Turntablist Transcription Methodology, or TTM, is a notation system for scratching and turntablism. The system was founded by John Carluccio in 1997. A seminal booklet detailing the system was written and published by John Carluccio, industrial designer Ethan Imboden and DJ Raedawn in 2000. It is an intuitive graphical representation of the movement of a record whilst performing with a turntable, and was originally documented in a booklet form for distribution used by turntablists around the world. The system has achieved acclaim from a number of recognizable turntablists, and is becoming increasingly accepted as a valuable method for transcribing turntablist music as it used by public schools in the UK, as well as DJ schools, and has appeared in numerous university dissertations. Thousands of DJ techniques, tutorials and musical scores have been transcribed using this system. Some of the world's top turntablist dj battle champions use the system such as DJ Qbert, DJ Babu, DJ Shiftee, DJ Nelson,

DJ Woody DJ Woody (born 1977-) is a prolific DJ and turntablist born in Burnley, Lancashire UK. Career Started DJing in 1992 but made his name through the dj competition circuit when in 2001 when he was the first European DJ to win the ITF (Internatio ...

, DJ Wundrkut, DJ K-Swizz and Ritchie Rufftone. The TTM musical notation system has aided in the communication and collaboration among DJs, turntablists, musicians and producers. It has been recognized as the industry standard of musical notation for turntablists worldwide. The TTM system is used by renowned DJ instructors at Electronic Music Collective, Scratch DJ Academy, School of Scratch, The

Beat Junkies The Beat Junkies is an American hip hop crew of DJs specializing in turntablism. Established in 1992 in Orange County, California by J. Rocc. As of 2014, The Beat Junkie Crew also host their own record pool, clothing line and radio station. ...

Institute of Sound, and Q-bert’s Skratch University. In 2021, Sxratch publicly released the "Scratch Visualizer'" a DJ software that in real time creates TTM illustrations. Using this software, Carluccio created and hosted a web series entitled "Sxratch Essentials" highlighting the TTM of key scratch techniques as demonstrated live by the pioneer DJs who made them famous.

TTM origins

While documenting the

X-ecutioners The X-Ecutioners are a group of American hip hop DJs/turntablists from New York City, New York. The group formed in 1989 and currently consists of three DJs, including Total Eclipse, DJ Boogie Blind, DJ Precision. Original members of the grou ...

first studio recording

X-pressions ''X-Pressions'' is the debut studio album by New York City DJ group The X-Ecutioners. The album was released on September 23, 1997 for Asphodel Records and was produced by four members of The X-Ecutioners, including Rob Swift, Total Eclipse, Roc R ...

, John Carluccio envisioned the notation system in 1997 and started testing his rough concept with DJ Rob Swift and turntablists. In 1998 he partnered with industrial designer Ethan Imboden to create a TTM booklet, and by 2000, with additional aid from DJ Raedawn (Raymond Pirtle), a full detailed booklet was distributed at The Battle Sounds Turntablist Festival #4 at New City’s

Symphony Space Symphony Space, founded by Isaiah Sheffer and Allan Miller, is a multi-disciplinary performing arts organization at 2537 Broadway on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Performances take place in the 760-seat Peter Jay Sharp Theatre (also called Pe ...

on February 17, 2000. The TTM booklet has been downloaded, shared, and translated versions in Italian, French, Spanish have been created by turntablist enthusiasts. In 2001, John Carluccio was named by

Time Magazine ''Time'' (stylized in all caps) is an American news magazine based in New York City. For nearly a century, it was published weekly, but starting in March 2020 it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York City on Mar ...

as one of the next 100 Innovators in music for TTM. In 2004, Scratch Magazine (issues #1- #6) featured TTM notations in a reoccurring column that explained iconic hip-hop scratch patterns. In 2022, Carluccio spoke at the Sample Music Festival in Berlin about the origins of TTM. In 2023 Carluccio created and hosted a web series illustrating the pioneering scratch techniques with its makers entitled "Sxratch Essentials"

References

External links

Official TTM website & Guide

TTM booklet (English) pdf
{{DJing DJing Musical techniques