Digital is the drum and bass and jungle producer Steve Carr, from Ipswich, United Kingdom. He works under the Digital name as his main musical identity, and also appears as an alias of Wolfgang Voigt on the 1996 release Intoleratio.

Background

Digital grows up around music and reggae, shaped in part by his father’s sound system, which runs for about thirty years. He becomes involved with electronic equipment from the age of fourteen. From around 1989 to 1991 he plays reggae with sound systems, then moves into the rave scene as it develops in and around Ipswich.

He starts hiring out his sound system to promoters and becomes involved in the local scene. In 1991 he meets Danny.C, and the two later work together as Authorized Riddim on Split Personality for Certificate 18 in 1994. Around the same period he knows Rupert Parkes, better known as Photek, in Ipswich, who helps him get started with his own studio.

Releases and labels

Digital’s first solo release is Touch Me on Timeless Recordings in 1995. He follows it with Spacefunk, also on Timeless, and Down Under on Metalheadz, which helps establish his name. He then releases work for Moving Shadow, Photek Productions and Creative Source.

In 1998 he teams up with Duncan Busto, known as Spirit, to form Phantom Audio. The label is created as a base without a fixed musical agenda. Its debut release, Phantom Force, becomes widely played by DJs including Grooverider, Fabio, Goldie, Storm, Randall, Andy C, Hype, Ed Rush and Optical.

Digital and Phantom Audio also appear on the Renegade Hardware LP Armageddon with Crash, and on reworks of Guardians Of Dalliance and Transient as well as Loxy and Ink’s Airlock. He features on Movement’s Perpetual Motion LP with One Ton, Eaze Off and Remote Control, and on the Metalheadz Platinum Breakz LP volumes 1, 2 and 3, plus the limited edition Enforcers volumes 2 and 3 on Reinforced.

During 2000 and 2001 he launches the Function label, which releases Waterhouse Dub. He also delivers Deadline for Doc Scott’s 31 Records, and puts out singles on Creative Source, Reinforced, Chronic, Renegade Hardware and Hype’s Global Thang imprint. In 2002 he and Brillo set up the Timeless Music Group, handling label management for 11 independent drum and bass labels. Later that year he releases his debut album Dubzilla on Function, containing ten tracks, including eight in his own dub style and two from Spirit.

In 2003 he and Brillo launch L.O.A.D. Media as a distribution company with investors. Its roster includes Timeless, Function, Salmonella Dub, Good Looking and Looking Good, Freak, Science Fiction, Uprising, Phantom Audio, Intasound, Cyanide, C4C and C4C Ltd. In 2004 he releases Ego on Renegade Hardware, Cheek / Crazy Girl on Soul:R, and the reggae track Get Away on Bassbin.

DJ work and touring

Digital also DJs extensively in the UK and abroad. His appearances include Fabric, The End, Bar Rumba, World Dance, and events in Birmingham, Brighton, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Cardiff. He also plays UK festivals such as Homelands, Creamfields and Global Gathering.

Outside the UK he performs in Germany, Switzerland, Holland, Italy, Bulgaria, Hungary, Belgium and France, including resident events with the Red Bull Music Academy. He also appears at Dance Valley in Amsterdam in 2001 and 2004, and Impulz in Holland in 2002. He travels to the USA, Puerto Rico and Japan, and tours New Zealand with DJ Storm in 2000.

Work with Salmonella Dub

He returns to support Salmonella Dub on tours in New Zealand in 2002, 2003 and 2004. He also remixes tracks from their albums Outside the Dubplates and One Drop East, and helps distribute and manage their releases worldwide through L.O.A.D. Media.