Help me draft my questions for My TOM MOULTON interview...

[Dayna]

Seeing there are so many disputes about certain aspects of Disco history..Let's get some of it straight from one of the people who was most essential in shaping it's history..(Mr Tom Moulton..)
Please help me draft my questions for Tom ..
I would like to get some questions that Tom could shed light on..This way the answers will be undeniable.
any questions will be welcomed ,appreciated and considered ,,
Thank you
Dayna

[Disco Funk]

Yes! Finally, a guy with the inside track on the development of disco as a new genre.

When do you need the questions by, Dayna? I've got tons-o-questions I'd love to ask him, ranging from his old school mixes, his productions, to his recent remixes!

Thanks!

Disco Funk

[Dayna]

Yes! Finally, a guy with the inside track on the development of disco as a new genre.

When do you need the questions by, Dayna? I've got tons-o-questions I'd love to ask him, ranging from his old school mixes, his productions, to his recent remixes!

Thanks!

Disco Funk

I would like to have the Interview drafted by
Wednesday Evening..The Evening after Christmas here in the U.S. Seeing as Tom lives in New York..So I could have it ready between Christmas and New Years Eve.
Thanks
Disco Funk

[Videoskooter]

Hi sweetie, I'll think about some others but...since the man's name spells D.I.S.C.O. maybe you can ask him which record he considers as the first Disco track ever? Or when (late 60's-early 70's) did he sense that a new style of music was being born and did he expect it to be that BIG?

Thx Dayna

[Dayna]

Hi sweetie, I'll think about some others but...since the man's name spells D.I.S.C.O. maybe you can ask him which record he considers as the first Disco track ever? Or when (late 60's-early 70's) did he sense that a new style of music was being born and did he expect it to be that BIG?

Thx Dayna

You KNOW I have to ask the question about the first Disco Track~!!We might be surprized

[Disco Funk]

Alright, here come my questions. I did my best to scale them down (sorry, not down to the 5 I had hoped). Feel free to use or not use any of them:

1. What was the song did you have the most difficult time mixing or remixing (i.e. took the longest, or you just plain gave up because it wasn't worth the effort).
2. When you remixed songs, did you have extra instrumentation or vocals recorded if you thought it need more, or did you just strictly work with whatever was on the master tapes.
3. What remix were you most proud of; which mix do you wish you never released or could redo.
4. You seemed to be featured as the mixer of choice on a lot of Philly productions. Was there a reason why you only did a few for Philadelphia International? Did it have anything to do with Gamble & Huff not wanting to hire outside people to work on their material?
5. Which artist or producer's work did you have the most fun remixing. How about which disco city's work did you most enjoy mixing? Stuff from Philadelphia, New York? Any West Coast stuff?
6. Was there an artist, producer, or label you tried to get a remixing gig for their work, but they refused to let you touch their work? For example, did you ever try to remix stuff for AVI or did they approach you?
7. Did you or do you earn any royalties from your work in the 70s, either on projects labelled 'A Tom Moulton Mix' or your productions like TJM or Loose Change?
8. You made some interesting recent remixes of older material, like Waitin For The Rain by Fantastic Johnny C and The Player by First Choice. What challenges have you come across nowadays trying to get access to that old material or working with old tapes?
9. Have you heard recent retro remixes by guys like Kenny Dope or Dimitri from Paris of tracks like Express by BT Express or I Can't Stop by John Davis Monster Orchestra, and if so, what do you like or dislike about what they are doing to the old classics?
10. Are there any unreleased Tom Moulton mixes you did in the 70s that you would like to have see the light of day on a CD release? For example, the rumored longer version of Disco Inferno that was made, are you working to get that put out in some form?

Feel free to reword them and make any of them your own Dayna if you think any of them are worth bringing them up.

Thanks again for taking the time to get a hold of Tom Moulton, the godfather of remixers! :)

Disco Funk

[Dayna]

Alright, here come my questions. I did my best to scale them down (sorry, not down to the 5 I had hoped). Feel free to use or not use any of them:

