Studio Mr Scruff
Mr_Scruff




17
VIEWS: 422
    
PLAYS: 5
    
Studio since: 30 September 2008
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STUDIO ADDRESS
http://www.pulseradio.net/studio/Mr_Scruff
MIXTAPES
1.Mr Scruff 908 Mix 15.11.08, Mr Scruff
2009-03-04 03:37:39
Plays 5 Studio Cue Send
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PROFILE
Mr. Scruff, DJ, Producer, Cartoonist & Tea Drinker.
As a DJ, I play across the board, including Soul, Funk, Hip Hop, Jazz, Reggae, Latin, African, Ska, Disco, House, Funk, Breaks, Soundtracks & loads more. As a producer I make music that draws on these influences, with a large dose of cheek & good humour. My cartoon drawings illustrate this website, my gig flyers & record/cd covers. I also have a tea company (more info at www.makeusabrew.com) There follows a rambling overview of what i have been up to for the last 20-odd years.
 
The early days
The event that first sparked my curiosity about music was in the early 1980's when, as a young 2 Tone fan, I discovered a stack of my father's original Blue Beat 7"s, including several Prince Buster songs that had been covered by my then favourite band, Madness. I suddenly realised that the new music I had been listening to had roots that reached far back, and this knowledge inspired me to explore the wider musical world which had just been revealed to me.

1984-1985
My first encounter with mixing was as a 12 year old in late 1984, when a friend of mine played me some of his uncle's electro records, notably the Streetsounds LP "Crucial Electro Volume 2". At first, I assumed that the reason for there being no gaps between the songs was to fit more on the vinyl-it did not occur to me that the mixing was a creative part of the presentation, and had been carefully thought out utilising the experience and skills of a DJ. Fortunately, further listens revealed the sophistication of the DJ in question, Herbie Laidley from London's Mastermind crew. Soon after I was constructing my own crude pause-button mixtapes, inspired by the Electro compilations and various radio shows on stations such as Piccadilly, Radio Lancashire & Southside.

1985-1988
Throughout the 1980's, local specialist shows exposed me to a wide range of dance music. At the time that was a blanket term to cover anything from electro and hip hop to soul, reggae and early house music. Back then there were far fewer records being released each week, so DJs had to be versatile and play across the board.
As an enthusiastic young music fiend in Stockport, these stations were a lifeline to quality new releases, and exposed me to a lot of older music that I had missed. Little by little I was building a collection fuelled by this knowledge, all the while improving my DJ skills. By 1987 I was proficient at turntable mixing and editing, although I was still using primitive home hi-fi gear. In the summer of 1988 I had my first mix played on Waxmaster's show on the Manchester pirate station WBLS.

1988-1994
In 1988 I took a part time job at Kwik Save and ploughed all my earnings into vinyl. By this time I had a good knowledge of electro, hip hop, house, & 80's soul, and was busy expanding my knowledge of blues, disco, funk, soul, reggae, jazz, african and latin music. More pause-button mix tapes followed, as did demo tapes of my own early productions. My first break came in 1994, when I met Barney Doodlebug, a DJ/Doodler who was originally from Bristol, and who now runs the international Doodlebug events. He gave me my first Manchester gig, in Dry bar on a Sunday night, and he also passed a demo tape of mine to local label Rob's Records, which resulted in them releasing my first 12" single.

1994-1995
From 1994 onwards, I got regular bar gigs, as well as a short stint at Manumission alongside fellow Stockport lad Treva Whateva. Following on from this, I became a frequent guest at Headfunk, alongside residents Chubby Grooves & Tom Simba (who went on to form Groove Armada with Andy Cato). This night mutated into Eardrum, a DJ/jam night that I was resident at alongside Chubby, Mark One and Andy Votel. Other Manchester residencies included One Tree Island with Stefano, Guy Morley, Jah Conguero and Funk Boutique; and Dubism, with Guy Morley and Dom from Blood and Fire.

1995-1997
Between 1995 and 1997, I released further singles for Rob's Records subsidiary Pleasure, as well as sides for Echo Drop, Grand Central & Cup of Tea. My work for Grand Central with Mark Rae inspired some 4 deck club performances, including friendly 'battles' with DJ Food, which introduced me to the Ninja Tune fold. My first remix was a DJ Food megamix for their 'Refried Food' box set in 1996.

The release of more of my productions resulted in increased offers for DJ gigs. As well as playing regularly at the Electric Chair & Fat City nights in Manchester, and with Tru Thoughts in Brighton, I also accepted a four year residency at Off-Centre in London, as well as guest spots around the country.

