Inside Ummet Ozcan's Jan Morel studio: "I was just flabbergasted"

In DJ circles, it’s a very small world, which is something Dutch-Turkish DJ and record producer Ummet Ozcan learnt as soon as he gained some notoriety. Based in tranquil Putten in The Netherlands, Ozcan speaks to Headliner from his futuristic Jan Morel-designed Genelec home studio, where he’s been making the most of the break in his usually hectic touring schedule.

“It is a small world - I never realized that before I had my success in my career,” he admits. “I was dreaming of meeting huge DJs and huge idols like Armin van Buuren, Paul van Dyk and Tiësto, but once you're there, you realise it's a really small world. Everybody knows each other!”

Ozcan first found success in 2000 with his first release, and was quickly signed to a record label, however it failed to catch on as expected. Ozcan spent the next seven years experimenting with his sound to figure out what kind of music he wanted to make, dipping his toes in the worlds of hip hop, dance and trance.

Something clicked into place in 2007 when he started making “tribal, techno-ish” music, finding success again and selling over 1,000 vinyls. “That was back in the time when that was pretty good!” he points out.

2010 saw Ozcan move into making more melodic trance music, releasing Time Wave Zero, which instantly caught the attention of Armin van Buuren, Paul van Dyk and Tiësto and secured him a slot at huge Dutch trance event, Trance Energy.

His career has gone from strength to strength ever since, first finding his footing in techno-influenced trance music, then shifting focus towards the electronic dance music movement. Ozcan acknowledges that this switch up can be hard for fans that have stuck by him since the beginning:

“When I was making trance, I got a lot of fans that were really into my music, and then I changed to EDM and electronic music, so those fans were like, ‘no, please don't change – go back to trance!’ And that happens like all the time, so from 2013 until 2017 it was more of an EDM sound, and now I'm changing it up a little bit again. What I always say is you don't want to drive the same car for many years. Music is a creative process and I want to mix up some different styles to my music. Music has to change and evolve in a creative way.”

Ozcan is currently enjoying the quiet of Putten away from the chaos of normal touring life:

“It’s crazy normally: you visit four or five cities in a week; it's hectic and chaotic when you’re away, then I come back home and it’s quiet. It's perfect to charge yourself up again. Most people only see the upsides. One day you’ll be in Shanghai, then Bangkok, then Myanmar.

You really have to look after yourself – I stopped drinking and I stopped smoking because I just couldn't handle it anymore! And this is all with one hour, or maybe no sleep. If you do this while you're partying and drinking, it's just not doable – you will collapse!”

Ozcan started as a bedroom producer with two hi-fi speakers, then moved to an apartment where he created a studio space, although now looking back he admits that it was not really a proper studio. “I would tell my friends, ‘you have to stand in that corner if you want to feel the bass!”

This didn’t stop him creating hit records though, producing all of his biggest hits from there. When planning his new home, Ozcan decided that a dedicated home studio was needed, and having been blown away by studio designer, Jan Morel’s work, he wasted no time in contacting him.

“We really started from scratch; he’s known for his signature wide studios, but I wanted something that wasn’t like all the other studios. A couple of weeks after that, he came back and said, ‘okay, I’ve got something’. From then on, I gave him all the freedom. I told him what I like, what kind of colors and what kind of feeling I wanted, because it's like an extension of me in the studio. He did an amazing job.

“It took me maybe four months to really produce again here in the studio, because every time I stepped in, I was just flabbergasted. I was sitting here in my chair and just listening to music; I couldn't really produce because it was too good to be true! Even when Jan comes here, he’s like, 'damn man, I forgot how it was!' And then he stays here for hours,” he laughs.

When listening to his older tracks in the new studio, Ozcan noticed that he heard things that he had never picked up on before:

“It’s so pure – you can hear every detail. I listened to what I produced back in the other studio – well, what I called a studio – and I heard things that I'd never heard before. I was like, ‘was this in my track?’”

The room itself is a blazing celebration of neon, seamlessly shifting between color schemes. Sculpted acoustic panels from Artnovion adorn the walls while Morel has even recreated Ozcan’s logo on the ceiling.

Providing the listening experience is a Genelec smart active monitoring system which forms the studio’s centerpiece, comprising two 1234As installed as main monitors, accompanied by a 7382A subwoofer. Adding symmetry, what appears to be a second 7382A is in fact a customized bass trap designed around a Genelec grille. In addition, two 8351B coaxial point source monitors from The Ones range are installed on Ozcan’s desk for nearfield listening, while 1234As are also embedded in the walls.

“Jan introduced me to Genelec and he said, ‘this, from my experience is the best’. I texted Hardwell I asked him what Genelec speakers were like, and he replied right away: ‘INSANE!’

Ozcan prefers to use the smaller reference monitors for original mixes, then steps it up to the larger 1234As when he wants to make club mixes with more of an impact.

“I think Hardwell works the other way around! He's putting on the big ones all the time – really, really loud. You can definitely hear the difference, but it also depends on the producer. The good thing about these quality speakers is you don't have to put them as loud, as they sound great on a low volume as well.

“The original mix – the one that’s gonna be on the streaming platform – is focused more on streaming and listening,” he explains. “So I lower the dynamics; it has to feel nice to your ears because you have to produce and mix it in a way that you can listen to it for hours. So we keep things a little bit quieter with lighter sounds and usually the drop is a little bit different.”