Producer Interview: Morgan Page

Producer Interview: Morgan Page

8 May, 2008 | 12.00PM

• Section: Music News Topics: Technology
• Written by: francispreve

Morgan Page is one of those artists who’s able to walk the line between straight-up commercial success and artistic expression.

If you swing by his Beatport area, you’ll find eight pages of tracks ranging from progressive to tech to electro, with a chunk of deep house thrown in for good measure.

This spring, Morgan’s new album ‘Elevate’ was released on Nettwerk Records.

Featuring both remixes and original tracks, ‘Elevate’ is a snapshot of where Morgan stands today and a glimpse of where he’s headed.

The first single off the album, ‘The Longest Road’, was a bona fide club hit earlier this year - thanks to a slew of brilliant remixes, including three from the ubiquitous Deadmau5.

We met up with Morgan at WMC and after a lengthy conversation about production techniques, it became clear that he has a lot to share with our readers.

Your original mix of ‘The Longest Road’ has a really interesting blend of textures - acoustic guitar, complex layers of synths whispering in the background, and a thick filtered bass. What was your approach to creating that sound?

I wanted to fuse keyboards and acoustic sounds. I love that combination.

Terry Grant played slide guitar and added a whole new dimension to the track.

He’s a fantastic producer and live player.

Everybody has combined electronic guitars and keyboards, but how many records do you hear that focus on the nuances of acoustic instruments and synths?

I think they complement each other well.

The new Goldfrapp record is a great example of this technique.

And the bass?

Several things are creating the bass element, but it’s primarily my Washburn electronic-acoustic bass giving it that round tone.

Combining live and synthetic sounds gives a really rich tone. The thing that blows me away is how good a real bass guitar sounds (going through the right DI box), and it costs less than a plug in!

The other layers are pianos and synths from my Yamaha Motif.

Start to finish, how long did it take to create the track?

2-3 days of vocal sessions, and then weeks of editing and tweaking different things.

Since your album ‘Elevate’ includes both original tracks and remixes, it’s a bit of a showcase for anyone who’s just discovering you. Obviously, producers are wondering what gear was used. Care to share?

Everything was done in Pro Tools LE w/ a Digi 002, Apogee converters, Avalon U5s, an Avalon 737 for the vocals.

I used the Motif for a lot of the synth parts, and also the Nord Lead 2. I love Sound Toys plug-ins. I use them on every mix, especially on ‘Echoboy’.

The new Pro-Tools time-stretching is insane!

I’m also dabblling a bit with Logic 8, which I really like - but they both do different things well.

The Sound Toys bundle is a bit on the esoteric side, so tell us what drew you to it, since the Waves bundle covers some of the same territory. What’s the differentiating factor?

Everybody has the Waves plug-ins, but I’ve been working with the Sound Toys bundle before anybody knew they existed, as an early beta-tester.

I think it’s been at least four years.

They’ve naturally evolved into a part of my work process.

I think they are more intuitive and better-sounding than the Waves effects, and you got a lot more bang for your buck.

You don’t have to spend two grand on a bunch of plug-ins you won’t use.

Is Stylus RMX your primary tool for drums and grooves? What’s your approach to using it?

I only use Stylus for drums, because the melodic stuff is so recognizable.

I audition loops in Stylus and bus them out to different tracks where I chop them up on the grid and apply dynamic effects and treatments.

I do a lot of drum stacking, re-quantizing (via the grid), and EQing for each layer.

I noticed that you don’t have a lot of soft synths listed, other than the Stylus RMX. It seems you rely on hardware for most of your synths, predominantly the Nord and the Motif. What role does each play?

I’ve bought soft synths before and they just sound thin and lifeless to me, unless you stack them five deep.

I’ve seen people do great things with soft synths, but they just don’t really do it for me.

There’s a lot of false advertising - they try to fake thickness and depth by treating the stereo image, adding reverb and delay by default.

It’s kind of like a girl wearing a padded bra - you’ll be disappointed later!

I recently bought a Moog Voyager and a Prophet 08 and I have no interest in pursuing soft synths after having this analogue revelation...with one exception - Spectraonics Omnisphere looks amazing!

Your mixdowns have a very detailed and balanced sound overall. It’s obviously not just mastering. So what’s your secret?

I’m always paranoid that the sound isn’t good enough.

I’m constantly comparing it to my fellow producers and chasing that “perfect mix”. It’s really tricky because every mix has different sonic elements that completely change the outcome.

I try to make the mix as “big” and “clean” as possible, and leave some headroom for mastering.

My favorite techniques for getting a good mixdown are:

1) Give it the car test and listen to your song on the freeway at 70 mph with the windows slightly down, on a stock car stereo.

2) Mix at different volumes, but don’t flatter your mix by cranking it and leaving it up loud.

3) Never let anything clip digitally!

4) Start with good source material and use the best converters you can afford.

5) Clear out the clutter and try to remove anything from tracks that you don’t really need.

You’re also working with Mixed In Key on an upcoming contest. Can you discuss the specifics?

Remix contests are kinda boring, so we are making the parts public and letting people go nuts with the stems and layer them with other songs that match the key.

For instance, ‘The Longest Road’ acapella fits perfectly with a lot of songs out there.

This is something that’s naturally evolved from what is already going on.

Deadmau5 layered the acapella with ‘Faxing Berlin’, Jody Wisternoff stacked it with ‘Not Alone feat Molly’ and Dave Dresden did an edit of the Robbie Rivera and Mau5 mix.

It’s a different way of using Mixed In Key, which is an amazing program.

Your career as a mainstream remixer with underground roots has really taken off in the past couple of years. Do you have any advice for artists looking to achieve similar successes?

Make remixes that grab people’s attention and can’t be ignored.

If you have an idea for a remix, don’t ask for permission - go and do it.

Also, spend more time in the studio than on MySpace and Facebook.

A lot of people focus too much on promotion, sending out their half-baked tracks to strangers, rather than honing their craft.

This is not the way to get noticed! Make great music, develop your fan base, and build from there.

One of the best ways to start out is to do bootleg remixes and free mixes for friends.

It’ll help you develop your skills and come in handy when you are approached with insane deadlines and difficult mixes down the road.

Every mix is a new challenge, so it’s good to go through “boot camp” and have your chops down when the majors come calling.

Any final words of wisdom for your Beatport audience?

The most important thing is to keep pushing.

Put your time in every day and assume everyone else is working twice as hard as you, because they usually are.

Really try to make your own sound that is different but still familiar, because you can spot derivative music a mile away…

Just weave in lots of different influences and tie them together with your own sonic signature.

I think Deadmau5 is an example that everyone should aspire to.

He deserves every bit of success that he’s achieved, and he built it through years of hard work.

Oh, and make sure to check out my new album ‘Elevate’ which is out now on Nettwerk Records - and the remixes of ‘The Longest Road.’

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