J STUDIO

work for the lron Man 2 score. Rob Hughes caught up with him to discuss his passions and peeves...

n s the CEO, producer, engineer, and songwriter at

A Burbank-based Rocasound studios, Sebastian ArochaI \Morton has become one of the most in-demand guys onthe LA scene. He and his company offer end-to-endsolutions, from brainstorming to mastering, achieving one goalat a time, for one client at a time. The firm's missionstatement says that "the endless riddle of balancing art andcommerce ends at Rocasound" - it is a compan)' dedicatedon11' to the music and whatever it takes to achieve success inthe production of it.

Now well over halfway through his second decade in thebusiness, Morton began his career in Mexico City in the earlr-9Os, touring with various high profile bands as a keyboardpla1.er. Gigs as a songwriter followed before he enrolled atBerklee College of Music to study Film Composition andEngineering. After graduating, he honed his craft shadowingengineers such as Rob Jaczko and Eumir Deodato. Californiabeckoned and Morton eventually upped sticks and relocated

32 audiopRo June 201,0

to LA where he initially found work with artists connectedwith a thriving acid jazz scene, such as Chaka Khan, DavidSylvian and Ozomatli.

In recent times, Morton has entered the big league,providing his services for the likes of Sting, The Killers andMary J Blige, among many others. Currently, on the recordingside, he has just wrapped up production and mixing work onseven tracks for the new Samantha James album Subconscious,whlch is due out this month on OM Records based in SanFrancisco. However, as you expect for a man with his talentsbased in 'the media capital of the world', Burbank, Mortongets his fair share of TV and film work. Lately he has

conrpleted sections of the score for lronMan 2 and is in thetrocess of composing rnusic for a US TV show called krriers.

O,,-er rl-re .,-ears. \lorton has increasingly devoted his time toSC,ri.r.rli ni:r-rs anJ.rs rcCav more involved in this sphere thanan\- a,::r-r. :-ceriti.,' .rgning to major film composer agencyGclarne Sc:r',\.rrr: E-r: n-- nair.r',r-hai kir-Lj cf lroject is on

3'^a i corn

It really pisses {neoff when moneyand politics getinvolved anddictate thedirection of then'tusic.Sebastian ArochaMorton

the tab'le, he jusr enlor-s rhe basic tacr rhar he -qers ro u-orkri'ith inusic - his absolute passion - e\-en- dar-. Neverrheless,he acknowledges that working with music is nor always as funas it seems and there are some jobs that he'd rather avoid,namely the ones that take too much and give too little.

"l feel fortunate to be able to be doing exactly what I setout to do and make a decent living doing it full time," heexplains. "But I have learnt to be careful when choosing theprojects that I take on to make sure rhey are in line with myown philosophy. In hindsight, I wish I had been a little bitpickier earlier on in my career when I took certain jobs justbecause I needed the mone)-. At the end of the d"y, those jobsended up paying me the least and raking up most of my time.

"one example was a score for a CGI film. It was a completedisaster because it was an Asian companv and the culturaldisconnect and language barrier \\'ere insane. I rhlnk the mostannoying thing in this business is unrealistic erpectationsfrom amateurs with really lou' budgers. Ther- b'asically tempedthe whole movie with scores from mor-ies like SrarWars, SrarTrek and James Bond. Then, in ven'bad English, they said ther,wanted it to sound exactly the same bur using sr-nths, just afew musicians and $30,000 dollars for 7c minures of fullyproduced orchestral music. Keep in mind, thi-. u'as the 90s -we didn't have incredible samplers and libranes like Vienna,East.West, Kontakt or Altiverb. The best sampler \\ras an Akai55000 with 512MB of RAM and a bunch ot CD Roms. Iended up spending a lot of my own mone\- rc ge r live playersand do it right. I'r'e encounrered people like thrs often in thisbusiness and I knor.r' better than to take the eie no\\'. I can'ttell r'ou hou' manv times somebodl' plar-s Thnller as a referenceand sa\-s: 'can \-ou make me sound like rhar tor a SlCOO a

track, all inl"'Despite his apparenr disiliusionrrenr, it speaks

r-olumes rhar Morton sau- this project throughand thar he even put in rhe ertra time and

monev that \\:as necessan- to make it a

-iuccess. His reaction to this client wasaimost one of sr-mparh\', suggestingthat, although thev u'anred a lot fortheir meagre budget, they werenevertheless just trying to realisetheir vision of a grand score fortheir movie and perhaps sharedsome of his philosophy andpassion for sound. It seems rhat l-re

is prepared to do u'harever he canto help people u'ho place the

ernphasis on the nusical or-rtcomeas the ultimate goal. Conr-erselr-,

those n ho consider onlv the financialupshot can expect ven- little of his time."lt really pisses me ofr u-hen n'rone)' and

politics get involved and dictate rhedirection of the music," he adds. "lt's disgusting,

and ar that point I bail. Call me nair-e, bur I rhinkmost genuine musicians get into this business t''ecause u'hen

they started it u'as exciting to write songs, perform, makebeats, tu'eak gear and so on. Music is music; markerine an,Jsales are not music. They're business aspects and don'r be l..rrlin the studio. Nobody picked up an insrrumenr when rtrrer'were in their teens because they loved reading BillboarCmagazine so much that they couldn't wait to chart u'hen rhre.n-

got older - they just loved music. So when artisrs srarr gerrxnsall insecure and afraid that they're not going to sell anr-records because they don't hear a 'radio hit' and managersstart causing drama and get the label all worked up,er.erl,thing amazLng about being in a studio becomes he11.

