Attended Icon Collective music production school, and capable of producing, mixing, and mastering all genres of music. Learned vocal mixing and mastering techniques from "Mesta Bish" (Amy Winehouse, Adele, 50 cent, Big Sean, MC Hammer, Fox Sports). I'll make your tracks pop!
Remote mixing & mastering for all genres of music, specializing in pop, hip hop, and electronic
I play guitar, piano, drums, and I sing as well, if anyone needs acoustic instrumentation in their projects.
I grew up playing in bands in the Tampa Bay area in Florida, but moved out to LA when manager Jeff Blue (Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit, Macy Kate) offered to sign me to his production company where I helped produce, mix, and master for other artists. I also do vocal editing, timing and autotune.
I also am active on Soundcloud, Spotify, and Apple Music if you would like to hear any other music I have produced, mixed, and mastered.
Would love to hear from you. Click the contact button above to get in touch.
1 Reviews
Endorse Nick McDonald
Nick is very attentive and easy to work with. He does great vocal work and puts a lot of effort to make your vision come to life. He is very technically gifted and also creative, which is hard to come by. He helped me improve my beats and added things within the theme of my project. I highly recommend Nick. He really knows what he's doing.
Interview with Nick McDonald
Q: Tell us about a project you worked on you are especially proud of and why. What was your role?
A: I produced and mixed many songs on Riot Child's album "Made for Another Time" The songs i produced and mixed from that album were... Hey 21 Bullet Dogs of War Liar Lithium Down
Q: What are you working on at the moment?
A: Im currently working on a solo EP that will be released in December
Q: Is there anyone on SoundBetter you know and would recommend to your clients?
A: not currently.
Q: Analog or digital and why?
A: Analog, simply because I grew up learning on it. I like using analog hardware, but prefer to work in a DAW instead of on a mixing console.
Q: What's your 'promise' to your clients?
A: I promise that I will work with you to be satisfied, and that it WILL NOT take me more than 3 revisions on a single job.
Q: What do you like most about your job?
A: Being able to be around music all day and be paid for it.
Q: What's the biggest misconception about what you do?
A: The biggest misconception is that producing is just pressing buttons.
Q: What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?
A: Check out all the music you can before you make a decision.
Q: If you were on a desert island and could take just 5 pieces of gear, what would they be?
A: Computer loaded with plugins, Monitors, Interface, Guitar, Piano. Nothing else needed.
Q: What was your career path? How long have you been doing this?
A: Started playing in bands throughout middle school and learned drums, guitar and piano. High school I kept it up but started singing, and did some touring with my band. After a couple years of college, I left to work with Jeff Blue, who discovered Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit, Macy Gray, and many others. I've been in LA since 2015 doing that work, which included production, mixing, and mastering.
Q: Can you share one music production tip?
A: Make sure all your instruments fit together, and don't just throw in sounds to add fullness. 8-10 tracks mixed properly usually sound better than 100 tracks. By all means get experimental, I am just speaking from experience in this for my entire life since middle school.
Q: What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?
A: Usually I am asked for discounts if people want more than one job done, which I will discuss with individual clients depending on the number of songs. Also people ask how many revisions I will give the pre-master, which is 3.
Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?
A: How experienced are you? Are you in my area and if so would you like to watch me do your job? Are you able to pay half up front? Do you play any instruments?
Q: Which artist would you like to work with and why?
A: Medasin. The guy knows how to make a song move you with the least amount of elements as possible, and he is brining such a happy and fresh sound to the music scene.
Q: What's your strongest skill?
A: Production and mixing, followed by playing instruments.
Q: How would you describe your style?
A: Future Bass, in other words synthesized modern sounds in use with hip hop drums and acoustic elements.
Q: What type of music do you usually work on?
A: Electronic music like Trap, Future Bass, House, etc. I also do a ton of beats for hip hop artists.
Q: What other musicians or music production professionals inspire you?
A: Chester Bennington, Medasin, John Mayer, Chris Lord Alge, Sam Gellaitry, Monte Booker.
Q: Describe the most common type of work you do for your clients.
A: Production, beat making, and mixing are my most common clients, but they usually end up asking me to master it anyways.
Q: What do you bring to a song?
A: I bring unique synthesized modern sounds in use with hip hop influenced drums and combine them with acoustic elements such as live drums and acoustic guitar. The sonic quality of mixing these sounds correctly and creatively is what I bring to a song.
Q: What's your typical work process?
A: I work on mixes with fresh ears in the morning, and then do most of my production late at night. This seems to keep me on track and in the best groove without tiring out my ears. Always master first thing in the morning as well.
Q: Tell us about your studio setup.
A: I have access to a few, depending on if I want analog gear. I use a sub with Adams A7X monitors and have a UAD interface to record live instruments. I use a U47 for vocals and pretty much everything else I record.
- ProducerAverage price - $500 per song
- Beat MakerAverage price - $400 per song
- Mixing EngineerAverage price - $300 per song
- Mastering EngineerAverage price - $100 per song
- RemixingAverage price - $300 per song
- Vocal compingAverage price - $50 per track
- Vocal TuningAverage price - $50 per track
3 revisions for anything, no revisions on mixes after the mastering process.
Half of the money up front for the job, and other half when the job is completed.
Takes around 3 days for turnaround
- I work at a number of different studios
- depending on what gear I need. I have access to a plethora of analog synths and hardware
