FAQ

1. Who is ADD ZEDD?

I’m a songwriter, composer, producer, and recording artist. I write, record, produce, mix, and master my own music.

It’s difficult for me to describe my music with one genre because it crosses several of them. There are elements of alternative rock, alternative pop, new wave, adult contemporary, and cinematic music, but I don’t try to stay within any one of those categories.

I like strong melodies, unusual chord changes and transitions, and the combination of rock and orchestral elements. Some of my songs are intimate and emotional, while others are much heavier and more energetic.

Some of the music I make today is completely new. Other songs were written when I was much younger and spent decades as nothing more than old cassette recordings and ideas in my head.

I don’t really try to make music that fits a particular genre. I just write the music I want to hear.

2. What inspires your music?

There isn’t one particular thing that inspires me. A song can start with a melody, a lyric, something that happened to me, or just an idea that I can’t get out of my head.

Some songs come from my own experiences. Others are about people, situations, or things I see around me. Sometimes I start writing without even knowing what the song is going to be about. I follow the music first, and the idea usually becomes clear later.

Usually, something has to affect me in some way before I want to turn it into a song. It can be something emotional, something that makes me angry, something that makes me think, or simply something I find interesting.

3. Where did your musical journey begin?

I started writing songs when I was 17. Pretty quickly, I realized that this was something I really wanted to do.

Even then, I was trying to find my own way of writing. I liked experimenting with melodies and chord changes and deliberately tried to avoid the obvious solution. I wanted my songs to sound different from the things I was hearing around me.

Then life got in the way. For almost 30 years, I basically stopped making music because I didn’t have the opportunity to continue.

Eventually, that changed. I got a good computer, started learning FL Studio and modern music production, and slowly figured out how to do things that I could never have done when I was 17.

That gave me the chance to go back to my old recordings, rebuild the songs, and finally hear them the way I had imagined them all those years ago.

And once I started again, I also started writing new music.

4. How do you create your music?

I rarely sit down and think, “Today I’m going to write a song.” It usually happens in a much less organized way.

Sometimes I suddenly hear a melody in my head and record myself humming it into my phone. Sometimes I start playing a few chords and something unexpected comes out of it. Once I have something that feels right, I start figuring out what the song is actually about.

“Midas on Steroids” is a good example. The whole song came to me in a dream. I used to think people were exaggerating when they said they wrote songs in their sleep. Then it happened to me.

After that, I build the song piece by piece. I might start with piano or bass, then work out the drums, guitars, orchestration, vocals, and everything else.

My son is also a big part of the recording process. He often helps me record, especially when it comes to guitars. He plays and records guitar parts, solos, and other parts that I need for a song. It’s something we do together, and his contribution has become an important part of some of my music.

The technical side can take a long time. I can spend days looking for one sound or changing something that probably nobody else would notice. When I think the song is finished, I listen to it everywhere — headphones, speakers, the car, my phone — and keep fixing things until it works.

Sometimes the whole process is fast. Sometimes it takes months. There really isn’t a fixed formula.

5. Does ADD ZEDD use AI in his music or videos?

No AI is used in my music. None.

I don’t use AI for songwriting, melodies, lyrics, arrangements, recording, sound processing, mixing, mastering, or post-production. The music is made by me, from the first idea to the final master.

I have nothing against AI. I think it can be a very useful tool. What bothers me is when people use it to create music and then pretend they didn’t. I think listeners have the right to know how the music they are hearing was made.

Video is different.

I do use AI to make some of my music videos because traditional video production is simply too expensive for me. A professionally produced five-minute music video can easily cost tens of thousands of dollars, and that isn’t realistic for an independent artist working with my budget.

But AI doesn’t decide what my video is about. I write the story, develop the concept, write the script, plan the scenes, decide what should happen in each shot, and put the final video together myself. AI is just one of the tools I use to create the footage.

So the distinction is very simple: AI doesn’t make my music. I use it to help make my videos.

6. What is the story behind your older songs?

“Suicidal Strain” was written when I was 17. I was deeply in love at the time, and the person I loved was far away. I was young, everything felt extremely intense, and a lot of those emotions ended up in the songs.

I didn’t have a studio or any real production equipment. I recorded the songs on a cassette with a piano and my voice.

