Inside The Next-Level Home Studio Of Deadmau5

This video offers a look inside the home studio of house music producer Joel Zimmerman, aka Deadmau5

In the video, Zimmerman & Steve Duda discuss the well-appointed synth studio, which features an array of synth keyboards, a variety of modular synths, hardware racks and more.

The second video, below, offers a look at some of Zimmerman’s production techniques.

via RAZER

70 thoughts on “Inside The Next-Level Home Studio Of Deadmau5

  1. Don’t care how many fancy synths he’s got, dude is still a bit of a douche. Speaking from personal experience. Now Steve Duda, THAT dude is a rockstar!

  2. Love the honesty .
    Right Now I’m working hard on tracks trying to get out of my APT.
    Thanks for the inspirations .
    I got some hot $h!t you should check out let’s link up !

  3. Some great equipment but the studio is way too clinically clean and looks like it’s just a showcase environment. In fact, I’ve seen more passion and serious musical talent from modular enthusiasts, this guy come across as an arrogant show off and probably wouldn’t even use a quarter of what’s in there.

    1. The arrogant ones are those who make assumptions based on minimal information when more is available.. Deadmau5 does plenty of streaming so you CAN actually see him using this stuff you think is just for show. In this case the studio was just completed and being showcased. That is why it is so clean..

      1. That’s not right. I almost bought BITWIG because DEADMAU5 used it.
        Now I’m wondering if JARED FOGLE actually lost weight eating SUBWAY…..?

  4. Is it just me or does he never actually appear to be making any music I mean you look at similar videos from Trent Reznor and it’s like they’ve had to physically drag him away from the synths seconds before rolling camera and Deadmau5 looks like he’s spent the last ten weeks dusting an polishing.

    Zero patch cables say it all

    1. His studio just got build and seeing his discography I’m pretty sure he actually uses his synths and patch cables. So judgemental and jealous it’s not even funny.

    2. aaah, no patch cables. clever boy.
      i always clean up my rack at the end of the day, because if you actually work with those things, you need to start fresh after you patched something. in fact, a fully patched system, just to show off how awesome your rack is and how awesome you are and how much you think you know about it – that says it all. a professional studio is tity so what.
      but anyway, i’m pretty sure you know a great deal about everything.

      the a record collector, who has vinyls without cover spread over his room.
      the chef, who has dirty knifes and plates everywhere.
      etc etc

  5. So much hate on the comments… This guy stream a lot of studio sessions, where you can see use all the stuff he have, moreover he use a lot his modular and in a creative way.

    Ok, he have more stuff the average cant not buy but at least he uses it and he s not losing time posting “douche” comments on internet.

      1. and what’s with your ***** attitude?
        honestly – people like you own a small synth and lot of vsts and maybe a small modular or whatever and think they know everything. in fact you dont. and you’ll never make it. because it’s the others fault. full of greed, envy, ignorance and bitterness, life’s a bitch.

      2. Seeing

        > what’s with the shite grammar?…

        right after

        >… not losing time posting “douche” comments on internet.

        was pretty funny.

  6. The amount hate for this dude seriously drives me insane. Y’all are some jelly mf’s. There are countless videos of him all over youtube ( most that he originally streamed himself live and unedited) working on music for 5-10 hours straight, and people here are saying he’s not passionate about it or doesn’t ever make music?
    He’s on the modular in plenty of those vids. If people were coming by my studio to do a promo video or showcase of any sort, you better believe I’d clean up my cables. Heck he’s probably well enough off to have an assistant to do it for him. It doesn’t strike me as fair whatsoever to complain about a guy who can actually keep his studio clean.
    You might, like me, not be a huge fan of his actual music, but to say the dude doesn’t care just seems at best misinformed or at worst very disingenuous.

    1. “Y’all are some jelly mf’s. ”

      I don’t dislike him but “jelly” and “h8ers” comments are just as puerile, they contribute nothing.

      1. Neither does your “I am very smart” attitude. There is literally a few hundred hours of live streams of him working in his studio.

  7. Why is there so much negativity towards Joel?
    He is one of us! He loves his synths, software, and everything in between.
    He is where we all want to be. Making a living from making electronic music.
    I think his studio looks fantastic. Maybe it needs some artwork to make it more personal, that’s for him to decide. Personally, I love studio tours, everything from those who have a laptop and the odd synth, to producers like Joel with what IMO is the mother of all synth studios!

