What a great DAVID MORALES interview, RESPECT.

[silverbull]

Beautiful interview

For Sweet Analog Sound & the Loft-Party Aesthetic, David Morales Represents the Old School. But When New Technology Can Take Him Higher, the NYC DJ Legend Isn’t Afraid to Change His Ways

By Jim Tremayne

Photos by Rahav Segev

Published in the February 2005 issue of DJ Times Magazine

Volume 18 - Number 02

New York City—It’s Election Day 2004 and, strangely, the best way to ease one’s mind from the week’s information onslaught is to prepare for a cover story. That morning’s headache has so far defeated four Tylenols, so a six-pack of lager may the next method. I pick one up and ease over to our photo shoot in the East Village.

Walking into the Photo Pass studio, David Morales can be seen in full posedown. Never cracking a smile, he exudes a measured, professional vibe—very New York. It’s apparent that Morales doesn’t suffer too much frivolity. François Kevorkian and Louie Vega, DJs that Morales openly admires, are like that. Even the other old-school DJ kings who offer more of a cheery outward energy—Frankie Knuckles, Tony Humphries, Roger Sanchez—are all business when time dictates. As you might guess, no beer for Morales.

Walking over to a nearby sushi restaurant where we conduct the interview, Morales loosens up and admits that the incessant election talk has numbed him. As one of our greatest global DJs, Morales knows better than anyone the criticisms of American foreign policy. It’s in his face every day. He just wants to play records, and, of course, be professional about it. When we sit down at the restaurant, he orders sake and beer. Morales’ quasi-scowl gets lifted, and we’re off.

If you’re a DJ and you don’t know David Morales, here’s the attention-deficit version: One of New York’s greatest house DJs, Morales had one of New York’s most influential club residencies. At Red Zone in the late ’80s and early ’90s, Morales broke dozens of records to a wider audience and tested out hundreds of his remixes for artists too many to mention. (Check his staggering discography at defmix.com.) At one time remixing two projects a week, Morales’ “Red Zone Mixes†became a world-wide club phenomenon. In fact, whether Morales likes it or not, his dark, heavy “Red Zone Dubs†set the groundwork for the progressive house movement. Also, cuts like the reggae-fied “In De Ghetto†(with BYC) and the gorgeous houser “I’ll Be Your Friend†became pop hits and enduring classics. He was rewarded for his work in 1998 with a Grammy Award in the “Remixer of the Year†category. Stereo, his club in Montreal outfitted with thunderously pristine sound, has become his playground.

After taking a studio break and concentrating on rocking global nightclubs, Morales has returned with Two Worlds Collide (Ultra). More of a clubby pop record, as opposed to a pop-dance record (if you get the difference), Morales’ latest doesn’t offer the soulful grooves that DJs have come to expect from him. Instead, there’s more of a feel-good, Ibiza-anthem vibe. And the better cuts are whoppers. Initial single, “How Would U Feel†featuring Lea-Lorién, is already a breakout club track—and a Top 3 pop hit in Japan! (For some of the best big-room house you’ll hear, check Morales’ “Stereo Anthem Mix†of “How Would U Feel.â€) Also, “Here I Am†featuring Tamra Keenan is another pop hit waiting in the wings.

Back to the interview: After a minute or two, it becomes apparent that Morales wants to tell his full story and offer something to which others can refer for a long time. It’s the old-school DJ telling the tale of thriving in a new-school world. He’s done with the sake and he’s starting with the beer. He’s speaking with looser lips. I feel lucky. This one’s gonna be a keeper.

DJ Times: I was going through an old DJ Times from 1990, and in an interview with Chuck Arnold, you mentioned that it was music that really saved you from a lot of street influences. What was your life like before you got into DJing?

David Morales: I grew up in Williamsburg, Brooklyn—lived there from age 1 to 8. Then my family moved to a better neighborhood in Flatbush. I lived in the ghetto before that. Our apartment was rat- and roach-infested; then in the new neighborhood, it was very different. There were different kinds of people—Cubans, Russians, Italians, Jewish. After I moved to Flatbush, I got turned onto baseball, and I started playing at 10 years old. Played until I was 18.

