After sorting through over 600 submissions from producers all over the world, Beatport and Absolut have selected a winner for the “President House” remix challenge.

The track used for the remix contest — Roland Clark and Urban Soul’s “President House” — is one of house music’s most beloved dance floor anthems. Hailing from Zurich, Switzerland, the winning remixer, Joos, brought a new level of funk, drive, and radiance to this timeless tune.

The challenge was part of Beatport and Absolut’s New Years Eve Livestream celebration — a 20-plus hour online party that hit more than 15 time zones with DJs in cities worldwide. In addition to winning over $5000 in prizes and an official release on King Street Sounds, Joos’ remix received a global debut from the one and only Carl Cox during the stream. Check out the video of Coxy dropping the track below!

We’re offering a 48-hour window to download the Joos remix of “President House” for free, which will later be available for purchase via the King Street Sounds label on Beatport. 

Listen to the track and grab your free radio edit of “President House (Joos Remix).”

Get to know our winner in our interview below.  

Congratulations on winning the contest! How do you feel about winning the competition and what was it like hearing your track played out by Carl Cox during the NYE livestream?

Thank you! Well, it’s still kind of surreal, actually. I mean, a few days ago, I was only producing for my own set of ears, and next, the man himself, Carl Cox, is playing my tune in his New Year set! I’m so happy at the moment! 

How did you first start producing music?

My music journey began in 2007 when I was 14, and a friend of mine showed me FL Studio. Before that, I was mainly messing with Loops in Magix Music Maker. FL Studio was love at first sight because it made making a tune so intuitive. I recently got my hands on Ableton, but I’ll still do most of the stuff like arranging and mixing in FL Studio. 

Before Joos, I was part of another project, focusing on melodic techno and house, which had a more melancholic and darker touch. With Joos, I wanted to go in the opposite direction, creating uplifting tech house and house music. 

What is it about the track “President House” that first captured your imagination? 

The original is a masterpiece. It’s a journey guided by those powerful and pure vocals we all understand and rely on when listening to house music. It has this driven and surreal feeling and took me right back to the day I first heard house music.

I first got in touch with house music when I played Smugglers Run 2 on PS2 when I was about 14 years old, which featured lots of tunes from Kevin Saunderson. My musical background at that point was mainly trance and early hardstyle. I was blown away by this different sound. I had never heard such soulful, powerful, and yet mystical sounds before. 

How did you approach the remix’s production process? 

I didn’t want to copy the original because I knew I’d never top that mystical atmosphere. I wanted to create a remix that a DJ can play in modern tech house sets while still centering around the vocals and their meaning. And, of course, I wanted to make people dance. 

I created all sounds in the box for the remix using Arturia Plugins like Piano V2, Pigments, and DX7. I usually tend to use an analog emulation of the Minimoog or my Moog Sub37 for basslines. Still, for the remix, I chose the DX7 because with its FM-synthesis, you can get this typical bass sound you can hear on many tunes nowadays. For the kick, I first went through Splice to find a fitting one-shot sample, but after a couple of minutes, I gave up and created my own using FL Studios Bassdrum synthesizer. I made the stabs in a jam session some weeks ago. I’ve saved them but didn’t know where to use them until making this remix. The stabs consist of two layers made with Piano V2 and Pigments. 

Following the release of your track on King Street Sounds, what can we expect to hear from you next, and what are your hopes for 2021?

Right now, I’m quite busy with other projects like MAMO where I focus on melodic techno and house, from which you can expect some new releases soon. With Joos, I want to rework the tunes that I’ve already uploaded on SoundCloud because I’m still not satisfied with the mixdown. Also, I’m currently busy with another Joos remix for Glamour Hammer, for whom I already remixed his release “Stay With Me.”

My hopes for 2021 are that we can go back to normal. Going out and seeing people without thinking of the pandemic. Even though my skills improved a lot during the lockdowns, I definitely want to go out again! 

Connect with Joos on Instagram.