About
Hi! I’m Omar Bicane.
Welcome to my website. I am a musician, producer and engineer. I am into mixing and mastering records, DJing, making music and remixing. Although I love many different genres, my passion for synthesisers meant I have always gravitated towards electronic music. Probably because there was an explosion of synthesiser-influenced music as I grew up in the 1990s. Below is a little bit about me and my journey so far, don’t forget to follow me on my socials to keep in touch—cue embarrassing photos.
In the beginning, there was (a boy in a) house…
I am originally from a small island between France and England called Guernsey. I later moved to the UK with my mixed-race background, of Scottish and Moroccan parents that were into music.
My parents are very sociable, so I was exposed to various musical and cultural influences at home and from parties and the many holidays when growing up. The journeys were filled with countless hours while travelling, listening to music from some of the greatest music decades. Initially, blues, jazz, rock and pop music spanning the ’60s, ’70s, ’80s & ’90s was what I heard as a kid.
Electronic music is everywhere!
At some point, I was at a friend’s, and their older brother introduced me to The Prodigy, the rave/punk crossover act. The first track I heard by them was Out of Space. I was blown away. Asides from this, the first electronic music would have been Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk and some of Pink Floyd’s music, looking back.
Also, during the 90s, the UK garage scene was taking off, and many tracks featured many vocals that had references to pop music, all of the experimentation at the time resonated with me.
The raw, twisted, sampled, and synthesised sounds were nothing like I had heard. I had to find out where I could listen to more of this music. And so began my other passion and first steps of collecting music.
A noisy time, my dad was not a fan of loud music!
I have kept my favourite music on vinyl, cassettes and CDs from then–which included music by The Prodigy, Aphex Twin, Carl Cox, LTJ Bukem, Carl Craig, and Kevin Saunderson. These were some of my early influences in dance music and many others in pop music.
Eventually, everything combined and sprouted seeds, and eventually, I learned how to DJ. There were no courses like today, and it was vinyl only in the beginning. Over time I finally got better and started playing out!
In the image top right is our old cat Bonnie on my decks in my first home studio as a messy teenager. The sound from that room used to drive my dad nuts, but our cat Bonnie was fine with it!
Shown bottom right is one of the few photos I have of me warming up for a house party, of which there were many more to follow, as well as in clubs. It’s strange today, but selfies were not a thing then. Besides, I was too busy having fun getting lost in the music to worry about photos!
Getting into producing
While working in London as a computer engineer for a private equity company, I frequented the music shops in Soho during most lunch breaks. Most of my collection was built during searches for records at hubs like Reckless Records and Black Market Records.
Although I love DJing, my real passion fast became understanding how the music I loved was made. The big question was how and who could teach me.
One evening on my commute from London, my train was delayed. So I popped into a newsagent and saw someone put a magazine back on the shelf called Computer Music. It was claiming anyone could make music! And with that first magazine and included sample CD, I began to explore how to produce music at 21 years old using an included demo of FL Studio. Today, I mainly use Ableton Live, Logic Pro, WaveLabs and Pro Tools.
A dreamer in love with sound
Naively I started out trying to emulate my early heroes, a tall order! One guy and a computer were gradually expanded as I needed band members, right? That’s where the keyboards and synthesisers came in. I started by producing Drum & Bass and branched into Techno, House and UK Garage as a hobby.
After many years of learning and playing, I created my first record label, 66Khz Productions, based in the UK. Initially, I wanted only to release my tracks. However, I soon decided to release other artists’ music after discovering some great talents.
In the photo, the Korg MS2000B was one of the early band members; more were soon to follow 😊
Highs and lows, never giving up
I often combine beats and styles from different genres, organic sounds from real instruments, and always some external synthesisers, analogue or digital. My primary instrument is synthesisers and piano, and I enjoy playing live to inject a human feel into my productions. And to arrange /orchestrate my creative outbursts, my computer plugins and DAWs help with that.
Although the first try at a record label was not a financial success, the experience was enjoyable, and I met some incredible people and artists. Some are friends for life and have gone on to create their own music businesses. After bad luck and personal issues, I stepped away from the industry in late 2012.
However, I never gave up the music and sound design. There is something special about it for me, so I kept producing and remixing other artists’ honing my sound and music skills over the years. By 2019 I had a sizeable un-released catalogue of compositions. And after some persuasion from my partner Emma, I decided to get back into music, but this time it’s full-time!
Back to school, ignore the doubters, follow your dreams!
Although it may not be necessary to be qualified to be able to become a producer and engineer, after some consideration, it made sense to join all the dots of my previous experiences to help me get back into the music industry. Moreover, the industry had changed rapidly, so it helped get me up to date faster.
So, in 2019 I started studying for a BA (Hons) in Music Production and Sound Engineering Degree. After three years of hard work, I graduated with an upper 2:1. The process was pleasurable and unforgettable, especially the people and connections I made.
The other reason for the degree was to get practice in scoring for TV, Films, and games. And the other was to learn how professionals at the highest level engineer audio by mixing and mastering processes; my early releases sound terrible to me now. They need to be modernised!
I feel fortunate to have, learnt from some of the best teachers in the music industry that have worked with some legends in the music industry.
Back in the game again
Going forwards, I will use all my knowledge and experience by focusing on releasing music, production, audio mixing and mastering. Whilst developing and supporting other artists via tuition and running new record labels.
Who knows, I may even revive the old record label too! The genres I produce and engineer today are wide-ranging, from Pop & Indie music to most electronic music genres. But for people who would like to place me, you could say my main genres are House, Techno, Breaks and some alternative electronica styles.
I am passionate about collaborating & helping other people
I am also the other half of Human Beanz, an alternative electronica band from the UK. I have put out releases under several aliases, as showcased on this website allowing me to experiment over the years.
If you need help with your productions and would like to work with someone who is a computer and synth nerd and loves to have fun while making noise, then reach out, I would love to help you! And if you want to connect on my socials or LinkedIn, feel free to do so.
Also, check out my professional services page if you need assistance with your projects. I have a no-obligation quote calculator on there to get an estimate.
Here are some fun facts about me
Fun fact 1: Omar Bicane used to go by the artist name of DJ Ramo. Ramo is Omar in reverse. Now I am re-born as Bicaneo as my main alias. The others allow my to release different genres without confusing things too much 😊
Fun Fact 2: I spent over a decade in IT ending my career in IT as a Lead Infrastructure Analyst, (where do they get these titles from)? LOL
Fun fact 3: I repair synthesisers rather than computers these days! And I love making noises with them! Some of the gear I own was on the scrap heap on eBay, but I revived them.
Fun Fact 4: I play computer games, and love the survival, first-person shooters, RTS and role-play genres, especially 7 Days to Die which was made on Unity, I would love to put my Unity and FMOD skills and compose for a top game one day!
Fun Fact 5: I love horror and sci-fi movies and would be chuffed to have my sound design or music on one sometime, I enjoy doing voiceovers and making vocal noises!
Fun fact 6: I used to work for Microsoft support many years ago and supported AOE (Age Of Empires) one of my favourite RTS games ever before I got a job in London, and yes, I had to play the game every day to be able to support customers properly!