DJ Times: Were you a fan of the Mets or the Yankees?

Morales: [Almost indignantly) Yankees.

DJ Times: What music moved you?

Morales: I went somewhere with my mother and the record that was playing was “Spinning Wheel†[by Blood, Sweat and Tears]. I remember that I asked for the record—I was 4 or 5 years old. I also remember hearing the record “Jungle Fever†by Chakachas on Polydor.

DJ Times: You admitted to being a hood.

Morales: I used to go to this record store called Titus Oaks when I was 12, 13—right around the time 12-inches first came out. I didn’t have money to buy records, so I used to steal them. They had a major oldies section on the second floor. I’d take the records out of the jackets and steal them. I was also into graffiti as well at that time, and I was into racking up paint—so I had the stealing part down-pat. I liked art, I liked baseball and I liked music. The only problem was, with the art part, I was into graffiti. Even when I was taking art classes, I hated it. I hated learning about primary, secondary colors, The Renaissance. I could care less about drawing an apple in a vase. I loved graffiti.

DJ Times: What records do you remember actually buying?

Morales: I saved up to buy my first couple of 45s. I’d put the speaker of our cheap stereo out the window and think I was cool playing the same record 20 times in a row. I bought Gladys Knight and The Pips’ “Neither One of Us,†The O’Jays’ “Put Your Hands Togetherâ€â€”that was my one-time favorite. Of course, my first 12-inch was Double Exposure…

DJ Times: “Ten Percent.â€

Morales: “Ten Percent.†When I first saw two turntables together, I was 13 and I saw them at a house party. This guy had a console. I liked music, but at the time, I was a listener, not so much a

DJ. I thought: “Why does he have two turntables?†I was fascinated by it because I just played music record-by-record. I’d hang out with my homeboys and they’d say, “David, play some records for us, play some music.†And I’d be the selector.

DJ Times: What was the first time you heard someone really mixing?

Morales: At my junior high school prom, that’s when “Ten Percent†was out. I got left back, so I went to the prom again the next year [laughs] and then it was First Choice “Dr. Love†the following year. I heard a DJ and it was like, wow! Then I’d see DJs doing block parties. You’d see them in the parks or in the projects, DJs set up in the courtyards. That’s when some of the scratching was going on. That’s when “Bounce, Rock, Skate, Roll†and “Good Times†was out and you had the DJs cutting back and forth, “Good times…good times…good times…â€

DJ Times: What about your first DJ gear?

Morales: I used to play on stolen equipment. We were gangsters, you know. We weren’t paying for things. So, my boys had the gear, but I bought the records. My first mixer I played on, I acquired during the blackout in 1977. It was a Radio Shack microphone mixer that converted to connect two turntables. Of course, the turntables didn’t even match, no pitch control, no cuing in the mixer, so it was playing Braille, but, hey, I was mixing away. I used to dance as well. Back in those days, crews competed with each other, as opposed to fighting. You’d go to the Bronx or Brooklyn, and you’d rock—we called it rocking. The Bronx would come down to Brooklyn or Brooklyn would go up to the Bronx, and it was like that.

DJ Times: What about your first “real gig�

Morales: I remember playing a gig with a [Meteor] Clubman 1 mixer. This is when “San Francisco†by the Village People was out and I went to a friend’s house and they were having a house party. The DJ booth was in the kitchen, but the party was in the living room—no monitors. There was no technology then, so nobody was going to criticize you if you did a bad mix. It was all about non-stop music. But the bottom line is that it’s about the song—it’s always about the song. My friend said, “Hey, Dave, play some records.†I’m sure the DJ wasn’t happy about me playing. So I got on the turntables and the only reason I put the headphones on was because he had them on—I didn’t know what they were for. So I flipped this switch and the record came on the headphones! Oh, wow! This is so cool! So, anyway, I guess I did rock the house, for a little while anyway.

DJ Times: How did you get your mixing skills together?

