Johnny Juice
Occupation:
DJ/Producer
Official Website:
http://www.slamjamz.com
Background:
Raised in the Bronx, DJ/producer and master turntablist Johnny “Juice” Rosado participated in the inner-city revolution that brought urban music to mainstream culture. A true progenitor of modern hip-hop, Rosado collaborated with legendary rap group Public Enemy, cutting wax on the classic albums Yo! Bum Rush the Showand It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back.
Throughout his storied career, Juice has been involved in projects on the cutting edge of hip-hop music and culture. Along with Not4Prophet, he is a founding member of X-Vandals—a politically charged Puerto Rican hip-hop group who recently released the album The War of Art. Their incendiary message and sound have put them at the forefront of a new cultural movement. Juice also stays involved with inner-city issues through his involvement with Hip-Hop Congress, an international grassroots organization. Using the common language of hip-hop culture, the group inspires young people to get involved through social action, civic service and cultural creativity.
Johnny Juice
Why have you chosen to integrate Torq into your live performances and studio production?
Torq allows me to have complete tactile control using vinyl, which is important. I’ve tried Serato, and while it was real good at emulating vinyl, its feature set was so limited that I might as well just stick to strictly vinyl. It’s pretty much the same with Final Scratch and Traktor. It’s not about response—you have to look at the workflow and user interface. Torq brings everything together into a single workspace, and the features it provides are incredible. It’s made for you to really dig in there and get busy.
How has Torq improved your DJ performance?
It’s great having tools to perform tricks other DJs can’t pull off. Other programs make it necessary to set up everything in advance. But instead of going through all 20,000 songs and marking cue points, I can pull out a track I haven’t played in six months and Torq remembers my cues. I can even set QuickCue points on Xponent while the track is playing. Sometimes I’ll cue the kick, snare, hi-hat, and remake the beat right there. People think I’m spinning pre-produced remixes, but I’m not. It’s all on the fly.
How has Torq proven useful in the studio?
Recently I was sampling an old record and found sections that sounded great, but they were micro loops. I had to trigger three or four of them to generate a beat. I could have pieced them together on my drum machine, but instead I ReWired Torq to my DAW session and triggered the stuff live. That gave it more feeling and allowed me to switch up the sequence.