1. What was the song did you have the most difficult time mixing or remixing (i.e. took the longest, or you just plain gave up because it wasn't worth the effort).
2. When you remixed songs, did you have extra instrumentation or vocals recorded if you thought it need more, or did you just strictly work with whatever was on the master tapes.
3. What remix were you most proud of; which mix do you wish you never released or could redo.
4. You seemed to be featured as the mixer of choice on a lot of Philly productions. Was there a reason why you only did a few for Philadelphia International? Did it have anything to do with Gamble & Huff not wanting to hire outside people to work on their material?
5. Which artist or producer's work did you have the most fun remixing. How about which disco city's work did you most enjoy mixing? Stuff from Philadelphia, New York? Any West Coast stuff?
6. Was there an artist, producer, or label you tried to get a remixing gig for their work, but they refused to let you touch their work? For example, did you ever try to remix stuff for AVI or did they approach you?
7. Did you or do you earn any royalties from your work in the 70s, either on projects labelled 'A Tom Moulton Mix' or your productions like TJM or Loose Change?
8. You made some interesting recent remixes of older material, like Waitin For The Rain by Fantastic Johnny C and The Player by First Choice. What challenges have you come across nowadays trying to get access to that old material or working with old tapes?
9. Have you heard recent retro remixes by guys like Kenny Dope or Dimitri from Paris of tracks like Express by BT Express or I Can't Stop by John Davis Monster Orchestra, and if so, what do you like or dislike about what they are doing to the old classics?
10. Are there any unreleased Tom Moulton mixes you did in the 70s that you would like to have see the light of day on a CD release? For example, the rumored longer version of Disco Inferno that was made, are you working to get that put out in some form?

Feel free to reword them and make any of them your own Dayna if you think any of them are worth bringing them up.

Thanks again for taking the time to get a hold of Tom Moulton, the godfather of remixers! :)

Disco Funk

Thank you Sweetie,There is some good material in your post I can use to draft a couple of really good questions..

[garrybcoston]

Hi Miss Dayna; continue doing the good work for us in these interviews.

Obviously Tom Moulton is the "Godfather of Mixes," so my question or questions are these;

After so much success and notoriety during the disco era regarding mixing, what did Tom do after the party was over? Did people continue to solicit and commission him for mixing on into the 80's?

Also, what is he doing today and though we have DJ's out there producing top quality dance music who do their own mixing, is Tom sought after or consulted for the new,up to date dance mixes?

Thanks Miss Dayna; cook us up something good on the backburner now!

Garry

[markydefad]

Miss Dayna,

This is from a post I wrote in 2001--based on an interview that a Swedish guy did that is still on the net--click the link--lots of good background info to read that might be helpful in choosing questions for Mr. Moulton.....


I was curious if I could find a Tom Moulton discography on the web, so I did a google search and came upon this interview with Tom and some guy from Sweden (Discoguy). The link is Tom Moulton Tribute @ Disco-Disco.com if you want to read the entire article. For those who just want the highlights, I'm gonna try to summarize what I found interesting.

A lot of the stories related in Mel Cheren's book "Keep on Dancing: My Life At The Paradise Garage" regarding Tom's many innovations in Disco (Mixing, extended 12" singles, etc.) are here also, told in Tom's own words.

Highlights:

-Tom was never a DJ.

-For 2 years he made tapes for the Sandpiper on Fire Island ("Someone had to stand there behind the booth so people wouldn't know it was a tape".)

-Birth of the 12" single: (first was "So Much For Love" by Moment of Truth)

[Really??? I'd question this---cuz this was released in mid-1976, unless that was a re-release... and it actually came out much earlier???]

-First official promotional 12" single: "Free Man" by Southshore Commission

-First Commercial 12" single: "Ten Percent" by Double Exposure

['Ten Percent" first charted April 17,1976 in Record World, according to Joel Whitburn's book; May 1, 1976 in Billboard, according to the actual charts]

[ask him about "More" by Carol Williams-- first charted in Billboard on Feb. 28, 1976--was it really the first commercial 12-inch but Salsoul chose to promote "Ten Percent" as the first-- documented by several articles in Billboard? I've posted them.]

-What song does he regret turning down the opportunity to mix?: "Dancing Queen" by ABBA; ("I told Atlantic Records, that record doesn't need me! And I'm sorry I ever said that, because I would have loved to make a long version of "Dancing Queen. I mean, I just love that song. But really, I thought it was flawless").

-Others he would have like to mix: "Endless Road" by Time Bandits; "You're My Heart, You're My Soul" by Modern Talking; "Souvenirs" by Voyage.

-Any mixes never released? (mentions Adrian Gurwitz on the Jet label)

The TM/JR on the runout groove in U.S. pressings stands for Tom Moulton & Jose Rodriguez, his engineer.

-Together they mastered over 3,000 records together.

