Inside Hans Zimmer’s Studio

hans-zimmer-studio

 

Music technologist and author Peter Gorges shared these photos of the absolutely amazing studio of Hans Zimmer.

Not only is the studio a cathedral for music, but, if you look closely, you’ll see that one wall is a giant modular synthesizer. 

hans-zimmer-studio-synthesizers

“It takes HDR to capture this room – conventional camera sensors fail miserably. The whole room is just dark, light-absorbing surfaces (velvet, wood) and a few pointed light sources. There’s no way to just ‘take a photo of it’,” notes Gorges. “This image is created from 6 exposures (0.7 bracketing), processed in Photomatix Pro.”

Too really appreciate the photos (and Zimmer’s studio), see Gorges’ originals on Flickr.

49 thoughts on “Inside Hans Zimmer’s Studio”

  2. Oh, I can see the Schmidt Synthesizer that he loaned to EMC for the NAMM show. So cool that they let us play it. Mr. Zimmer’s room is surreal…

    1. I wish that the man himself would give a comprehensive demonstration of the Schmidt! While I’ve heard some impressive (classic analog-type) sounds from the Schmidt already, I have yet to see or hear anyone really exploit it’s powerful modulation capabilities in a synth demo.

  6. It’s just me or it really looks like the photos were treated in PS?..or perhaps I need to change my crappy monitor…and yes..pretty strange studio.

    1. Not your monitor. There was 6 images at different exposures combined together to get that “look”, called HDR, or high dynamic range.

      “Hans Zimmer Studio – HDR for real

      Another shot of Oscar-awarded film composer Hans Zimmers out-of-this-world studio.
      Hard to believe, but it takes HDR to capture this room – conventional camera sensors fail miserably. The whole room is just dark, light-absorbing surfaces (velvet, wood) and a few pointed light sources. There’s no way to just “take a photo of it”.
      This image is created from 6 exposures (0.7 bracketing), processed in Photomatix Pro, with tons of subtle manual color and light corrections in Niksoftware Viveza, and some Nik Sharpener Pro.”

  7. Ehhh screw this type of studio. Honestly I would get a headache dealing with all the crap in there. I’m sure Hans has servants to take care of everything. Give a simple sunny room with a few old synths, a fast computer and nice monitors and I’m happy.

    2. I’m super disorganized, so I can relate. However, I’m really into modular, and with a system like that, the possibilities (for sound design) would be seemingly limitless!

    1. I have to disagree. I really like that HDR gives photographs of real objects an almost videogame-style look.

      Besides, isn’t it a bit strange to badmouth technological tools (= HDR) on a site about technological tools (= synths, music hardware)? To say “HDR is for boring photographers” seems to me like saying “synths & sequencers are for boring musicians”. I don’t think that’s the case 😉

      1. Beautiful studio but I’m not big on the HDR ‘look’. It seems to make everything sort of flat and oddly colored. Would like to see the same photos, but with less obvious processing.

        FYI – if you check these photos out on Flickr, you can zoom in and see the individual synth modules!

  12. Fantastic photos. Brings a story to mind. I ordered some Moog 901 modules from Mike Bucki (great tech in his time, he made my Source better than new) when he was still in business, back in 2007. I made the mistake of paying for them in full at the time I ordered them. Two years later, after hounding Mike on the phone every six months, he admitted he had sent them to Hans to fulfill a later, larger order of 9 modules in 2009 (could Mr. Zimmer confirm this order?) Not sure if this is true, as Mike was…shall we say…not quite firing on all cylinders at this point, but everytime I watch a Batman movie, I think of this story. Now if I squint, maybe I can at last see them on the back wall!

    1. Hi AA,

      Has anyone heard from Mike Bucki? he told me he was going thru a divorce about
      2 years ago.Do you or anyone have a current email or phone # for him?
      He has modded my mini moog and liberation (midied) both .He does great work
      and i want to support him. He is one of the very few techs who know his s***.
      thx,
      LT

  13. I don’t think its strange. You craft the environment you create in. You should make it a place of refuge from the world one that you are comfortable in and he has done it in rather good taste. I could mix in that room ….. I would have an ear to ear grin if it were mine.

      1. They’re not *that* expensive considering the cost of the rest of the room. If my lottery tickets come up, my first upgrade will be a pair of KEF LS50s which are modestly chepaer than the Questeds.

  15. And yes, the HDR is an abomination, looks like something by Kincade. If they’d given the job to David Hobby (Strobist) he’d have have known how to light it properly.

    2. also goes to show that actual intelligence is a recognition of the equality of opinion, rather than an attempt to glorify oneself at the expense of others based on cultural conditioning

      but why should that stop the fashion show? carry on, all you fancy people

  19. Hans Zimmer deserves his success – he is the new paradigm for a modern composer, using technology intelligently and creating a lot of great music.

    Someone like Zimmer needs all that gear because he works fast and has directors relying on him to deliver. If he wants a piece of gear, it makes sense to have it immediately available.

    I would like to see how he works in his studio though. The amount of space makes it seem like he would have to do a lot of walking.

  22. I’ve been inside this room, these pictures do not really represent what it’s like in there. obviously if red velvet and dark wood is not your thing, you won’t like it, but the HDR makes it looks truly tacky and kind of cheap.

  23. WTF there are 9 MKS-80 stacked in the rack in the middle, just underneath the Super Jupiter Programmer. This is an insane amount of 54 Jupiter voices!

  26. Why is there so much furniture in that room? I can understand a couch or two, but this seems like he spent just as much on chairs as he did synths. If he got rid of some of them, I’m sure you could squeeze a few more synths in there, as I know he has many more. At least he still has great taste in synths.

    1. Presumably for people to sit down while they make music on their iPads. The racks on the wall are only for show, just like in previous times people used to have grand libraries which they filled with books bought by the yard.

  28. Why he has so much furniture? Because he makes movie scores, and has to have space for directors, producers, actors and other people.

    Plus, he’s rich, so why not. 🙂

    1. Also his Eurorack (or was it Modcan or something else?) is conspicuously absent from the central panel. I’m guessing it being used on one of his current projects along with whatever is missing from the far right. I guess it isn’t all for show after all! 😛

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