Altitude

Altitude is the trance project of UK producer Steve Gibbs. Gibbs is also identified with Adelaide, Australia, where he is born in 1976, and he is a classically trained musician who plays piano, guitar and violin from the age of five. He studies classical and jazz piano for 12 years and later completes a diploma in audio engineering.

Early career

As a teenager, Gibbs spends time in Australian clubs absorbing dance music. By the age of 18, he is producing and DJing in local clubs and raves around the country. He becomes a regular on the Australian dance circuit and performs at high-profile shows including support slots for Bjork and The Prodigy on their Australian tours. In 1996 he moves overseas to continue his recording career.

Releases and labels

Gibbs releases more than 30 singles across a range of dance styles. Under the Altitude name, he achieves wider recognition through club tracks on labels including Bonzai, Sony UK, Platipus and Five AM. Excession becomes a major club hit and one of the Ibiza anthems of 2001, with support from DJs including Paul Oakenfold, Pete Tong and Judge Jules. It is licensed to compilations such as Essential Selection Ibiza, Discotech Generations and Technique.

The follow-up, Nightstalker, also receives strong support, entering the cool cuts, hype and club charts and appearing on compilations including Travelling, Euphoria, Global Underground and Fabric Live. A third single, Altitude, reaches the top 10 in the UK and Netherlands national club charts and is played four weeks in a row by Judge Jules on Radio 1, where it wins the Judge It Yourself listeners' vote. It is also licensed to more than 20 compilations.

Tears in the Rain marks a move to Platipus and gains support from Armin van Buuren, Tiesto and Paul van Dyk. Sunray appears on Five AM with a remix by Airwave and is supported by Armin van Buuren, Ferry Corsten and Agnelli & Nelson. Gibbs also releases work on the progressive house label Gekko.

Other projects and collaborations

Alongside Altitude, Gibbs releases the progressive trance debut of Tremor, Meia Lua, which appears on Gatecrasher and Godskitchen albums and on Tiesto’s In Search of Sunrise 3. He also launches the breakbeat project SubHQ, whose debut The Abyss reaches the top 10 in the DJ Magazine breaks chart. Later, he signs his first house track to Eye Industries under the name Sound of Soho, with the debut track Take My Love set for release on Eye Industries/Universal. Additional announced Altitude tracks include Flood Warning and Break of Dawn, the latter credited with Marcella Woods.

Gibbs also works as a remixer for Ruff Driverz, Jan Johnson, Jurgen Vries, M-Factor, James Holden, Airwave and Krystal K.

DJ work and radio

As a DJ, Gibbs performs in cities including Hong Kong, New York, Milan and London. He records guest mixes for Galaxy FM, Ministry of Sound Radio, Southern FM and Beat 106 FM in Scotland, as well as stations in Belgium, France, Greece and Ibiza. He also mixes the double-CD chillout compilation The Art of Chill, which includes tracks by Sinead O'Connor, Charlotte Church, Paul Oakenfold and Gibbs himself, and he compiles and mixes Platipus Euro for Platipus Records. He later plans a monthly radio show on DI.FM.