Miguel Migs

WHO?MAG: Talk to me about the Salted Music anniversary party you’re doing here during Winter Music Conference?
MIGUEL MIGS: It’s actually a WMC showcase event. The anniversary is our three year anniversary that we’re doing in San Francisco. Today, we have a few of the artists that have done work for Salted Music in the past. We have Lisa Shaw on vocals doing a live PA. We also have Julius Papp, who also is my partner in doing the Salted parties in San Francisco where we both live. We also have an artist by the name of Joshua Heath who’s done a couple of records for us on the label. We also have DJ MFR who’s been doing the events with us here in South Beach for quite a few years now.

WHO?MAG: Talk about the “Those Things” remix album?
MIGUEL MIGS: “Those Things” remix is basically taking the original album and moving forward with basically giving it a whole new life, a whole bunch of new reinterpretations and remixes to give it a new flavor and style. We have enough good material that we wanted to go ahead and put the whole package as an album. Here we are one year later after the album was released and we’re releasing “Those Things” remixed.

WHO?MAG: How did you go about choosing the producers you wanted to remix the different songs on the album?
MIGUEL MIGS: It’s quite a diverse group of artists. Some stuff is more Afro style, some mid-tempo, some soulful house, some more electronic stuff, some funk. It’s a real cross breed of styles which is great. A bunch of people that I’ve worked with throughout the years and that I’ve been fans of such as Cottonbelly. who is Stuart Matthewman, who produces all of Sade’s music. I was really happy to have him on the project as well as Crazy P, Faze Action, and Rasmus Faber. There are a whole bunch of guys on there giving it a different flavor. I’m definitely happy how the project turned out.

WHO?MAG: Who else do you have on the album?
MIGUEL MIGS: All the guys I just named. J Boogie did a remix on there, a couple of new guys by the name of Dolls Combers as well as Mario Basinov and I did a few remixes on there as well so there’s a diverse range of artists on there.

WHO?MAG: How did you get Stuart Matthewman on the album?
MIGUEL MIGS: Well actually I met him a couple of years ago through some friends that he’s worked with. I found out he likes reggae and dub. I did this track with Junior Reid who’s this old school Reggae legend. When I thought of somebody to remix it, he popped into my mind because I though he would be interested in the project and appreciate the song. He sent him a copy of it and he really was into it. He wanted to remix it. He took the project on and I was excited and happy the way his remix turned out. He’s really diverse musically so he knows about the soulful electronic music and a lot of the stuff we were doing on Naked Music. He’s a pretty soulful guy so he definitely knows what’s going on.

WHO?MAG: How did Salted Music come about?
MIGUEL MIGS: It’s just a new label I started. I wanted to do something fresh and creative. I wanted to start a label of my own and creatively pick up new music and as well as release music of my own and build catalog of releases. It’s new project a started a few years ago. I’m actually very pleased with the way it’s gone. We’ve gotten a great response and turn out as far as feedback. It’s going to continue to release a whole bunch of new material as far as albums, singles, mix compilations. It’s going very well.

WHO?MAG: Production-wise what equipment do you use?
MIGUEL MIGS: I use a lot of various equipment. I use Logic and a lot of outboard Synthesizers such as the Virus, Nord, Triton, SC1, and a couple of EMU units as well as couple of outboard EQ compressors to really warm up the sounds that I use. I use a MAC. I keep it really simple.

WHO?MAG: As far as DJ sets what are you using?
MIGUEL MIGS: With everyone sending promo’s via MP3, it’s forced everybody to use CDs now. I still bring vinyl that I have, but I mostly use CDs.

WHO?MAG: I know you did remixes for Brittany Spears and Lionel Ritchie a couple of years ago. How did those projects come about?
MIGUEL MIGS: Like any other project, a label contacted me and they requested me to do a remix for a single or whatever the project is. For those particular projects, it was as simple as that. They contacted me and asked me to do remixes so we worked out a deal and made it happen.

WHO?MAG: How do you as an artist and your label plan to adapt to this digital age and low album sales?
MIGUEL MIGS: It’s just like everybody else struggling. It’s rough times, but it’s going very well. I’m just focusing on still selling vinyl, but I’m also selling on all the digital sites. Digital sales have been pretty strong. I’m sure they’re going to continue to grow as vinyl slowly sells less and less, but it’s just the way the future is going with the whole music industry in general.

WHO?MAG: Any last words?
MIGUEL MIGS: Support independent music. It’s good to buy music and not always share or download it for free because you want these labels and artists to continue to do what they do. It’s good to support and respect the music, but it’s also good to be open minded and listen to different kinds of music and explore because there’s a lot of great stuff out there.