1997-1998
Some of my first DJ gigs abroad were with Grand Central in 1997, and, following my signing to Ninja Tune in 1998, I did several European tours with the likes of Roots Manuva, The Herbaliser, Dynamic Syncopation & Mixmaster Morris. The release of my Ninja album 'Keep it Unreal' also kick-started my Manchester club night of the same name, borne of a desire to play exactly what I wanted, rather than having to fit in with the music policies of other club nights. After a short stint at Planet K, the night moved to the Music Box, where it remains to this day. The success of this night inspired me to take the idea on tour, so that instead of turning up with my records and playing the standard 2 hour guest DJ slot, I would recreate 'Keep it Unreal' in different venues, and play for the whole night.

1999-2007
I am now in a position where I can play a lot of esoteric and unusual music, as playing for the duration of the night enables me to create a very relaxed atmosphere, before increasing the energy levels at my own pace, taking in many kinds of music along the way. Over the course of a night the music can include blues, jazz, soul, funk, 60's R&B, disco, boogie, deep house, reggae, ska, rocksteady, dancehall, electronica, electro, hip hop, african, latin, drum & bass, breakbeat, and any combination of the above. The only real criteria is that the music has to have soul!

Although I am a fairly technical DJ, it is vital to remember that the most important skill for a DJ is to play great records in the right order. Each record must complement the one before, and introduce the one that follows. Beatmatching is an obvious way of linking records, but there are other common factors, such as lyrical themes & complimentary keys that a DJ can use to aid the transition. Each piece of music has a mood and an energy level, and orchestrated carefully, you can create an atmosphere where every record that comes in is precisely right for that moment.

One very important aspect of my gigs is the control i have over the club environment, especially the sound system, visuals & lighting. The sound system is especially important, and we spend many hours setting up & soundchecking for each gig. You can find full details of my DJ set up etc in the FAQ section of this site,

2008

Having been holed up in the studio for the last two years, i am finally ready to unleash some new music! There have been 3 releases so far, 'Donkey Ride', 'Kalimba' & 'Music Takes me Up'. There will be more releases this year, as well as lots of other randomness, all under the 'Ninja Tuna' banner...
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11 March 2010
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DIGITAL NEWS
08.02.10 Australian Recordings Post First Gain Since 2003...
Perhaps this is just a numbers game, but Australian record sales actually managed to improve in 2009.  According to figures shared by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), wholesale recording revenues gained 4.8 percent last year.  That represents the first improvement since 2003, and offers a glimmer of hope for another troubled market.

But was 2008 a bottom?  Both a-la-carte and digital album sales remain high-growth, and digital as a category gained 46 percent to $79.2 million Australian ($68.4 million US) last year.   More hopeful projections - for Australia and other countries - call for digital to eventually reverse broader declines.  Of course, the majors would like nothing better, though a healthy bit of caution is being applied.

And, like other countries, the Australian recording business is stumping for ISP-level monitoring and enforcement.  "We remain hopeful that the ISPs will work with us to address this pressing problem and help the growth of the legitimate market, something that will, of course, also be to their benefit," said ARIA chairman and president Ed St. John.
04.02.10 The Grammy Bounceback: It's Bigger Than TV...
The Grammy Awards staged a nice recovery this year, reaching audience levels not felt since 2004.  That represents a serious bump from last year, and more importantly, another step away from a bottom-scraping 2006.

The recent telecast scored an audience of 26.6 million, up 35 percent from 2009.  In 2006, that total was 15.1 million, an audience eclipsed by American Idol.

A number of factors probably contributed to the recent upswing, including a collection of younger winners.  But the Recording Academy also triggered a number of online initiatives to coincide with the showcase.  That includes everything from an iPhone app to a Twitter account to a YouTube channel, a serious shift that makes year-to-year comparisons more difficult.

Indeed, many of these categories hardly existed in previous years.  The online stats for 2010, according to the Recording Academy:

*125,760 Facebook fans.

*48,776 Twitter followers, and a top-trending topic for more than four days.

*1.5 million combined views on YouTube for 'We're All Fans' videos.

*2.1 million combined views on grammy.com for various "We're All Fans" videos.
27.01.10 The iPad: 'What This Device Does Is Extraordinary'...
What is 'way better than a laptop,' and 'way better than a smartphone'?  The answer, according to Steve Jobs and Apple, is the iPad, a sleek, touch-sensitive tablet that is 'a dream to type on'.  Jobs unveiled the iPad midday Wednesday in San Francisco in his customary jeans and black turtleneck, and the crowd lapped it up.  "It's the best browsing experience you've ever had, it's unbelievably great," Jobs continued.

Just like the iPhone, users can flip the iPad up, down, or sideways, and buyers will be sure to impress their friends.  Indeed, this thing looks like a giant iPhone in some ways, and buttons are sparse. Underneath, the iPad employs the iPhone OS, and that means that apps translate.

