08/09/2025
Hi friends đđťââď¸ I created this post because I wanted to answer some questions that came up in the post right before this one. First off, I want to thank everyone for the comments made on that post. Some of your thoughts brought me way back into time and some just put a smile on my face or even made me laugh out loud âLOL đŤ˘â but overall, good stuff and thank you for your input!The comment from Eddie Saint Lo Eddiemix inspired me to write this post. Look for his post in the post right before this one to see what he wrote.Eddie đđťââď¸Thank you for the very kind words. đ¤ You brought me back to thinking of my life story from the very beginning and in my music making days that I loved very much. You really put me on the spot with your comment and I have to be very careful how I answer you so I donât look bad. I really donât want to come off like I know it all or that I know better than others because I really donât! Well, maybe just a little. đLaying on my bed this morning and thinking way back (Decades), I will say that I really wanted to be it in the music business. I was born with music in my life. My mother was a singer since before she pushed me out. I was listening and falling in love with all kinds of music since childhood with my parents and brothers and we would watch the Ed Sullivan show, Sonny & Cher and Hee Haw. These were all music related Television programs of the 1960s and 70s. Those shows planted the music bug into me. Growing up listening to Elvis Presley, Tom Jones, and the Jackson 5 just made me fall in love with music. Even the Motown greats inspired me. What a great time that was to be growing up listening to all those great talented artists and songs. Those amazing artists and their great music inspired me to become a music person. I wanted that since I was born and then always watching âThe Jackson 5â and âThe Osmondsâ and all the Elvis Presley movies on the TV set. What is truly remarkable is that these days my music inspires new song writers and producers. What an amazing thought that is for me and who would have ever thought that was going to ever happen? I am truly grateful and Iâm very honored for it and I canât believe it did happen! Thanks to you all! Without the fans, none of this would have come true. It just would have remained nothing but a dream! Thank you so much. So how was I able to make it all happen? How was I able to do all the âSHâŚâ Stuff I did? lol⌠Believe me, my guess is as good as yours! In order to explain it all I think I have to go back to the very beginning when I started out as a DJ in the 1970s and as a very young kid going to the Discotheques and listening to DJs mixing and watching them mix the music and keeping the people on the dance floor. Thatâs an art in itself! đŤ¨I studied those DJs and learned at an early age that if the DJ played the wrong song, the people will walk away from the dance floor. In my mind, DJs needed to keep the people dancing or that DJ was not a good DJ. My mind was always programmed to thinking that way. That is still on my mind to this day. Keep in mind that back in those days, to get into a Discotheques it costs $2 and being a poor young kid, it was hard to come up with the two bucks. We would sneak into the subways to go to where the Discos were located. When we got to the Disco, We had to ask the door person for the DJ and hope he gets us in free. The DJ would come to the door and tell the bouncers to let me in and whoever was with me in. I was really a nobody but a young kid who loved music. We all would get in free because the DJs liked us and we loved that DJâs mixing and the music he played. I felt special to be friends with that DJ and I never forgot his kindness. This is the early days of the Disco era. Ecstasy Passion and Pain, Donna Summer, Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes, Thelma Houston and the music of that era and even older music the DJ would play. Iâm mentioning this because it all started from those struggling days and the love I had for the music and the early djs that I watched and I learned from. Just a few days ago, before i started to write this post I messaged that DJ and thanked him for always letting me and my friends into that Discotheque. I love that DJ to this day and I will always respect him for his amazing talent as a DJ and for his kindness and friendship that he showed me. His name is Tony Gioe. You can find him on Facebook. Tony Gioe, The original DJ of the original Copacabana on 60th Street in Manhattan. The same Copacabana where they filmed the movie âGood Fellasâ. Tony Gioe at that time was playing album cuts and 45s. All vinyl records. Tony would even let me go into the DJ booth and watch him mix. While my friends went to the dance floor, I would watch the DJ play records for hours. I learned a lot by just by watching him spin. That made me want to be a disco DJ and I always felt that I was learning from the best DJ and not to long after that around 1976, I got my first DJ job at the âStardust Ballroomâ in the Bronx and then âLa Mariposa Discothequeâ in uptown Manhattan and then âVolcano Discoâ in midtown Manhattan. Many doors started opening after that like spinning