A DJ and producer since the early-‘90’s, UMEK’s style has ranged from brutal, alternative electronic sounds (“Ricochet Effect,” “Another Matter Entirely,” “Utopia”) to proper club anthems (“Posing As Me,” “Carbon Occasions”), with a nod to the multitudes of techno in between. With support from fellow global DJ/producers Richie Hawtin, Sven Vath, Carl Cox, Sander Kleinenberg and others who play UMEK’s tunes in their live sets, 1605 has become a go-to label for star DJs in search of excellence.

In the studio, UMEK is not a sentimental producer. He said, “I used to have 40 analog synths and every compressor you can imagine. I was doing music with Atari Cubase and such, but I’m totally digital now. I’m using really cool Apogee soundcards and a super powerful Mac computer. That’s everything I need.” As a DJ, UMEK uses two Apple Macbook Pros to run Traktor Scratch, Ableton Live, Reaktor and a host of other VSP plugins, an Allen & Heath Xone:92 mixer, three Faderfox MIDI controllers, and a Korg KP3 Kaoss pad.

UMEK can be found playing the biggest festivals, including Creamfields and Dance Valley, and he makes dancefloors quake throughout Holland, Germany, the Balkans, Bulgaria, Italy, Canada and the U.S. Each week, UMEK’s 1605 Radio show can be heard on: Proton Radio (Canada), Danceradio (Greece), Pacha Radio (Spain), After Hour Radio (Peru), Danceparadise (Brazil), In The Mix (Australia), Samurai FM (London and Japan), Radio Real (Hungary), and Miami Underground Movement (U.S.) Club dates in New York, Texas and of course WMC!

The godfather of Slovianian Techno talks to Nightlyfe about his experiences in Miami and Winter Music Conference.

1. What have been your Miami and Winter Music Conference experiences been like?

I’ve been to WMC at least five times in the last decade, sometimes only as a visitor on vacations with my friends and I’ve also performed at some parties a couple of times. Until recently I wasn’t really keen on performing in the USA, partially because I don’t like flying and also because of the scene as techno is still very underground genre, especially in the States. But after the recent USA tour (last December) I admit much has changed: the electronic dance scene is the States is growing fast right now, the people are more musically educated in this direction and the whole pop and urban music scene is shifting to more dance oriented sound for the last two years. Techno is still very underground genre in comparison to house or trance but I’ve had amazing times playing in Miami and San Francisco, while New York wasn’t so good, but still decent. Space is still my favorite club in the USA. I was performing at the WMC few years ago and it was the best gig on recent tour, so I can’t wait to be back at Space in Miami and the rest of the USA.

2. What are you looking forward to the most for Winter Music Conference 2010?

WMC is still the place to meet people from the industry in a very relaxed environment. In the recent years these kind of networking events are popping out all around the world. Especially Amsterdam Dance Event has become very important for doing business, but it’s more releases and producers oriented. On the other hand WMC is still focused mainly on deejays and partying. And the fact that is scheduled in the early spring helps attracting Europeans who want to escape the cold weather, I guess. It’s kind of a Spring Break for deejays :). Everything is very relaxed. I like to go there occasionally to do some meetings, greet my colleague deejays, especially the ones from States, have a few drinks and a good meal, suntan at the pool and enjoy some nightlife. I always manage to do some work but I don’t over do it. :)

3. What are your favorite things about Winter Music Conference?

I actually enjoy Miami much more when there’s no WMC. In the time of the WMC everything can be a bit too hectic for me, especially if I have to do some meetings and have to shift locations all the time. So I rather come to Miami with my friends for the vacations. The food is good, I like the beaches, shopping’s great and the nightlife is very diverse. All in all, everything’s in the palm of your hand, you just have to decide how would you like to spend time.

4. With your busy schedule, where do you find the time and inspiration to write music?

I’m in my studio in my hometown Ljubljana, putting final touches on The Unity’s Purple Pills remix. I never have creativity blocks as I have a constant overflow of ideas, and I am quite hyper productive when it comes to working in the studio. I live healthy life with quite a strict schedule, which allows me to regenerate quickly after the weekend. I go to bed on early Sunday and wake up fresh the next morning and I spend most of the week in the studio. I still enjoy producing music very much and, frankly, I can’t imagine doing any other job and having so much fun.

5. I’ve listened to the new album, love it…pure unadulterated techno. What projects are you working on for 2010?

Well, thank you. I’m glad you like it, although it’s a bit dark. I’ve released the second single from my forthcoming second artist album Responding to Dynamics on my label 1605, Sixteenofive, titled “Individual Breath,” just a couple of days ago. Another fresh release is the remix of Thomas Gold’s new track “The Button” on UK label Toolroom Trax. I have few other artists scheduled ‘till the end of April, still have to do some remixes and we’re in the middle of negotiation for the releases on two influential labels. I’m also putting together the remixed version of my artist album right now, with contributions from the hot producers such as Spektre, Christian Smith, Koen Groenewald, Kaiserdisco and Joey Beltram.

