Meet Delu Duan | Composer & Sound Designer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Delu Duan and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Delu, what principle do you value most?
A significant value for me in creating my work is to observe and listen to life.

I have worked as a sound designer for six years in film, animation, and interactive projects, and I have come to realize that sound design enriches narration and helps immerse the audience.  The sound elements constantly communicate with the audience invisibly and subtly. The sound will affect the texture of the items you see, thus affecting the character’s personality. And this is the reason why my sound design skills are always inspired by my daily observations. The more the sound is made like everyday life, the more relevant to the characters, the more the story will resonate with the audience.

As a media composer, the first thing I do after getting a project is to discuss it with my collaborator and identify the sound color for the music. Like the color coding, I believe different stories have different sound palettes, some are colder, some are warmer. You can play a single note in thousands of ways, and each one conveys a different emotion. I aim to find or create accurate sound for the projects I work on. Observing life carefully and choosing the right sounds can go a long way in helping the narrative convey more information.  The unique palette I created for each project will become a powerful tool in later works and enhance the story in a musical way.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
It is based on my passion and experience that I intend to work as a sound designer and composer. I find myself always sensitive to sound and music. And my motivations for working in music composing and sound designing are to assist the artworks in conveying more abstract feelings and concepts, plus engaging people’s emotions. I also enjoy meeting new people by hearing about their experiences. It will be my pleasure to enhance their story by adding the aural layers and making my work the icing on the top.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
There is so much to do in New York – it contains everything! This city is like a jigsaw puzzle where every neighborhood has its own style, and you can find things from all over the world here. I enjoy cooking, and I recommend my friends to check out the different grocery stores in New York because they are so different! Cooking with ingredients from around the world always opens up some fantastic possibilities. Many of the restaurants in NYC are authentic, so if you don’t like shopping at grocery stores or farmer’s markets, you can also try out restaurants from around the world.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My family has always supported my decisions unconditionally, emotionally, and intellectually, and they have never stood in my way. Although we are now in different countries, we discuss almost everything, and I always feel relieved after talking to them. It has given me the courage to continue building my career because of their presence.

Website: https://www.deluduan.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/deluduan/