Inside Zedd’s New LA Home with His Dream Music Studio | Open Door | Architectural Digest

What's up, AD? I'm Zed. It's been a

while. Come on in.

[music]

So, this entrance, as you can tell, is

pretty simple. And compared to how I

used to like my entrances with a ton of

different things, the key here was

really just simplicity and enjoying the

view that you get when you walk into

this house. It's one of the most magical

parts of this house to me is walking in

and you immediately feel at home. This

sort of center point tree is something

that I love. At my old house, we had the

same people build an olive tree and I

loved how that tree made me feel. So, I

wanted to replicate it here. It gives

you a little bit of greenery inside of

the house. And it's also an amazing

source of light at night. You don't need

the lights up. You can just have the

tree give you just enough.

[music]

This is my living room. And as you will

notice, it's very simple. The couch is a

cloud couch from RH. Most of the

furniture you see here is RH. I still

think it's the most comfortable couch

that I've ever sat on. I've always been

a fan. The most use this will get is

when we do Mafia nights, which is

something we got into where we just fill

this with seats and play Mafia. And

that's where the couch really, really

matters because any little move you make

for anybody who's ever played Mafia or

Werewolf,

the couch delivers. In terms of this

ginormous coffee table, as you will

notice, there's barely anything on it.

Key component is simplicity, matching of

colors. My theory, not scientifically

proven though, is that if there's less

clutter, if there's less things for your

eye and brain to have to focus on, your

average heart rate throughout the year

will be at least 1 BPM lower. So, my

choice here was to keep it super simple,

keep it easy. And the advantage is if

you want to eat, which I sometimes do,

eat here, you know, I just sit down.

There's enough leg room. We made sure.

And you eat sushi in War South Park.

This house was designed by Jay Omar, an

incredible designer. I'm a huge fan. And

on the interior decoration side of

things, this is the first time I've ever

worked with an interior designer. His

name is John Krawick. He's been

incredible to work with. He was willing

to collaborate and really bring my

vision to life and not sort of try to

place things. So, you will notice

everything is incredibly cohesive, very

simple, very calming. [music]

This is the main kitchen. same core

principles of simplicity. This area of

the kitchen is probably where I spend

the most time. I wish I was a good chef.

I'm not. However, [laughter] I'm very

good at making coffees. It's something I

got really obsessed with a few years

ago. And I went on this journey to

finding the best equipment, the best

beans, and as you can see, it looks a

little bit like a lab. This is where I

will be making coffees for myself, for

my friends, and I probably spend an

equal amount of time here and in the

studio. We have beans out here,

different choices. This is if I want to

make a pot of coffee. And then this

grinder right here is specifically set

to a coarser grind, which will make a

lot more sense with filtered coffee and

less sense with espresso. Now, I'm

really about precision when it comes to

espressos. Key component is this cool

cup that is also a scale at the same

time. As you can tell, will tell you how

much something weighs. So if you put

some pressure on it and then you just

put the beans in here and then you weigh

them and then you put them into this

grinder. I believe it was designed by a

person who has worked on some of the

first Apple devices. And out of all

grinders that I've tried, this is the

most precise reproducible results. And

if your goal, which is my goal, to have

consistency,

this is the best that I have ever tried.

This Slayer espresso machine is what I

use to extract my coffee. I am obsessed

with this machine. I don't want to be a

walking ad, but I have been very very

happy with how this has been performing.

And then we're sort of flanked by milk

fridges right here cuz I like when I

went to coffee shops and I like how they

can like So I wanted to do that myself.

So I put a a dedicated milk fridge in

here. The rest is for cooking. I stay

out of that. I'm currently in a really

healthconscious time of my life. I have

tons of spices because I found spices to

be the best way to make up for the lack

of fats if you're trying to eat

calorically conscious. And then I'm not

exactly sure how to pronounce it. We

call it Maggi. I'm from Germany. I grew

up with this. This is liquid gold. You

put this on anything, it tastes amazing.

Doesn't even matter what it is. Think

it's liquid MSG. I don't know if it's

good for you, but you know, not

everything can be good for you in life.

You got to make compromises. And this is

my compromise. I love this.

