Dan Morrell

Early life

Morrell was born in Chicago, Illinois where he graduated from Carl Sandburg High School and went on to graduate from Columbia College Chicago to pursue a career in radio and music.

Club DJ

Morrell started his DJ career under the name of DJ Smurf and later changed it to Mixmaster Dan Morrell. Primarily a Chicago DJ, Morrell mixes hip-hop, electro house, and rock mashups. In 2001, he competed in the Super DJ Spin-off in Las Vegas, Nevada and took first place. He is the exclusive DJ for the Chicago Bears tailgate party and provides music for The Chicago Luvabulls and The Chicago Hot Rox Dance teams. Using his alias name, DJ Smurf, Morrell has put out more than 30 underground mix CD's.

Morrell has opened for acts like Kanye West, Diddy, Akon, T-Pain, Rihanna, DJ AM, Shakira, Run-D.M.C., Justin Timberlake, Nelly, Mary J. Blige, Christina Aguilera, Sean Paul, LL Cool J, Natasha Bedingfield, Danity Kane, and Missy Elliott.

Mixmaster Throwdown

Mixmaster Throwdown is a nightlife promotions company based in Chicago. Morrell started the company in 1997 as the Mixmaster Throwdown "College Club Tour" where he and other DJ's brought parties and entertainment to clubs in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, and Wisconsin. In 2002, Morrell grounded the company in Chicago and since has promoted at more than fifty night clubs and has brought countless celebrities like Britney Spears, Nick Cannon, Wesley Snipes, 50 Cent, R. Kelly, Mario Lopez and Sean Kingston to his events.

WBBM-FM Chicago, B96

Morrell began his career with WBBM-FM Chicago as a promotions intern. Soon after, in 2001 Morrell was hired on as a Mixshow DJ and currently is a part of the B96 Street Mix Team. He has had the opportunity to MC multiple B96 events as well as mix live on the air. He is also a part of the annual B96 summer concert, The Pepsi Summerbash, where he mixes in between celebrity performances.

Mixmastered Records

Morrell started the Chicago based record label, Mixmastered Records in 2007, and has since signed Chicago rappers Soundmaster T and Jah Rista. The label is working on releasing a joint CD by Soundmaster T and Jah Rista (together known as the Droked Out Boyz).

Mixmastered Studios

Being surrounded by talented producers like Soundmaster T and influenced by rockers like Jimi Hendrix, John Mayer, Sammy Hagar and Kid Rock to EDM producers like David Guetta and Richard Vission it was impossible to live and not create music, enter Mixmastered Studios. After years of teaching the art of production to himself Dan moved to Los Angeles to study at Musicians Institute in Hollywood where he hooked up with countless unbelievably talented industry pros that made him feel this dream was as attainable as his successful DJ career was. Dan’s musical taste for what an audience wants to hear was developed by performing as a DJ at over 1000 gigs on 3 continents, which in addition to a world class team of engineers, is what Mixmastered Studios’ success is based on.

Mixmastered Acoustics

After a successful career in radio Dan's next venture combined his knowledge of studio acoustics with his entrepreneurial instincts leading him to create Mixmastered Acoustics which manufactures sound control products including wall panels and a variety of acoustical treatments and sound diffusers. Along his journey of honing musical chops in the studio, Dan stumbled across an online weekly show called Pensado’s Place that would impact his life more than he could ever imagine. Not only did they interview the most talented producers and engineers in the game, they also introduced less sexy, but still important, aspects of the industry like acoustic room treatment. That’s when Dan’s entrepreneurial instincts rose again by listing a craigslist ad offering acoustic sound panels. After receiving an overwhelming response, Dan enlisted the help of his brother, a professional craftsman to develop a product-line that has become one of the most innovative and cost effective in the acoustic treatment industry. With a great product and a great website built by Dan’s wife Julie, of J Morrell Designs, Mixmastered Acoustics has become a top competitor in a crowded industry. With customers ranging from Grammy winning artists to Columbia University in New York and the U.S. Naval base on Pearl Harbor, Mixmastered Acoustics’ customer base has doubled every 2 months since it’s inception. These products are used by churches, schools, businesses, restaurants, musicians, and homeowners to improve their listening experiences.

Controversy

In 2003, Morrell was served a cease and desist order barring him for using his professional DJ name, DJ Smurf. Morrell now uses, Mixmaster Dan Morrell, for his professional DJ and on-air radio name.