About Tipper
David Alexander Tipper, also known as Tipper for short in Wimbledon, London, England) is a British composer and producer specialising in electronic music that ranges from ambient, through trip hop, to uptempo nu skool breaks. His live performances consist largely of his own unreleased compositions, and he is noted for scratching his own sounds over his music, creating a live element of turntablism stemming from prowess early in his career as a vinyl DJ.
Tipper is widely respected as a surround sound composer, releasing one of the first albums composed, produced, and intended for the DualDisc format, in addition to providing content for multichannel music industry leaders DTS, Inc. His talents at sound design ), and in digital audio mastering, are also in great demand. His catalogue has been consistently licensed for use as background in a variety of mainstream television programmes, and also featured in commercials and cable television projects.
Tipper was "discovered" as a teenager DJing in a London nightclub by soon-to-be manager Richie Warren. Their earliest conversations centred on bass frequencies and rhythms underlying beats, and they began researching the science involved in creating the most effective dance music. Richie founded Fuel Records , and Tipper released the first of several vinyl EP's in 1997. Renault licensed one of these, Twister, for a European ad campaign. Soon thereafter, Sony UK signed Tipper to their fledgling dance music label, Higher Ground.
In the late 1990s, Tipper completed numerous remix projects of his Higher Ground label mates, and released several singles, each highlighting his penchant for electronic dance music with extreme bass frequencies and intricate polyrhythms; this sound helped usher in a popular new music genre referred to as Nu skool breaks, and Tipper is recognised as one of the pioneering producers of this movement. In 1999 Tipper released his first album, The Critical Path. It was not, however, the breakbeat dance record that the label hoped for. Tipper's vision was decidedly more artistic than anticipated, confusing the label as to how to promote it, and disappointing sales led to an amicable parting of ways with Sony.
During the late 1990s while Tipper was busy in the studio, Richie Warren & Co conceptualised the Fuel Sound System. This consisted of 2 identical black 1970s Dodge Challengers, both fitted with 6 x18" subwoofers and a Funktion-One mid/tops speaker unit, that could be raised out of the trunk on hydraulics with the flick of a switch from the driver's dashboard. These cars were able to run independently, without the need for an electrical generator, using 6 batteries charged via an alternator salvaged out of a lorry. With a totally discreet and fully mobile sound system, the Fuel crew, assuming the role of sonic pranksters, began a "pilgrimage" of sound that took them on tour to various music festivals, parties & spontaneous gatherings, setting them up outside events and garnering attention for the label and its artists. One of the urban myths surrounding these appearances recounts the incident at the 1997 V Festival, when Richie Warren received complaints from The Prodigy's stage manager, because the band couldn't hear itself due to the excess volume.
With this activity as a backdrop, Tipper released his second album Holding Pattern in early 2001. Many of the individual tracks from this album found their way into DJ boxes internationally, and accordingly Tipper began touring extensively through Europe, the United States and Australia. Reflecting his travels was the DJ Mix album Sound Off which he completed for Fuel later the same year. Tipper focused on the music, and Richie promoted a lifestyle – taking the cars wherever possible to create a happening around both.
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