Rich Jones is a UK techno producer and DJ from Bristol. He also works as an engineer for Alan Fitzpatrick’s 8 Sided Dice imprint and releases music under the alias Operator for his deeper productions.

Style and sound

Jones describes himself as an electronic music enthusiast, and his work draws on Detroit techno, European techno, Chicago house, film scores, dusty analogue synthesizers, tribal drumming and percussive rhythms. His productions use a mix of analogue outboard equipment and digital techniques, and he is associated with a sound that is driving, tough, hypnotic, sometimes minimal, and often deep and dreamy.

Career

He begins developing his approach after discovering Detroit and European techno in the late 1990s. A few years after his first record is signed to a small digital label, he finds that Richie Hawtin is playing his music in sets, sometimes up to three times. This helps raise his profile internationally and leads to work with 8 Sided Dice and a release on Soma Records through Slam. He also has releases on Minus, Sleaze, Driving Forces, Spark, Ground Factory, Phobiq and Greta Cottage Workshop.

Jones’ music receives support from Richie Hawtin, Ben Klock, Adam Beyer, Joel Mull, Chris Liebing, Speedy J, Slam, James Ruskin, Laurent Garnier, The Advent, Mark Broom, John Selway and Derrick May, among others. His own label, Gnosis Records, is set up to present his deeper material through the Operator alias.

DJ work

He DJs for more than a decade and holds two residencies in his local area. Around 2008, he changes from a turntables-and-outboard-FX setup to a hybrid digital and analogue system using Ableton Live, controllers and selected analogue gear. His sets are noted for their energy, detail and spontaneity, moving from techno-house rhythms into deeper and harder material while layering multiple channels of audio, loops, percussion and effects.