Following the release of his summer singles singles "Out of Time” featuring Bea Miller and “Lucky” featuring Remi Wolf, and ahead of dropping his forthcoming album, Telos, out August 30, Zedd checked in with Audacy’s Mike Adam at the Hard Rock Hotel in New York to chat all about both, plus a whole lot more.

Curious about how the final work comes together, Mike asked, “Were you able to get in studio with the majority of these people or does that just not happen that much anymore?”

“It depends,” Zedd admitted. “What I will very frequently do is I will ask singers to record a little demo for me just so I can feel the tone on a record and see if this is something that I think will fit.” Adding, “Now, when it matters, I will usually be in the studio and record them.”

“I think that's one of my strengths,” Zedd continued, “to get the best out of a singer and to make them feel comfortable and confident to sing they're heart out. So when it matters, when I record the final vocal, I will in 99% of cases, record the singers myself.”

Admittedly very demanding, and the type of producer to want to get as many takes to have the most amount of options possible, Zedd said, “Every singer temporarily hates me at the end of a session and I typically will stop just before the voice gives up. But the reason is because in the past I recorded a song where I had to have a singer come back to sing one singular word and I don't want to do that. Honestly, I do it for for the singer because I want them to be super happy.”

“I record an obscene amount of takes of everything in octaves and doubles and harmonies. But then in every case, when I then send them the final result, they're always so happy.”

Zedd recalled working with Bea Miller in the studio on his new album’s first single, as a prime example of a demanding studio sesh. “I think Bea Miller was one of the artists that I've probably pushed the hardest because the song is not easy to sing and it's in a really high range and she already was kind of unsure if she could do it.”

“I knew she could do it without a question,” he continued, “but I think there's so many vocals, vocal parts, and octaves… that like we really went up until the voice gave up.” Facetiously adding, “I think she still to this day has severe PTSD of recording with me.”

“She's funny because she's so good and she's such an incredible singer but she doesn't think of herself that way. I mean, she's very humble about her voice, but genuinely saved the song we did together because she brought an energy to the song that really was missing.”

Mike then recalled a time after Zedd’s 2018 hit track “The Middle” came out, there were many headlines reporting that “there were 5,000 demos from everybody from Camilla Cabello to Demi Lovato, Bebe Rexha,” for the song, that ultimately went on to feature Maren Morris.

Referencing Zedd’s earlier comment, Mike inquired if it’s a regular occurrence for the producer to “have people record these demos… where you're shopping around a song?”

“Sometimes I bring a song to 80% and the only missing link is the final vocal and I just have a demo,” Zedd expressed. “And then it can get tricky and either nobody wants to sing it or everybody wants to sing it. Like in the case of ‘The Middle,’ where everybody wanted to be a part of it. But I didn't feel like anybody had everything that I wanted.”

When it comes to his forthcoming album Telos, Zedd revealed, that it “has much more been a case of me getting in the room with the singers and just working through it and figuring things out and doing it together.” Later on adding, “But yeah, it depends, sometimes I do shop for singers and the only way to do it properly is for everybody to record a little bit of a demo.”

“Sometimes that turns into like a full blown production and sometimes it turns into people being disappointed because they don't end up on the song and they spend time recording it. That happens unfortunately.” However, just because that particular song and artist combo didn’t work out, Zedd noted its not a hopeless cause. “The real ones, I still work with them, the ones that know that it might not be the one but another song.” Revealing that was actually the case on Telos, “I actually got to work with the people that I for so long wanted to work with,” Zedd said.

Before concluding the conversation, being that they were in the Hard Rock Artist Lounge, and the Hard Rock is known for its unique collection of items. Mike inquired what Zedd’s contribution would be. We can guarantee its not what you’d think.

To find out and catch more of the convo, listen to the entire interview above.

Words by Maia Kedem Interview by Mike Adam