For years, I kept thinking about those recordings. I knew there was something in them, but I had no way of turning them into the music I had heard in my head.

Much later, I finally had the computer, software, and knowledge to do it. I started rebuilding the album from those old recordings and ideas.

It took almost two years. I had to learn a lot along the way, and there was plenty of experimenting and starting over.

The strange thing is that some of the songs ended up very different from what I had imagined when I was young. And honestly, they turned out much better than I ever expected.

After carrying that idea around for decades, I finally had the album I had always wanted to make.

7. What are your songs about?

My older songs, especially the songs on “Suicidal Strain,” are very personal. They deal with loneliness, emotional struggle, and the darker side of your own mind — the thoughts and feelings that can take you somewhere you don’t really want to go.

My newer songs are different. I tend to write about things that get under my skin.

Sometimes that means something personal. Other times it can be something I see happening in society. I might write about men who are expected to be strong while struggling to find their place in the world. I might write about the music business and how money and commercial interests can make it extremely difficult for talented new artists to be heard.

I don’t usually sit down and choose a subject because I think it would make a good song.

Something usually bothers me first. It stays in my head, and eventually I start writing about it.

8. Where should I start listening?

It depends on what you like.

If you like melodic music, unusual transitions, and albums that tell a story rather than just giving you a collection of separate songs, start with “Suicidal Strain”.

I would really recommend listening to the whole album from beginning to end. Put on headphones, turn the lights down, make sure nobody is going to interrupt you for about an hour, and just listen to it as one piece.

If you prefer heavier rock, start with “Whipped”.

And if you like that side of my music, my future album “Liminal” is probably the album to watch for. It goes further in that direction, with heavier guitars, more energy, and more fast-paced songs, while still keeping the melodies and cinematic elements that are part of my sound.

9. Why the name ADD ZEDD?

There isn’t really a deep story behind it.

About 20 years ago, I was creating a Gmail account and needed a username. For some reason, “Add Zedd” sounded good to me. Part of the idea came from a line in “Pulp Fiction” that had stuck in my head.

I used Add Zedd as my email name for years. Eventually, I started using it as a pseudonym for music as well.

That’s pretty much the whole story. It wasn’t some carefully planned artist-branding decision. I just liked the name, kept using it, and eventually it became mine.

10. Why do you make your music independently?

The first reason is simple: I want control over what I make.

I don’t want someone telling me that I should change a song because it would get more streams, more views, or fit better into whatever happens to be popular at the moment.

I want the music to sound the way I think it should sound. If someone doesn’t like it, that’s completely fine. There is enough music in the world for everyone to find something they like.

There’s also a practical reason. I don’t have the money to build a traditional music operation around myself. I can’t afford a professional studio, a full-time manager, or expensive video productions.

So I do as much as I can myself and pay for the things I can afford.

It takes more time, but there is also something important about knowing that the finished song is exactly what I wanted it to be.

11. What is ADD ZEDD working on now?

Right now, I’m working on my next album, “Liminal”.

The title is about a transition. The music is moving further toward heavier and more energetic rock, with more prominent guitars and more up-tempo songs. At the same time, I’m keeping the melodies and cinematic elements that have always been important to me.

Some of the songs are already out, including “Whipped” and “Frozen Waltz”, with English and Russian versions of “Frozen Waltz”.

The album will also include a cover of a song by a well-known band, some rock ballads, and new songs that I’m still writing.

I’m also considering including an acoustic version of one of the songs — something much more stripped down and intimate, so you can hear the same song in a completely different way.

I’m deliberately not releasing all of these songs as separate singles. I want to finish the album and release it as a complete work.

I still like albums. I like putting one on and listening to it from the first song to the last, rather than treating every song as a separate product.

12. Can I use ADD ZEDD’s music in a film, trailer, game, or other project?

Yes. I’m open to discussing pretty much any kind of project.

My music can be licensed for films, trailers, games, advertising, or other creative projects. We just need to agree beforehand on how the music will be used, who will be using it, and the terms of the license.

If you’re interested in using one of my songs, send me an email or use the contact form on this website.

Tell me what the project is, which song you’re interested in, and how you would like to use it. We can take it from there.