Ep. 229: Zedd | Inside the Mind Behind a Decade of Anthems

Ep. 229: Zedd | Inside the Mind Behind a Decade of Anthems

Today's guest went from making songs on a floppy-disk keyboard, sampling off a Kellogg’s cereal box DAW, and sending blind MySpace messages… to producing the some of the biggest crossover dance anthems of the last decade. And The Writer Is... Zedd!


What makes this conversation special isn’t just the hits — it’s how brutally honest he is about the craft, the obsession, and the unexpected moments that built his career.


A special thank you to our sponsors...


Our lead sponsor, NMPA aka the National Music Publisher's Association.

Your support means the world to us!


And @splice -- the best sample library on the market, period.



Chapters:

0:00:00 – Teaser

0:01:06 – Welcome & Episode Intro

35:58 – Zedd on Never Thinking He’d Be Successful

25:41 – Growing Up Poor & Studying One Album a Month

18:01 – The Kellogg’s DAW That Started Everything

15:33 – Learning Music on a 16-Track Floppy-Disk Keyboard

30:44 – Why He Thought EDM Was a Joke at First

38:12 – The Skrillex MySpace Story That Changed His Life

31:25 – Finding His Sound Through Curiosity & Obsession

47:14 – The “Lightning Moment” Behind Clarity

59:34 – Being Wrong More Often Than Right

1:03:03 – Why Most Music Feels the Same Today

1:03:37 – Extraordinary vs. Average: What Listeners Actually Feel

1:00:08 – “All I’m Doing Is Chasing a Feeling”

56:26 – The Chaos Behind Making The Middle

1:00:47 – Realizing the Scale of His Own Success

28:23 – What It Takes to Stay Inspired

6:48 – The Creative Principles He Still Lives By

41:22 – The Fastest Way for Artists to Get Noticed

1:05:23 – Zedd’s Final Advice for Musicians

1:07:19 – Closing Thoughts


Hosted by Ross Golan

Produced by Joe London and Jad Saad

Watercolor by Michael White

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episoder(285)

Ep. 125: Pop Wansel

Ep. 125: Pop Wansel

Today’s guest is an American record producer, musician and songwriter from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As the son of Philadelphia soul icon Dexter Wansel, he grew up in the music industry and began wr...

12 Apr 20211h 18min

Ep. 124: Bruce Hornsby

Ep. 124: Bruce Hornsby

Based out of Williamsburg, VA, today’s guest first rose to national prominence with The Way It Is, his 1986 Grammy-winning debut album with The Range. The title track became the most-played song on Am...

5 Apr 20211h 21min

Ep. 123: Alex Gaskarth and Jack Barakat (All Time Low)

Ep. 123: Alex Gaskarth and Jack Barakat (All Time Low)

Throughout a catalog streamed nearly half-a-billion times and highlighted by two gold albums, two gold singles, and a platinum single, today’s guests perennially raised the bar for both pop and punk. ...

29 Mar 20211h 13min

Ep. 122: Ingrid Andress

Ep. 122: Ingrid Andress

Described as “A signpost for modern female complexity,” by Billboard, today’s Warner Music Nashville / Atlantic Records recording artist guest was nominated for three GRAMMY Awards and was the only co...

22 Mar 202159min

Ep. 121: Grey

Ep. 121: Grey

Multi-platinum, GRAMMY nominated artist/producers – comprised of brothers Kyle and Michael Trewartha – are known for their chart-topping style of pop music, blending crisp electronic production and in...

15 Mar 20211h 4min

Ep. 120: Erika Ender

Ep. 120: Erika Ender

She is one of the most versatile artists in the music and entertainment world. A true pioneer and multi-talented woman with unprecedented success as a world-record composer, singer, producer, communic...

8 Mar 20211h

Ep. 119: Lauv

Ep. 119: Lauv

For more than five years this guest has quietly and steadily become one of pop’s brightest rising stars. He has released all of his music completely independently with 5 billion streams to his name wh...

1 Mar 20211h

Ep. 118: Amy Allen

Ep. 118: Amy Allen

There are two stories you can tell as a songwriter: yours or someone else’s. Today’s guest not only tells the stories of some of the biggest artists in the world as a songwriter, but she also shares h...

22 Feb 20211h 17min

Populært innen Fakta

fastlegen
dine-penger-pengeradet
mikkels-paskenotter
relasjonspodden-med-dora-thorhallsdottir-kjersti-idem
treningspodden
foreldreradet
jakt-og-fiskepodden
rss-strid-de-norske-borgerkrigene
rss-bisarr-historie
tomprat-med-gunnar-tjomlid
rss-kull
gravid-uke-for-uke
hagespiren-podcast
sinnsyn
level-up-med-anniken-binz
rss-kunsten-a-leve
rss-bak-luftfarten
hverdagspsyken
takk-og-lov-med-anine-kierulf
fryktlos