[music]

We are in the live room lounge of my

studio. This is something we built from

the ground up and it sort of fulfills my

dream of being able to be creative, have

a space to make music, and be able to

record immediately anywhere I get

inspired. So, we have the piano, the

drums, the guitar, everything is hooked

up, ready to go. [music]

So, one of the most amazing things about

being here, besides the fact that this

is my favorite piano, and I went [music]

out and played so many, and this

specific one just speaks to me, I can

[music] be writing music here and

playing and I get inspired. And then we

[music] have this magical box right

here. I can just plug a little cable

into here or there or by the drums and I

can control my main room from out here.

So, if I really write something

incredible that I [music] want to make a

song out of, I don't have to lose the

inspiration and move away and boot up my

computer, I can just continue right from

here and I'm controlling my actual

computer. But there's more. Let me show

you. We have a little Easter egg of my

Telos album. So, what you will notice is

there's a lot of hidden arches. Whether

it's the arch of my album or the little

arches in what are actually sound

absorbers, it's all there to point back

to my album, which is arches and stained

glasses. So, we got a little bit of a

stained glass seat here. So, you will

see those popping out everywhere. The

record wall is inspired by this Japanese

library/ lounge. The idea was just to

get an inspirational feel, warmth, and

sort of history while you're in a room

where you can write. Now, this is the

hallway to the actual studios. We have

room B, which is a small production

room. It is fully soundproof, but it's

not there to be grand and inspiring.

It's just there to get things done. Or

if I want to collaborate with an artist,

I can have an artist work here while I

work in my room. And then here we have

the vocal booth. And the idea here was

that you can face either of the two

rooms and you can record with whoever

you want to. and you just pull the

curtain for who you don't want to see.

And then welcome to the main room, which

is where I spend most of my time. I've

in 15 years of producing music never had

daylight in a studio. And so when I

realized the orientation of this room

and we consulted with our studio

designers, we realized there's a world

where I might have daylight. And it

literally I didn't even care about

anything else. I just wanted to be in

daylight. And so we built the studio

from the ground up. And you will notice

in terms of the design, it's incredibly

simplistic. All the furniture in this

room, besides the couch, were made and

designed by Hrien Duza, who's incredible

and built them based on my knee size so

that I can sit and play. Basically made

for me. And my engineer, Skinny, has

been working with Hrien to sort of

figure out where the cables have to run

so that you don't really look at any

cables at all. It's incredibly clean for

how much is going on here. This is here

for me to make music, be inspired, and

enjoy the daylight. The most important

part of my gear is literally hiding

behind the screen, which is just a

laptop. You just slide it into the stand

and everything is powered on. Yeah, when

I was a kid making music on a laptop, I

definitely never thought I would be in

any place along these lines, not even as

a visitor. Honestly, this is beyond any

of my wildest dreams. And I also

wouldn't have guessed that all these

years later, I'm back on a laptop where

I started and it's all I need at this

point. The roads is something I've

always dreamt of having. We have a

little custom plate on it and it is a

remake that they did a limited edition

of. This was my chance to get into the

roads game and you will hear it all over

my album. It is an amazing instrument.

It's historic. The warm sound of a

roads. [music]

[music]

It's a magical instrument. This is the

magic.

[music]

So, this is the wellness wing of the

house. This in particular is the cardio

room. I spent a lot of time here. I

bought this iPad holder and I pop my

iPad on here and I play Hearthstone

Battlegrounds. It's like a card game

that you can kind of play and do

something and I do my cardio and I play

my game. So that was my way to get

around hating being here. And obviously

the beautiful view helps a lot. So this

is the recovery part of the whole

wellness wing. It is where I get my

massages. We have the dry sauna. We have

the steam room, which genuinely feels

like a billion degrees. An important

part of working out and being fit,

recovery. And speaking of recovery, one

part I almost hate the most and do daily

is the coal plunge. Every morning

[snorts] I stand here, contemplate life,

procrastinate until I just go in. I feel

like the coal punch became part of my

life routine. I do 2 minutes and 40

seconds a day in it. And I hate it every

single day. It does get a little bit

easier over time, but it doesn't get any

better. But then when you get out of it,

you kind of feel great. So that's why we

do it. And I start the day with

something that sucks. And when I'm done

with it, that's already been the worst

part of the day. It only goes up from

there. This is where we we lived. It's

not the prettiest thing you've ever

seen, but it's here to get some work

done. So this used to be a guest house,

but I feel weird putting guests in a

guest house. I want my guests to be in

the house and like enjoy everything that

the house has to offer. And this to me

is just a dedicated fitness room. And

there's also a pickle ball court. It is

amazing because I hate leaving my house.