From that point on, it's all fear based and all creativin-ends.You might as well look ar rhe Billboard 200 top three, pickone and do a soundalike, because that's going to end uphappening an1'way. I don't mean to sound 1aded, because I'mnot, I've been fortunate to have very few of those experiences,but that's why the radio sounds the same all rhe rime. If LadyGaga goes multi-platinum and starts making millions and youmeet a hot blonde ZO-something girl who says she wants to bea singer and loves dance music, take a guess who she u'ants tosound like."

S"-'_ I,tI J

Agreeab'lllri, c': :::s :- -r,'.;,1::-: - -,r-: -: : ..- : :

\'lortor-r'-. l:b :hi- l-e - --,.-e : *:r; - :-i-:- r--:- ,

make his ia."-r1r rl--^-r-: r,\:---- : ::-!-r-:--- -- r-- -: -r:ralenr ani .e r-, --;:.

"The gear ani ri--.::rl-:r:i::--,r,::- ^ -.::-- r::: : -

in," he sa\-:',ltil-,-'--::--r-ri-:r :r-'"1 l-re :- -:--: - .:-people probabl-, :r.l:-c:: -. ::r-:- ::r:::-'- :-- a,-, -r-; : _ , :

artists are n-hr',- F-e -.;,t :ec _ ::-; :::,J *at:.' -.-: j t;tr,_:: i : _ _

some it is. L'urr lrt rr-r:h. lr:::-; -r: :---7, :T-*a:- -!:- -- -: -

create ne\\- sounis. I i,-.-u e tr::^-::,: - c',-;t- ;:..:- ] :_ i,r--t=

songs, ther nee"l ro l-ia,--e:-:- :-j.-::---r-;: I;*:r -::_:-- -:when people sa\- \\-rlre --:r ri-= r--:r-- -.:-j :*l:a:, --'--ar : "r;;r-overdone tbr ages. Ilo'.r, ;:,- -:-,;,::-:-= -*, h:.:r:---:---:--:_-::through a space ecl-1,: a:-i:-::--:;i -; --:--.l er.gn:-b::.:-::-;;r-r-.rhr-thn-r. It teels Jr:tt:e:-- -r, t-;t- ::--:. : -^t anibra:.;e. .

1 .a 1

detir-llrell-c..rrle xr:ri:- ::-e F:-..-:- f:-_ L ":rrel l-an_-:: )::-_,-_ _r

nluslc prlJu;:r -- n.

The tools and thetechrffifiqpss,"..

SINCE, \4OF.TC\ ;i.i :us s:-,- -,--studios for rnrxing - lr fannr- 1," - -,:'. r : -Larrabee Studios in i--{ berr. . -Rocasoundisabesr-ot.bott--'u,,,-- -,: .

ToolswithD-Commandc.:-:..-.:, :. -- - .

selection of ourboard. Th::...--. -:=-Xlo,gtc pres and a custoltl l'.-:,,r- =' .-:, - -

suirrming mirer. Morton c-.:t:---. -:: ---: - : - : -. - :

hi-. tracks are routed thrc.ti- - .-. ttt -: - - -: . -

disiinct character that it pl--, -*:. -- - - :.: - - -t I - _-

these nuances exactly as hre h;.:: -- --r -: -.-: -: :

rrivested heavily on the dlgiiai Si,="l strongly believe in grear ;L:.,i -- - --,-, -::- : -,---.*

clocking, so I have Apogee ani 5.:^;i-irr.r.. - r.- :- _:r:clocked through Antelope Au;i,-, Ul,:-. F--,. .-,,- . - :faith l have in the conversit-rrr iurlitg :,--:h ,,,'--1, r -:-. - -.

out of the box, it's very exciting r. caii-::; :---character of outboard gear properh- ria.r* -'" -r:-.: -everything from exotic pedals to:pacc :---- :

"My style of production is to prinl ..s i : .-,.--: ,:.other words, when I'n-r digging a stur:i. i:- -"-; c, -r-track including its plugir-rs out of Pri T:,--,--. .:r: _ -^:--. ,,

lvlanley Massir.e Passive EQ anC a UEK F. r,:,inCir-idual1r'. When I get rc rhe mix -iia,te I r-,.:. _-

ler elling. surnming. anj br=s ;\-ntF:e isra':-. -,.^-.. :-brc ar-ise lno-rt cf the sounis ale air= ?i.,- a -- :r--:,--, - -: -

.il lh- j.iiZiir! qocjness. r-ia rnslin-, ltl -. t:::: j .ll:,,is:l--,..;.s nte ieei n-rcre like 1d1; -:-- iitc --- :

: rr.'--:r- i:ej -.-' t:L-- Ii j,.rst teels :- - j --- ,---

s,:'-,-t: ',', - ii : ci-::-,=e li st',rnethrnq l - c! r - -Ti. r-\-- :a-l lrr F.ccasound rs - - : -- - :

{\\ -1,",J.^ ..r..cie , along ri-irh r}re l{- -:- -

\i,'::,--:- .=-r:,arns rhar. becaust r--: , r:diiierer-rr g-nres at once, n'i :::-.: - r-,,.-able to re call sessitrnS anl :-.-'.:i * --: :

reasi-)ll. rhe neri'er analc- - :- ) -:: :r:hinr, though he nore: :.:.-- ---,:.'., -.-= :

integration is be: ':r---r-.::----::- :*- :r :- -

meaning. ] q'.-=.. ---., - :- : : -: : -. -

CLlffent:-:*:.i-)

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