    1. Agreed. A lot of unwarranted negativity here.

      People going on about studio being too clean with a lack of patch cables. Yet disregarding that he says at the start he has just completed putting this room together. This room will likely also have 1 or 2 auxiliary rooms, one will be full of spare kit that doesn’t warrant pride and joy in the main room, in that room you will likely find more patch cables than you will ever need. It is like a professional setup.

      And it ain’t like he keeps his process a secret or anything:

      http://bfy.tw/5ATx

      1. People don’t dance to complex original beats, the definition of a good dance track is badly formulaic music. Dance music works on base simple emotive principles. Don’t try and grade EDM, if you are thinking too much about it then it is IDM.

        People don’t produce rock and dance music on a mass level because it is a hard thing to get your head around and do, the opposite is true; It is base.

    2. Being a gear head, “one of us”, and being a douche bag are not mutually exclusive. I admire people not because of the stuff they have, but because of their attitude. After spending time with him on a project, I can say I don’t care at all for his attitude.

  8. Nothing against edm or this guy, thats a nice studio and all but i dont think he is willing to really teach or structure a lesson at all, is like he does not really know what he is doing, hes just talking bit and pieces without any teaching intention, is this a course they are trying to sell just because he is famous? Im sure there are lots of less know teachers that will give a much more solid advice and teaching than this , just saying. It could be that he rely too much on pre made loops and patches done by other people and he just drop all that together so he does not need to know, the technology inside as he said, thats a common problem these days, we all started using loops to get to know the secuencers and stuff but a few years ago that was called practice and was not considered a track you actually made, it was expected that if you wanted to be a big boy you should create your own stuff from scratch, today people get angry just by saying that lol everybody is doing that so they get way to sensitive if t hey feel you critique the over use of libraries lol

  9. Yes it’s a great studio I am sure any of us would create something very different if we had access although he likes what he likes. It’s not easy to make choices in the end but it has to be done.

  10. OK, so he made a mistake and called it a 2500 instead of the 2600. Big whup…

    I think the reason his modular isn’t patched yet is because he just got it all set up. From what he said about the routing of the racks and synths, he still has a long way to go just to get that stuff routed so it’s all in place, but a work in progress. Cut the guy a break; he’s a gear whore like us, and really successful!

    1. I have heard something about childhood piano lessons. I think it is a combination of both. But he is a music producer, I don’t see him as a performer or a DJ. I get the impression music production is what he wants to do. The whole DJ mask thing makes me think he didn’t what to do all that, and wasn’t drilled to do a 15 minute convoluted live sound. So only real option to make money in the long term is live mix, which are portable renditions of production mashed together in a safe framework for the audience’s enjoyment in a live context.

      He seems to be a guy producing his own music, and trying to find an audience and revenue within that; which is likely a division to that process.

    2. Lol he probably uses mini keys with no after touch. And it’s probably not analog as well! Not a true player like us

  11. The only time I’ve ever taken photos of my gear is just after setting everything up. After a few days of making music, it looks like it has been home to a dozen ferrets and homeless llamas for a decade.

  12. There’s so much hate for Joel, god knows why. Jealously I guess. The mans achieved so much more than any of us commenting here, it may not be your preference of music, but it doesn’t pay to be hating on the guy. If anything it just shows you to be small minded and nothing more. Pull your own finger out your ar$es and quit with the hate, there’s enough of that in the world, instead spend that time making your own music and perfecting your productions in the hope that you can have 1/10th of Deadmau5’s success. The mans dedicated to his craft, and it’s about time the rest of us took a leaf out his book. Let your music talk for itself!

  13. My studio is always tidy between sessions….working in a mess doesn’t suit my creative headstate, I often play around with the ergonomics during playbacks etc….and I make enough mess in the box without littering up all around it.

    What I did find slightly er not to my taste, was Steve’s over reverential tone, stating the obvious about routine activities of track building. (Awed and admiring tone…) And then you take a sh1t don’t you etc..etc

    I like Deadmau5 music, it is very efficient…and goes to some interesting places..within the formulaic confines of EDM itself… I would have been more of a fan years ago when I was um..sometimes chemically augmented..now I have the most fun making my own stuff, tidy or not..

  14. I don’t get the hate? This is a studio we would all dream of living in.
    I get it, Joel has an ego, and his music doesn’t really move the needle for me. But that space is fantastic.

  15. ok so he is making music using the same method a one week music technology student would..
    Why the need to show the world?
    I mean its not as if we will appreciate the music more and for sure it is not educational..

