Sebastian Arocha Morton

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Sebastian Arocha Morton
(Sebastian Morton)
Background information
BornUnited States
Genres
Occupation(s)
  • Producer
  • composer
  • songwriter
Years active2000s–present
Labels
Websitewww.rocasound.com

Sebastian Arocha Morton is a Grammy-nominated American record producer and composer based in Los Angeles, California. Throughout his career as a record producer and songwriter, Morton has worked with many notable artists, including Seal, Sting, Santana, Donna Summer,[1] Fischerspooner, Vikter Duplaix, Common, and Mary J. Blige. Morton was also a composer and producer for the films Little Miss Sunshine, Iron Man 2, Houdini,[2] RoboCop, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, League of Gods, Mr. Robot, and Young Sheldon.

Morton composes and fuses a wide variety of musical genres, ranging from dance to hip hop, soul and ambient, among various other genres.[3] His approach to film scoring bridges the worlds of modern electronic production and more traditional melodic orchestral composing.[4]

Education and career[edit]

Morton at the ROCAsound studio in 2019

Morton graduated from the Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he studied film scoring and production/engineering.[5][6] Afterwards, he moved to Los Angeles, California to pursue a career in the film and music industries as a staff writer for Universal Music.[7]

Morton then began producing electronic music in the early 2000s under the artist name ROCAsound. After several Billboard #1 singles and platinum albums, he started his own production company and opened a recording facility under the same name.[8] As ROCAsound, he has remixed and produced tracks for the soundtrack to Iron Man 2, as well as songs and remixes for Donna Summer,[9] Sting, Chaka Khan, Seal, The Dandy Warhols, Counting Crows, Jody Watley, The Killers, Kaskade, Ricky Martin, Yuridia, and Fischerspooner, among various other artists.[5][3]

After much success as ROCAsound, Morton discovered and signed Billboard #1 electronic artist Samantha James,[10][11][12] and went on to write and produce the albums Subconscious and Rise for San Francisco label OM Records.[13][14] Morton later worked on Donna Summer's final studio album Crayons, where he was credited among producers such as Greg Kurstin and J.R. Rotem.[15][16][17] The first single for that record, "I'm a Fire" (produced and co-written by Morton), went to #1 on the charts and set a record for her as the only female artist in history with a #1 Billboard dance hit in every decade since the 1970s. Also, as a songwriter, Morton has worked closely with hit writers Claudia Brant[18] and Bruce Sudano.[19]

Other collaborations include:[3]

Discography[edit]

Filmography[edit]

Year Title Director(s) Notes
1999 Los Beltrán Mike Milligan Composer
2000 Los Beltrán (Season 2) Carlos Bermudez Theme Song
2001 The Score Frank Oz Song: “The Hacker”
La Segunda Noche Alejandro Gamboa Executive Music Producer
2002 Boomtown Graham Yost With W.G. Snuffy Walden
Anna's Dream Colin Bickley Songwriter
2003 Elysium Jae-Woong Kwon Composer
Knock First David Collins Composer
Miss Match Darren Star Music Producer, Songwriter
2005 Americano Kevin Noland Composer
Cold Case Jerry Bruckheimer Music Programmer, Sound Designer
Queer Eye for the Straight Girl David Collins Composer
2006 Dr. Dolittle 3 Rich Thorne Musical Director, Producer
Windfall Laurie McCarthy Main Theme Composer
What About Brian Dana Stevens Music Programmer, Sound Designer
Peaceful Warrior Victor Salva Additional Music with composer Bennett Salvay
Little Miss Sunshine Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris Music Producer, Remixer
Queer Eye for the Straight Guy David Collins Composer
Starting Over Alex Miltsch Guest Music Producer
2007 The Air I Breathe Jieho Lee with composer Marcelo Zarvos
The Unit David Mamet Score Producer
CSI: New York Ann Donahue Electronic Music Producer
2008 What Just Happened Barry Levinson with composer Marcelo Zarvos
CSI: Miami Carol Mendelsohn Source Music
Life with Derek Daphne Ballon Songwriter
Shark Ian Biederman Songwriter
2010 Iron Man 2 Jon Favreau Electronic Music Programmer, Sound Designer
Terriers Ted Griffin with Robert Duncan
The Cutting Edge: Fire and Ice Stephen Herek Music Programmer, Sound Designer
2011 Carjacked John Bonito with Bennett Salvay
Disney World of Color Disney Parks with John Debney
2012 Bachelorette Leslye Headland Music Producer
Alex Cross Rob Cohen with John Debney
Mario Frangoulis: Live with the Boston Pops Matt Askem Composer: “Rojo Violento”
Cybergeddon Anthony E. Zuiker Music Programmer, Sound Designer
Fringe J. J. Abrams Song: “Angel Love”
2013 King John Ted Wass Composer
2014 RoboCop Jose Padilha with Pedro Bromfman
Draft Day Ivan Reitman with John Debney
Houdini Uli Edel Composer
Matador Jay Beattie Soundtrack Producer
Partners Robert Horn Music Programmer
The After Chris Carter Composer
2015 The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water Paul Tibbitt with John Debney
Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero Sam Levine Music Remixer
American Odyssey Nora Kay Foster Composer
Minions: Paradise Miriam Wilson Video Game
2016 League of Gods Koan Hui Co-Composer with John Debney, Soundtrack Producer
Fuller House Jeff Franklin Electronic Music Producer
Game of Silence David Hudgins Composer
Mr. Robot Sam Esmail with Bennet Salvay
The Grand Tour Phil Churchward Composer
2017 Deep Julio Soto Gurpide Music Producer
Young Sheldon Chuck Lorre Composer, Additional Music
Linda from HR Jeff Barbanell Composer
2018 Augie James Keach Composer
Evidence of Innocence Robert Ivkovic Composer
Reasonable Doubt Rob Rosen Songwriter
The Orville (Season 1) Seth MacFarlane Music Producer, Additional Music
2019 The Orville (Season 2) Seth MacFarlane Music Producer, Additional Music
Madden NFL 19 Mike Young with John Debney
Marvel Land: Summer of Superheroes Disney Imagineering Music Producer, Additional Music

