4/4 tempo. He played eight to ten hours a night, and the dancers came home
exhausted. Thanks to him The Warehouse was regarded as the most atmospheric place in Chicago. The uniqueness
of this club lay in a simple mixing of old Philly classics by Harold Melvin, Billy Paul and The O’Jays with disco
hits like Martin Circus’ "Disco Circus" and imported European pop music by synthesiser groups like Kraftwerk and
Telex.

Frankie said, "When we first opened in 1977, I was playing a lot of the East Coast records, the Philly stuff, Salsoul. By
‘80/81, when that stuff was all over with, I started working a lot of the soul that was coming out. I had to re-construct
the records to work for my dancefloor, to keep the dancefloor happy, as there was no dance music coming out! I’d take
the existing songs, change the tempo, layer different bits of percussion over them, to make them more conductive for
the dancefloor."

Larry Levan

Frankie’s friend Larry Levan was a black teenager from Brooklyn like Frankie. In fact, it was Larry who first
suggested opening The Warehouse in Chicago. However, things took a different turn, and in the end Larry Levan
spun in New York’s Paradise Garage. Larry Levan and Frankie Knuckles were indeed two very important figures in
the development of House music and the modern dance scene. Perhaps there would have been no fame for the two
without the producer, DJ and devoted lover of dance and music, David Mancuso, and his dance parties for gays called
Loft parties. "The Loft" was a house party intended for a very black and a very gay crowd.

Larry and Frankie attended the Loft parties regularly. It was not only a place of joy but also a place where they became acquainted for the first time with the
techniques of House music. Mancuso taught them about creating a perfect House music: about sound, lighting, production, music and DJ techniques.
 

Ron Hardy

By the mid 80s House had emerged in Chicago as a fully developed musical genre through
the efforts of Knuckles and those inspired by him like DJ Ron Hardy of Music Box fame.
Ron Hardy was another DJ from the gay scene. The sounds they produced differed in that the
basis of Knuckle’s sound was still disco, whereas Hardy was the DJ that chose the rawest and
wildest rhythm tracks he could find.
Besides Frankie Knuckles, Larry Levan, and Ron Hardy, there were other important figures
in the development of House music such as Steve "Silk" Hurley, DJ Pierre, Larry Heard,
Adonis, Marshall Jefferson and Farley "Jackmaster" Funk, who was a Chicago DJ and
producer, as well as a creator of the first international House hit, "Love Can’t Turn Around".
DJ Pierre, on the other hand, contributed to the development of Acid House. As a result, a
track called "Acid Trax" was produced.

The creators of House music

There have been various views of who is the inventor of House music. For example, Leonard Remix RRoy asserted that he had given birth to House in May
1981. LRRoy was a remarkable and much respected DJ. He also claimed that he had invented the term "House music" in the spring of 1981.

A person who regarded himself as a creator of House music in March of 1985 was Chip E. Yet, there remains a third founder, for he
produced "Love Can’t Turn Around", one of the biggest selling "House" records. His name is Farley "Jackmaster" Funk. In fact, this big
House "cross-over" hit was written, produced and arranged by Jesse Saunders. Jesse, however, did not call himself the creator of House
music, but rather used the term "originator", which did not mean that he had invented or created the genre of House music. By
"originator" he meant that he "started and/or fused a sound with a lot of different ingredients". Generally speaking, one can say, that there
was not just one creator or inventor; on the contrary, House music evolved through the means of collaborative efforts of a few people
like Frankie Knuckles, Vince Lawrence, Farley "Jackmaster" Funk, as well as the promoters and labels that made easy the distribution of
early House.

The original disco-mixer Walter Gibbons, a white DJ, had a new

and immediate impact on the development of Chicago House
music. His independent 12" record called "Set It Off"
immediately became an underground club anthem. The "Set It
Off" sound was primitive House, haunting, repetitive beats ideal
for mixing and extending.

