Optical

Matt Quinn, known by his stage name Optical, is a British musician, producer and DJ. He is co-founder and owner of Virus Recordings, a widely regarded drum and bass record label. He is best known as one half of drum and bass duo Ed Rush and Optical (with his long-time musical partner Ed Rush), whose debut album Wormhole has been described as pivotal in the development of the neurofunk subgenre. He is also the brother of Jamie Quinn also known as Matrix.

Early years Quinn started making music as a teenager, and performing as a DJ on the UK free festival scene with Bedlam, Spiral Tribe and Techno Travellers Soundsystem including the legendary Castlemorton Common Festival. He had his first releases in 1992 using the name Little Matt, released on Fat Chuna Recordings, and also under his short-lived hardcore jungle alias Teknarchi in 1993, and later as a techno producer (under various monikers such as Fly By Wire featured on Carl Cox's F.A.C.T 2 release, and Morpheus ). He worked as a sound engineer and producer from 1992 onwards, (including production credits for the 1994 Jungle anthem "Leviticus - Burial" ) for several London music studios including Great Asset Studios (Gray's Inn Road, Clerkenwell, London), Pirate Club Studios (Roller Express, Lea Valley), Fokus Records Studios (London) and JAL/Stage1 Studios (London). His breakthrough successes as Optical include "To Shape The Future" 12" published 1997 on Metalheadz, "Grey Odyssey" featured on Grooverider's successful mix album "The Prototype Years", also "Moving 808's" and in collaboration with Ed Rush and Fierce on "Cutslo/Alien Girl" both on Prototype Recordings.

Along with his drum and bass musician and DJ career he has worked on many remixes and collaborated as a composer, producer, programmer and sound engineer for other notable artists including Rob Playford's label Moving Shadow for which he was credited on Goldie's "Saturnz Return" and Grooverider on whose 1998 MOBO Award-winning album "Mysteries of Funk" he was credited as writer and producer.

He went on to receive the accolade of 'Best Producer' at the 1998 Muzik Magazine Dance Music Awards in London.

Ed Rush & Optical In 1995 he first met his main future musical collaborator, another upcoming drum and bass artist Ed Rush with whom he would form a musical partnership. Shortly after, Rob Playford gave Optical a small space in his Soho office building to use as his studio, and in this studio the duo recorded and released the first of several 12" singles both as Ed Rush & Optical and in collaborations with other artists. Having recorded a dozen or so joint recordings in that studio, the duo considered that a lot of their material produced at the time was not fitting the style for labels like Metalheadz, Prototype and other labels they were associated with but that they still wanted to release it, as the music had been played by the two in clubs with a great reaction from those attending. So they decided to start their own imprint Virus Recordings

In 2000, DJ Craze used their track "Watermelon" in his beat-juggling routine which helped him win his 3rd DMC World Championship. They released their second album in 2000, The Creeps (Invisible And Deadly!) which broadened their palette by introducing vocals to the mix and won best album and best producers at the Knowledge DnB awards. Their third album, The Original Doctor Shade was released in 2003 and featured a collaboration with turntablist DJs, Scratch Perverts. 2006 saw the release of their fourth album Chameleon which saw them using a live band for the first time and three years later followed with Travel the Galaxy. Their track Frontline was use in the soundtrack to the 2008 video game Wipeout HD. In 2014, Ministry of Sound described them as one of the most influential artists in drum and bass. Their most recent album No Cure was released in October 2015.

2015 also saw the release of their first headline mix on the long running Fabriclive series of mix CDs, FabricLive.82. They had a long relationship with the London club Fabric having played at the opening weekend in 1999 and appearing on the first drum and bass mix released by Fabric in 2002 (FabricLive.06 mixed by Grooverider). Following Islington Council's decision to revoke Fabric's licence in September 2016, Ed Rush & Optical took part in a benefit show to challenge the decision. In November 2016 agreement was made to reopen the club. As well as numerous club appearances they have performed at many well known festivals including Boomtown (2018/2022/2025) EDC (2011/13/14/15/17), Dour Festival (2006/2015), Nocturnal Wonderland (2001,2011/2019), Glastonbury (1999 and 2014)

Virus recordings Although the Virus imprint was initially intended for self-publishing the duo's own Ed Rush & Optical material (a practice that is common in indie and dance music), Virus' subsequent releases have featured many notable drum and bass artists like Fierce, Matrix, Cause 4 Concern, Noisia, Bad Company, Pendulum, Ram Trilogy (Andy C, Shimon, Ant Miles), Audio, Mefjus, The Upbeats, Optiv & BTK, Insideinfo and many others. The Remixes Vol. 2 Virus Recordings (2004) Reece / Sick Note (Illskills Remix) Virus Recordings (2005) Reece / Taxi Driver Virus Recordings (2005) Crack Ball / Ride The Beast RUN DNB (2010) Brain Bucket / Falling Through Vision Recordings (2010)

DJ mixes Radio 1 Essential Mix (1999) Out of the Box (2004) Virus Vaults (2005) FabricLive.82 Fabric (2015)

Ed Rush & Optical remixes Watching Windows - Roni Size / Represent (Talkin' Loud 1997) Mindscan - Ram Trilogy (Ram Records 1999) Funktion Remix (Planet V/Ultra 1999) The Shining - Optical - Ed Rush & Optical Remix (Metro 1999) Bluesy Baby - Ram Jam World (WEA Japan 1999) Spaced Invader - Hatiras (Canvas 2001) We Want Your Soul - Adam Freeland (Maximise Profit 2003) Deadline - Digital (31 Records 2003) The Message - Cymande - Bootleg (2003) Beastman - Ram Trilogy (Ram Records 2004) Lyric On My Lip - Tali (Full Cycle Records 2004) You Got The Love - Candi Statton (2006) High Top - Sigma (Viper Recordings 2009) Split The Atom - Noisia (Division 2010) Serious - Manufactured Superstars (Magik Muzik 2011) Evolution - Ram Trilogy (Ram Records 2013)