-Tom himself estimates he's done "way over 4,000".

-Tom created the Disco Break on Don Downing's "Dream World"

-Tom did the first mixed or segued side of an entire LP on Gloria Gaynor's first album "Never Can Say Goodbye".

-Released an LP on Casablanca in 1979 as TJM (Ron Tyson sang lead vocals)

_Owned a disco label called Tom N Jerry (Jerry was his brother)

-He hated producing: "arguing with the artists (Grace Jones is what I got stuck doing first")

[Get a little Grace Jones in the studio dish here...did he really hate stroking the egos of temperamental divas or was it just Grace who pushed the boundaries? Many fans love those early Grace Jones LPs--what's his opinion of them?]

Defines a Tom Moulton Mix: "meaning that a lot of time, a lot of energy, a lot of effort went into making a masterpiece. I wanted that name to be associated with quality".

-When doing the mix, always did the long mix first, then took the best elements of that mix to make the radio edit.

-Suffered a heart attack doing the "Doctor Love" mix, but wouldn't go to the hospital until he finished it!!!

His favorite mixes: "Doctor Love"; "Love Is The Message", Disco Inferno", & "Where The Happy People Go"

-Background on creating the "Disco Inferno" mix: (They had 12 songs--"Disco Inferno" was supposed to be 3 minutes long--Tom hated most of the other songs--so he said "Boy they're gonna be in for a surprise...and, of course, I made it long").

-Any other remixers he admired? Interviewer feeds him 3 names: Francois Kevorkian, Larry Levan & Walter Gibbons (Says he liked them all)

-What does he listen to today? ("Lots of things. I still like dance music, I still like good pop music, I still like good singers, I still like Ella Fitzgerald and I even like classical music. But I've always liked all kinds of music, I've never been really like just narrow down. I like R&B - traditional R&B."

-Rap?- "I don't care for rap at all. I probably would like rap if they had different beats for it. You know, but all it is - is the same song over and over again with different words. I mean, I just don't get it. It's a story not a song. So when they say "rap music" , I go "What music?"

-At the time of the interview he was remixing & remastering Salsoul Classics for CD and doing the Larry Levan @ the Paradise Garage CD.

- his opinion of Shep Pettibone's 1982 remix of "Doctor Love": "Dreadful"

-Feud with Vince Montana -Why does Vince badmouth Tom?

Relationship with Gamble/Huff: "Those are not my friends. I don't think they're anybody's friends. They're not very well liked."

-He does miss staff at Sigma Sound and musicians like Norman Harris & Don Renaldo.

That's a summary of the highlights. Read it for yourself at the above-mentioned link

[for personal reasons , I'd love to hear how the Bilboard charts were calculated, who actually did this?--which cities' charts were given more weight in the calculations?--New York & LA seem obvious from the results I've seen--any others?--Boston?/Baltimore-DC?/San Francisco?--but any other info on how they were compiled would be interesting.

Also, the odball stuff--did he have trouble getting the various cites to comply with deadlines. etc.? Seattle repeats the exact same chart for 4 weeks in November of 1976 and then is dropped for several weeks. New Orleans is added and then, a few weeks later, Seattle returns and Denver is dropped...does he recall what happened there? Denver & Seattle were both notoriously oddball and behind the big cities in their charts...was that a factor in the dumping ?[Seattle was reinstated, however...but Denver was gone for good.]


Inquiring minds need to know.... :icon_biggrin::icon_exclaim:

[Dayna]

Miss Dayna,

This is from a post I wrote in 2001--based on an interview that a Swedish guy did that is still on the net--click the link--lots of good background info to read that might be helpful in choosing questions for Mr. Moulton.....


I was curious if I could find a Tom Moulton discography on the web, so I did a google search and came upon this interview with Tom and some guy from Sweden (Discoguy). The link is Tom Moulton Tribute @ Disco-Disco.com if you want to read the entire article. For those who just want the highlights, I'm gonna try to summarize what I found interesting.

A lot of the stories related in Mel Cheren's book "Keep on Dancing: My Life At The Paradis Garage" regarding Tom's many innovations in Disco (Mixing, extended 12" singles, etc.) are here also, told in Tom's own words.

Highlights:

-Tom was never a DJ.

-For 2 years he made tapes for the Sandpiper on Fire Island ("Someone had to stand there behind the booth so people wouldn't know it was a tape".)