at âIllusions Discoâ and âAdams Appleâ in Manhattan, NY. The Copacabana was not my first experience at a Discotheque. I remember going to a local discotheque in the Bronx called âThe Blinkersâ and âThe Orange Peelâ in Brooklyn and also âThe Salsaâ in Brooklyn too and âThe Foot Stepsâ, âRed & Whiteâ and The âIce Palaceâ all in Manhattan. I was a very young kid those days and from watching all those DJâs and learning, I became a DJ myself and there was an article written about me by Michael Gomez from Farr Records saying I was the youngest DJ in Manhattan, NY. My brother Tony Garcia and I was a DJ team and we would dj everywhere together. We even djed in street block parties and school years in lower Manhattan and tapped into the street light poles to get the electricity. No dance floor and the people would do the hustle on concrete. It was very hard to make it back then. Especially trying to DJ in the Discos that were mainly a Gay dominated industry. The best discotheques were always the Gay Discos so I had to make friends with a lot of Gay people because they ran the discotheques. I am not Gay at all but I know many gay people who I love and respect to this day. That was my early learning experience and DJ life. I always said this and still believe it. Todayâs DJâs are tomorrowâs record executives! Who knows music better than a DJ? DJs could become A&R executives at a record company or one day become their own record company. They know and understand whatâs hot or not in music! So the questions asked by EddieMix on his comment to me in the post right before this post is as follows.Eddieâs QuestionâŚ. âWhen you produced those masterpieces that have been transcendent throughout time, What did you do back then? Mickeyâs answer⌠I always had in my mind keeping people on the dance floor with a powerful beat/rhythm and percussion track that makes you want to dance. All the songs I worked on in the 80s and that I wrote and produced had elements of disco strings or pianos and In my mixes, I would make the intros long with the 2 minute style disco intros building up to the vocal/singer singing a melody before the verse started and I also would include that long disco break like the 70s disco records. I wasnât making a disco record but since disco is in my blood and in my heart, I included elements of the disco style into my freestyle songs. You can hear it in C-Bank feat Diamond Eyes âI Wonât Stop Loving Youâ and Judy Torres âCome Into My Armsâ and Tiana âFirst True Loveâ. Pretty much you can hear some disco in all my records. I love making my mixes DJ friendly and add the Disco style into my Freestyle Records. My producing partner at the time Elvin Molina is an extremely talented creator too and he loved implementing some Nu Wave into the songs that we did together. He was in tuned with all music. So you can hear the variety in our records. We loved to listen to Depech Mode, New Order, Erasure and many other Rock Bands. We were never limited to only Freestyle and you can hear it in our productions.Eddieâs QuestionâŚ. How did you become so creative? Mickeyâs answer⌠Being creative is about trying out new ideas and taking chances and trying things out without it being to off the wall. We didnât have a crystal ball and none of us knew any of our songs would hit big but we took chances. Look, I also had a few songs that never got on radio or became club hits but the funny thing is I hear them now by the social media djs. Maybe those djs are looking for something new with the old sound. Who knows? Remember, itâs always about keeping those people on the dance floor (PERIOD). Itâs got to sound danceable, dance floor friendly and not to wild with to much of anything. Less is always more but with taste. To many ingredients in any dish can spoil it so keep it simple and tasty. A record doesnât have to have 48 tracks to be great! In some cases, an 8 track song could become a hit if itâs done right.Eddieâs QuestionâŚ. Why was the level of songwriting much different? and the melodies were on point! Mickeyâs answer⌠Before I would write anything on paper, I would think of what to write about and and then think of a melody for my words and I always kept in mind that a hook or a chorus must be written as catchy as possible. You need something to hang your hat on! The song could be about anything but it must be catchy with a nice melody and repetitive hook for people to remember. Then I would build the verses and pre chorus around that hook chorus. When I wrote âCome Into My Armsâ by Judy Torres, I was thinking of my father who had passed away in 1980. Listen to those words in the chorus and you will see what I mean and then you will probably think of that song differently. I wrote the 1st verse, Bridge and Chorus and I recorded my voice singing it to present it for the Cover Girls. I called Sal at Fever Records and he directed me to Andy Panda. Then I meet with Andy Panda who was the Cover Girls producer at that time and I played âCome Into My Armsâ to Andy. He liked it but he didnât hear it for the Cover Girls so I then played it for Judy Torres and she loved it and Judy asked me if she could write the second verse. I said yes. So Judy wrote the 2nd