As a generation-defining artist that reshapes our perception of what dance music can be, Sander van Doorn is without a doubt one of the world’s most essential, influential and popular DJ/Producers in dance music today.
We caught up with Sander van Doorn at ADE 2016 and spoke to him about his new studio session series, producing music as diversely as possible, and his plans for Doorn Records. Hope you enjoy our chat!
Akshay – You’ve been coming to ADE for a while now, and I’m sure that the activities that you continuously keep on looking forward to everytime you come here, change. So, what are some of the activities you are looking forward to during this year’s edition?
Sander van Doorn – One of the favourite activities I was looking for this time around, I had the chance to do it last Monday. It was a livestream from my new place over in Amsterdam and it received a great response.
Akshay – You recently started a new studio session series online. What prompted you to take this up?
Sander van Doorn – I did a whole series of studio sessions like 6 or 7 years ago. It was basically to explain to people what it was like to produce a track, give a few tips here and there. The response on those was really good and people kept asking me for a new studio session. So I decided to do a new studio session with new equipment and new tips to give. So we created a new series about how to produce melodies, do the bassline, mastering tracks, arranging tracks, just some general tips. The response was amazing! It is very difficult for upcoming producers to learn how to begin the journey of producing a track, so every tip that they receive is greatly welcomed.
Akshay – Talking about upcoming producers. For the ones that are visiting ADE for the first time, what should their ideal plan of action be?
Sander van Doorn – Definitely go to conferences, go to a lot of panels, since that’s where the artists are. You can go personally, give your demo, ask for advice, etc. That’s also what makes ADE great. It’s very useful for a producer to build a big network.
Akshay – You’ve been releasing a lot of quality music over the years. Do you focus on building a brand of a particular kind of music or do you produce anything that depends on your mood and inspiration?
Sander van Doorn – Yeah, definitely. I like to challenge myself in the studio. The way of doing that for me is by producing as diversely as possible. Some tracks can be a bit more house-ish, others can be a little bit more melodic or deeper or a little more up-tempo. For me it is about the mood I am in. You are in the studio and think “What do I feel like producing today?”, but for me it is also about being as diverse as possible.
Akshay – You had a brilliant 2016. If you had to mention one of the highlights of this year what would it be?
Sander van Doorn – Definitely one of the highlights would be the remix I did for Moby’s “Natural Blue”. He asked me to do an official remix. I have always been a big fan of Moby and also the track – “Natural Blue”, obviously. So, you know, trying to keep the brilliance of the original and add some more melody to it. For me, that was really the highlight of the year.
Akshay – What plans do you have for your record label, Doorn Records in 2017?
Sander van Doorn – In 2017, I’m really looking for artists that can produce meaningful music, put a bit of feel to the tracks.
Akshay – You have collaborated with a lot of artists, but is there any particular artist you would like to collaborate with in the near future?
Sander van Doorn – Definitely Moby. Yeah, doing this remix really opened my eyes, since I think he’s one of the musical geniuses of the last 20 years. Producing a track with him would work really well. He’s still up with his game, so fingers crossed.
You can check out Sander’s studio session series right here!
Connect with Sander van Doorn.
Header image by Linda van den Broek.
