Sound Advice: Joris Voorn

Join Joris Voorn on Sound Advice, the weekly interview series covering artists’ journeys and their creative process. In this episode, we discuss his new album ‘Serotonin,’ making melodic techno, using SoundCloud as an artist and label owner, and more.

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Welcome to Sound Advice, the series spotlighting artists’ creative process and their SoundCloud journey. We’ll get the inside knowledge straight from the source on how musicians, producers and creatives are leaning into everything SoundCloud offers to elevate their sound, get heard and catapult their careers. Sound Advice is now available in audio format on the SoundCloud Stories profile.

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The Netherlands has produced no shortage of superstar DJ/producers, and on this episode of Sound Advice, we have one of the country’s finest: house and techno artist Joris Voorn. 

He’s been DJing since the late 1990s, and his 2004 breakout hit “Incident” catapulted him onto global stages. Since then, he’s remixed everyone from Dua Lipa to Underworld, and recorded for a number of imprints, including Cocoon, Global Underground, fabric and his own trilogy of labels; Green, Rejected and Spectrum. Joris Voorn’s name is synonymous with emotive melodies and big chords, and you’ll find plenty of both on his latest album, ‘Serotonin,’ which just came out on Armada Music. 

We talk about the making of ‘Serotonin’ and Joris’s return to synthesizers and hands-on music production. We also hear the emotional stories behind the tracks, and the challenges of balancing musicality with dancefloor kicks. Joris also gives us some insight into his early years, and the ways that he uses SoundCloud as an artist and label owner. He also offers up some key advice for aspiring electronic musicians on standing out from the crowd.

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LISTEN TO THE AUDIO EPISODE OF SOUND ADVICE FEATURING JORIS VOORN

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LISTEN TO ‘SEROTONIN’ BY JORIS VOORN

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Things We Talked About In This Episode of Sound Advice

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The Inspirations Behind ‘Serotonin’, From Piano Melodies to Electronic Synthesizers

• We begin our conversation with Joris Voorn’s latest album, ‘Serotonin,’ which was released on Armada Music this May. The inspiration for the album came to Joris during the COVID. Out of a mix of lockdown-induced need for inspiration, he reflects on his decision to buy and work with some new synthesizers and samplers, including the Oberheim OB-6 and the Prophet Rev2. 
• Through experimenting with these machines, Joris found himself leaning into warmer, richer sounds, and harking back to a style of writing that felt very hands-on. By learning as he went, he says, he became more open-minded to the kind of electronic music that he could make going forward; an album based around melodic chord progressions rather than tough, kickdrum-led club tracks. Between the new synthesizers and piano lessons, the early drafts of ‘Serotonin’ began to take shape. 
• Much of this impetus to create piano- and synth-led music came from Joris’s upbringing. His late father, a composer and musician, would perform classical music at home on the piano, and Joris was taught to play the violin from a young age. Reflecting on his father’s influence, Joris shares that he’s found a kinship with the more tactile, improvisational way of making electronic music through piano-based writing. 
• For ‘Serotonin,’ it was all about finding a balance between the democratizing freedom of electronic music production and the emotive, universal connectivity of live, instrument-based music.

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Joris Voorn’s Early Electronic Discoveries, From Nine Inch Nails to Detroit Techno And Beyond

• When Joris Voorn first came across electronic music, he admits that he wasn’t particularly impressed. Hearing Top 40 dance-pop hits on the radio in the Netherlands, the music didn’t strike him as something he’d want to commit his life to. As he tells it, he was more of an alternative rock kid who took a “guitar-first, electronics-second” path. 
• From the grinding beats of Nine Inch Nails, he later discovered acts like Underworld and The Chemical Brothers, who in turn became his gateway to one of his great loves: Detroit techno. After he heard the funky, tough grooves coming out of the U.S. Midwest, he was sold — he bought turntables and never looked back.

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The Challenges of Translating Emotion In Electronic Music Production 

• In those early days of music-making and DJing, Joris Voorn remembers a rush of creative energy that he wanted to capture on ‘Serotonin.’ As he explains it, rather than using his refreshed collection of synthesizers and his piano work to create a more avant garde sound than his dance music fandom is used to, he focused on translating emotions through a more familiar sound palette. In doing so, he found the album to be an interesting musical challenge — and that translating universal feelings is more worthwhile to him than striving to be experimental for the sake of it. 
• Despite being known globally for his club tracks, shows and DJ mixes, Joris admits that during the making of ‘Serotonin,’ he didn’t think much about the club dancefloor at all. Rather than thinking about how he could write the album tracks to work in a DJ set or live festival performance, he went with the flow in the studio; led by instinct, musicality and what felt good to him in the moment. 
• One element that was front of mind, though, was the power of the kick drum. Perhaps the most recognizable element of techno music, a kick drum can make or break a track, says Joris. Here, he talks about how he balances the softer, warmer parts of a track with the need for drums, and how to make your drums sit in the mix in a way that feels right for you. 
• In the final stages of making an album, should you give your music to a mixing and mastering engineer, or should you work on that yourself as much as possible? It’s an age-old question for artists, and one that Joris Voorn toyed with when he was finishing ‘Serotonin.’ Here, he explains his thought process, which path he decided to go down and why.

