Few figures in dance music can claim to have matched the achievements of David Morales. At forty years of age and with his music sounding as fresh and creative as ever, Morales and his production company, Def Mix Productions continue to go from strength to strength, pushing the boundaries of dance music and receiving accolades from around the world.
The man himself wears many hats. As co-owner of one of the world’s most successful dance music production companies, Morales has a hand in MTV Europe, runs the weekly Friday night radio show “Live from New York City” and presides over the careers of house heavyweights Frankie Knuckles, Satoshi Tomiie, Hector Romero and Bobby D’Ambrosio.
As producer/remixer Morales has tasted chart success with his hit, “Needin’ U ”, which went straight to #1 on the Billboard Dance Chart in the USA and enjoyed huge success in Europe. He has also remixed more than 500 songs for artists as high profile and diverse as Jamiroquai, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Basement Jacks and Mariah Carey. Indeed it was Morales’ collaboration with Mariah Carey that led to consecutive Grammy nominations in 1996 and 1997 and finally the Grammy Award for “Remixer of the Year” in 1998.
While the Grammy Award represented the popular recognition of Morales’ efforts, he remains ambivalent about its importance. “I think for the most part I was already recognised by the people in my field before the 1998 Grammy. I’ve been doing this since the late seventies and I don’t think there is any one award that recognises all that work. Having said that of course the Grammy did represent an ‘official recognition’ in the eyes of the music industry.”
Morales generously attributes some of his remixing success to the work of hip hop and R&B artists. “It has really been the work of these artists that has brought the art of remixing to the attention of young music listeners.”
Predicting that house and progressive sounds will dominate in 2003 much as they have in recent years, Morales thinks there are lessons to be learnt for everyone in the club scene from the success of some commercial venues.
“It’s not the sort of music you’ll find me playing but you really do have to respect commercial music for what it is. At these venues you are getting young people to put their hands in the air and have a great time. These people will come back because they are dancing to songs they know. Compare that to the venues who are strictly playing one sort of music and who’s DJs are playing music which hasn’t even been released yet and you get an idea why commercial clubs are so successful.”
Morales also recognises that things have been better for big commercial artists themselves, who are suffering as a result of ever-diminishing CD sales. He joins the chorus of those frustrated artists, “It’s hard for me because making records is really what feeds my kids. If I want to give away a record for free, let me do it, but I don’t invest hours and hours of work and a lot of my own money for people to get my music for free. File sharing obviously affects bigger artists more then me, but it is also actually damaging he industry as a whole”.
David Morales may be the co-head of Def Mix Productions but as he explains, he’s no businessman. ” I am the worst businessman in the world. For me the more time spent on business means the less creative time I can spend making music. I am still a creative man, not a businessman”.
Morales will be mixing business with pleasure for the 2003 Def Mix 15th Anniversary tour, which he is officially launching in Australia next month with Frankie Knuckles. Morales plays Two Tribes on Saturday 8th March @ Doug Jennings Park in Gold Coast and at TwoTribes on Sunday 9 March (Labour Day long weekend) at Melbourne Park in Melbourne.
