Turning the tables in Poland

By: Vanessa Polojac

Hamilton club veteran DJ Cam B brought his modern take on 90s scratch techniques to represent Hamilton on a global stage.

Cameron Ballantyne placed third in the eighth annual Red Bull world DJ championship, Red Bull 3Style, in Krakow, Poland.

Scratching is a DJ and a turntable technique used to produce distinct, variety of percussive sounds.

DJs manipulate sounds by moving a vinyl record back and forth on a turntable while using the crossfader on a DJ mixer to open and close audio signals from the two records that are simultaneously played.

While the DJ scene is growing rapidly in the Hamilton community, Ballantyne is considered to be one of the city’s original mixers.

During the Red Bull events, he chose to stick to his scratch record origins.

Ballantyne bought his first scratch-table in 1999 when he was 15 years old. Since then, he has become one of Hamilton’s most well-known DJs. He has performed at Che Burrito & Lounge located in Hess Village for the past nine years. This is where he met performing partner Walter Deans. The two went created a collaborative project titled Buggin Out DJs.

“Walter and I were the only type of scratch DJs in the city at the time. We met in 2005, while we were both performing at a small venue downtown and the owners called it Buggin Out Night. We got on really well and had similar music tastes,” explained Ballantyne.

Ballantyne was strongly influenced by hip-hop music from an early age. House parties and buying Tupac and Biggie on vinyl records in the late 90s inspired him to begin scratching.

“Scratching used to be an underground and secretive type of activity when I was first starting out. Now, with YouTube anyone can learn how to become a scratch DJ,” explained Ballantyne.

“Everything also used to be on vinyl… the internet is now being used and DJs can incorporate any song to their mix.”

Hamilton crowds have been a source of inspiration and connection to youth culture for the 34-year-old DJ, and it shows in his sets.

Ballantyne combined 90s hip-hop cuts and a contemporary club staples in a brilliant combination of Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s “I’m an Alcoholic” into Beyoncé’s “Drunk In Love”.

“Performing regularly in the Hamilton community for numerous years now has given me inspiration for routines and has also given me knowledge for what audiences like [so I can use those songs] while I am competing,” explained Ballantyne.

To qualify for the championship, Ballantyne had to send in a video of his best DJ mixes.

For the final Red Bull Championship, competitors had to draw from three different genres of music.

Ballantyne’s 15-minute set included “Kid Charlemagne” by Steely Dan, “DNA” by Kendrick Lamar and “Bulls on Parade” by Rage Against the Machine.

For the latter, he combined Slim Thug’s verse on “Wamp Wamp (What It Do)”, with the song’s famed guitar riff, and replicated the iconic Tom Morello guitar solo with scratch sounds.

The Red Bull world DJ championship is the largest international DJ competition in the world.

The Championships have successfully advanced DJ culture and entrained crowds since 2010.

During his time there, Ballantyne learned about where the future for scratch DJs is heading.

https://open.spotify.com/user/redbullmediahouse/playlist/7DxZpM4d3bdMooxqBC6iWd

A new DJ software was announced at the finals called Phase, a wireless tracker for turntable DJs. Now, instead of using cartridges, needles and a control vinyl, Phase will allow scratch DJs to wirelessly control the position of a record with a single control remote.

Competing against DJs from 21 different countries and receiving third place has meant a lot to Ballantyne while, representing Canada and Hamilton to an international crowd.

“Hamilton is this small city that many people foreign to Canada have not heard of. Being so close to Toronto we are often overshadowed and undermined but I think that we are the heart of Ontario, where a lot of great talent and culture comes from.”

For the rest of 2018, Ballantyne hopes to keep on performing regularly with Buggin Out DJs in all over Ontario while also creating new sets and tracks online to show the world what Hamilton’s scratch DJs have to offer.

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