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Lyric Writing and Collaboration on ‘Serotonin,’ And The Tender Family Connection to “Moon”

• Through Armada Music, Joris was able to connect with a wide array of vocalists and songwriters for the making of ‘Serotonin.’ Here, he talks about the making of one of his favorite tracks from the album, “Moon.” A collaboration with American songwriter Nathan Nicholson — best known for his work with the British indie rock trio The Boxer Rebellion —  “Moon” is a particularly special track for Joris because of its connection to family. 
• Joris’s father, the composer and musician who inspired young Joris’s love of classical music and piano, passed away four years ago. In the process of writing and recording “Moon,” Joris worked with Nathan on lyrical themes that, unintentionally, reflected themes of grief, longing and maintaining a spiritual connection to late loved ones. Here, Joris goes into more detail about the emotional process of “Moon,” and what it means for him to listen to and play the track now.

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Preparing For DJ Sets and Advice For New DJs

• In tandem with his music production, Joris is a decades-long DJ who’s played on some of dance music’s biggest stages. Here, he talks about the current presentation of his DJ sets, the kind of electronic music that he likes to select and what he looks for in a great house or techno track.
• Passing on wisdom and advice to younger generations of DJs, Joris also talks about the need to be aware of the full flow of a club night or festival stage. He shares integral questions to think about: Who’s playing before you, and what mood are they bringing? How will you follow that — a smooth shift, or a total shake-up? 
• For Joris, he elaborates on how it’s something of a lost art within modern DJing: playing for the setting as much as yourself, and how you can steward an atmosphere without shifting the focus too heavily onto yourself as a performer. “DJing is a grassroots education over time,” he explains. 

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How Joris Uses SoundCloud and Advice For Producers

• Time is a commodity that Joris has tapped into on SoundCloud. Having been an active user since its very early days, Joris has seen SoundCloud evolve in tandem with his growth as a DJ, producer and label owner on the platform, too. Here, Joris talks about some of his early breakthroughs on SoundCloud, how he likes to use it to connect with fans, promote his well-regarded Spectrum Radio show, share private tracks with his team and listen to private playlists of his WIP tracks on long car rides. 
• Joris also gives advice to fellow artists on the platform who are looking to stand out from the crowd and share demos with established DJs. Having used a variety of platforms over the years, Joris says he’s long-preferred using SoundCloud to get demos from new artists; that enabling downloads on tracks is essential for him as a touring artist, as it makes sourcing new music and preparing for DJ sets much easier. So artists, take note: if you want Joris to hear your demo, pitch to him on SoundCloud.
• In parting words of advice, Joris talks about finding inspiration as a producer. While writer’s block can be a very real thing, he admits, it’s important to treat music-making as a practice: flex your muscles in the studio a little every day, and stronger ideas and inspirations will build from there. “Little flames start big fires,” he says wisely.
  
  

Links and Extras 

Follow Joris Voorn’s journey on SoundCloud.
Press play on Joris Voorn’s 2025 album, ‘Serotonin.’
Follow Armada Music, who released ‘Serotonin.’
Hit play on Joris Voorn’s collaboration with Nathan Nicholson, titled “Moon.”
Go back to where it all began with Joris Voorn’s first-ever track, “Missing.”
Explore some of Joris Voorn’s wide-ranging influences, including The Chemical Brothers, Underworld, Nine Inch Nails and Underground Resistance, to name a few. 
Listen to the New Era Techno playlist on SoundCloud.
Never miss an episode and follow the official Sound Advice playlist on SoundCloud.

Getting The Most Out of SoundCloud

Learn more about using DMs to connect with fellow artists and potential collaborators.
Learn more about how to make a custom playlist on SoundCloud.
Learn more about unlimited uploads, available with an Artist Pro subscription.
Learn more unlocking access to unlimited distribution, available with Artist Pro.
Learn more about getting heard with SoundCloud’s updated algorithm, available to Artist and Artist Pro subscribers.

To discover additional features a SoundCloud Artist or Artist Pro subscription offers, visit here. To catch up on past installments of Sound Advice and make sure you don’t miss out on future episodes, visit here.

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_{CREDITS Host: Vivian Host, Executive Producer: Mike Spinella, Producer: KC Orcutt, Audio Engineer: David “DibS” Shackney, Coordinator: Trevor McGee, Editorial Associate: Lauren Martin}

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