1. profile
Morgan
Page
Glearing the path for creativitY
BY KYLEE SWENSON
"r pRoBABLy disagree with every point ofview I had about that makes sense, not sit behind all your gear going Aw, man!
ten years agoi' says Los Angeles-based DJ/producer What channel's this going into? Why is there this ground
Morgan Page. "I think I've broken all of my rules." hum?'You can just continue to tinker around like that for
Not that it's a bad thing to change your artistic views days...andyears."
and let go of stubborn, preconceived notions: Given his Earlier this year, Page built a studio in the two-
Grammy nominations, B illboard Dance,/Club Play Songs car garage of his new house, and he hired an acoustic
chart honors, and his discography of zOo-plus remixes consultant to tune the room. Other improvements included
(including Coldplay, Katy Perry, and Madonna), it's served scaling back on his gear lust. Aside from Pro Tools (he
Page well to be open-minded to transformation. was using a Digi 002 for years, but he's since moved to HD
Recently, he reworked his production workflow. Page used Native), his go-to gear and software include a Dave Smith
to look down on creating Pro Tools templates, but he's since Prophet 08 keyboard, Waves Maserati and SSL Channel
changed his mind. "I thought it was cheesy to have structure, plug-in bundles, an M-Audio Sputnik mic, Prism Sound
and now it's crucial; it's absolutely essential to the process," he Orpheus interface, and Dangerous Music 2-Bus and D-Box
says. "I have markers in [my templates] for verses, choruses, analog summing units.
turnarounds, and bridges. And you can move those around But there are a few Craigslist finds that he's kept, too.
depending on what the song calls for, but by having a starting "My favorite is the Alesis 363o, which is the Daft Punk
point, you can make it that much quicker, and that's the only compressor," Page says. "It's like $60 on Craigslist, so I
way I've been able to do a draft-a-day process." went out and got four ofthose and a power strip. The rack
with his streamlined methodoiogl', Page flies through enclosure cost more than the compressors. So it's just
creative ideas. For In the Air,his third solo album on Nettwerk funny: For the price ofa plug-in, I have these amazing-
(due in February), he was able to come up r.r'ith 80 or 90 draft sounding, really dirty compressors that I use for parallel
ideas and then whittle them down to t8 full songs with lyrics' compression. The 3630 basically sends stuff out and
But it wasn't Page's intention to use templates in order to then sends it back in through the Pro Tools converters.
crank out tracks as ifthrough a cookie-cufter song factory. It really compresses stuff hard and raises the level of the
Rather, he wanted to avoid technical disrractions, so that compressed version ofbackground vocals or guitars-just
he could get to his best ideas. "The next stage is fmaking] a adding a little bite in controlled doses."
patchbay and patching in guitar pedals into compressors and By limiting his gear and improving his workflow, Page
things," he says. "I don't want to run around changing 9-volt was able to concentrate on production techniques that
batteries in guitar pedals and lose that creative process. I would benefit the songs. For "In the Air," Page teamed
always tell people: It's important that 1'ou don't go back and up with BT, who shares his love for contrasting organic
forth between left brain and right brain u'ith all of this stuff. and electronic elements and added organic timpani and
You want to get in your creative mode and get into a workflow dulcimer parts to the pulsating synthetic sounds. Then
o1.2012 EMUSTCtAN.C:
![profile
Morgan
Page
Glearing the path for creativitY
BY KYLEE SWENSON
"r pRoBABLy disagree with every point ofview I had about that makes sense, not sit behind all your gear going Aw, man!
ten years agoi' says Los Angeles-based DJ/producer What channel's this going into? Why is there this ground
Morgan Page. "I think I've broken all of my rules." hum?'You can just continue to tinker around like that for
Not that it's a bad thing to change your artistic views days...andyears."
and let go of stubborn, preconceived notions: Given his Earlier this year, Page built a studio in the two-
Grammy nominations, B illboard Dance,/Club Play Songs car garage of his new house, and he hired an acoustic
chart honors, and his discography of zOo-plus remixes consultant to tune the room. Other improvements included
(including Coldplay, Katy Perry, and Madonna), it's served scaling back on his gear lust. Aside from Pro Tools (he
Page well to be open-minded to transformation. was using a Digi 002 for years, but he's since moved to HD
Recently, he reworked his production workflow. Page used Native), his go-to gear and software include a Dave Smith
to look down on creating Pro Tools templates, but he's since Prophet 08 keyboard, Waves Maserati and SSL Channel
changed his mind. "I thought it was cheesy to have structure, plug-in bundles, an M-Audio Sputnik mic, Prism Sound
and now it's crucial; it's absolutely essential to the process," he Orpheus interface, and Dangerous Music 2-Bus and D-Box
says. "I have markers in [my templates] for verses, choruses, analog summing units.
turnarounds, and bridges. And you can move those around But there are a few Craigslist finds that he's kept, too.
depending on what the song calls for, but by having a starting "My favorite is the Alesis 363o, which is the Daft Punk
point, you can make it that much quicker, and that's the only compressor," Page says. "It's like $60 on Craigslist, so I
way I've been able to do a draft-a-day process." went out and got four ofthose and a power strip. The rack
with his streamlined methodoiogl', Page flies through enclosure cost more than the compressors. So it's just
creative ideas. For In the Air,his third solo album on Nettwerk funny: For the price ofa plug-in, I have these amazing-
(due in February), he was able to come up r.r'ith 80 or 90 draft sounding, really dirty compressors that I use for parallel
ideas and then whittle them down to t8 full songs with lyrics' compression. The 3630 basically sends stuff out and
But it wasn't Page's intention to use templates in order to then sends it back in through the Pro Tools converters.
crank out tracks as ifthrough a cookie-cufter song factory. It really compresses stuff hard and raises the level of the
Rather, he wanted to avoid technical disrractions, so that compressed version ofbackground vocals or guitars-just
he could get to his best ideas. "The next stage is fmaking] a adding a little bite in controlled doses."
patchbay and patching in guitar pedals into compressors and By limiting his gear and improving his workflow, Page
things," he says. "I don't want to run around changing 9-volt was able to concentrate on production techniques that
batteries in guitar pedals and lose that creative process. I would benefit the songs. For "In the Air," Page teamed
always tell people: It's important that 1'ou don't go back and up with BT, who shares his love for contrasting organic
forth between left brain and right brain u'ith all of this stuff. and electronic elements and added organic timpani and
You want to get in your creative mode and get into a workflow dulcimer parts to the pulsating synthetic sounds. Then
o1.2012 EMUSTCtAN.C:](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/emmagdangerous2-111217185428-phpapp02/85/Dangerous-Music-in-EMusician-1-320.jpg)
