We ‘recently’ got the chance to catch up with the multi-talented Adam Dorn, AKA Mocean Worker, AKA MoWo, for some enlightening Q&A. This interview first went up in mid-2015. The website I put it up on no longer exists but I was able to rescue most of the interview. Way to go Wayback machine!
So, who is Adam Dorn and what is his connection to Reason?
For anyone that doesn’t know you, how would you describe yourself – who is Adam Dorn / Mocean Worker?
Primarily I’m a recording artist that uses the name Mocean Worker. I’ve released 8 full-length albums under that name. They range stylistically from drum and bass to house, to now a sort of electro-swing feel. I started messing around with that style of things on my album “Enter The Mowo!” which was written in 2002-200. It sat on the shelves the label I was signed to at that time, and as a result wasn’t released until 2004. It really opened up a lot of doors for me though. Very proud of that album.
To continue to answer your question though, it would be fair to also call myself a composer, as I’ve scored a handful of films and documentaries as well. I just finished working on the premiere season of ‘Better Call Saul’, the much anticipated follow up to ‘Breaking Bad’. I’d played bass and guitar throughout the score as essentially a studio musician, another thing I’ve done a lot of over the years. I helped the show’s composer – and my old friend – Dave Porter, with me playing instruments for his incredible composing. We actually co-wrote the end title music together for the show. I play the guitar, organ, and bass on that tune. Fun times.
This year I also got to produce three songs for an artist named Nikki Yanofsky, a great young artist from Canada. My executive producer on this album was Quincy Jones so a huge lifetime dream was realized by working on something with him. Luckily enough, we are currently nominated for a Canadian Juno Award for Pop Record of the Year.
To round this “Who is Adam Dorn?” business out, I would say I’m also a gigantic music fan, so I partnered late last year with my great friend Charlie Hunter and we decided to do a podcast together and sit down with famous musicians and just have conversations. It’s called The Compared To What Podcast and can be found on iTunes. We’re extremely proud of this show, and it’s really a labor of love, as we get to sit down with some of our oldest friends and idols and just share stories. Other than that? I’m a dad…I love my wife, and I am rabidly addicted to American Football (the one with all the padding and helmets and violence).
Your career as a session musician began to get going, around 1986. What was it like being relied upon to deliver the goods in a professional setting at such an early age?
It really never dawned on me that it was an age thing. I’d grown up in studios. I always had the feeling that there was no difference between myself and maybe the son of an athlete who grew up hanging out in the dugout (baseball) or on the pitch (footy), watching his dad play. Then I just sort of started working and never thought about it much. There were some situations where maybe I’d look over and realize “Wow that’s Steve Ferrone, I really better not fuck up this take” but for the most part I was confident in my ability to play bass professionally and in the studio.
The thing you should know is that for the most part, being a studio musician is just as much about the vibe you bring to something. Basically, the way you make someone’s song sound good. It’s rarely if ever about chops and showing off. While I had the chops to get myself fired for playing completely without taste, I certainly was lucky enough to keep them totally out of the equation for the most part. I’d been lucky. I grew up going to studios and seeing albums made from a very young age, as a result of my father being a record producer. I’d lived in studios as a kid. I think that experience made it that much easier once I started actually working on and playing on albums.
It’s one of those things – once you’re in it you just act as if you belong there, have a good attitude, bring the goods on the session for the parts needed from you, and the rest works itself out. I’d be hard-pressed not to actually transpose this same exact experience into just about any other work experience I’ve had in music. It was very helpful growing up and watching teams of people work together to get music done.
How did you make the transition from session musician to someone that produced their own music? Was it a natural progression over time or did it require a rapid change in direction?
It was sort of a natural progression. I had actually for a short time been living in France touring with a French Popstar name Patrick Bruel and I was introduced to another French Popstar named Patricia Kaas, who expressed interest in making an English language album. One thing leads to another and next thing I knew I was making a ton for tracks for her. Sadly the album didn’t go very well, and the experience itself left me feeling like I wasn’t really interested in artists and producing them. I found them to be annoying and indecisive!
For the most part I still feel that way, but as I’ve gotten older I think I take things way less personally and far less seriously. Point-blank, I busted my ass on that recording and felt that they not only didn’t get the music but honestly it was just too good for them (some ego right?)! Anyway, nine months of constant work on her album led me to the thought that “Maybe I should just make my own music? It’s probably way more fun just to be the artist yourself right?” ( which in fact it is, but it’s a totally different path to take that’s for sure!)