Morales: Back then, the Jamaicans and Trinidadians were really into big sound systems with these crazy-ass consoles made with patent leather and cushions. I used to go out with this DJ who played Trinidadian music, and he’d bring me along to play the American part of the set. Back then, it was about playing the commercial music—I’m 15 playing the hits. He always had his setup in his electronics store, so I’d go to his shop and play records. That’s how I developed my skills, by bouncing around to other people’s equipment. I’d go to AST [a pro audio shop] or somebody’s house. I practiced my ass off. I’d play every chance I got.

DJ Times: You’ve said that going to The Loft and hearing David Mancuso DJ in the 1970s was a life-changing experience? Why?

Morales: Well, the way I got there was that I played a surprise birthday party for a friend’s boyfriend—and they used to go to The Loft. At this party, they handed me some records to play, so I was listening to records that I’d never heard. But they were Loft classics. These people and this party opened my mind to go to The Loft. I went when I was 19. It was a private club, membership only. It was a privilege just to go in! I was blown away by everything—the sound, the décor, everything. It was a house party.

DJ Times: How did it inspire you?

Morales: At the same time, I was doing parties in apartments in Brooklyn on Friday nights. The Loft was only doing parties on Saturdays. When I started doing my parties, I’d design my flyers on my lunch break from my job at the coffee shop where I worked. I’d put ’em up on the poles, on the walls at the train station. I did my own legwork. I was my own promoter. I decorated the club. I’d get out of work and buy my own streamers, balloons. It was nice. Then when I went to The Loft, I saw this whole thing. My parties ended up based on the same philosophy. I put out the fruit. Mancuso had this whole buffet, salad bar, coffee, tea—I didn’t go to that extent. Mine was a baby version of it.

DJ Times: I guess you didn’t serve the same punch either, right?

Morales: I definitely didn’t make the same punch [laughs]. But I was blown away by the sound. And what struck me was that [Mancuso] wasn’t mixing. What I learned about The Loft was crowd control.

DJ Times: In what respect?

Morales: How you start your evening, how you pace yourself, as opposed to today when these new guys just walk into a club, there’s nobody in the room and they’re blasting away. They’re just banging it. With Mancuso, you learned that when you went to somebody’s house you relaxed. The lighting was a certain kind of way. The mood was a certain kind of way. You grooved with the evening. You were seduced. He built it—the way it was supposed to be done. You played the whole night and you had to pace yourself. You’d take it up and down—you ain’t peaking for eight hours. It doesn’t work that way.

DJ Times: What did Mancuso teach you as a DJ?

Morales: The most important thing I learned from Mancuso was that it was all about the selection; it’s not about the mix. He played the record from beginning to end. And that’s what people wanted to hear. They didn’t care how incredible you were as a mixer. It wasn’t about the technical side. And you know something? To this day, that’s what it’s all about.

DJ Times: What mistakes do you see DJs making?

Morales: The biggest mistake DJs make is that they play for other DJs. Most DJs aren’t dancing anyway. They’re too busy being critics, giving off this negative energy. I don’t go to a club to stand in front of the DJ booth and berate somebody. If the DJ’s not happening, the DJ’s not happening—I leave.

DJ Times: Was there anything from the Paradise Garage that you took?

Morales: The way [DJ Larry Levan] worked the sound system, the way he worked that [Richard Long-built] crossover. That’s what I learned. He’d work certain parts of a record, which is what I do today at Stereo. There is only a handful of [DJs] who really know how to work a sound system. It’s not just treble, bass, mids—it’s a little more than that. I like to bodyslam people on the floor, where they feel like they’re being picked up and thrown to the ground.

DJ Times: How do you do that?

Morales: You have to learn how to work the crossover, the volume and the record, all at the same time. You have to have the right fluid movement for it, just like a gymnast, when it comes to working those knobs. [The Richard Long] crossover really separates bass, midrange and highs. You have active crossovers that aren’t made to be handled, but this crossover was made so that you had manipulation over the bass, midrange and tweeters.

DJ Times: What is your concept for Stereo?