Beyond email, photos, ebooks, Google maps, YouTube, an address book, a calendar, and apps, Jobs also displayed music-related functionality.  That essentially boils down to iTunes, and the audio and video content that comes with it.

The presence of the complete iTunes application opens more possibilities for iTunes LP, a more comprehensive, album-like format.  Whether that stirs a broader album renaissance remains unclear, though the first chapters are just being written on the next-gen bundle.

What else?  The iPad also has built-in WiFi, a 3G mobile option, and ten hours of battery life.  And the price?  At 'just' $499 to start, Apple could shift a lot of units, and Wall Street is expecting sales of between 4 and 5 million in the first year alone.  Other models are more expensive, depending on storage and 3G capabilities.  The highest-storage, 3G-capable model is $829.
26.01.10 Spotify Who? Vodafone Boasts 450,000 Mobile Music Subscribers...
Spotify has 250,000 premium subscribers, potentially the start of a meaningful monetization.  But Vodafone is now boasting 450,000 subscribers at Midem, a number that is growing fast.  The tally covers a few different offerings across a number of European countries, including one that delivers a 10-pack of MP3s for €5 per month.  Another offers unlimited access to the broader Vodafone collection, though access is understandably more limited.

Actually, the Vodafone catalog has 'just' 2 million songs, though the company projects an expansion to 6 million this year.  In 2009, the mobile giant finalized DRM-free licenses with all four majors, a move that paved the way for the current subscriber gains.

The growth arc looks positive.  In December of last year, Vodafone added an additional 100,000 subs, and smartphone growth could boost things further.  "We expect to see continued growth in our music service subscriptions driven by the increase in smartphone use, with their worry-free data tariffs and great value add-ons such as music bundles," explained Lee Epting, Director of Content at Vodafone Internet Services.
25.01.10 Midem 2010: If You Could Just Monetize This, That Would Be Great...
Midem suffered another substantial attendance drop this year, the result of both macroeconomic and industry-specific pressures.  The nasty combo slashed crowds by nearly 13 percent from 2008, and roughly 23 percent from 2007 alone.  Floors were still full-bodied over the weekend, and some sessions were over-crowded.  But the streets of Cannes were a bit more navigable, hotel lobbies less packed, and the entire affair less lavish.

And, plenty of companies trimmed their troops, the biggest example coming from Universal Music Group.  An executive or two from the publishing group surfaced, though the recording unit was absent. Others just sent less people, cooled the expense accounts of those who attended, or simply shortened the length of the trip.

Understandably, a major focus of Midem has been monetization.  That introduced a number of 'conference cliches' and platitudes, including tired jabs against major labels, consumers, legislators, and entrepreneurs.  But more constructively, Midem integrated executives from other industries, many of whom are grappling with similar challenges.  Some are making it, others are not, though the idea was to get the music industry to stop breathing its own fumes.

Great idea, though the takeaways were mixed.  Kodak CMO Jeffrey Hayzlett offered plenty of turnaround gusto and cowboy irreverence, though the reality is that Kodak is seriously struggling in a post-film world.  Getty Images CEO Jonathan Klein outlined success strategies in the easily-pirated images environment, and digital guru Gerd Leonhard offered lucrative examples from virtual worlds and book publishing.

Other examples flowed.  YouTube executive Patrick Walker announced that more than one billion videos - per week - are now being monetized by the video giant.  On the music side, Daniel Ek of Spotify announced a paid subscriber total of 250,000, though American label executives remain unconvinced.  Elsewhere, Shazam pointed to 300,000 paid downloads per day, according to a Music Ally report.

But the broader question is whether a serious and substantial recording and music industry can exist in the 2000s.  One perspective is that attempts to monetize the recording - at least in the wild B2C context - are mostly impossible.  The reason is that music and media assets are now abundant and infinitely replicated, a complete shift from the relatively high scarcity of the 90s.  Indeed, over the past ten years, most attempts to create scarcity in the digital context have faltered.

That is a difficult interpretation for anyone whose fate is tied to the recording.  But this business is bigger than the recording, and attendees talked of more controlled channels like B2B licensing, merchandising, touring, publishing, and gaming.  Dialing back decades, Midem was built as a music licensing exchange, and the trade floor remains a musical UN today.  But even that component is facing disruption, thanks to a global licensing marketplace that is increasingly moving online.

In the meantime, this is an industry still searching for solutions, breakthroughs and viable business models.  Right now, Midem is the forum for that discussion, a traditionally huge, over-the-top event.  But this is an industry that may need to shrink before it can grow again, and Midem may need to shift accordingly.