Documenting My 2010 Duquesne Final Project: A Forgotten Snapshot of DJ History

In 2010, during my graduate studies at Duquesne University of the Holy Spirit, I completed a three‑part final project that captured a moment of massive transition in DJ technology. At the time, I didn’t realize how historically valuable this work would become. I simply wanted to document the tools, techniques, and musical ideas that were shaping the future of DJing as I experienced it.

Sixteen years later, I’m finally writing down what that project actually was — partly for my own archive, partly for the culture, and partly because the original files still sit on a hard drive at Duquesne, and I’m currently working with the university to recover them.

This post is my attempt to preserve the story, even if the physical files never resurface.

1. The History Papers: Mapping Turntablism’s Evolution

The first component of my project was a pair of research papers:

• “The Origins of Turntablism”

• “The Modern Approach to Turntablism”

These papers traced the development of DJing from its earliest musical roots through the rise of scratch performance, battle culture, and the innovations that defined the 1990s and 2000s. At the time, academic writing on DJ culture was still relatively rare, so I approached these papers as both a historian and a practitioner. They were meant to bridge the gap between scholarship and lived experience.

2. The Scratch Notation System: A New Way to See Sound

The second component was the most experimental: a self‑developed scratch notation method created in Finale.

I took every turntable solo from the track “Pretty Picture” and broke them into excerpts. Each excerpt was notated using a hybrid system inspired by classical rhythmic notation but adapted to represent:

• scratch intensity

• rhythmic subdivisions

• directional motion

• expressive nuance

The Finale files were programmed so that the audio excerpts played in sync with the notation. You could hear the scratches while seeing their structure — a kind of visual‑audio transcription that was ahead of its time.

It was cooler than it sounds, and honestly, I wish more of the DJ world had gone down this path.

3. The CDJ Instruction Manual: Teaching Digital DJing Before It Was Standard

The third component was a full instruction manual for Pioneer CDJs and a Rane mixer — written at a time when digital DJing was still new, inconsistent, and often misunderstood.

In 2010:

• some clubs had CDJs

• some had turntables

• some had both

• some had neither

• controllers were exploding in popularity

• laptops were becoming central to performance

• USB workflows were barely beginning

My manual was designed to help DJs navigate this uncertain landscape. It explained cueing, looping, beatmatching, pitch control, jog wheel behavior, and the early digital features that would eventually become standard.

I didn’t know it then, but I was documenting a turning point.

Conclusion: The Standard I Never Saw Coming

When I wrote that CDJ manual, I had no idea that Pioneer’s ecosystem would eventually dominate clubs around the world. At the time, the future felt wide open. Vinyl still held cultural authority. Serato and Traktor were reshaping performance. Controllers were innovating faster than anyone could keep up. And CDJs — while powerful — were just one option among many.

I didn’t predict that CDJs would become the global standard. Almost no one did.

That’s exactly why this project matters today.

It captures the mindset of a working DJ in a moment when the future wasn’t settled. It documents the tools, techniques, and assumptions of an era when digital DJing was still finding its identity. And it preserves the transitional workflows that defined the late 2000s and early 2010s — before Rekordbox dominance, before USB sticks became the norm, before the booth standardized around Pioneer hardware.

Today, the original files — the papers, the notation system, the manual — sit on a hard drive somewhere inside Duquesne University of the Holy Spirit. I’m actively working with the department to recover them. Whether they surface or not, this post ensures that the story survives.

This was my contribution to DJ history in 2010. Now it finally has a place in the archive.