Dillinja's relationship with drum and bass starts with the physical sound of it. The South London producer became known for bass-heavy records, but his interest in building audio equipment also shaped how he wanted that music to be heard in clubs.
He established Valve Recordings with Lemon D. The name came from the valves used in amplifiers on older reggae sound systems, reflecting an interest in the warmth those systems produced. The label's first release appeared in 1997, several years before the Valve Sound System itself.
His album Cybotron followed in 2001, accompanied by an international tour. That same year, Dillinja and Lemon D developed the Valve Sound System because they felt existing club systems were not presenting their music properly.
The project put the listening environment alongside record production: the system was built to reproduce substantial low-end while retaining clarity through the rest of the sound. Valve therefore refers both to the label and to a system designed around the music it released.
He has also released music under the names Capone and Trinity, spreading his output across several identities alongside Dillinja.
![Basic Principles (Dillinja 'Step 1') [2015 Remaster] track artwork](/cdn-cgi/image/dpr=1,fit=cover,format=auto,gravity=face,height=190,metadata=none,quality=85,width=190/https%3A%2F%2Fi.scdn.co%2Fimage%2Fab67616d00001e02bb16884c3aa2be78485e903e)