Morales: The Paradise Garage for the new millennium. For me, it’s bringing what I experienced in clubland at The Loft and the Garage and bringing it to Montreal. It’s that philosophy. It’s a place for people to dance. It’s all about the music. It’s about great sound, intimate lighting and friendly staff.

DJ Times: When you play out globally, do you have a strict rider?

Morales: I have a rider, but in reality, I’d say, that at 80-percent of the gigs I do I could walk out just based on technical reasons—monitors, feedback,sound systems, oh, man, the pitch control on a turntable is shot. But the show must go on. I’ve only walked off a gig twice. I’ve had arguments with soundmen, almost getting into fights, because when I have some young kid trying to tell me what’s up, it’s like: Hey, back off. I’ve been playing longer than you’ve been alive. Back off.

DJ Times: You’ve been around the block already, and you own and maintain a club.

Morales: I mean, where do you get the point to talk to me like that. Because I own a club, it’s worse when I go to a place and it’s not right. I mean, I own a recording studio. I’ve got Dynaudio monitors with Bryston amplifiers, which is practically the best your money can buy. When it comes to owning a club and running a sound system, nobody touches me right now. And I can say this from traveling. I’m talking about the concept of having a room and sound in the room, the quality of the sound. There’s no one touching me right now. I’m a fanatic. So what I have in my recording studio, my club has to represent in the same way. It’s almost like buying a car. You buy the shell and you put a new engine, new tires, new rims, new everything. You revamp the whole thing, and that’s what I’ve done at Stereo. For example, I took out the Gauss drivers and put in TAD drivers. It’s like you can buy a car for $28,000 that’ll get you where you want to go, same as the $100,000 care will. But the $100,000 performs better, but it also costs more to maintain when it breaks down—just like a good sound system.

DJ Times: I moved to New York in 1990, and it seemed like the songs from your Red Zone residency were breaking out of there regularly. What tunes do you remember as classics from that era?

Morales: This is a whole different generation now. The Red Zone classics were… my God! The Red Zone was all about non-American records like [stevie V’s] “Dirty Cash,†[Technotronic’s] “Pump Up the Jam,†Snap’s “The Power.†We were the only club playing this stuff, aside from Mark Kamins, who was the one who turned me onto “Pump Up the Jam.†He was the first to play it and I was the second. But Red Zone broke that record. He was at Mars and they played that door shit, but we had kids at Red Zone. Also, [Deskee’s] “Ska Train,†[Robert Owens’] “I’ll Be Your Friend,†[Frankie Knuckles’] “Tears.†A record that I mixed that was huge was “Mr. Loverman.†Back in them days, I used to come down and play reggae/hip-hop just to bring it down, but I never lost my floor. We were the first club to play “Gypsy Womanâ€â€”it was on a reel-to-reel!

DJ Times: You were heavily into remixing then, too.

Morales: That was an era when I was working in the studio 100 hours a week. I was mixing two records a week. Imagine, in a month alone, I was mixing an average of 10 records.

DJ Times: And that was the old-fashioned way.

Morales: The old-fashioned way! With the technology today, I’d be doubling that. Time-stretch? Five minutes. Back then, we’d spend a day just time-stretching. Today? Zip, zip, zip!

DJ Times: You’ve made hundreds of records and some of your best material really stands the test of time. Aside from the classics, I love your house mix of Björk’s “Hyper-ballad†and some of the “Red Zone Dubs.†How do you feel about your work now?

Morales: A lot of people come up to me and tell me that I’m the one who created progressive music because of the “Red Zone Dubs.†They were a slower tempo, but they were dark. Nobody was doing dark, heavy stuff back then, just the Red Zone mixes, which gave me a major rep—a good one. But when I heard, “Hey, you started progressive,†I wanted to kill myself [laughs]. Don’t hang that on me!

DJ Times: Transitioning from the old-school studio methods of tape and hardware, how long did it take you to get your head around the new studio technology—sequencers, plug-ins, etc.?

