#157: Steve Duda on Serum's Success & Parallels Between Music and Programming

The EDM Prodcast

Learn more about Create 30 → https://create30.com This week, Steve Duda sat down to chat for the EDM Prodcast. Steve Duda is the founder of Xfer Records and creator of the ever-popular Serum synth. He has been in the industry as both an artist and programmer and has a wealth of experience to share with producers. We dive into his background and how he studied music composition in college, which opened the door to many different opportunities (despite the 'normal' career trajectory of becoming a teacher). This set off a chain reaction of events, including a short DJ career in leagues with acts like Skrillex and deadmau5, which eventually lead him to learning programming and starting Xfer. We also cover the massive success of Serum, and how it performed better than how he could have ever imagined, including the rent-to-own partnership with Splice. Steve is excellent at drawing parallels between music production and programming and has many great pieces of advice for upcoming producers. Links: Serum Rent-To-Own → https://splice.com/plugins/15493-serum-vst-au-by-xfer-records Songwriting For Producers → https://www.edmprod.com/songwriting-for-producers Connect with Steve Duda: Xfer Website → https://xferrecords.com Twitter → https://twitter.com/steve_duda Timestamps: 0:00 Intro 2:38 Interview start & moving to Mexico 5:23 Studying Music Composition in college 9:26 The evolution of DAWs and computers 10:41 Rejecting the traditional 'college teacher' route 16:01 Being a jack of all trades 17:10 Pursuing the opportunities around you 18:33 Rich EDM kids and buying careers 21:09 What are you willing to do to achieve success? 23:51 Avoiding 'purist constructs' 24:41 Meta-music and influencing music in indirect ways 27:14 The Reverb filter and Riddim 30:36 Future updates and constantly innovating 32:15 Serum overtaking Massive & visual feedback 36:04 Teaching himself programming 39:26 Make what you would like! 41:24 Splice and rent-to-own 46:03 Serum 2.0 and not charging for updates 50:03 Serum's competitors 56:51 Imagine yourself but younger 57:46 BSOD and prioritizing the tools over writing 01:01:54 Customer support and being accessible 01:05:20 What mistakes are producers making? 01:11:45 If you had a time machine, what would you go back and change? 01:14:42 What's coming up in the next 12 months? 01:17:29 Wrapping up EDMProd: Website → https://edmprod.com Instagram → https://instagram.com/edmprodgram Facebook → https://www.facebook.com/EDMPsite Soundcloud → https://soundcloud.com/edmprod Spotify → https://sptfy.com/edmprod Aden Russell (Artsea): Instagram → https://instagram.com/iamartsea Facebook → https://facebook.com/iamartsea Spotify → https://sptfy.com/iamartsea Soundcloud → https://soundcloud.com/iamartsea