verse and 2nd pre chorus and together we came up with our two meanings of that one song and it worked perfectly. She wrote her 2nd verse with her meaning and it worked with my 1st verse that I had already written. The music still had Elvin Molinaâs signature style and I added my style to the music that included the elements of disco over electro funk beats and the rest is history. It was a great collaboration. If that record had a 4 on the floor beat and maybe just a few changes in the music, it would have been a disco record but Disco was already declining and Freestyle was in so we went with the flo.Eddieâs QuestionâŚ. What do producers need to do these days to replicate that level of success and level of music production? Mickeyâs answer⌠There are some great producers making freestyle music these days but I think whatâs missing in their productions is a crossover sound for all of todayâs DJs to like and to play. The mixing is also important. Itâs not the same when mixing a song on a computer program like Logic Audio or Digital Performer compared to an SSL mixing console pushing the mute buttons and running the effects live and taking a bunch of outtakes to use on your passes and for editing later. Computer mixing is what you make and play back. Itâs like a final recording that you canât alter on the fly. Itâs boring to me but could work for others. Itâs like pre mixing the song as you are creating it. I love the old style because a producer could change the vide of the mix at any time and he could be much more creative mixing down the tracks. Sometimes the best version of the mix is the one you do on the fly by pushing the mute buttons and changing the effects as you mix down that pass. Iâm hearing some great stuff these days and then I hear some demo sounding stuff that has no business being released. I think producers need to take their time creating and recording vocals and compare their song to something thatâs already out there. This way it fits in with anything the DJ is playing. Artist also need to be more professional and watch what they say in public because everyone is always watching and the slip of the lip can sink the ship! Artist should be careful and also not become cheerleaders đŁ for anyone badmouthing others because everyone is watching them too. People are not only watching the person who feels brave to s**t talk on the Internet about other artist or record labels who spent millions of dollars hiring promoters, staff employees, marketing and advertising their music. If they hate the business so much, they should leave it and find something else to do with their hateful time.When will artist ever understand that if it wasnât for the labels and the hard working staff they hired, they wouldnât have had any hits at all. You want respect? You need to earn it. You want to be an artist loved by everyone, respect yourself and your peers and watch how you present yourself in public. Stay away from those cliques that bring you down with them. Otherwise, you will probably just wind up with a very small following of people who really donât like you. No matter how good a song may sound, if the artist is acting like a fool and talking negatively with division, that great song will go nowhere fast and everyone involved in that song just wasted their time!Wake up people. There are no kings 𤴠and no Queens đ¸ in Freestyle music. Just good singers and bad singers and some who canât sing at all that has a hot track because of a talented producer. Respect each other if you want respect back and stop the hate if you really want to help Freestyle music survive a little longer. Question⌠Was it that at the time you were creating a new sound, there was more amount of time and dedication to producing? Was it the amount of talented musicians?Mickeyâs answer⌠Not at all. The demos were always created at home and demos could take several days to finalize. Then we would go to a studio to record the song into a 2â Multitrack Tape. Elvin Molina and I also had friends at the Sam Ash music stores and other music stores in our areas and those friends from the music store would call us as soon as a new keyboard came out and was in the store and we would run to that store to buy it because we wanted our next records to have the latest sounds. At the studio we would use great musicians and background singers if needed. We used Keyboard players, guitar players, saxophone players, percussion players and great engineers to EQ the songs before taking the passes. I donât hear any live musicians playing on todayâs freestyle recordings. I donât even hear great background singers in the new freestyle songs. Itâs all electronic machines. A live vibe and great background vocals could give the song that special touch to be different than all the others. They should try to incorporate some live musical instrument and great singers to do background vocals and see how that works in the next song.Question⌠I would like to hear your insights, as I regard you one of the greats within freestyle music.Mickeyâs answer⌠Thank you so much for your kind words and your support. Me Great? Wow! I like to think of it as I was very fortunate to have had the lifetime