Making Master Works

After years of hard work and little acknowledgment for it, a good DJ can command about as much respect as any great musician. He or she can produce tracks, run a successful business, turn the world on to new music and work with some of the most talented names in the industry. All that, and he/she can still rock a party on any given Saturday if needed. One only needs to point to the example of Masters at Work for proof. Coming up as they did at a point in history where the DJ was just beginning to stake out the respect he has today, New York house impresarios “Little” Louie Vega and Kenny “Dope” Gonzalez helped lay many of the cornerstones on which the DJ empire now stands with their taste, sophistication and class.
As the star DJ of the group, Vega got started early as the youngest member of a very musical family. His father played saxophone, while his uncle Hector Lavoe helped bring salsa to the United States as part of the Fania All Stars. In the meantime, as hip hop lived through its early days in the outer boroughs, Vega soaked it all in, while his older sisters introduced him to house culture through Larry Levan’s legendary nights at the Paradise Garage. This began a long apprenticeship process, which brought Vega close to key players within and without the world of dance music, steadily gigging and building up his rep as a primo house jock all the while. Vega finally ran into quintessential bedroom producer Gonzalez in 1990, who originally recorded as Masters at Work with another partner. They discovered their talents complemented each other, and completed their first production with then-unknown salsa singer Marc Anthony in 1990.
Since then, the two have moved ever forward, with one foot in house music’s history, another on the modern dancefloor and their eyes towards the future. Tracks like “The Bomb” (recorded under The Bucketheads) illustrated Gonzalez’s mastery of sample-based disco house, while “The Nervous Track” hinted at the group’s more ambitious side. These ambitions came to a head on 1997’s Nuyorican Soul LP, which sought to link dance to its antecedents in jazz, soul, funk and Latin music with an all-star cast that included George Benson, Eddie Palmieri, Roy Ayers and Victor Mancuso, Jr. Four years and a few singles later, they returned with Our Time Is Coming, a nod to the club with another all-star line-up, including James Ingram, Patti Austin and a return appearance by Ayers on the title track. It’s the first of many album projects the duo has in store, and as Vega reveals in the interview, there’s much more to come.

Not unlike MAW’s career, Vega’s sets as a DJ have reflected a similar ambition. True to his mobile DJ roots, he can play for almost any crowd, but if he’s allowed to open up, he can give the audience a glimpse of a time when DJs weren’t consigned to a particular sound. He has a passion for discovering new sounds not just in house, but within other cultures and countries he visits on his non-stop DJ schedule. And as good as he is, he has never stopped learning from others. As Vega puts it in the following interview, as much as he has been able to do, he still sees plenty of unconquered ground for aspiring DJs to conquer.

DJ Times: So how did you start?
Vega: I started as a mobile DJ. You’re talking the early 1980s, man. I was doing high school parties, Sweet Sixteens, things like that. I was really young, so that was my way of getting in to play music, man. I was playing for lots of people my age and basically doing my own parties, too, as well with some friends of mine.
DJ Times: What was your set-up? And how were you able to carry all that gear? I understand you’d do something like two or three gigs a night.
Vega: Well, you know, you were with groups of friends. I had a group of friends that would help me out with my equipment. I actually started out as an apprentice to somebody who had a mobile sound system. It wasn’t really my system at first. I was just kinda helping out and started playing, and eventually from there, I ended up playing a lot of the gigs and doing some gigs on my own. I used to use SLD-1 turntables before I got the 1200s. A friend of mine had 1200s and I ended up buying them from him and loving them until I could buy them. The mixers, before the Ureis – obviously not everybody had a Urei – back in those days, it was a GLI-9000 that I had, or a Bozak, which I also used. It was also a rotary mixer.
DJ Times: Did you have a PA or lights?
Vega: I had friends who had PAs. Actually, a guy named “Superman” used to help me out. We used to call him “Superman.” He had incredible equipment. Actually he had the equipment for Jazzy Jay and Afrika Bambaataa down at Jam. He was a mobile sound system. It was “Superman” and “St. Pete.” Those were the guys with the big sound systems. We went to them, especially “Superman.” He and I were pretty tight, and every time I had a gig and needed the power, I would go to him. Other than that, another friend of mine had a smaller set-up.
DJ Times: Who were the DJs you liked before turning pro?
Vega: Jazzy Jay. He was part of the whole Afrika Bambaataa thing. There was also Larry Levan, who I heard through my sisters, who went out to those clubs. I heard a lot about The Loft and David Mancuso. My sister used to bring back a lot of their music. I was pretty young, until I started going there in 1980. In 1980, I started going to the Paradise Garage. There was DJ Raoul, who used to play at a place called Broadway 96, Kenny Carpenter, who played at Vaughns – oh, man, there was a lot of guys. Jellybean [Benitez] over at the Funhouse.
