Turntablism
Baby scratch
The baby scratch is the first one anyone learns: push the record forward and pull it back in time with the beat, fader open throughout. No fader work at all — only the hand.
In practice
Push and pull to the beat with the fader open — get this in time before adding any fader at all.
Use a stab or a drum hit with a hard front edge, not a sustained sound, so you can hear exactly where the motion starts. Keep the movement small: an inch of travel either way is plenty, and long sweeps make the timing harder for no extra sound. Count it out loud as two even halves per beat first, then try three, then uneven groupings — the rhythmic vocabulary is what makes it musical, not the speed. Fingers flat on the record, wrist doing the work, forearm still.
Fader open
Throughout
About an inch
Travel either way
Wrist, not arm
Where the motion comes from
Where these come from: Technique convention on standard turntables, not catalog figures. For what we can measure, see the vocabulary this one starts.
Why it matters
It is the foundation every other scratch is built on, because the record-hand motion never changes. What changes is the fader pattern laid over it, so a baby scratch that drifts will make a flare or a chirp drift by exactly the same amount.
It is also the honest test of a rig. With the fader open there is nothing to hide behind: if the platter is fighting you, the mat is grabbing or the tone arm is skipping, a baby scratch shows it in the first bar.
Frequently asked
Why is it called a baby scratch?+
Because it is the simplest one — no fader involvement, one motion, nothing to coordinate. It is the scratch a beginner starts on and the one every other scratch is built from.
Do you use the crossfader in a baby scratch?+
No. The fader stays open the whole time, so both the forward push and the backward pull are heard. Silencing the return turns it into a forward scratch.
What sound should you practise a baby scratch on?+
Something with a sharp attack — a vocal stab, a horn hit, a snare. A sustained pad has no clear front edge, so you cannot hear whether the motion is in time.
Related terms
Scratch
A scratch is a sound made by moving a record back and forth under the needle while the crossfader or channel fader cuts it in and out. The hand sets the pitch; the fader sets the rhythm.
Forward scratch
A forward scratch is a baby scratch with the return silenced: push the record forward with the fader open, then close the fader before pulling it back. Only the forward half is heard.
Scribble scratch
A scribble is a fast tremble of the record made from the forearm rather than the wrist, with the fader left open. It produces a dense burst rather than an articulated pattern.
Chirp scratch
A chirp starts with the fader open and closes it at the end of the forward push, then opens it partway through the pull back. Cutting off the tail of each motion is what makes the sound.
Explore: Mixing guides · BPM tapper · Scratch · All DJ terms