experience that I have. The right people working closely with me and the knowledge and experience of being around music all my life. All of that definitely helped my career. Also, I worked very hard too. For 10 years during the MicMac days I lived my life in the studio and in my office at MicMac. One day in the studio and the next day in the office for 10 years. Every other day in the studio and the office. Every night of the week I went to visit the DJs at the nightclubs and also at the after hours. That was my life for a full decade. DJâs loved me because I would bring them the test pressings of my new releases right to the DJ booth. I was always at Heartthrobâs visiting Louie Vegas, 1018 visiting Roman Ricardo, Palladium visiting the few DJs there. I would go to all the nightclubs in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Some in Long Island and Staten Island and some in North New Jersey like Foxes with DJ JI Starr, Dancinâs in Palisades Park, Elegante Fairview, Chicagos in Lodi, Joeys in Clifton but the Bronx⌠La Mirage was always my favorite place visiting DJ Al Pizarro and Kool Mike Ski. Sometimes I would go to the Devilâs Nest, PCâs, Riddlers or Peopleâs and then after they closed at 4am, I would go to the after hours that open at 4am until 12 noon. Today there is no outlet of night clubs like that anymore. Sad đ˘ Please donât take what Iâm about to say in a negative way but I believe that what I did back then could not be done ever again. I will explain way⌠First thing, The music business is nothing like it was in the 70s or 80s and because it changed so much in many areas, I donât see it ever coming back. I donât foresee any independent record labels even coming close to the level of what MicMac Records did or even High Power Records, Fever Records, Onna Roll Records, Metropolitan Records or Cutting Records. I could be wrong but I canât see it happening. It would take a major restructuring in many areas of the music industry for the business to be even in the direction of what it was. I wonât hold my breath waiting to see the change.Iâll explain more and about my experience⌠Me being a DJ from the 70s, I already knew many DJs, record pools and record executives. The Record Pools are now gone! Maybe there are a few DJ digital services floating around but nothing like the old record pools in every major city. The clubs are almost all gone too. Now itâs about smaller bars and lounges. These days the music makers need to have their own DJ list to send DJs the music wav or mp3. Who can afford a real music promoter too? Radio stations donât break new freestyle music anymore. Why isnât any of them doing a hot or not? Thereâs some good songs out. Thatâs another conversation! The deep pocket major record labels can get their new music on the radio but you would have to sign with them and possibly sign to a 360 deal. Meaning that they will want to share in all of your income including a percentage of your live performances. This is not new news but now they want it in writing. Radio stations want to charge to play your music. It was once called payola and illegal but now they changed it from payola to pay for play and thatâs legal. đWhy did it work for me in the 80s? I have to give credit to my friend Al Pizarro who was the DJ at La Mirage and owner of the VIP Record Pool. I brought him the song âI Wonât Stop Loving Youâ on a Reel To Reel at La Mirage to test play after the show to see the crowd reaction. The reaction was an instant hit. Everyone was dancing to it. Huge response. Al said to me, Mickey, you got a hit. Let me take a copy of it to play to a few record labels. I said ok and gave him a cassette of the song. Al played the cassette to Eddie OâLaughlin the owner of Next Plateau Records who also is a the Disco Producer of Carol Douglas âDoctors Ordersâ and my favorite disco song âMidnight Love Affairâ. A couple of days later Al Pizarro called me and said Mickey, you need to rush downtown to meet with Eddie OâLaughlin because he wants to sign you as the next producer to the popular group C-Bank. I was like what? C-Bank âOne More Shotâ, Good To The Last Dropâ and âGet Wetâ? Al said yes! Call him right now! So I called and met with Eddie OâLaughlin in person and after signing a contract with him, Elvin Molina and I became the producers of C-Bank and the song C-Bank featuring Diamond Eyes âI Wonât Stop Loving Youâ was my first ever hit song. Then Al introduced me to Brenda Rodriguez and we recorded the song âPerfectâ and âIâm So In Love With Youâ and I played it to Eddie OâLaughlin at Next Plateau Records and Brenda Rodriguez then became the new C-Bank featuring Geminis. Brenda to this day still performs under name C-Bank. At the same time Elvin Molina and I began to work with Judy Torres and recorded âNo Reason To Cryâ which was released on a small independent label called Jackie Jack Records. We felt the record could have done better on a more established record company so I played it to Eddie OâLaughlin at Next Plateau. Eddie had a lot on his plate so he called Cory Robbins owner of Profile Records and told him about the âNo Reason To Cryâ buzz in New York and then told me to go to Profile Records and see