DJ Times: He gave you your break, didn’t he?
Vega: Definitely. He took me under his wing in 1986, around there, and he helped me out, especially to start my office and run a business, run your production company and do it the right way. He taught me all the right steps and introduced me to a lot of people as well.
DJ Times: Now you mentioned being into Jazzy Jay and Larry Levan, hip hop and house. When did you see these musical styles move into separate camps?
Vega: In the beginning, everybody was playing a lot of different things. It wasn’t just one thing. You’d go to see Afrika Bambaataa, Jazzy Jay, Red Alert, Afrika Islam jam, and they’d play anything from rock records, funky rock records to hip-hop breaks to all the breakdancing jams – you know, some disco R&B. They played a little bit of everything. It was great. And you also get that from Larry, who had his sense of style. Every DJ has their own style, but they were very diverse. So I was there in the beginnings of hip hop when the Sugarhill Gang first came out and all that, so I grew up with it from the beginning and watched it grow. It’s amazing how far it’s gone now. It was a big inspiration for me, that scene. So what I do, I love playing dance music as well, so I ended up combining what I got from hip hop, and put it into the way I play house music, and the way I played the disco, R&B and that whole vibe. Because I got a slick way of cutting up records, but at the same time, I do blend very well and I do a lot of creative stuff with two records.
DJ Times: Describe your mixing style. I don’t believe you’re scratching or anything like that.
Vega: No. It’s just a way of cutting up records that I do that kinda gives somebody who likes hip hop a way to like how I play because I give them a lot of [stuff] when I do it. I got a lot of influence from Larry Levan, sound effects, a cappellas and doing all that stuff. Larry Levan was doing that way back, so it was definitely inspired by all of them together. Also, Bruce Forrest was a big inspiration for me. He played at a club called Better Days, which was a gay club. He used to play keyboards while Bruce Forrest played. So all of those were big inspirations for me. Those were things that I do now when I go out on the road. I bring musicians with me. Just my style of playing and everything comes from learning from them back in the days. And Tony Humphries, of course. Going to Zanzibar and just the way Tony used to ride the records. He could ride a record for four minutes and make it sound like one. It was amazing. So all of these guys gave me that energy and just put my creative sources to work. And I developed my own style from listening to all of them.
DJ Times: What do you bring to a gig nowadays aside from your records?
Vega: I set up my DJ booth like a cockpit. Anywhere that I go, I have Ralphie, who is my personal assistant and also my tech, traveling through the years. He has developed a way of getting into a club and converting their booth or making our own booth for the club, for the night. So when I’m playing, I’m using three turntables. Now, I used to use two CD players and three turntables, but now we have this new [Pioneer] CDJ-1000, which I love because it has that feeling of a turntable, where you can kinda push off the CD. You push it off, and it feels like you’re cueing up a record. So I have now two turntables, two CDJ-1000s. I also use the Pioneer effects unit [EFX-500]. I use this Electrix [Repeater] piece that groups parts of records and you can create more. That’s the new toy that I’m bringing out now. I can loop records and I can loop up to four tracks of parts of records. You can almost create a remix right in front of your face. So I use that. I also use subs in the booth. I have to have subs and I have to have two monitors – two monitors with two subs, or at least a sub in the booth, because I need to at least get close to what [the dancefloor] is feeling, because I definitely get the energy from the people. And it just goes back and forth. We’ve created a great way of having a really comfortable DJ booth with the right height and everything. Just building it from a table, wood cinderblocks, anything, we go there. We definitely make an effort everywhere we go, and I think everybody’s opening their eyes and seeing that yeah, it’s important to make the DJ comfortable, because if you make him comfortable, he’s going to play the way he needs to play.
DJ Times: I’m sure that’s what you have in New York. But you’re actually able to bring all that to a club you play in for one night?
Vega: Yes! I put it in my rider. I say, “We may need two 4-by-8 pieces of wood.” We give them everything we need and Ralphie goes in there and creates a new booth. It’s a lot of work, but it’s important for me, and, hopefully, a lot of clubs will realize how important it is. A lot of places we’ve been to, they’ve left it that way.
DJ Times: I understand that you used to use reel-to-reels to play new tracks. Are you still doing that?
Vega: No, because reel-to-reels are too hard to carry around. But yeah, I used to use them until, like, 1990, 1991. We were always using reel-to-reel because that was the best way of getting a good quality on something that wasn’t out yet. And ever since we started making our own acetates and everything in the early ’90s and now CDs, it’s a lot easier to do it and a lot easier to carry around. I used to carry ¼-inch CDs and play them in the clubs. It was amazing. The quality was amazing.