Morales: I still haven’t got my head around it. I don’t do the actual sequencing. When it came to old sequencing stuff, that I was doing—with the computers, the drum-machines. The old drum machines were playing percussion. They had a feel to it. I was playing pads, as opposed to programming on a keyboard with a screen.

DJ Times: Tell me about this album project. It’s certainly not a deep-house thing.

Morales: This was never an album to begin with—it became an album. I got together with some great writers that happened to be some great singers. And when we cut the demos I was pleased with the performances and I kept them, and asked if they wanted to be featured artists. And every one of them said yes. I was really going for one artist, and that was a girl from Ireland named Tamra Keenan. I heard her on a breakbeat record—not even a house record. My dream was to get someone like Dido, something different. I wasn’t going for that typical, soulful, gospel thing—I didn’t want that. I wanted something global because I travel around the world. My roots are in New York, but I live around the world. If I make a record, it’s so I can play it anywhere. Some records made in America don’t translate to a global audience at all.

DJ Times: What are your favorite places to play?

Morales: Stereo is my favorite place to play. That’s my home base, but talking about countries? I like Japan because, of all the countries in the world, Japan is the most like old New York. Their tastes have been trained by guys like Larry Levan, François Kevorkian, myself, Frankie Knuckles, Louie Vega, Joe Claussell, Tony Humphries. They grew up on that whole phenomenon. They didn’t experience it, but they latched onto it. It’s one of the only places in the whole world you can play all classic records and they love it. Technically, they’re on-point more than anything. Every club I play in Japan has a UREI mixer, an isolator, three turntables, two CDJs, proper monitors, all the way. My second-favorite place is Italy.

DJ Times: People would die to do what you do.

Morales: Yeah, but you don’t see that. You don’t look at that. You stand in the same place as when you first started. I think one of the worst things you can do is get caught up in thinking, “Yeah, man, I’m the shit!†OK, but what keeps you grounded?

DJ Times: So how do you check yourself?

Morales: I have a great partner who isn’t afraid to tell me when my shit stinks—and that’s my [Def Mix Productions] partner Judy [Weinstein]. It’s easy to have people who stroke your ego because those people just want to be part of your glory. But it takes a real, true friend and someone who believes in you. When it even came to my productions, she might say, “Listen, your shit’s getting little monotonous…†or whatever, or tell me something somebody said. It might hurt my feelings, but how else can you be policed?

DJ Times: And if you don’t?

Morales: I’ve seen some DJs turn into monsters. But you can’t forget where you come from. It’s the treatment that you get. People have allowed you to get away with acting like a schmuck. You forget how humble you were, how ass-kissing you were to get to where you are now. For all of us who have made it, all of us who have become successful, it has become our responsibility to teach the next generation to behave and how to conduct themselves. Stars come and go—in music, in sports, in movies. You’re here for a second, a minute or an hour.

DJ Times: Which DJs impress you these days?

Morales: François Kevorkian, Jeff Mills. I’m a technical guy, so I like that side of things. I like those guys because they work shit! [Laughs.] Jeff Mills with the three turntables and he’s just working it for points. François, to me, has always been a professor—an Einstein of DJs! If there’s anyone in the business that I bend down to on one knee, it’s François Kevorkian. He’s mixed a lot of our classics. He’s been in the studio before most of us. He’s always been on the edge of technology. He challenges himself. He gave me a crash-course on the laptop, showing me how he uses his laptop to play clubs. He made me want to pack up my bags and quit. I feel like he’s light years ahead of me. I’m not even close. I’m still using my computer for e-mails [laughs].

DJ Times: Who else?

Morales: Louie Vega. Frankie Knuckles—he’s epic, a class of his own. From the new school? Hector Romero, for me, is one of the greatest guys on the block right now.

DJ Times: What do you look for in a DJ? What’s a DJ’s job?

Morales: To play for the people, to pay attention to the dancefloor and make the people dance and have a good time—and to educate. There’s a fine line between the two. You have to give and take with the audience. You have to get them to trust you and you have to be able to teach them. To me, it’s about keeping those people dancing, smiling, feeling good.

