A duo that originated in Toronto, Canada, ATD Convention set out to master the electronic potentials of music and computers. ATD Convention, short for "Analog to Digital Convention," consists of Sheldon and Hal Vx2, who met in Toronto over the Internet, swapped cassettes, and found they posted to the same newsgroups. With a common basis established, making the same kind of industrial-darkwave, cybermusic together over the Internet was their next step. Sheldon started out as a jazz musician, but when he moved into his own home studio and started experimenting with the electronic analog/digital world, he became a permanent technical guru. An expert with the technical aspects of the Internet, Sheldon works as a sound engineer on both studio and live projects. Hal Vx2 started his first band, the short-lived Ersatz Beat Resistance, in 1990, and laid the foundation for the sterile, intense, heavy-percussion style of retro-EBM rhythms that ATD produces. In 1995, ATD signed a four-year contract with Furnace Records and played two tracks ("Cyber Relations" and "Fusion") on the compilation Hellscapes, along with bands such as Dismembered Quietly, Abstinence, and Terminal Sect. Furnace also released ATD's full-length debut album, Cyber Relations, in 1995. When Sheldon moved to London, England, to work as an engineer, Hal Vx2 stayed in Toronto. They dropped the "Convention" from their moniker and became ATD, and the two proceeded to use the Internet to write their music. ~ Eleanor Ditzel, All Music Guide