DJ Times: How did you get your apprenticeship for remixes?
Vega: Through people like Jellybean, Shep Pettibone. I used to sit in the studio with the Latin Rascals, Arthur Baker, all of these people were nice enough to let me get in the studio and watch them work. I was really lucky, lucky to be surrounded by all these great, talented people and they let me sit in while they were working, I was learning.
DJ Times: How is remixing a track different now from back then?
Vega: Well, first of all, I’ve always had a certain way of working and I used that when I met Kenny and I listened to what he was doing as well and combined it with what I knew. He got to sit in the studio with me, so he learned a lot when I was working on the Marc Anthony album, back in 1990. I was offered an album deal by Atlantic Records, Joey Carvello when he was at Atlantic. Eventually, I was in the studio for like two or three months. That’s when I met Kenny and I told him to come into the studio. He started doing some drum programming, and right then was when he started learning off of what I was doing. It worked out really well because it was a good training ground for him, working in a big studio. He was working out of his house a lot in those days, so I was able to let him experience big studios.
DJ Times: You didn’t have a home set-up?
Vega: I had drum machines, I had an SP-1200 at home, I had some keyboards, something very small to create grooves and stuff, but I never really had a studio at home. Now I’m actually building a studio at home after all these years, because I’ve always been spoiled by working in big studios. But now I’ve definitely built the dream DJ booth at my home. I also am building a pre-production studio. I’m going to lay down basic tracks, but I’m going to make it so I can still finish music there, too. These days, you don’t need all that stuff.
DJ Times: What are the components of this studio of yours?
Vega: Yamaha O2R board, gonna get two of those. I’m gonna have MPC-2000, Motiv for Yamaha keyboards. Now this Nord Electro keyboard is amazing. I’m trying to get things that I love. You shouldn’t try to put too much, because you put too much, you’re not going to use the equipment the way you should be using it. Also, the Pro Tools setup and a Mac. Mac’s the best one for music for me.
DJ Times: Could you record live instruments with this studio?
Vega: I could if they’re direct, like let’s say a guitar or a bass player. But percussion and stuff, I don’t have a live room set-up for that. I’ll probably do small pieces and probably end up making the bathroom into a live room or something! [Laughs.]
DJ Times: Drum recording is practically a skill in and of itself.
Vega: For stuff like that, I would go into a studio. Right now, we’re working out of a studio in Staten Island called Pulse Studios. And, of course, we’ve got our team. Masters at Work has a great team. We have great engineers. Steve Barkin is our engineer. We’ve been working with him for over ten years. Also Dave Johnson, who’s worked on a lot of our past stuff. We have Yaz, our assistant engineer, who is one of the best for me. We have a good team of people around us. We have great musicians. Sometimes we do tracks on our own. Records like “The Nervous Track,” all of those tracks, we did on our own without any musicians or anything or live percussionists. Basically, the keyboards and drums, we did. In some cases we take it there. Like we have the MAW album, Our Time Is Coming album now. Our next album is going to be more electronic as far as using a lot more keyboards and drums. We’re going to go another, different way and put some alternative rock style vocals on it. So it’s going to be a totally different direction for it.
DJ Times: Will you be treating the vocals any differently than you are now?
Vega: Well, it’s definitely about experimenting. We’re not afraid to experiment and try something new. We have all kinds of equipment. We have the latest equipment and we have the best invested as well, so we’re definitely going to be experimenting, for sure.
DJ Times: How does a DJ communicate with musicians when you’re in the studio?
Vega: First of all, I took piano lessons when I was young, because my father was a musician. He’s an accomplished sax player. He’s played jazz and Latin for many, many years. And I took classical, but I’m not. I have a good ear for pitch. I have a good ear for melody. And I can also play grooves . My suggestion to the young people out there is to take up an instrument. Trust me, you will in the future, if you don’t do it, you’re going to regret it, because you’re gonna be like, “I should have done it,” because I’m the same way. At least I would have been able to get around more now. I’ve figured out a way to do it. I have a good way of communicating with musicians and singers. Of course, you can try to sing them a melody and this and that, but DJing to me is the best form of education that I ever had. Through my record collection, knowing arrangements, the way records are arranged, who plays what where, and how this comes in here and there, why that verse took that long to come in and when it came in. How come it felt so good? I got a lot of that through my DJing. In a way, it’s kinda cool that I stayed a little naïve as far as my ears are concerned, but if I had taken keyboard lessons, I would have been more perfect musically. To me the club music and the dance music, it’s a lot about a feel, but at the same time, if something’s off, it’s off. You don’t want it to be sounding horrible. So I would say I developed a way of working with musicians and making them feel really comfortable and getting the best out of them. What I do is I play down a basic part of what I want for the musician. He plays my part and he riffs on it. That’s the way Kenny and I do it. We do the basic tracks and we say, “OK, this is the basic groove and this is where it is. Now I want you to play a riff on it and take it to a different level.”