  16. Nice studio. Anyone who achieves his level of success is assured haters. I don’t listen to his style of music, but I love the tones he works with. Also his frankness regarding his prerecorded sets.

  17. I like his video game room better:
    http://www.billboard.com/files/media/031213_sonos_deadmau5.jpeg

    Yeah. It’s just jealousy. Net worth= $53 Million
    http://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-celebrities/richest-djs/deadmau5-net-worth/

    Most people think he is just a “press-play” DJ, when he actually works very hard at making music and his passion shows in his studio-streaming vids.
    Also, people LOVE to hate (and compare/judge).

    The track with Imogen Heap is the only one I actually LIKE from him. I honestly have the utmost respect for the man due to his accomplishments and work ethic.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2LFI6abQI4

  18. I’m not a fan of his music at all, but some of these comments are flat out stupid. Doesn’t he also own a Lamborghini or something? I’m pretty sure he can afford a cleaning service. Further, if it’s his professional work space, so shouldn’t it be clean? I didn’t see people saying that about Hans Zimmer’s studio space. Get a grip.

  19. I don’t know much about his music beyond what I just Googled, but if you post a (sponsored?) Studio Reveal video with a place like that, you’re gonna get some shit. I think that’s why you see a lot of wealthy people trying to play it down lately, because while there may be nothing wrong with being super successful in this business, it’s hard not to look like you’re flaunting it with this kind of video. It’s different than being a Keith Richards kind of rock star who’s larger than life excesses somehow added to his appeal. Maybe the hate comes from seeing people in their lives who have a ton of fancy gear and don’t appear to be as obsessed with it/inspired to make crazy type music as they would be. Deadmau5 doesn’t really bother me because personally I think I would be overwhelmed with that studio and probably make some crap techno banjo.

  20. No hate for the guy at all in my side, just don’t give a micro-fuck. But the “Continous Mix”, “Chill Mix”, “Revisited Mix”, “Mega Mix”, Golden Age Mix, Stutter Madone Mix, Butcher Crane Mix, Fuck Snakes and birds Ears mix are the most infinite senseless of f*g minutes bling-bling loops sounds i’ve ever heard in my life. Not a penny of invention, spirit or surprise in all of that boring and crushing mess, never ending conveyor belt of flashy nonsense, even if it’s well done for the mastering. But the guy looks cool !

    1. All of those “mixes” are usually fan made. You’d find that this dude is extremely talented if you did a little bit more research.

  21. it was more the editing and poor lighting that killed it for me. instead of just showing the synth or zooming in they had those crappy renderings up for way too long. i felt bad for the guy sitting in the shadows.

  22. … if you dig deeper, you’d know that he actually does a lot of quality work, that not a single one here could achieve in years. i hope some of you aren’t as narrow minded as it seems and even might get successful, and when that happens i deeply wish, that you’re getting hated on like here. this sort of greedy, jealous, intolerant and at the same time very often opportunistic and hypocrit folks, who seem to know everything and have their mouths wide open in every forum, be it music or tech related – are mostly the ones who don’t know shit in reality. met tons of this species. always the exact same story. just unbelievably embarassing, nothing else. get a grip, get a life, this is – again – so so damn unbelievably embarassing.

    1. I don’t even like the guy’s music, but if these people were criticizing his music, I feel it would be fair game. The fact that they are knocking him because he doesn’t have an active patch going in all the shots is some simplistic, high school bullshit. It’s an ongoing attitude that really does bug me about the readers of Synthtopia. I’m curious what these people would be doing if their net worth was $53 million or whatever it is. Probably similar or a lot less. Further, I find it maddening that they would criticize someone for keeping their professional space clean. The separation of professional space from personal is really important for any serious artist of any discipline.

  23. Admin: Personal attack deleted. Keep comments on topic and constructive.

    Also, you’re using multiple user names to comment, which will increase the likelihood that your comments will get flagged as spam.

  24. “The Next Level”
    Something else to think about, or maybe not…
    Kudos to synthtopia for finding out hot topics recently : )

  25. I came for the hate 😀

    Much respect for a fellow gearhead who made it big in the most saturated segment and freely shares his knowledge on twitch.

    All music is formulaic, don’t get all snooty because your formula has more numbers.

  26. His modular synths alone are worth over a million $US. He is worth about $50M now, and gets at least $100k per set. I don’t understand the hate in these comments, the man is a proven success.

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