Roderick William George "Rodaidh" McDonald is a Scottish record producer, and record company executive. He was born in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, Scotland and currently resides in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, United States. His production and mixing credits include

The xx The xx are an English indie rock band from Wandsworth, London, formed in 2005. The band consists of Romy Madley Croft (guitar, vocals), Oliver Sim (bass guitar, vocals), Jamie Smith, also known as Jamie xx (beats, MPC, record production), ...

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Adele Adele Laurie Blue Adkins (; born 5 May 1988) is an English singer-songwriter. Regarded as a British cultural icon, icon, she is known for her mezzo-soprano vocals and sentimental songwriting. List of awards and nominations received by Adele, ...

, Sampha,

Beck Beck David Hansen (born Bek David Campbell; July 8, 1970), known mononymously as Beck, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to fame in the early 1990s with his Experimental music, experimental and Lo-fi mus ...

Weyes Blood Natalie Laura Mering (born June 11, 1988), known professionally as Weyes Blood (pronounced , like "wise blood"), is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. She was primarily raised in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. She has been performing her o ...

Lykke Li Li Lykke Timotej Zachrisson (born 18 March 1986), known as Lykke Li (), is a Swedish singer, songwriter, model and actress. Her music often blends elements of indie pop, dream pop and Electronic music, electronic. Her debut studio album, ''Youth ...

Daughter A daughter is a female offspring; a girl or a woman in relation to her parents. Daughterhood is the state, condition or quality of being someone's daughter. The male counterpart is a son. Analogously the name is used in several areas to show r ...

, Savages,

The Horrors The Horrors are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Southend-on-Sea in 2005 by lead vocalist Faris Badwan, guitarist Joshua Hayward, keyboardist and synthesizer player Tom Furse, bassist Rhys Webb, and drummer and percussionist Joe Spurg ...

Bobby Womack Robert Dwayne Womack ( ; March 4, 1944 – June 27, 2014) was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. Starting in the early 1950s as the lead singer of his family musical group the Valentinos and as Sam Cooke's backing guitarist, Womack's ...

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Glaive A glaive, sometimes spelled as glave, is a type of pole weapon, with a single edged blade on the end, known for its distinctive design and versatile combat applications. There are many similar polearms such as the war scythe, the Japanese nag ...

Hot Chip Hot Chip is an English synth-pop band formed in London in 2000. The group consists of multi-instrumentalists Alexis Taylor, Joe Goddard (musician), Joe Goddard, Al Doyle, Owen Clarke, and Felix Martin. They are occasionally joined by former memb ...

, and

Gil Scott-Heron Gilbert Scott-Heron (April 1, 1949 – May 27, 2011) was an American Jazz poetry, jazz poet, singer, musician, and author known for his work as a spoken-word performer in the 1970s and 1980s. His collaborative efforts with musician Brian Jackso ...

Career

Early career

In 2008, McDonald organised

Italo disco Italo disco (variously capitalized, and sometimes hyphenated as Italo-disco) is a music genre which originated in Italy in the late 1970s and was mainly produced in the 1980s. Italo disco evolved from the then-current underground dance, pop, ...

club nights in London under the 'Cocadisco' brand.

XL Recordings

Between 2009 and 2019, McDonald worked with

XL Recordings XL Recordings is a British independent record label founded in 1989 by Tim Palmer and Nick Halkes. It has been run and co-owned by Richard Russell since 1996. It forms part of the Beggars Group. It releases an average of six albums a year. T ...

, operating as A&R as well as overseeing activities in XL Studios, the label's in-house recording studio. He has worked at XL Studios with a number of acts including

, Sampha, Jai Paul,

, and Giggs. He also signed artists including

and Powell.

Production

McDonald’s production is found across multiple genres and styles, both on and outside of XL. In 2009, McDonald recorded and mixed

's multi-platinum album '' xx'' which won the

Mercury Music Prize The Mercury Prize, formerly called the Mercury Music Prize, is an annual Music award, music prize awarded for the best album released by a musical act from the Music of the United Kingdom, United Kingdom or Music of Ireland, Ireland. It was cre ...

in 2010. In 2010, McDonald visited Ethiopia with Richard Russell and Nick Zinner. They subsequently released an EP together under the name Fresh Touch. In 2011, McDonald participated as a producer in

Damon Albarn Damon Albarn (, ; born 23 March 1968) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as the frontman, main vocalist, and lyricist of the rock band Blur (band), Blur and the co-creator and primary musical con ...

