Military Scratch

The Military Scratch

The military scratch, a combination of dragging and 2 clicks to get 6 sounds in total.

To start with, the military scratch is 8 round trips with the vinyl and 2 cuts with the crossfader. This gives us 6 sounds. We cut the last 2 returns which gives 2 forward or 2 chop/stab at the end of the movement, depending on the speed of execution. Finally the difficulty for the military scratch is to stay in rhythm and synchronized to get the 6 sounds.

This technique is similar to the "horse combo" which leaves three sounds out of four. To imitate the sound of the horse trotting, we cut 1 return out of 2 (tac, tac, tac; tac, tac, tac).

As with all techniques, start slowly and increase the speed gradually.

It is a "fairly easy to do" technique once you have mastered the basics.

Here is the graph of the military, note the 2 crossfader cuts to get the 6 sounds of the combination. The times vary according to the speed of execution.

At the end of the video, a Q & A to practice the military at different speeds.