Your career has been, and is, multi-faceted. Jazz bass player, session player, singer, DJ, music producer, remix artist. You’ve also produced music for film and TV. Do you still have your feet firmly planted in all of these areas or are you focusing more on some things than others?
I think with where everything has come from, and seeing where it’s all going, you don’t have a choice – you have to do a bit of everything, and honestly I totally love it. The fact that one day I’m working on a documentary scoring the life story of say, someone like Richard Pryor, and then the next day doing a big band arrangement for a 1930s animation film, is so much fun.
I know I missed the whole boat of focusing on one thing like my DJ career and just doing that. Maybe I’d have my own headphones and brand of Vodka by now, but that would just be like one thing over and over and over again and boring. It’s fun to do a lot of different things. It really is. It’s challenging too. I love change. If I look back on the last year of projects, I have to smile – it’s very varied. Variety is the spice of life…or is cinnamon the spice of life? I get that mixed up.
How did you first get introduced to Reason? What was it about the early Reason that inspired you to want to produce music with it?
I was first introduced to Reason in version 1. It may have even been like the week of release. I had been a Rebirth fan but that really wasn’t my thing. I’d purchased it and it was fun but I never found myself making tracks with it. It was like something fun to use on flights while I was bored. Ha! I know that sounds terrible but I’m just not really a clubby kind of track-making guy so that interface slowed me down.
Reason was introduced to me by a computer programmer friend of mine who had purchased it strictly because he loved the design and concept of it. He wasn’t even a musician or DJ. So, full disclosure – the first copy I had for a little bit was stolen. I know…boo hiss! I’m a terrible person. I very soon after though, bought myself a copy and I was blown away. I still am blown away by the program on a daily basis; it’s such an incredible piece of software. My initial draw to it was the fact that I could use it like a virtual MPC 3000 (the Akai workstation). It presented itself to me as a sort of an MPC without limitations on memory. There was a sampler built-in, and REX players and the workflow and ease of use were ridiculously straight forward. It was love at first sight.
I had been using Recycle for a little while, so when I saw that I could just load REX files into the program and make tracks. My…mind…exploded. As the software has developed and been updated, I have not found myself even one time being let down by their decisions at Propellerhead to add or take away features. I should also say this, the Rewire functionality has always been really straight forward and stable for me while working in Pro Tools, so I’ve always just used the two together, although I have now in the last two years switched over to Logic X, as I am now supremely angry with all things Avid. That’s a whole other story that involves valium and therapy sessions though!
Reason has gone through a lot of changes over the years. Did it grow in a way that suited you personally, and what effect did the changes have on the way you work?
Like I said earlier I have never been upset by changes to the software that the Props have made. Sure, maybe sometimes they change the workflow of the sequencer or how something looks or the colours you can use, but that never really bothers me at all. its almost always a situation where within a day or two I don’t even remember what the older version functioned like.
Record was a bit of a strange product, and I got really into it because Reason just nested in it but I will say I was really happy when Record just became Reason, and that was that. I’m not a huge fan of the Dr. OctoRex 8 channel player REX player. I like my old one REX file at a time Dr Rex. That was one thing I kind of balked at because I just don’t use the REX player to play loops. Those REX files become triggered sounds for me, so all those eight spots to hold REX files just is cumbersome.
You’ve had a long-standing relationship with Propellerhead, one that has resulted in a number of collaborations. How did that come about, and do you have any more joint ventures on the horizon?
It came through my good friend James Bernard, who worked for the Props for nearly 10 years running their US artist operations. I had done an interview, I think for Apple for its corporate website (this was when Apple actually had artist profiles on their site in a feature called “Made On A Mac” ) Reason was mentioned a ton in the piece, and James got in touch. I didn’t know he worked there, but he said they were happy I spoke about them in that piece.
We kept in touch and next thing I knew I was invited to Sweden to take part in a conference they throw for their distributors. I showed the folks from around the world that sell Reason how I used it and some film stuff I had done on it (I think I played my remix of “Express Yourself” that had appeared in the film ‘Mr and Mrs Smith’). It was a great trip and that led to I believe, two more trips there to work on the Bass Refill video and a video for Record when it was released.
I’ve also done some videos stateside for them. One is me talking about an Elvis Presley remix I did, and another is a fake commercial for their Pulsar Rack Extension that is completely insane. It’s me at my TV pitchman worst, selling you a rack extension “as seen on tv!”. The Props are an incredible group of folks. I’ve made some great friends over the years there and I like knowing that they are always thinking of improving their products and thinking of us artists/producers.
Traditionally your music has been a mix of elements; played, sampled, and electronic. Is this still the way in which you work, or has your approach changed in any way?