DRC Music project. Collaborating with producers

Dan the Automator Daniel M. Nakamura (born August 29, 1966), better known by his stage name Dan the Automator, is an American record producer. He is the founder of the publishing company Sharkman Music and the record label 75 Ark. Early life Daniel M. Nakamura wa ...

, Richard Russell,

Jneiro Jarel Omar Jarel Gilyard, known by his stage name Jneiro Jarel, is an American recording artist, music producer, composer, and DJ. Recognized for his versatile, abstract, and often experimental style, he is also known for his beat-making alias Dr. Who ...

Actress An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

, Marc Antoine, Alwest, Remi Kabaka Jr.,

Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs Orlando Tobias Edward Higginbottom (born 7 March 1986), known professionally as Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs (commonly abbreviated as TEED) is a British electronic music producer, DJ and singer-songwriter based in the United States. Ea ...

and Kwes, McDonald went to

Kinshasa Kinshasa (; ; ), formerly named Léopoldville from 1881–1966 (), is the Capital city, capital and Cities of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Kinshasa is one of the world's fastest-grow ...

DR Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

for one week to record an album called '' Kinshasa One Two''. All proceeds will benefit Oxfam's work in the

DRC The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

. The album was released by

Warp Records Warp Records is a British independent record label that specialises in Electronic music, electronic, indie rock and experimental music. It was founded in Sheffield in 1989 by Steve Beckett, Robert Mitchell and Robert Gordon. It has released recor ...

. In 2012, he continued his relationship with

, mixing the band's second album '' Coexist'' with Jamie Smith. On 16 September 2012, '' Coexist'' entered the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

at number one. In 2013, McDonald contributed production to albums by

, Savages, and Willis Earl Beal amongst others. Savages' album '' Silence Yourself'', was shortlisted for the 2013

. In an interview with Dazed and Confused in June 2014, McDonald confirmed he was working on a third xx album in New York, Texas, and Iceland. He also confirmed he was working on the debut album for Sampha, as well as UK singer Denai Moore. On 20 January 2017, '' I See You'' by

, which was co-produced by McDonald and Jamie Smith, entered the UK Albums Chart at number one. ''I See You'' also entered at number one in Australia, Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Portugal, and the Netherlands. In the United States it gained the number 1 position in the sales chart and number 2 in the

Billboard 200 The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists. Sometimes, a rec ...

. In July 2017, it was announced that both ''I See You'' and Sampha’s debut, ''

Process A process is a series or set of activities that interact to produce a result; it may occur once-only or be recurrent or periodic. Things called a process include: Business and management * Business process, activities that produce a specific s ...

'', also co-produced by McDonald, had both been nominated for the 2017

, with ''Process'' winning the prize in September 2017. The same year also saw McDonald shortlisted as Producer Of The Year at the 2017 A&R Awards. A further US No.1 album came in March 2018 when

David Byrne David Byrne (; born May 14, 1952) is an American musician, writer, visual artist, and filmmaker. He was a founding member, principal songwriter, lead singer, and guitarist of the American New wave music, new wave band Talking Heads. Byrne has ...

's ''

American Utopia ''American Utopia'' is the eighth studio album by Scottish-American Rock music, rock musician David Byrne, released on March 9, 2018 through Todo Mundo and Nonesuch Records. The release is his first solo studio album since 2004's ''Grown Backwar ...

'', produced by McDonald, Byrne, and

Brian Eno Brian Peter George Jean-Baptiste de la Salle Eno (, born 15 May 1948), also mononymously known as Eno, is an English musician, songwriter, record producer, visual artist, and activist. He is best known for his pioneering contributions to ambien ...

, debuted at No.1 in the US Top Album chart and No.3 in The Billboard 200. ''American Utopia'' was nominated for 'Best Alternative Music Album' in the 2019 Grammy Awards.

Discography

Soundtracks

References

External links

*
Rodaidh McDonald on Discogs.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:McDonald, Rodaidh Businesspeople from Edinburgh Scottish record producers Living people Year of birth missing (living people) XL Recordings Record producers from Los Angeles Scottish emigrants to the United States A&R people Mixing engineers