Make the Face:
The Maurice Carroll Interview

Written by: luminoUS, Editor at Large
Photography by: Quill Wordsmith

 

With his musical grounding in the church and then spending almost a year studying under Dr. Nathan Carter of Morgan State University, it’s no wonder that Maurice Carroll achieves a distinct look from all of his listeners once they hear his music. But, there is more to this man than music. Family is his foundation to everything that he does and this is known once he said, “Taking care of my family gives me this other desire to succeed.” Admittedly a clinical workaholic, he takes his job seriously and makes it known that “being a producer is so much more than making a track or a beat.” Maurice compares producers to choir directors because they are in charge of everything, so continue reading and find out all of the key aspects to his musical composition…

 

What was the inspiration behind starting RawTech?

MC: RawTech started about 11-12 years ago at Thomas’ father’s house. [We were] just like everyone else, eXcept we were in the top bedroom instead of the basement. We started with a keyboard, a computer, and a trial version of a recording program. Prior to that, I had a community-based Gospel choir. I was 22-23 and I pulled a bunch of young people from different churches. I was the oldest. We were traveling and all of that good stuff and got to the recording stage and I couldn’t find a studio that could handle what we wanted to do. Everywhere we went, either the engineers weren’t aware of how to record a choir or they had the equipment and didn’t know how to work it. So, the last studio we went to, I got behind the mixer. Thomas and I sat there and talked. He decided that he was going to engineer and I was going to produce and we just asked the owner if we could operate the equipment. We started investing in our own equipment. The name of the company came from him being a technical guy and mine was for the raw talent and the raw visions that I had. We just came up with RawTech.

 

So, you didn’t have any “formal” training?

MC: As far as recording, no. Musically, I had about a year and a half of Morgan State University music. I got there through a scholarship. That was about it.

 

You were a music major?

MC: For a while. Dr. Carter was relentless. Every time he wanted me to go out and sing with the choir, I couldn’t do it because I had to work and then he gave me the last straw: “The next time I call you, if you can’t go, you need to think about doing something else.” He called me into his office and I told him my circumstances: “I live alone. I want to do music. I’m going to do music, but I have to work because I have an apartment. I’m not on campus. I have my own car,” so forth and so on. He repeated himself: “Either music is going to be your life or it’s not going to be your life. You have a decision to make right now. What are you going to do?” I said, “My hands are tied. I have to work.” He said, “You got to find another major.” And then they took my money. [laughs] And I ended up in telecommunications.

 

I noticed that your name is spelled differently when you do liner notes and when you do production. What made you do the separation?

MC: The record label is different. I had a strong vision to bring the family feel, the freedom feel, back to the music industry. I take some of what I do from Motown. They teach their artists how to interview, how to sit correctly, how to talk to the fans, and how to get the shows straight. They really got hands-on and they had a variety of sounds and kept pushing out hits. So, I wanted to take that idea, but tweak it for where we are now. When I started the label, music was in a phase where all of the artists were being told what to do and the shift from being musical went into your image, and is it sellable. All the industry started caring about was how much money they were going to make. I felt like there were still music genres that were dedicated to the purity of music, but, for what I was dealing with, it started veering away from it. I wanted to find a way to say to the artist, “We’ll find a way to make money off of you being yourself and I’m not going to tell you what to do artistically. I’m going to try to amplify what you do, push it out, and see what we get.” The real difference with RawTech is that Thomas and I are partners. Thomas heads up RawTech. With the record label, Stinkiface Music, it’s me heading it up. I’ll call upon him for technical stuff that I may need that I know I can’t do. Like we just shot the video for “Sex Shoes” for Petula Caesar and I wasn’t technical enough to shoot it, so I called Thomas. He’s not really involved that much musically; it’s less than 5%.

 

“There’s nothing wrong with being a beat maker, but don’t be a beat maker and call yourself a producer…”

 

Stinkiface is the actual record label. RawTech is just the production company. Where did you come up with the name for—

MC: Stinkiface? Yes! [laughs] Stinkiface is the face that most musicians or people who are really into music make when they hear something that they really like. Or, for the average listener, it’s that face you make when you hear your favorite song and you start frowning up. That’s what the stinkiface is. The whole concept of it is to make everything that we make make you make that face.

 

How many people do you have signed so far?

MC: Right now, 4.

 

What’s the diversity range? Do they all bring something different?

MC: Way different. I have one artist, Petula Caesar; she does house music, erotic stuff. It’s all spoken word, but it’s different. Then, you have something I’ve coined “Eclectic Soul” and that’s with Janice B. I had to coin it because her style of writing is so different. She can go Country, R&B, and Reggae-ish. So, in order to really find a market for her, I had to coin “Eclectic Soul”. Then, I have spoken word group The 5th L and LOVE the poet.

 

Are you looking to sign more people?

MC: I will, later. For right now, we have a lot of things burning, so my hands are full. What I am looking for is staff. We’ve been at a breaking point for months. I have to have people that can work and it’s hard finding those people.

