Calibre

Calibre worked across record producer, musician and disc jockey. The registers place that work in drum and bass and liquid drum and bass. This article rests on 86 catalogued compositions, 108 issued recordings and 31 scholarly references drawn from named institutional registers. Every statement below returns to a source shown in the evidence panel; where the record is silent or divided, the article says so instead of resolving it.

• Name — Calibre • Birth Name — Dominick Martin • Born — YYYY MM DD • Died — YYYY MM DD • Origin — Belfast, Northern Ireland • Genre — Drum and bass, liquid funk, downtempo • Occupation — * DJ • musician • Years Active — 1995–present • Label — Quadraphonic, Creative Source, V Recordings, Soul:R, Signature Records, Br:nk • Past Member Of — Mist:i:cal • Alias — Loose Dragon, Dominick Martin, Version • Website — https: signaturerecordings.databeats.com

Martin was introduced to jungle and drum and bass by his brother in the early 90's. Initially not catching on to it, he started producing drum and bass in 1995 after being inspired by artists such as Goldie and LTJ Bukem. His first single was released in 1998 under the now-defunct Quadraphonic record label, which was closely associated with U2's The Kitchen nightclub located under the Clarence Hotel. During this time, he gave a tape demo to LTJ Bukem, who never sought an official release after reaching back out to Martin. Through Quadraphonic, he came to the attention of drum and bass DJ Fabio, who described all of his productions as "liquid funk" and signed Martin to his record label, Creative Source. Fabio would play dubplates of Martin's works on his BBC Radio 1 show and at Swerve nights at The Velvet Rooms. The 12" single "Mystic / Feelin" soon released in 2000 on Creative Source, which "helped take sample-based drum & bass into the new millennium with agile two-step rhythms and laidback nostalgia sourced from funk, soul and reggae records," according to Beatport. His debut album Musique Concrète released in 2001, named after the musique concrète compositions of John Cage, whom he was influenced by while attending the University of Ulster in Belfast. He was also influenced by French house production techniques. Although 21 songs were chosen for the final release of the album, between 200 and 300 songs in total were created by Martin during his time with Creative Source, most of which he claims to not remember making due to his alcoholism. Due to his prolific nature, he was asked to stop sending new tracks during the planning of the Musique Concrète album due to Fabio feeling overwhelmed with his output, and by 2003 Martin had felt creatively restricted. In 2002, he released an EP, Tell Me, on John Tejada's Palette Recordings under his own name, Dominick Martin. It featured house music, a deviation from drum and bass. In 2003, Martin would set up his personal label Signature Records after being influenced by Marcus Intalex & ST Files. He would also work closely with the duo under the project Mist:i:cal and their Soul:R label. In 2004, he released Mr. Majestic, a collaboration with High Contrast. It was made in five hours (along with "The Other Side", featured on the B-side) after a set in Cardiff and has since then become a "cult tune" in drum and bass. In the same year, another anthemic release "Drop It Down" would be released. According to Martin, "this came about because of A-Sides. He was always telling me to work with MC Fats, who's on this track. He sent me a CD of some vocals he'd done from tracks from a couple of years ago that hadn't worked. There was just this one little 'drop it down' line in there that stood out for me. I put it on this track I had, which was made up of me sampling my own playing." In 2005, he released Second Sun, which is considered to be Martin's best album according to Beat. In 2007, he released the first Shelflife compilation, a handpicked collection of some of his unreleased works up to that point (most of which were created earlier in his career), as a way to look at his growth as an artist retrospectively. Songs are usually picked on a gut feeling and more recent Shelflife compilations (as well as other self-released albums in general) feature paintings from Martin as the cover art.

In 2003, Martin was commissioned by Warner Music Group for a remix of "Put That Woman First" from Jaheim's Still Ghetto album (2002). Despite Jaheim's disapproval of the remix, 1,000 limited-edition white label vinyl records were pressed with permission from Warner due to the underground popularity garnered by the remix. In 2023, the remix was included on a compilation album for purchase on digital storefronts. In 2019, a remix by Martin was included in an extended play of "Swan Song" by Dua Lipa.

• Year — Title — Record label — Release date • 2001 — Musique Concrète — Creative Source — 25 September 2001 • 2005 — Second Sun — Signature Records — 24 October 2005 • 2007 — Shelflife — Signature Records — 1 October 2007 • 2008 — Overflow — Signature Records — 1 May 2008 • 2009 — Shelf Life Vol. 2 — Signature Records — 18 May 2009 • 2009 — Shine a Light — Signature Records — 16 November 2009 • 2010 — Even If — Signature Records — 12 November 2010 • 2011 — Condition — Signature Records — 3 October 2011 • 2013 — Spill — Signature Records — 20 May 2013 • 2013 — Valentia — Signature Records — 15 July 2013 • 2014 — Shelflife 3 — Signature Records — 19 March 2014 • 2016 — Shelflife 4 — Signature Records — 26 February 2016 • 2016 — Grow — The Nothing Special — 23 December 2016 • 2017 — The Deep — Signature Records — 31 March 2017 • 2018 — Shelflife 5 — Signature Records — 29 June 2018 • 2018 — 4AM — ThirtyOne Recordings — 16 November 2018 • 2019 — Planet Hearth — Signature Records — 29 November 2019 • 2020 — Shelflife 6 — Signature Records — 1 May 2020 • 2021 — Feeling Normal — Signature Records — 26 February 2021 • 2021 — Shelflife 7 — Signature Records — 24 November 2021 • 2022 — Double Bend — The Nothing Special — 2 April 2022 • 2023 — Shelflife 8 — Signature Records — 19 April 2023 • 2023 — Rudy — Signature Records — 10 October 2023 • 2025 — Little Foot — Signature Records — 23 May 2025 • 2025 — They Want You — Signature Records — 12 December 2025

• Year — Title — Record label — Release date • 2003 — Just Fine — Creative Source — 2003 • 2006 — Late Night Squeeze — Signature Records — 24 April 2006 • 2006 — Corner Dance — Signature Records — May 2006 • 2006 — Deranged — Soul:R — 23 October 2006 • 2008 — Roundhouse — Signature Records — 11 September 2008 • 2008 — Don't Mind — Signature Records — 22 October 2008 • 2010 — Judgement Day — Samurai Red Seal — 7 June 2010 • 2011 — Hummer — Samurai Red Seal — 29 August 2011 • 2012 — Renaissance EP — Footprints — 19 November 2012 • 2015 — Strumpet EP — EXIT Records — 18 May 2015 • 2015 — Fourfit EP — Soul:R — 31 July 2015 • 2015 — Dreamz Dub EP — C.I.A — 18 September 2015 • 2015 — Break That EP — The Nothing Special — 18 January 2019 • 2019 — Cowper Street EP — Signature Records — 5 July 2019

Calibre worked as record producer, musician and disc jockey. The fields Calibre worked in include drum and bass and liquid drum and bass. Calibre worked in English.