A talented songwriter, engineer, producer and session musician, Eric Bazilian has been an active user of DUY plug-ins for several years. Having been co-founder of "The Hooters", some of the many credits on his visiting card include his work for Ricky Martin, Amanda Marshall, Cyndi Lauper, Patty Smyth, Billie Meyers, Bon Jovi and Midge Ure.

Eric Bazilian has been very kind to share his impressions on his preferred collection of DUY software: "In fact, it was hearing the effect of DUY's DaD Tape and DaD Valve on audio that finally convinced me to take the leap into Pro Tools back in 1998." Working with Charles Dye at the Gentleman's Club he originally described DUY's software plug-ins as a "Better Box". Bazilian continues: "For whatever reason, the algorithms DUY uses seem to make everything sound better, 'fatter', choose your own superlative".

"DaD Valve and DaD Tape are the two DUY plugs I use most. I also find DUY Shape extremely useful on a final mix, using the 'Try Me On Final Mix' preset. This one is a bit of Voodoo for me... I really have no idea just what it does or how it works, but it sure sounds good!!"

Centering the use of DUY's plug-ins around Tape and Valve, Eric Bazilian explains the situations in which he finds each one of these plug-ins are useful:

"I use DaD Valve to 'fatten' up sounds as needed. Charles Dye (who got me started on this whole Pro Tools Merry-Go-Round) showed me the trick of using the 'Snare Drum' preset on just about everything. It's especially useful on drums that need fattening, likewise, on a guitar or vocal that may have been recorded a bit meekly."

Eric Bazilian was originally afraid that the digital domain would make his recordings sound cold in comparison to the analog world. This is why he uses DaD Tape so often: "I find DaD Tape makes just about everything sound better, and if I had the DSP I'd use it on every channel. As it is, it lives on my Mix bus almost permanently. I also use it on guitars and bass whenever possible. Sometimes I use it on vocals as well, though at times I've gone overboard with it."

"Generally, I find that the 70's 24 Track preset at 15 or 30 ips works well on individual channels, while the Ideal Tape or 80's 2-Track setting works best on the Master Bus, either at 15 or 30 ips. Sometimes I also use DaD Tape across a Drum Playback bus."

Sometimes, Eric chooses DUY Wide on some of his mixes: "Occasionally I also find DUY Wide very useful on a stereo room or overhead track. I've used it succesfully on the odd final mix..."

Although Eric Bazilian's main system is a ProTools Mix Plus with 2 DSP Farms (about to be upgraded to HD3), he recently released a solo album, "A Very Dull Boy", which was entirely recorded using ProTools Free on his Powerbook. "I released 'The Optimist' in 2001, which actually took four years to make, between all the other projects. It totally owes its existence to DUY plug-ins." He is now ready to release "Everything Must Go", an album he wrote and recorded this last Summer.

Eric has recently been developing some young talent, including a rapper/singer with a band to be called Medicine Man, as well as a band in Sweden from a small village to the North of Stockholm. He is also involved in a project with Shamsi Ruhe, a female singer, which he is going to produce with his erstwhile Hooters partner Rob Hyman. He has also been writing and co-producing entirely on ProTools another female vocalist's single (Lucia Cifarelli, "We are Angels"), whose album is about to be released.

Find out more about Eric Bazilian at www.ericbazilian.com