-Birth of the 12" single: (first was "So Much For Love" by Moment of Truth)

[Really??? I'd question this---cuz this was released in mid-1976, unless that was a re-release... and it actually came out much earlier???]
I have to be careful how I ask a question as not to seem like i'm questioning HIS knowledge..:icon_eek:
-First official promotional 12" single: "Free Man" by Southshore Commission

-First Commercial 12" single: "Ten Percent" by Double Exposure

['Ten Percent" first charted April 17,1976 in Record World, according to Joel Whitburn's book; May 1, 1976 in Bilboard, according to the actual charts]

[ask him about "More" by Carol Williams-- first charted in Billboard on Feb. 28, 1976--was it really the first commercial 12-inch but Salsoul chose to promote "Ten Percent" as the first-- documented by several articles in Billboard? I've posted them.]
Very intrested in this myself
-What song does he regret turning down the opportunity to mix?: "Dancing Queen" by ABBA; ("I told Atlantic Records, that record doesn't need me! And I'm sorry I ever said that, because I would have loved to make a long version of "Dancing Queen. I mean, I just love that song. But really, I thought it was flawless").

-Others he would have like to mix: "Endless Road" by Time Bandits; "You're My Heart, You're My Soul" by Modern Talking; "Souvenirs" by Voyage.

-Any mixes never released? (mentions Adrian Gurwitz on the Jet label)

The TM/JR on the runout groove in U.S. pressings stands for Tom Moulton & Jose Rodriguez, his engineer.

-Together they mastered over 3,000 records together.

-Tom himself estimates he's done "way over 4,000".

-Tom created the Disco Break on Don Downing's "Dream World"

-Tom did the first mixed or segued side of an entire LP on Gloria Gaynor's first album "Never Can Say Goodbye".

-Released an LP on Casablanca in 1979 as TJM (Ron Tyson sang lead vocals)

_Owned a disco label called Tom N Jerry (Jerry was his brother)

-He hated producing: "arguing with the artists (Grace Jones is what I got stuck doing first")

[Get a little Grace Jones in the studio dish here...did he really hate stroking the egos of temperamental divas or was it just Grace who pushed the boundaries? Many fans love those early Grace Jones LPs--what's his opinion of them?]
I have to get some Grace data..of course
Defines a Tom Moulton Mix: "meaning that a lot of time, a lot of energy, a lot of effort went into making a masterpiece. I wanted that name to be associated with quality".

-When doing the mix, always did the long mix first, then took the best elements of that mix to make the radio edit.

-Suffered a heart attack doing the "Doctor Love" mix, but wouldn't go to the hospital until he finished it!!!

His favorite mixes: "Doctor Love"; "Love Is The Message", Disco Inferno", & "Where The Happy People Go"

-Background on creating the "Disco Inferno" mix: (They had 12 songs--"Disco Inferno" was supposed to be 3 minutes long--Tom hated most of the other songs--so he said "Boy they're gonna be in for a surprise...and, of course, I made it long").

-Any other remixers he admired? Interviewer feeds him 3 names: Francois Kevorkian, Larry Levan & Walter Gibbons (Says he liked them all)

-What does he listen to today? ("Lots of things. I still like dance music, I still like good pop music, I still like good singers, I still like Ella Fitzgerald and I even like classical music. But I've always liked all kinds of music, I've never been really like just narrow down. I like R&B - traditional R&B."

-Rap?- "I don't care for rap at all. I probably would like rap if they had different beats for it. You know, but all it is - is the same song over and over again with different words. I mean, I just don't get it. It's a story not a song. So when they say "rap music" , I go "What music?"

-At the time of the interview he was remixing & remastering Salsoul Classics for CD and doing the Larry Levan @ the Paradise Garage CD.

- his opinion of Shep Pettibone's 1982 remix of "Doctor Love": "Dreadful"

-Feud with Vince Montana -Why does Vince badmouth Tom?

Relationship with Gamble/Huff: "Those are not my friends. I don't think they're anybody's friends. They're not very well liked."

-He does miss staff at Sigma Sound and musicians like Norman Harris & Don Renaldo.

That's a summary of the highlights. Read it for yourself at the above-mentioned link

[for personal reasons , I'd love to hear how the Bilboard charts were calculated, who actually did this?--which cities charts were given more weight in the calculations?--New York & LA seem obvious from the results I've seen--any others?--Boston/Baltimore-DC/San Francisco?--but any other info on how they were compiled would be interesting.