DJ Times: How do you prepare for a night out? Is it any different for a European festival than it is for Dance Ritual, your New York party?
Vega: Well, it’s all about the crowd. I try to bring out a nice selection where it varies. My selection is not in one place. My taste is not just the 20 hits. I pick out a lot of hot records that I love. I also pick out some recurring records as well. I pick out a couple of classics. It doesn’t have to be a house tempo. It could be a whole other tempo. I bring selections of sound effects, a cappellas. I bring Latin music; I bring everything. Depending on where that crowd is going to take me, that’s where I’m going to go. When you’re doing festivals for 5,000, 10,000 people, obviously, you’ve gotta give them a good vibe, a good energy so they can flow and feel it. It may vary, but it’s all in my selection. I don’t play it safe very much, but at the same time, I’m going to give them a couple of jams that they like, but that I like, too.
DJ Times: How about playing in New York?
Vega: Well, New York is home first of all, and I got a very honest crowd. I love my crowd in New York. They are the best. They are very knowledgeable when it comes to music. If they don’t like something, you’ll definitely know about it. I think that they give me the best energy, for me to play my music. It’s just the feeling you get when you’re there, everybody dancing with each other. At the same time, they’re feeling you, and it’s a good vibe.
DJ Times: You got started long before the cult of the DJ got off the ground, really right around the time it started. Do you feel it’s still possible for a DJ to make it the way you did back in the ’80s?
Vega: Of course. Actually even more. You have more opportunities now. You have a lot more clubs. It’s worldwide. You have CDs you can make; you have records you can make. To me, a DJ can be a jack of all trades. A DJ can own a record label. You can be an A&R person. You can write songs. You can do all kinds of things. You can branch out and learn. There’s just so much to learn, so much to do out there. I would recommend DJing to any young person, because you can be a businessman. You can be so many different things and, if you can see the successful people that are out there doing things, take a look at what they’ve done and what they have. They started out just like you and me.
DJ Times: What’s your ideal setting as a DJ?
Vega: For what I love to play I enjoy intimate settings, and that can be anywhere from 200 people to 1,200 people. I feel that the closer they are, the better it is. You can get more from each other. But I also think it’s important for us to do the festivals. I’ve been doing this last year, I’ve been doing the Gatecrasher festivals – the one in England and the one in Australia – and they’re calling me about doing some more. It’s a great opportunity for me to bring out shows, the whole movement, our style of music and everything. I think a lot of people are really beginning to open their minds to different styles of music. When we went out and did Gatecrasher in England, we said, “Well, we know that Gatecrasher is more known for trance-techno types of parties. So let’s put Masters at Work on at 4 in the afternoon. Let’s see what happens.” And we took a big chance and we did. At 4 in the afternoon, the room was packed.
DJ Times: I know there is a big trance-house divide. What’s your take?
Vega: Well, that’s what I’m telling you. Places like Gatecrasher and the Sonar Festival put a variety of music in a different room. They give the opportunity for someone in a trance room to wander over and feel something else. And vice versa. Of course, you might have someone who might not like it, but then again, you’ll have someone who will. That’s important for us, and that’s where all the worlds meet, at the festivals. And that’s why the festivals are important to do.
DJ Times: I know when you did Nuyorican Soul a few years back, it was to remind dance music of its roots. Has it gotten any better?
Vega: I think that it’s gotten a lot bigger. Of course, you have that pile of junk records that you get, but then you have those good ones that are coming in, too. You have a lot of people around the world that are experimenting. And now you have different countries that are doing their take on a certain sound. I feel that it’s growing and that there’s a lot of room. I feel we should not be afraid to experiment, because if everybody follows a certain style, it becomes saturated We just have to make sure it doesn’t go that way, and it does tend to do that. It takes guys like us to keep doing what we’re doing, so we can inspire people to hopefully do something different.
DJ Times: You have a pretty loyal following and you’ve seen a lot of success. What drives you to bring it to more people than who listen to it now?
Vega: I love what I do, and I love bringing happiness to people, and I think playing music definitely does that. I take people to another place. Just for that one night, you forget your problems. I know you gotta go back to them, but at least, I did something to make somebody feel better. That makes me feel good. I think it’s important now that the music is spreading to all of these different cultures and we’re going to these different countries, playing around the world. We experiment with them as well. Right now, we’re producing in the studio Los Amigos Invisibles from South America. We’re going to produce their album. And we’re combining a lot of different talents. And that’s always been my thing, always unifying, trying to make things come together. That’s the way the best music comes about.