Selected awards[edit]

Some of Morton's Grammy Award nominations include:

  • 2006 Grammy nominee: Little Miss Sunshine (Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media)
  • 2007 Grammy nominee (with Vikter Duplaix): "Make A Baby" (Best Urban/Alternative Category)[23]

Billboard #1 Singles and Albums include:

References[edit]

  1. ^ "ROCAsound". Soul Interviews. August 26, 2013. Retrieved 2019-10-15.
  2. ^ Con, Eduardo (17 August 2014). "Houdini Volume 1 & 2, Detalles". Asturscore. Retrieved 2019-10-15.
  3. ^ a b c "Sebastian Arocha Morton: Composer, Producer, Remixer". Retrieved 2019-10-15.
  4. ^ Rychner, Lorenz (May 2009). "Sebastian Arocha Morton: From songwriter to producer to remixer" (PDF). Recording Magazine. Retrieved 2019-10-15.
  5. ^ a b "Sebastian Arocha Morton". Sequential. Retrieved 2019-10-15.
  6. ^ Kaiser, Uli. "Sebastian Arocha Morton". IMDb. Retrieved 2019-10-15.
  7. ^ "Roca steady" (PDF). Audiopro International Magazine. June 2010. Retrieved 2019-10-15.
  8. ^ "Press". ROCAsound. Retrieved 2019-10-15.
  9. ^ "The Queen Is Back" (PDF). Club World Magazine. 2008. Retrieved 2019-10-15.
  10. ^ Matthew, Terry (January 13, 2011). "Samantha James: The 5 Magazine Interview". 5Mag. Chicago. Retrieved 2019-10-15.
  11. ^ "Dance-PopDivas" (PDF). Billboard Magazine. August 2007. Retrieved 2019-10-15.
  12. ^ Rychner, Lorenz (March 2011). "An Interview with Sebastian Arocha Morton" (PDF). Recording Magazine. Retrieved 2019-10-15.
  13. ^ "Interview with Samantha James" (PDF). About.com. October 2007. Retrieved 2019-10-15.
  14. ^ Guerrero, Ivan (August 18, 2010). "Get 'Subconscious' with Samantha James". Male Model Music Project. Retrieved 2019-10-15.
  15. ^ Wilkane, Christian John (14 July 2008). "Donna Summer: Crayons". Pop Matters. Retrieved 2019-10-15.
  16. ^ "Exciting News! Donna's final studio album, 'CRAYONS', is to be reissued by Driven By The Music/Crimson". The Donna Summer fan club. April 1, 2016. Retrieved 2019-10-15.
  17. ^ Slomowicz, Ron (April 28, 2019). "Top Dance Songs of 2009". LiveAbout. Retrieved 2019-10-15.
  18. ^ "Latin Songwriters Hall of Fame: Claudia Brant". d.baron. Retrieved 2019-10-15.
  19. ^ Wikane, Christian John (28 Sep 2010). "Sudano 360: An Interview with Bruce Sudano". Pop Matters. Retrieved 2019-10-15.
  20. ^ "Pushing Audio to the Extreme". Pro Sound News. June 2007. Retrieved 2019-10-15.
  21. ^ a b Schweiger, Daniel (February 4, 2015). "Interview with John Debney". Film Music Magazine. Retrieved 2019-10-15.
  22. ^ a b "104 original songs in 2012 OSCAR race". Hollywood News. Dec 10, 2012. Retrieved 2019-10-15.
  23. ^ "National GRAMMY Career Day". Grammy Awards. Dec 2, 2014. Retrieved 2019-10-15.
  24. ^ "The Singer and The Song: Going for the Perfect Match" (PDF). Recording Magazine (NAMM Edition 2012). 2012. Retrieved 2019-10-15.

External links[edit]