The roots of House music

House music was created in and by the African American community. Musically, House music evolved in Chicago and New York from African-American
musical traditions like gospel, soul, jazz and funk as well as Latin salsa. Spiritually and aesthetically, it developed in the U.S. out of the need of oppressed
people, African Americans, gays and Latinos, to build a community through dance , and later in the UK, out of the need of young people dissatisfied with the
meaningless materialism of Thatcher’s England, to build an alternative community of music and dance via Acid House. From a different point of view, House
music in the U.S. was associated with black people, with gay clubs, basically with things that white America would not even acknowledge.
House was just perceived as "gay" music for blacks and thus scorned by whites, although its aim was to unify people of all races, backgrounds and sexual
orientations. According to Frankie Knuckles, many people could not and still cannot deal with the fact that House music started in gay clubs. Thus, narrow-
mindedness, racism, and even corporate music politics played an important role in preventing House music from flourishing in the U.S. in the eighties.
House music had its origins in gospel, soul and funk rather than in commercial disco music. Furthermore, Chicago jazz, blues and soul had an immense
influence on the creation of House music. There were significant Midwestern musical influences that led to the creation of the Chicago flavour of House
music. No doubt, the Midwest had its own tradition of African American music. Thus, blues and jazz presented a part of the mix. To sum up, the soul music
produced in Chicago, Detroit and Memphis certainly had an impact on Chicago house.
 

Early DJ techniques
In the early seventies the DJs’ tools began to improve as the market for dance music began to expand. Yet, the beginnings were hard, for there were only two
types of records available, 45s and 33 1/3 LPs, which had "A" sides and "B" sides, and different songs were recorded on both sides. A record which allowed
more creativity, namely 12" dance mixes specifically intended for DJs, had not yet appeared on the market. DJs had to manage without basic equipment such
as DJ mixers or headphones. What is more, the turntables ran only at two speeds, 45 RPMs and 33 1/3 RPMs. It was impossible to vary the speed, so the
turntable moved continuously. In practice, it could be described as follows: DJs started to play one record. Then they took it off the turntable, prepared
another record, put this one on and played it. In reality, "putting on and taking off" the record cannot be called mixing. As expected, DJs needed time to
change the vinyl disc and thus dancers had to wait between the records.

There was, however, one way that helped DJs overcome these technical problems. This
method was called slip-cueing. The main part of the trick consisted in a duplication of
records. In other words, the record collection needed to be copied. DJs had two good
turntables at their disposal. They rigged the two tables with a switch into the amplifier so
they could move from one to the other. Then they put the same recording on each
turntable, to try to extend the mix somehow. The least DJs could do was play the same
record twice in pretty rapid succession, which was better than making the dancer wait
until they changed the record. Instead of playing the record twice, there was yet another
possibility, namely to build the mix by isolating various instrumental, vocal and drum
segments and extend them by jumping from record to record.

This technique was probably invented - or at least given currency - by DJ Francis Grosso and widely used by radio station DJs. It required much practice with
individual recordings, great agility, and nerves of steel. Great turntablists of the seventies like Kool Herc and Grandmaster Flash developed such techniques
into an art form.
 

The success of House in the U.K.

House music first came to England in the late eighties via the party island of Ibiza. In the summer of 1986 three House records appeared
in the top ten: Farley’s "Jackmaster" Funk "Love Can’t Turn Around", Raze’s "Jack The Groove", and Steve "Silk" Hurley’s "Jack Your
Body". It is said that House music was popularised by the British who invented Acid House and then brought this modified version of
House back to the United States. Acid House was perceived differently and that was probably one of the reasons why it attracted the
attention of the mainstream. In this way, House music became acceptable dance music also for white folks.

Acid House
In reality, Acid House had already started in Chicago in 1985. DJ Pierre and some friends pushed a button on their Roland 303 and found that that Acid sound
was already in it. They produced a track called "Acid Trax" which, they allege, was stolen by Ron Hardy and delivered as "Ron Hardy’s Acid Trax".
As Pierre once said, "Phuture was me and two other guys, Spanky and Herbert J. We had this Roland 303, which was a bassline machine, and we were trying
to figure out how to use it. When we switched it on, that acid sound was already in it and we liked the sound of it so we decided to add some drums and make
a track with it. We gave it to Ron Hardy who started playing it straight away. In fact, the first time he played it, he played it four times in one night! The first
time people were like, ‘what the fuck is it?’ but by the fourth they loved it. Then I started to hear that Ron was playing some new thing they were calling ‘Ron
Hardy’s Acid Trax’, and everybody thought it was something he’d made himself. Eventually we found out that it was our track so we called it ‘Acid Trax’. I
think we may have made it as early as 1985, but Ron was playing it for a long time before it came out."
There have been various explanations for the term ‘Acid’. The most popular was that acid used to be put in the water at the Music Box. Pierre though,
emphasises that Phuture was always anti-drugs, and cites a track about a cocaine nightmare, "Your only friend" that was on the same EP as "Acid Trax".
"Acid Trax" came out in 1986 but did not prove to be successful outside Chicago. The first Acid track to make it to vinyl was called "I’ve Lost Control"
which was made by Adonis and Marshall Jefferson.
 

