Joris Voorn gets closer to the edit

Joris Voorn gets closer to the edit

6 March, 2009 | 3.13PM

• Written by: Ryan Keeling
• Filed under: Music News: balance

Since his 2004 breakthrough, Joris Voorn has rapildy gained a footing among the highest ranking names in the field of techno. A combination of intense live shows, fluid DJ sets and acclaimed productions have marked him out as a headliner to be globally reckoned with.

Although Voorn’s original productions have been placed on the back burner for much of the last 12 months, his remixes for Kevin Saunderson, Robert Babicz and Sebo K have kept the fire of his force burning bright.

With the release of his intruging new Balance 014 mix, in which Voorn tossed 102 tracks into the sonic melting-pot, we decided to grab a chat with the Dutch producer, uncovering the method behind the edits, his thoughts on the state of the scene, and why Dubfire impersonators are muddying the market…

How has the promotion been for the CD?

It’s going very well, actually. A lot of good responses, so I’m pretty happy about that because there was a lot of work involved. I’m glad that a lot of people have been picking it up in the right way.

Australia was a very nice place to start, with Balance being an Australian label. People were very much up for the music and Japan was crazy as always.

Singapore was very nice, as was Hong Kong. If it keeps going like this, I will be more than happy.

Are there any countries you particularly enjoy playing?

I enjoy your country – I guess you’re from the UK right?

Yes, from the UK and live in Berlin.

Maybe in the last year or the year and half I’ve been playing there quite a lot and it’s been really nice. Before that I actually wasn’t booked there that much but it seems to have recently kicked off and people are very much into the music. It’s a really great place to play. They know their music, they’re open to different things and they will respond very well.

You mainly play Fabric don’t you?

Yes, I’m playing in fact this weekend.

Are you playing a DJ or live set?

It’s a DJ set. Basically all of the tour I’m going to play DJ sets as it’s a DJ mix kind of project. It just makes more sense. Also I really need to rework my live set because I’ve been playing the same set for quite a while and I think it’s time for me to change.

So it will depend on you producing new material?

I think so yeah. How it usually works is when I have new material I will incorporate it into my live set and see how the crowd reacts to it.

I actually have two live gigs coming up soon - one at Timewarp - so I will have to do a lot of work for that. I will look forward to it because I have been DJing a lot which is great but playing live is very nice too.

Will you have some new tracks ready for Timewarp do you think?

I think so yeah. Some tracks, some remixes. I’m quite busy in the studio nowadays.

Moving on to talk about your Balance mix. What was the thinking behind building the mix in the way you did?

It was quite an organic process actually. I just started off unbiased with an open mind and without any concept of sound or what I wanted to do.

I fiddled around with different tracks here and there, and tried to put them together to see what fit where, and made more of a conventional DJ set out of it.

I came to the conclusion after listening in the car and other places it that it was quite dull - maybe because of the music I selected.

Had you put together an entire mix at this stage?

Yes, I was working on it like that, and in the end I wasn’t too happy with it so I went back into my studio to rethink the process.

I started re-editing some of the tracks that I originally used and tried to create more tension between the tracks. Eventually I became more excited by doing that and got myself deeper and deeper into the edit and found a lot of possibilities by combining samples and loops and really making my own music from them.

So you were really just going with what felt right at the time?

Absolutely.

Do you feel subconsciously you had a desire to do something that was removed from the usual DJ mix approach to stand yourself out from the crowd?

I’m not sure if I thought that. I really wanted to do something that I would like myself; I usually don’t listen to mix CDs or techno music anyway so when I’m doing a CD project I’m really trying to do something that is interesting for myself. That’s basically the criteria I used for it myself as well. I didn’t necessarily want to do something different, it just happened to turn out the way it did. The project was living it’s own life and grew organically.

Could you talk us through the technical process behind the mix? It seems like it must have been a big organizational task.

I was planning to do the mix in Ableton anyway. I was trying to see what I could put together from what I was playing already. I have a bit of a DJ set-up in the studio so when I found something I would put it into the Abelton window and do the mixing in there. Sometimes I would just play a loop and use the same loop in Ableton. I had about 7 or 8 channels that I could use at the same time. It was really just a lot of trial and error to see what would fit together.

Was it a case of stripping the tracks into parts and ‘jamming’ with them?

Definitely. That was the case for a lot of the edits that I did. I was taking things to a sample level or a looped bar level, so breaking a track down and then building it back up in my own way.

At the same time I was using whole tracks also. It was a case of whatever was needed to stick the mix together.

How long did it take you to put together?

I think I started in May or June last year and it was finished in October so 4 or 5 months altogether. That wasn’t really working on it 24/7. I would do other things, come back to the mix and listen to it. I really wanted to take my time and make sure I was 100% happy with the mix itself and making sure it would flow from the beginning to the end. There were a lot of parts that after having worked on it for a week I decided to throw them away as they just didn’t work.

Do you feel that when you put together a mix in this way the original message of the tracks could be lost?

That is true but I don’t necessarily think that it is a bad thing. Maybe if every single DJ would start to play in this way it could become a bit annoying, but there is hardly anyone who does it like this and I think most of the artists do not have a problem that I used their material in this way to create something new.

