IN THE STORE | TUXEDO – THE M+M MIXES
John Morales is a DJ and mixer who helped to pioneer the use of editing for dance floor remixes of records in the 1980s. Morales mixed Tuxedo’s self-titled album, and returned to the master tapes to create his own mixes for this disco 12-inch single.
Morales got his start as a DJ in the 1970s, and began working in the studio on his mixes out of pure necessity. “I needed to get more out of the records I was spinning,” he says, “so I started making medleys and remixes because the records in those days were too short, the 3 minute range.”
Working long before the era of digital editing, he explains, “I started to do my edits using the pause button on a Teac cassette deck, [then] purchased a Sony reel-to-reel. It was hard work,with long hours of editing and putting all the little pieces of tape together to make something creative happen.”
In 1982, Morales partnered with Sergio Munzibai – giving birth to the “M&M” moniker – and worked on a vast number of dance-oriented releases with Morales focusing on music while Munzibai handled artist relations, management and promotion.
Alongside cult and groundbreaking records for the Fantastic Aleems (“Get Down Friday Night”), Class Action (“Weekend”) and Jocelyn Brown (“Somebody Else's Guy”) the pair mixed dance-floor successes for DeBarge (“Rhythm Of The Night”), Harold Faltermeyer (“Axel F”), Shakatak (“Down On The Street”), Miami Sound Machine (“Dr Beat”), The Temptations (“Treat Her Like A Lady”) and hundreds more in a period that saw them almost ever-present on the Billboard Dance, R&B or Hot 100 pop charts.
Munzibai died in 1991, while John continued solo production projects included such acts as Debbie Gibson, Brenda K Starr, Denise Lopez, The Thompson Twins, Blow Monkeys, Five Star and Art Of Noise.
Three compilations of John Morales’ The M&M Mixes were released by BBE Music in 2009-2013.
On the web | www.johnmoralesmix.com | @JohnTheMixer