That’s pretty much how I do it. Recently I worked with an artist named Marcus Miller and we co-wrote a tune together for his new album. I used Reason to make the track, and I programmed a lot of stuff, but what I love about the program now is that Marcus could record bass lines and bass clarinet parts and piano parts and I could seamlessly import them into my main session and really just make a record – not a ‘beat’, not a ‘track’, but the actual record, and not leave the environment I’m most comfortable creating in.
Chuck D. is on a track too. I just wanted to say that out loud, because Chuck D. is the man. And I still can’t believe I worked on a track with Chuck D. There – it’s out of my system now. Ha!
You collaborate often with other musicians when making your albums. You’ve also talked in the past about the merits of the internet with regards to ease of collaboration. Have your views altered over the years, or is collaboration still something that excites you?
I still like the ease of emailing things back and forth and being able to communicate with someone overseas, tell them what I need and then have them send it to me. I do absolutely love being in the same room with a lot of musicians, and creating from scratch but I’m not gonna lie – there is also something incredible about Skype and Facetime making it possible to work on a track and speak to someone very far away about what you need.
While we are talking about collaboration, have you checked out Discover yet, and what are your thoughts?
I’m really slow to the whole using an iPad and iPhone as part of my writing/workflow thing. So the quick, very honest, answer is ‘no’. Is this where the Props excommunicate me? If so…it’s been nice knowing you. Thanks for the Schnitzels in Stockholm.
Has your working set-up changed much in recent years and is Reason still an integral part of how you work?
Reason is the center of everything I do still. Even when I use it in Rewire, 90% of the time it’s because I only need to use a certain synth or plug-in in Logic that I cant get in Reason. (note to Uhe – please make Ace, Diva, Bazille Rack Extensions, they are all amazing).
My set-up itself has just gotten simpler and simpler. I have non-music friends that ask to see my studio and I always kind of laugh because it’s really not much to look at. Usually, I ask them if they have a desktop computer, if they say “yes” then I say ”that’s basically what my studio looks like”. I do love my Genelec Speakers, and I use these little speakers made by Avantone (I usually turn one of them off and only listen to one at a time at a low level for the mono thing). I use a Nektar Panorama P6 controller. Then everything is running as core audio through my Pro Tools HD3 rig running AES out into a Dangerous Audio Source box. It’s very streamlined and straight forward. Loving the sound of it as of late.
What other artists have got your attention at the moment, and what could we expect to see on your turntable?
This is always a tough one for me. I kind of listen to old stuff always. I’m not really up on what ‘the kids’ are listening to, to be honest. I love my partner Charlie Hunter’s albums. I absolutely love Count Basie and Duke Ellington. If I would have to throw in a totally sort of unknown artist folks might wanna look up, I’d say a Japanese hip-hop artist named Samon Kawamura. He’s a very, very, creative producer. I think folks think of him as the J-Dilla of Japan. I love his work.
What are you working on at the moment, and can we expect any new album releases in the near future?
I just finished the first season of work with composer Dave Porter on ‘Better Call Saul’. That was such a joy to play bass and guitar on his score, and see the whole process unfold.
Marcus Miller’s new album ‘Afrodeezia’ features a song I co-wrote with him called ‘I Can’t Breathe’. It should be available around the world on March 18th on Blue Note Records. I play bass, keys, and program drums on that one.
I’m currently working on a project for Disney that is really fun and lots of folks will hear that music. I can’t go into detail at the moment…
I just finished a big band thing for an animation film for Sony. I’m also not allowed to mention the name of! Lots of NDAs in Los Angeles my friends (non-disclosure agreements).
Happy to say I will be scoring a documentary about the controversial virtual currency Bitcoin in the next few months. This coming summer, I will be making a duet record with Charlie Hunter which should be really funky…I can’t really think of much else. I’m doing stuff, lots of stuff!
Oh, and I’ve almost finished a new Mocean Worker album, how on earth could I forget to mention that?
What is next on the horizon for Adam Dorn, and what would you like to be focusing on, going forward?
Didn’t I just answer that or do you mean right this moment? I was gonna go eat some salad and maybe have some ice cream afterward but not before doing some exercise. Don’t forget to get some exercise, kids!
I would like to thank Adam for taking the time to talk to us. It was a real pleasure. And, if you’ve got this far and are still wondering, it’s pronounced ‘Motion Worker’.
If this whets your appetite for more, you can keep up to date with all things Adam Dorn via:
- Mocean WorkerOn Spotify
- Bands In Town
- Mocean Worker Soundcloud page
- Compared To What Podcast
- A recent appearance on Your Reason to stay inside.