I think in a lot of cases these days it’s not so interesting to have tracks playing from beginning to end. Up to 80% of the tracks I buy I think of as tools. There is hardly anything happening in the whole arrangement – maybe a little bit of filtering here and there but that’s about it.

Do you view records more as tools as opposed to complete pieces of music?

In a way, yes. The whole minimal scene of a few years ago set the whole mind frame where you just play a part of the track, which is true of a lot of music nowadays. I like to combine things when I’m DJing.

The groove based tracks might work well on the dancefloor but if you’re making a mix CD that still has to sound fresh five years from now, you just can’t play out these types of tracks from beginning to end.

That’s what I was initially doing with the mix and became very quickly bored with it.

Is this approach reflected in the way you are DJing right now?

Kind of. Since I started using Traktor about a year ago I got very much into looping things and using something as a basis for other things and to really create something new in real time.

Do you think it’s important to embrace the technological advances in the DJ market?

I do embrace it, but I don’t think it should be at the core of your attention. It’s a means to deliver something and I think you shouldn’t use it just for the sake of the technology but to get something that is more interesting than just playing vinyl.

It really comes back to the type of music I play these days, it just works a lot better with Traktor by looping things and adding effects. I’m a lot happier with this way of playing and I think my DJ sets are a lot better for it as well.

Who or what is musically exciting you at the moment?

I think we’re in quite a difficult time. If you look at the last few years I think we’re in a very post-minimal era right now where everybody is really bored of the simple, stripped-down 808 sounds and people want more funk in their music so people are making more house music.

There are a lot of dub-style house music tracks that in the ‘90s you would find on a B side as the dub version on 12”s. Nowadays they are the full A side; there is not much happening in the music besides a very funky groove.

I actually play a lot of this stuff but it’s kind of boring sometimes, as no one makes a real effort to make a whole track.

Are there any standout producers that are really doing it for you at the moment?

Henrik Schwarz really makes some standout tracks; mostly remixes I have to say. The tracks are really deep and really melodic sometimes but are still very driving for the dancefloor. You can really mix his stuff nicely with other tracks as well in a way that you can bring a very special musical element to another groove.

I’ve been a Minilogue fan for the last few years. Everytime their tracks maintain the quality of the last release so I think they are really on top of their game.

Do you find yourself craving melody these days? In my mind you’ve always been a guy who centered his music firmly around melodies.

I think so, in some way. They don’t have to be big pads or really dramatic things but it would be great if tracks were a bit more recognizable. That’s my main problem nowadays is that when I’m buying my music or listening to promos it sounds like the same beat after another which makes it difficult to decide which one you are going to buy and which one you are going to play and also to remember which one you like.

Music doesn’t have to be very melodic or dreamy or whatever, but something that stands out more than just a groove. It has to be something more than just a noise though. Everyone is making this noise that is pitching up and looping, there are a lot of rave alarms.

Too much white noise as well.

Yeah, and the white noise.

And how healthy do you feel house and techno are these days?

I think it’s pretty healthy but I think a lot of people are making music not necessarily to make good records but just to get noticed and to start their DJ career, which is leading to a lot of similar things.

Like people listen to a Dubfire track and think, “Oh that’s cool,” then they actually try copying it without really bringing in something of their own.

I think this is a problem nowadays. Artists are coming up very quickly and replacing other artists so it really is a weird time right now.

What do you think it would take for someone to really stand out at the moment?

Simply to do something different.

Would it be wildly removed from what’s going on now do you feel?

I think that would be great yeah. Either that or you have to make something that is ‘right on the spot’ – something that is similar but just better than everything else. There is a lot of average music right now I think.

Do you remember the last time you were truly surprised by a record?

That’s a good one. It’s difficult. It’s been a while I have to say. Maybe the last time was Jimpster maybe two years ago when he was at the peak of his great tracks.

It was something that was melodic but still very danceable, very fresh and very happy. So yeah I’m kind of waiting…

I don’t think it has to be something totally different. Even in the 4/4 style you can still do new things.

Do you have plans to release much original material this year? It seemed to be something of a remix year for you in 2008?

It was and the danger is that this year is going to be the same because everybody is asking for remixes – and there are some nice things out there – but they take up a lot of time. I actually really do need to focus on my own music.

I do have a few things coming up; mostly remixes but a few of my own tracks as well. I’m going to do a new EP series called ‘Dusty House’ which is kind of the in the same vibe that is going on right now with all the housey tracks.

It’s reminiscent of the ‘90s in a driving DJ tool style that I’m working on at the moment and testing out on the dancefloor.

I’m also working on some deeper and melodic tracks but it’s difficult to really get focused on that at the moment.

Will these be coming out under your own name?

Yes. The ‘Dusty House EP’ is coming out under my own name, they’re going to be on Rejected.

What are the plans for the label this year?

I think Rejected as a production team is kind of stepping back a little bit. I’m starting to focus a bit more on my own things because I think that’s very important, too.

There are going to be a lot of good releases on the Rejected label, I think. We have a new Pitto track coming out soon called ‘Feeling’ which is quite a big hit in the promo area. Karotte is hammering it at the moment and I think even guys like Pete Tong are playing it.

Do you have much of the tour left?

Yeah I think all of my dates from the start of February until early summer are Balance gigs. I’m going to South and North America and then around Europe so lots more hard work!

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