My goal was to have everything I need

from the plunges to the pickle ball to

the lifting to making music. Everything

I want to be able to do at home because

compared to most people for a living, I

leave my house. I used to drink a ton on

stage. And over time, I realized that I

can't afford to do that anymore because

the hangovers get longer and the

schedules get tighter. So, I made health

and well-being a major component of my

life. As much as it sucks, and I don't

know anybody who loves working out in

the gym in the morning, but I think it's

something that if you make it a routine

of your life, especially if you start

your day with it, the whole day gets

better.

In this primary suite, I wanted to

fulfill all my three needs, which is

being able to be creative if this is

where I am and I feel inspiration, which

is why I have the Bizendorfer piano

here, the same one we saw in the studio,

just slightly smaller, but it still

plays like a dream. My second mode is

sleep. I take sleep incredibly

seriously. So, I really cherish this bed

and I will fly home in the middle of the

night to sleep in my own bed. And the

third of the important bits is gaming.

It's part of my routine. It's my windown

nightly routine. And I'm going to take

you to the gaming space. I guess you

would call this the living room of the

primary suite. It has two ways to game.

One is my PC setup, which looks

ridiculous in such a beautifully

designed home, but you got to know

what's important to you. And to me, I

need a good gaming setup. So that's

where I game every night before I go to

sleep. So, if I don't use the PC for

gaming, I use this, which is kind of

magic. For example, if you want to play

PlayStation or Switch or Xbox, there's a

TV hiding inside of this. And you will

notice the TV is taller than the

entirety of this space. What makes this

magical is it's actually a rollup TV.

So, it basically goes down into a little

spiral. And then when you press a

button, it rolls itself up. And I still

wonder every time how it does that, but

it just goes away. silently and gently.

And I like to do this all day because it

still blows my mind and I even know

what's about to happen. It's crazy. I

still don't get it. [music]

This is where I get ready, where I get

my haircuts, where I do my makeup for

shoots like today. This is very much in

line with the goal of never having to

leave your house. you know, I get my

haircuts here. I get my makeup done

here. Everything that I ever need to do

in my life, I want to be able to do from

home. And so, I dedicated this bathroom

just to get ready. So, this is the

primary bathroom. One of my favorite

features is the light. There's skylights

here. There's skylights in the shower.

Obviously, huge windows, which just

makes it feel amazing. And it gives me a

bedtime because I know if I go to bed

and I see light, stayed up a little bit

too late. But you will notice how simple

everything is. No clutter, nothing

unnecessary. And then my typical routine

is I go take a shower and then I walk up

to this part and I wear the same shirt

every day. I open this and I usually

just grab the first thing which is

always going to be a black shirt and I

wear it. But outside of these, I do have

an actual closet which I would love to

take you.

Welcome to my main closet, which

consists of a shoe wall that I built to

house all of my shoes until I got more.

This is the shoe that I wore in the

Break Free music video with Ariana

Grande. It's a very bizarre shoe and it

only has like half of a soul, but I

really wanted to keep it as a memory.

So, this is one of my favorite shoes and

memories. Filming that music video was

awesome. I always find these awesome

shoes. I buy them and I never leave my

house, which I suppose I told you was

the purpose of this house. So, I don't

know why I buy them. But anyway, I like

comfortable shoes. I jump a lot on

stage. So, whether I'm on stage or

whether I'm running or on the

elliptical, I typically just go for

comfortable shoes. We installed these

pant hangers and you can see them all

without having to guess what's where.

So, this is a neat feature. And

otherwise, this is pretty much your

go-to regular. This doesn't close. Not

sure. This is your regular closet. I try

to keep it as organized as I can, but

with all the travel I do, sometimes I

get lazy and I just throw things in

places. I also started collecting

watches, which is maybe the only thing I

really collect in my life. And I have a

lot of really fun pieces, including this

one of one Telos Moser piece with the

turbion. It's a work of art. And I

approach watches with every watch has to

offer something that another watch

doesn't offer. Whether it's a different

color or texture or movement, could be

like a very vintage looking piece like

this. And it can be an incredibly shiny

piece like that. I can find beauty in

anything as long as it's symmetrical.

Thank you guys so much for checking out

my new house. It's been a pleasure to

show you around, but [music] it is time

to get back to work for me. I'll see you

at the next one.