Turntablism is the art of manipulating sounds and creating music using direct-drive turntables and a DJ mixer. The word turntablist was coined in 1996 by DJ Babu to distinguish the difference between a DJ who just plays records and one who performs by touching and moving the records, stylus and mixer to manipulate sound. The new term coincided with a resurgence of the art of hip hop style DJ-ing in the 1990s.
Turntablism consists of turntable techniques such as beat mixing/matching, scratching and beat juggling. Some turntablists seek to have themselves recognised as traditional musicians capable of interacting and improvising with other performers.