6. Is there anyone that you have not yet worked with, that you would like to collaborate with in the future?

I don’t put much thinking in that, as I don’t even manage to put all my best ideas into the music – that’s because of that overflow I was mentioning before. I’ve created a distinctive fingerprint sound that I’m refreshing and taking further all the time and that is my main preoccupation. I’m always open to collaborations – but they have to happen naturally. I usually find more challenge in doing something together with young than big name artists. Those guys can be totally unknown to the scene but if their output and fresh ideas catch my attention, I support them by playing their tracks, remixing their tracks or signing them to my label. One collaboration that is developing really well is co-producing music with young Slovenian trance and house artist Beltek. We did the track Army of Two for Armada last year that really exposed him to the trance audience. He topped that with some of his own remixes and artist releases on strong labels, and this year we might again do something together.

7. Coming from someone that has been through the hoops, what advice do you have for any up-and-coming producers?

Working hard usually brings results. I consider myself a talented deejay and I become a good one quite fast and without much effort. On the other hand, it wasn’t so easy for me to conquer the scene as a producer. I didn’t learn to play any instrument as a child. I basically learned everything about producing music on my own, with a help of some guys that are really good producers and sound engineers. I did all the mistakes and I’ve learned from them. So I believe that with strong determination a hard work most of the deejays can learn to produce music. If that doesn’t happen in five years, it’s better to abandon the thought of becoming a music professional and focus on developing your other talents.

The other very important thing you should be taking a lot of care is  your ears. Invest in some quality ear-plugs and wear them always when you are in the club as a performer or a part of the audience.

Regular exercising, healthy living and balanced diet without alcohol, drugs and tobacco will help you stay fit and focused, especially when you have a lot of gigs one after another and have to do the traveling in between them.

8. What’s playing in Umek’s iPod besides techno?

One thing that I really enjoy lately in my personal time is quiet. I’m working with music all the time, as a deejay during the weekends and in studio four to five times a week for most of the day, so I really started to cherish the quit moments. Though I like to turn my iPod on when I exercise. I plug in some radio station with a bit of talking program and mainstream music and this takes my mind off as a background soundtrack.

9. Where do you see the future of techno? Do you ever think that it will reach the masses like trance has?

Music is a constantly developing thing and the taste of key media and the audience is shifting all the time. I’m not sure what will be dominating the electronic dance genre in ten or fifteen years, but I doubt it that it will be techno. Minimal has some mass appeal: the pace of techno music became slower in recent years, and girls started to dance to this music. And that’s always a good sign that the music has a mainstream appeal. Music can be strong, dark, hard, mental … but it will still attract the audience, as long as it’s not too fast. Most of the people do not like to dance too fast and I personally find dancing moves at a bit slower pace much more sexy. And girls like to show their sexiest moves on the dance floor.

10.  A lot of people say techno will always be underground and that’s the way it should be. What do you think?

I agree on that techno will always stay more underground than house or trance. That’s the consequence of the basic blueprint print of techno as a bit darker, alternative, abstract music that is not so radio friendly. I think we were lucky that techno never reached the media appeal of some other electronic dance genres. Some techno festivals can be really huge, especially in Europe, but this is still an underground thing. The mentality of artists and crowd is a bit special. I don’t really think that techno has a mainstream media appeal that could grow really big. And for me that’s good, as everything that grows big and fast also tends to fall deep and with the same or even bigger speed. Techno has its own superstars but continues to be underground because leaders of the genre find it better that way.

For example: Richie Hawtin and Sven Vaeth never do big campaigns for Top 100 DJs voting but they are always placed high. I’m sure that at least one of them could easily enter the Top 10 in the last two or three years that they were really dominating the techno scene, with some decent campaign. But they would not do that, as they are aware this could have huge and unpredictable effects on the scene. Because once you are in the Top 10, the big industry notices you and major labels start knocking on your door. And this is not always a good thing for the scene development. But regardless of their positions on DJ charts and branding, Sven and Richie are considered two main figures on the techno scene and the underground electronic music although they are true pop culture icons and you can read stories about them in mainstream media at the same time. This is that special something that keeps techno in the underground and makes it different, especially from trance, where everything is much more branded and mass orriented.

Is there anything else you want to mention?

I will be playing Ultra Music Festival in as Carl Cox’s guest in his arena along Green Velvet, Timo Maas, Luciano and of course the Carl. And I will be playing Bullit Party as well. See you in Miami!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhpgYuKX_-Y&feature=related