Interview: Marc Hype keeps it fresh and unique

November 21, 2017

25ThC caught up with German scratch DJ champ, 45’s lover and re-edit extraordinaire Marc Hype to discuss the turntabilism, his releases over the past 30 years and his input into the design of a new 45s record bag:

You were originally inspired to start your DJ career by the legendary Jam Master Jay RIP. What was it about him that first got you into the scene and what do you love about it?
With Jam Master Jay it was that I’ve checked, that you can be the backbone of a hip hop band. He held the breaks down for his MCs like no-one else at this time, he was one of the role models for hip hop DJing for me back in the days. May he rest in peace.

You won the German ITF championships back to back in 1998 and 1999. The turntablist scene is still going strong but how do you think it has changed since the advent of Serato/Traktor and digital vinyl systems? Also what are your views about the recent online discussions about the lack of prize money for competitions nowadays?
The whole art changed through digital tools. Good and bad situation, there’s always developing, but the crowd disappeared in the early 00’s, as it wasn’t understandable enough what happened on stage. That was the bad thing about going digital for turntablism. It fitted way later with different formats like the IDA or RB Thr3style. And the prize money nowadays? I mean, it differs, but there also weren’t always the biggest prizes at all. I’ve won a Vestax PMC06 for the national championships in 98, the real prizes were the international competitions and reputations where you could built on!

Over the years you have worked with many legends of the scene including Masta Ace, Souls of Mischief, DJ Z-Trio and many more. Which of these did you most enjoy working with and why?
I actually like all of them, we became friends, I’ve never worked with people that I wouldn’t like just for the name! Z-Trip had the dirty jokes & Masta Ace the deepness of an idol, got love for everyone.

You have numerous releases behind you in your 3 decade spanning career. It may be difficult to choose a favourite but which one of them stands out most for you and why?
Each decade has its faves. I still like my “1973 * Recon” album for all the memories behind, but also of course “The Antique Anthem“ & “The Mexican“ with Jim Dunloop, which became our signature tracks.

You now travel the world with a bag full of 45s as part of the Dusty Donuts crew. I am a big fan of the label, owning a t-shirt and almost of all of the releases. How did you first get involved with the label and what does it promote?
Actually Dusty Donuts was first a 45s-only event series in Berlin in 2012, inspired by NYC’s Mobile Mondays and Oakland’s The 45 Sessions. Under various circumstances we came (back) together. I talked to long time friend Naughty NMX from Hamburg about building a very own thing, a new home for us to do edits and parties etc, so we came up with the 45s Label idea. Runex, old school homeboy from Berlin, joined directly, so we just had to ask Jim Sharp from London to join and he trusted us. Now we’re going strong as a team internationally. We’re promoting classic Hip Hop & Funk/Soul Edits, reworking the OG sources with the inspired rap classics vibe.

You are also part of the 45 Live DJ crew. What is it about 45s that is so special and why as a DJ do you enjoy performing using them?
After six years of spinning straight with Serato, it was just boring to me. I needed the feel of a well curated selection again, crawling and digging through a crate, finding that one record, finding a likeminded community again. So went back to vinyl, and 45s are way more lightweight then 12″s. It’s a straight-up fun format with lots of exclusive releases and a strong international scene behind.

Your live sets involve a lot of scratching which is normally quite tricky using 7″ vinyl. What tips do you have for other DJ’s and in particular the use of any specific needles or slipmats?
I use Dr Suzuki “The Donuts” slipmats with Shortrugs beneath for stabilizing them, while still keep them slippy. Syd Def Jam 45 adapters on top and Shure M44-7 cartridges.

Your recent releases are re-edited versions of stone cold classic hip hop tracks often re-editing back in the original samples used. How do you go about deciding which tracks to re-edit, what software do you use and do you work with multi-stems or the full tracks?
Mainly we’re looking for tracks that both work on the floor alone. It’s a bit tricky to find such combinations, lots of research. We use Logic and mostly don’t have any stems. We have a lot of stems, but they don’t fit our formula mostly.

What advice would you give to any aspiring producers out there wanting to release their own edits or 45s?
Try to be fresh and unique. Before you start to edit something, research if it’s been done already or if you bring something new to the table. Be aware of good sounding and mastering. And please don’t fuck up the tune with wrong positioning of the accapella!

Do you have any more releases slated for 2017 and where can people catch one of your DJ sets?
There’s coming two new Dusty Donuts 45s this year, but more to come in the future, probably a new offspring label with more open sound too! You can always check all dates and infos from the Dusty fam under: www.keepitdusty.com

You have been involved in the design of a brand new 45s specific bag from Magma. How did you get involved with this and can you tell us about the features of the new bag?
Mike from Magma is a long time DJ friend of mine. He was asking me a while ago, but finally we started the developing process a year ago. The main focus was to keep the price low, while being very functional at the same time. The divider/separator in the middle stabilise the whole bag almost like box and you can put the records in different directions. There’s also a separate mesh pocket for 45 slipmats, two outer accessory pockets for headphones, needle cases, adapters etc and a trolley sling attached and the bag is perfect hand luggage for any airline.