Mixing in the history of House

Scratching in 1937? Believe it or not, sound mixing was not born in the 1980’s. Take a look at the important dates and recordings that have defined music
mixing.

Artist and experimental musician John Cage discusses the merits of sound manipulation
1937
using the phonograph.
1948 French avant-garde composer Pierre Schaffer champions turntable-based music.
Bronx DJ Kool Herc originates hip-hop by DJ’ing with two turntables and extending beats
1973
by "looping".
Grand Wizard Theodore invents "scratching" by rocking a record back and forth while the
1977
needle was resting on it.
1983 Herbie Hancock’s hit-record "Rockit" features scratching by Zulu DJ Grandmaster D.S.T..
The first Disco Mix Club World Battle (DMC) is held, establishing DJ competitions world-
1987
wide.
1990 "Beat Juggling" is pioneered by Steve D. and introduced at the New Music Seminar.
1992 Rocksteady DJs pioneered crew routines at the 1992 DMC.
1996 Legendary battle between the X-Men and the Inivisbl Skratch Piklz

Table adapted from: http://twix.com/music_in_history.html

 

Mix Terms
If you want to learn to style with the best of them, you have to know the difference between a "tear scratch" and a "chirp scratch". Here are mixology words
that will help you get your "act" together.
Baby scratch: Simple pushing and pulling of the record back and forth under the needle in a rhythmic manner. This scratch is the basis for all othe scratches.
Breakdown: A basic beat juggling technique consisting of a manual slowdown of the beat by using the hand to rhythmically pause the record on every beat
count.
Chirp scratch: Pulling the record backwards with the crossfader on, turning it off at the end of the sound, and turning it back on as the forward stroke is
initiated.
Crab scratch: Popularised by DJ Q-Bert, this is a three-click flare scratch using a drumming motion of four fingers on the crossfader to create faster,
syncopated sound.
Drag: A slow, long pushing or pulling of the record.
Fills: A basic beat juggling technique performed by playing one record and cutting in a sound element from the second, such as a snare or bass drum. For
example, the kick drum of the second record is used to double or triple the kick drum of the first record.
Flare scratch: A scratch consisting of turning the fader on, moving the record forward while turning the crossfader off and on in a quick rhythm, then moving
the record back to the start of the sound in two stages while still moving the crossfader back and forth in a rhythm. This complex scratch has many variations.
Forward scratch: The record is pushed forward with the crossfader on, playing a sound, then cut off with the crossfader, rewound to the beginning of the
sound silently and played again.
Hydroplane: A scratch performed by pushing the record in any direction with one hand while applying counter pressure with a finger from the opposite hand.
The finger should bounce along the record surface, creating a "bubbly" sound.
Looping: A basic beat juggling technique. The DJ plays one section of a record and then switches over to the same beat on another copy of the record while
rewinding the first record, then switches back to the first record while rewinding the second one.
Orbit: A term used to descrie any scratch that can be performed forward and backward.
Rub: Similar to a hydroplane, except the forward and/or background strokes are slowed down as if the sound is decelerating.
Scribble: A very fast, vibrating sound created by holding the record idle and tensing the muscles in the arm, causing the record to move back and forth very
quickly over a small distance.
Stab scratch: Similar to forward scratch, but the sound is cut off and repeated faster.
Tear: A tear is performed by moving forward or backward with pauses between strokes, all within a single sound or sample on the record. A two forward tear
would be forward, pause, forward, pause creating the sound "ahh, hhh, hhh".
Transformer: A scratch performed by moving the crossfader to a rhythm while dragging the record back and forth or letting it play by itself.
adapted from: http://twix.com/mix_terms.html
 

How to Mix
It is all about technique. That is what separates the players from the posers in the world of DJ mixing. Check out the essential scratches every mix master
should know.

Baby scratch
Creator: Grandwizard Theodore
Style: Push and pull the record back and forth in a rhythmic motion at a slow
speed. This is the foundation for all scratching.
Flare
Creator: DJ Flare
Style: Turn on the fader, move the sound forward, then turn the fader off and on.
Continue moving the record forward and back while turning the sound off and
on quickly.

Tear
Creator: Unknown
Style: Move the record forward or backwards while creating pauses. Keep your
hand placed on the record at all times.

Transformer
Creator: Spinbad
Style: Move the crossfader to a rhythm while dragging the record back and
forth.
Chirp
Creator: Unknown
Style: Start with your fader open, pull the sound backward, close the fader, open
the fader and push the sound forward. Your hands should move together at the
same time.

adapted from: http://twix.com/how_to_mix.html

 

Samples