Also, the odball stuff--did he have trouble getting the various cites to comply with deadlines. etc.? Seattle repeats the exact same chart for 4 weeks in November of 1976 and then is dropped for several weeks. New Orleans is added and then, a few weeks later, Seattle returns and Denver is dropped...does he recall what happened there? Denver & Seattle were both notoriously oddball and behind the big cities in their charts...was that a factor in the dumping ?[Seattle was reinstated, however...but Denver was gone for good.]


Inquiring minds need to know.... :icon_biggrin::icon_exclaim:

Thanks Marky,
I Never read a prior interview of someone I plan on Interviewing myself..Claude ,aka Disco guy..has his own way of asking questions and I would never emulate anyone elses style ..
But I will put some of your questions in .. and I do plan on asking him about Mel Cherin.. ,..Who he think's is over rated ..and whats up with Gamble and Huff"why bad blood"..
Thank you for the intrest.

[Dayna]

Hi Miss Dayna; continue doing the good work for us in these interviews.

Obviously Tom Moulton is the "Godfather of Mixes," so my question or questions are these;

After so much success and notoriety during the disco era regarding mixing, what did Tom do after the party was over? Did people continue to solicit and commission him for mixing on into the 80's?

Also, what is he doing today and though we have DJ's out there producing top quality dance music who do their own mixing, is Tom sought after or consulted for the new,up to date dance mixes?

Thanks Miss Dayna; cook us up something good on the backburner now!

Garry

Thanks Garry I will see what I can do with these..
:icon_biggrin:Thanks for always being helpful..

[garrybcoston]

Thanks Ms. Dayna.

Garry

[Disco Funk]

Thanks Dayna!

I think my question about working with Philadelphia International material was kind of silly when asking why he didn't stick with working with Gamble & Huff. Those two pissed off so many people, it's why MFSB Mark 1 (i.e. Baker, Harris, Young, Vince Montana, and I think even Bobby Eli. Not sure about Larry Washington) up and left for Salsoul between the Universal Love and Philadelphia Freedom LPs. Still, with Gamble & Huff's notorious reputation, it would be interesting to find out who approached who and/or why with regards to the Philadelphia Classics and Disco Champs LPs remix projects, which I think were the only things Tom ever worked on at PIR. Was it large sums of money thrown at Tom to woo him? Did Tom offer to do it for a small fee to get at some classic tracks he really liked? Did he pick the projects or did Gamble & Huff say 'here are the songs we want you to remix, no questions asked'? I wouldn't be surprised if the Disco Champs record was put together to cash in on the popularity of Disco Inferno, which Tom also mixed.

Disco Funk

Disco Funk

[VINYLLIFE]

Hello Dayna

Thank you again. Your efforts of bringing us such amazing reading is very much appreciated. If you would please, ask Tom to share with us the mystery of the magic number 5:35. Many of his mixes are 5:35.
NEVER GONNA LEAVE YOU(Disco Version)
Time: 5:35
(Produced By Tony Valor & Tom moulton
"A TOM MOULTON MIX"
I''ll Be Holding On - 5:35 - Meco Monardo- Tom Moulton Prod & Mix. ...
UDELL Won't You Try (5:35)
And so many more.

THANKS AGAIN DAYNA!!

[remicks]

*****


How exciting to hear some new reflections from one of disco's premiere participants!!

I 'd love it if Tom could help us pinpoint when disco seemed to officially kick in. It'd be great to hear his take on the "first" disco record as has already been suggested ....but I'd also like to hear Tom elaborate on when there became this general awareness of this new music.....when were he and those in the scene first commonly using the term "disco".

Also Tom mentions that in the first Billboard chart ....NEVER CAN SAY GOODBYE had already been #1 for five weeks ....so were there charts of those weeks prior to the first published chart ....and if so any chance they still exist? How interesting to have those "lost" charts come to the surface.

Also I also have a very big interest in how he'd respond to this :

Someone here along the way , made an interesting suggestion that perhaps those earliest charts ....the specific clubs that were chosen for reporting for the chart compilation ... they perhaps had a gay bias.
Tom would be the perfect person to ask about that Dayna ...if it seems comfortable of course ....maybe in a softer way .... ...like asking Tom how were the specific clubs chosen for reporting back then?


Thanks Dayna ....don't want to make your interview too heavy ....just can't resist the opportunity this might present to shed some light from someone who really knows !!

THANKS TOM for your direct catalyst in establishing the disco movement !!!!


******