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All-Timers: Morales’ 5 Favorite Mixes

When asked which tracks are always in his record box when he travels, David Morales responded, “Basement Jaxx ‘Fly Life,’ which is an all-time favorite, but mostly my own.†Here’s a list of his favorite remixes, productions and “reproductions.â€

1. “Dreamloverâ€â€”Mariah Carey. “My first remix that I reproduced. We changed the whole song. She sang a new vocal—we reproduced it, case-closed.â€

2. “Finallyâ€â€”CeCe Peniston. “Working with Satoshi Tomiie, the actual mix that we got off on the most was similar to ‘Someday’ by Ce Ce Rogers. A great song, but we didn’t know it would be a classic.â€

3. “I’ll Be Your Friendâ€â€”Robert Owens. “We cut that in my apartment’s bedroom. We cut vocals in my bathroom—natural reverb! It’s the first track that me and Satoshi worked on—another worldly favorite.â€

4. “Space Cowboyâ€â€”Jamiroquai. “If you listen to the original, it’s not a song—it’s a jam session. I ended up carving the lyrics up and creating the verse-chorus-verse structure.â€

5. “Mr. Lovermanâ€â€”Shabba Ranks. “That was huge, massive. It was his biggest record. For me, that was a big challenge. It was 80-90 BPM and the label wanted me to help cross it over to America. So I did this hip-hop beat with pretty R&B-pop chords—and it was a worldwide hit.â€

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Reeling in the Years: Technology Then & Now

After nearly 30 years of DJing, David Morales takes a spin through DJ gear old and new, and explains why some technologies will never win him over and others are too good to ignore.

• Loudspeakers: I prefer the older speakers than the ones from today. Back then was analog; today is digital. That’s the difference. Can’t stand digital. It’s fake. It’s like the difference between music that’s got soul, heart, meaning and music that doesn’t.

• Turntables: I started with Technics that had no pitch control—the SL-20s. For mixing, you just got as close as possible. And I still use Technics.

• Reel-to-Reel Players: [Proudly] I still own a Technics RS-1700 reel-to-reel unit, which we used to use for echo—for “sound-on-sound,†as we used to call it. It was a way of getting delays at the same time. The greatest sound that you’d get was to bring a ¼-inch reel-to-reel [tape] 15 IPS [inches per second] from the studio and play it on the machine at the club because it had no feedback, no compression, nothing. The sound was unbelievable. Once the tape goes to the mastering lab, it’s processed. It’s the difference between cooking fresh food and putting it in a can with preservatives.

• Acetates/CD-Rs: I burn CDs now, but before I did that I had acetates made. The problem with acetates is that they degrade and they’re hella expensive. So the CD allows you to press that record for less than a buck. Test it. If you don’t like it? Ciao. Digital is just really cost effective.

• CD Player: I think the Pioneer CDJ-1000 is remarkable. It’s a great tool. I also just bought the Technics SL-DZ1200. It’s a monster. I love the sound quality. I’ve tested them and I think the Technics sounds better, but they both have their own features. They each have something on the other. But in my club and in my personal studio, I use the Pioneers.

• Mixers: I love the UREI 1620. No two UREIs are alike—they have slightly different personalities And when it comes to playing CDs, there’s no trim for each pot, so naturally the turntables are hotter than the auxiliary pots. I compensate at Stereo with separate pre-amps for the CDJ-1000s. The volumes are set equal to the turntables, whereas with the Rane MP-2016, you have trim. I like the Allen & Heath mixers—they’re warm. I like the Rodec—it’s a [belgian] slide mixer. But pound-for-pound, I’ll take the old Bozak over all of them! Those original pots were just smoother.

[afa8317]

Your getting rep points for this one. Now I have to go to Stereo for David.

[silverbull]

ive been dying to go to STEREO for the longest time. Maybe we should set somethign up.

[silverbull]

Ive yet to be there but EVERYBODY all over the world says that STEREO is the best CLUB for EVERYTHING, music, crowd, vibe, soundsystem. Cant wait.