Steve Duda
http://www.guntonmanagement.com/duda.htm
Hello. Thanks very much for taking the time out to have a chat to Camel Audio. Could you introduce yourself.
I'm Steve Duda, I'm a freelance programmer / engineer in Los Angeles. I wear a variety of hats to keep occupied, I work on records when cool ones come along, and between that I work on a variety of music projects composing, editing, and remixing (including some film and TV).
How did you get into writing music?
By accident really, my parents forced me to play violin starting at age 5, and I couldn't really read sheet music and handle the physical dexterity to play the instrument, so I quickly learned to use my ear entirely in order to play the pieces back without my teacher saying I didn't practice.
What are the highlights of your career so far?
Probably working on the NIN Fragile record for two years and working on the last A Perfect Circle album. Co-creating FXpansion BFD has been rewarding, introducing me to some great people. It has been a lot of drum editing, but the result for my music alone (let alone side income) has made it well worth the time and labor.
Who have you enjoyed working with most?
So many people! I wouldn't want to pick just a single person. I've worked with many well-known artists who have turned out to be great people. I've spent years of my life inside studios, and it's been a lot of good times.
I must say working with Link (programmer of Devine-Machine) has been the best collaborative experience. We met online (after he wrote X-Incarn software in 1998) and spent a lot of time online together. Although he's in Paris and I'm in Los Angeles, we've managed to meet a couple times, even take our software out and gig with it together.
How have your working methods changed over the years?
Everything gets more virtual. The sampling and effects are mostly in the computer now. Track-count has put tape machines to the side (if not on eBay).
What projects have you used Camel Audio software on?
I used SuperCamelPhat on some mixes for a Japanese band called Sope and a band here in LA called Doheny. Sometimes on the bass and some vocals + other tracks. It's a wonderful tool; I don't use the distortion much but it's great for compressed-filtered sound. I've used Cameleon 5000 for my own music, nothing yet released.
What do you like most about Cameleon 5000?
Cameleon 5000 is just wonderful. It does the unthinkable, allowing a few samples to morph across the keyboard seamlessly. Its great for deranged bizarre-sounds, but I haven't used it for this as much. Cameleon 5000 is a revolutionary way to playback pitched-instrument multisamples. You get more spectral sculptability than with sample playback, and the saved patches are absurdly small compared to WAV data!
What do you like most about CamelPhat?
It has a predicatable sound. So many plugins do too much or too little. CamelPhat is a wonderful triumph of function-over-fashion. It looks good, but more important it is easy to use and sounds good.
CamelPhat3 truly makes a good thing better - new fresh look, wonderful modulation options, but CamelPhat is still really about one thing - the balls it brings your sound! Where most plugins turn your sound plastic, CamelPhat gives you a thick, woolly coat of hair.
What do you like most about CamelSpace?
CamelSpace is simply amazing - an effect plugin close to my heart! This effect will transform even the blandest sound into liquid, throbbing, grooving textures. Synths, Guitars, Vocals, Drums - whatever you put CamelSpace on, it can have a place. If your music has anything resembling a pulse, you owe it to yourself to have this plugin in your collection.
What are your plans for the next year?
I'm travelling to Europe this summer, continung to learn C++ and make AudioUnits plugins.
Selected Discography
Nine Inch Nails - Fragile - Percussion, Violin, Programming, Choir, Chorus
Pitchshifter - Deviant - Programming, Editing
Pitchshifter - Bootlegged Distorted Remixed Uploaded - Producer
Rob Zombie - American Made Music to Strip By - Remix
Methods of Mayhem - Methods of Mayhem - Programming
A Perfect Circle - Thirteenth Step - Digital Engineer