 

Where do you see yourself and the company in about 5 years?

MC: Which company?

 

[laughs] You got me… Okay. The record label.

MC: [laughs] With the label, hopefully we’ll have our own facility. I’m beginning to understand real estate and how that works. I’m trying to put the company into the position to be able to make some purchases and some other things that I can’t really disclose right now.

 

You would have to kill me if you told me?

MC: Yeah… [laughs]

 

What about with the production company?

MC: We’re in the process of switching our clientele base to more mainstream. Hopefully, we’ll be at a place where we’ll be working with people that are really making national/international noise in addition to the local markets, maybe adding on staff, as well, and possibly changing locations.

 

What’s your process when you go in to make music?

MC: It depends on whom I’m working for. If a client comes in and they don’t have music, they ask if I produce and what I sound like. I’ll pull up some tracks of stuff that I’ve done and they will try to describe to me what it is they are trying to do. I try to give them what they want, whether I like it or not. When it comes down to artists that I’m a little more into musically, I try to find out the story behind whatever song it is that they want me to create. Once I hear the story, I relate that to instruments. Then, I’ll use the little bit of musical theory that I know. Like, if they want it to sound dark, I need to have some minor chords in there. Then, I’ll ask them to perform it while we are talking and I’ll find their key and give them the watered down version of what I hear in my head that way I’ll know that what I have in my head will work. I try to get as personal as I can to try to find out where they want to go with it.

 

What would life be like for you with no music?

MC: There would be no life. That’s bottom line. I’ve been playing music since I was 3. I wasn’t as proficient as I am now, but I was hearing melodies and playing stuff with one finger. By 5, I was playing with two. By 11, I was playing in church full time. I tried letting go of music because of some personal issues that were going on and I started getting ill to the point where I was getting ready to seek some psychiatric help. There was absolutely nothing else wrong with me eXcept that I had cut music out of my life. Then, it took on the physical form and my body started to fall apart. It wasn’t until I started getting back into music that everything started working out better.

 

“For the average listener, it’s that face you make when you hear your favorite song and you start frowning up. That’s what the stinkiface is. The whole concept of it is to make everything that we make make you make that face…”

 

I know you have a family outside of this. Is it easy to balance?

MC: No… It’s not. It’s a balancing act that is incredibly difficult because you have the same amount of responsibilities in both areas. Musicians, preachers or sports figures’ wives and families have it the roughest. For me, I’m in the church scene and a full-time musician/producer, so it makes it just that much more difficult for my family. I keep super long hours. I’m leaving to take the kids to school in the morning, hitting the studio, doing x, y and z, pick the kids up, drop them at home, spend like an hour or two and then I’m back out at the studio and by the time I come back home everybody is asleep. It’s eXtremely rough. I’m happy that I ran across and heard about some other people who are a little further along in the process than I am and hearing about their difficulties balancing it. It helped me to know that I’m not alone.

 

Do you do anything else outside of music for fun?

MC: I’m an old-school cartoon fanatic. G.I. Joe. Transformers. I’m also South Park, Family Guy. [laughs] When I have my down time, I like watching home movies. Traditional “man” stuff. You know, home theater system, remote, just sitting there chilling. I’ll do that occasionally, but, oddly enough, music is my past-time. Even if I’m not creating for somebody, I can still go to a particular CD or video and listen for sheer enjoyment or motivation. Cooking. Nobody knows that. I can burn.

 

Any specialties?

MC: I don’t do a lot of traditional meals when I cook. I can do fried chicken and greens, but I’m more of a gourmet. I’m more of a shrimp and mushroom fettuccine, lemon peppered chicken breast kind of guy.

 

If you did things the way that Dr. Carter wanted you to do them, would you still be here?

MC: Yeah, I’ll still be here. I had several different plans to end up at the same place. The difference would be, had I gone his route, I would have a lot more musical theory. I would have a lot more skill and I think my ear would be a little bit better.

 

Any advice for people looking to do all of this lovely stuff?

MC: Study. Read books. Ask questions. Take your time. It’s easy, but it’s not as easy as what TV makes it look. You have to learn each piece of equipment, how it works, what it works well with, and how to connect them to get the sound that you want. Then, you have software and plug-ins that you have to deal with. On the business side with RawTech, you have to be careful with people. It’s not all technical. You might have people to come in that you are not fond of at all, musically, but you have to find a way to deal with it and to make it work.

 

Well, there you have it, people. So, raw that you have no choice but to make the face. Maurice knows his music and his craft and so should you, regardless of what your specialty is. When discussing the importance of knowing what you do, Maurice states, “There’s nothing wrong with being a beat maker, but don’t be a beat maker and call yourself a producer.” Make sure that you study and know the ins and outs of the area in which you are pursuing. Always have an alternative route to get to your destination and, ultimately, make sure you can still have fun with it…

 

Much peace, love and light

 

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