DJ Trace

Duncan Hutchison, better known as DJ Trace, entered London’s rave scene as a teenager, beginning to DJ and make music in 1988. His first proper UK gig was at Rapido in Oxford, and his first release, “Inception”, was pressed in 1,000 copies when he was 17. Trace became an early member of the producer community around No U-Turn, working with the label and with Lucky Spin as techstep drum and bass took shape. He collaborated with Nico, Ed Rush and Fierce during that period.

In 1995, Trace released “The Mutant” on Emotif, a remix of T.Power’s “Mutant Jazz” that brought him wider attention. Its follow-up remix, “Mutant Revisited”, became an early influential use of the reece bassline. Another key release was “Sonar”, which came out on Grooverider’s Prototype label. Alongside his production work, Trace was involved in the development of techstep with the No U-Turn crew, whose members helped establish the sound within drum and bass.

Trace founded DSCI4 in 1999 and later set up 117 Records, labels that supported international drum and bass artists. DSCI4 released early tracks by Black Sun Empire, Mindscape, Chris.SU, Task Horizon, Silent Witness and NC-17; its artists have also included SKC. Other labels associated with Trace’s releases include Deep Jungle, Metalheadz and V Recordings. After a period of frustration with drum and bass, he reconnected with production and returned with the EP The Zone, his first full EP as DJ Trace since 2003.

Trace relocated to the United States and was based there from 2013, later making Miami his base. His releases in 2022 included the single Sideways / Rage on CNVX and the single Perception with Emery and Mackadena on Drum Army. The single Forbidden Codes Sampler followed on 117 in 2023. In 2024, he released the single Raptor - EP with HLZ on Metalheadz. His 2025 release was the single Lost Entity (Remixes) on Deep Jungle Records.