Cory Robbins. He said Cory is expecting me right now. I met with Cory at his office and Cory signed the record and Judy Torres to Profile Records. Elvin Molina and I recreated the music for the Profile release and the song became an instant smash hit that still plays today.Back in the mid 80s I was able to make a deal with a music mogul executive by the name of Marvin Schlachter who owned the famous Disco Record Label Prelude Records. They had released âFrance Joliâ, âD-Trainâ, âThe Strikersâ, âGale Adamsâ, âSharon Readâ and many other great Disco and Soul Records. Marvin and I met at the New Music Seminar in Times Square NY to discuss what I was up to in those days. I knew Marvin since the early 80s when I was a DJ for 98.7 Kiss FM and I would visit Marvin at Prelude from time to time to get his latest releases to play on my show on 98.7 Kiss FM. I told Marvin that I was fortunate to have 2 songs climbing the Billboard Carts and I showed him the Billboard magazine and pointed to C-Bank feat: Diamond Eyes â I Wonât Stop Loving Youâ and Judy Torres âNo Reason To Cryâ and right away he said, Would you be interested in making a record for my new label MarTru Records? I said to Marvin, I really want to start my own record company but I donât have the capital or the knowledge of running a record company. Marvin said, Mickey, I got the money and the knowledge. Letâs be partners and at that moment, my life began to change again. Now Iâm going to be the owner of my own label with a partner who is a music mogul and known for releasing many Disco hits. I couldnât believe it.Shortly after starting the company MicMac Records with Marvin Schlachter and having a few hits on the radio and on the Billboard charts, I reached out to my friend Ray Caviano who is another music mogul from the Disco era. If you donât know who he is, Look up Ray Caviano. Google him and see how many amazing Disco songs and Disco Labels he work for. When I had reached out to Ray, he was working at Sleeping Bag / Fresh Records and I went to see him at his office. I told him what I was doing those days. I mentioned the Billboard hits and my partnership with Marvin Schlachter. Then I told him that I would like for him to join the MicMac family and if he was interested in joining us, I will set up the meeting with Marvin. Ray took a few days to think about it and then reached out to me and said, letâs meet! After meeting with Ray and Marvin, Ray became our National Promotions Director and he ran the entire promotion department for MicMac Records and almost every record released on the label under Rayâs supervision was played on rotation in NY Radio and also on national radio stations. At this point I couldnât believe it that Iâm working with 2 music moguls of my favorite Disco era and at one time I played lots of records from their labels. RFC / Warner Brothers Records and Prelude Records were two of my favorite Disco labels. They released great Disco and Soul records.A few years later two friends of mine from the disco era came to my office to see me. That was Eddie Arroyo and Issy Sanchez. Great guys and I knew them both for many years. Eddie Arroyo once owned a record pool in Manhattan and later became a music producer. MicMac released one of his tracks. 747 Feat. Izzy Iz âSituation Yazzâ. The other guy, Issy Sanchez who once worked at Atlantic Records in the 1970s and I knew him since I was a kid getting records to play as a DJ on KISS FM and wherever I was DJing at a club. Eddie told me that Izzy was out of work and needed a job. I said. Have a seat in my office and I went to Marvinâs office down the hall and told Marvin that I wanted to hire Izzy Sanchez who once worked at Atlantic Records and he also worked for one of the distributors. Marvin said bring him in and I said ok, Heâs in my office. Marvin and I sat with Issy and then Issy Sanchez became our next promotion executive. Issy signed for MicMac TPE âThen Came Youâ and Adam Marano who recorded an album for MicMac and promoted MicMacâs future releases to radio.If you donât know who Marvin Schlachter, Ray Caviano or Issy Sanchez is, you can read more about Marvin Schlachter on Wikipedia and Ray Caviano is on Discogs and Issy Sanchez is also on Discogs and you can google all of them. I was able to connect and work closely with several music moguls in the mid 80s and 90s and together we created a company that made its mark in the music business and is respected worldwide by many DJs all over the world. I didnât want MicMac Records to become just another record label but my dreams and hard work was made possible because of great people in our team. Therefore, if you have a dream and youâre willing to put in the work, do it and who knows⌠you might one day out shine all of us. Something I like to sayâŚThereâs three kinds of people in the world. The first kind are people that make things happen. The Second are the people that watch things happen and last are the people that says⌠WHAT HAPPENED? You can also read more about me âMickey Garciaâ on the following platforms.Wikipedia: Mickey Garcia Record ProducerIMDB: Mickey Garcia Composer Producer Music DepartmentWebsite: MickeyGarcia.comI hope you enjoyed my story!
