Gesture Research #3 (the mixer and the turntable…)

Of course in the previous posts on this topic (gestures) I’ve identified the basic atomic ideas in a piece of paper by observation of certain systems (multitouch and dj decks)… this was just a primary attemp to understand the gestures used among this approaches, but a more indepth look is mandatory when it comes to the gestures used by DJs in two objects:

a) mixer (particularly knobs, switches, v-faders and x-fader*)

b) turntable (needle position, record movement, power button, pitch slider, rpm)

The next posts will give some references and studies that also looked on this “DJ gesture” topic.

*x-fader is a typical slang for cross fader, which is just a regular fader that is usually positioned in the horizontal on the Dj mixers, alowing to mix the mixer’s channels. Usually, as far as scratching goes, the x-fader uses a logarithmic response curve to mimic an on-off effect – required for the techniques of turntablism/scratching.