Sound Advice: MC4D

Join MC4D on Sound Advice, the weekly interview series covering artists’ journeys and their creative process. In this episode, we discuss the brother duo’s folk-EDM crossover sound, 2025 Wanderings tour, new EP and more.

‍

Welcome to Sound Advice, the series spotlighting artists’ creative process and their SoundCloud journey. We’ll get the inside knowledge straight from the source on how musicians, producers and creatives are leaning into everything SoundCloud offers to elevate their sound, get heard and catapult their careers. Sound Advice is now available in audio format on the SoundCloud Stories profile.

‍

On this week’s Sound Advice, we talk to twin brothers Matt and Chris Drake, who make up MC4D: a project that mixes country, folk and Americana stylings with EDM. Inspired by Two Friends’ Big Bootie mixes, the Drake brothers first cultivated a fanbase with a DJ mix series called Down Under Country, where they mash up dance artists like Kygo, Avicii and Cheat Codes with popular country songs. The mixes blew up on SoundCloud; from there, they started steadily releasing a stream of remixes and original collaborations with vocalist and live bands, which has led to songwriting sessions in Nashville and Los Angeles. 

Having released an EP called ‘Wanderings’ last year, and recently announced their Wanderings tour, we called up Matt and Chris at home in New York to learn more about their music-making background, their creative process and some of their career milestones so far. They explained how they use SoundCloud features like insights and private links in their day-to-day process, what we can expect on their upcoming tour and gave some great advice for up-and-coming artists about collaboration, sending demos, getting noticed and staying afloat in the music business.

‍

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO EPISODE OF SOUND ADVICE FEATURING MC4D

‍

LISTEN TO THE ‘WANDERINGS’ EP BY MC4D ON SOUNDCLOUD

‍

LISTEN TO MC4D’s LATEST TRACK, “TAKE ME HOME,” FEATURING THE GROUP WALK OFF THE EARTH

‍

Things We Talked About In This Episode of Sound Advice

‍

‍The Roots of MC4D’s Folk-Dance Crossover Sound‍

• We begin our conversation by reflecting on what has been a busy year for MC4D. After going on an 18-date, sold out tour with Two Friends from January through April 2025 — including a dream show at Denver’s famed venue Red Rocks — the brothers have been on a high, having performed their music to ever-growing, tapped-in crowds. MC4D have played a variety of shows across 2025 — from indoor gigs to major festival stages, across country music and EDM hotspots — so how do they tailor their sets accordingly? 
• For Matt and Chris, they see fit to put together a different show every night; taking into account the crowd they’re playing for, the venue, and even the slot they’re playing in the line up. “No two sets are the same,” they say proudly. It keeps it fun for them, and fans who hit up repeat dates on the tour are always kept on their toes.
• Taking it back to the beginning, we hear about how Matt and Chris have moved between Connecticut and New York throughout their young lives, and grew up playing and absorbing a variety of musical styles. As they tell it, it all clicked when their childhood piano lessons, high school journey into digital music production and love for melodic dance music artists like Kygo, Avicii and The Chainsmokers. 
• Connecting the dots, they started making beats that blend their piano skills with their fondness for progressive and tropical house; playing covers of contemporary radio hits, and making edits on software. 
• Their project truly formalized, though, when they realized that, having fallen for country music and speaking to their country-loving friends, there was some unexplored fertile ground between the melodic bombast of EDM and the soaring sincerity of country. From there, MC4D was born, with a focus on creating “euphoric, timeless music.”

‍

From Remixing Country Vocalists to Working With Them on Original MC4D Music

• The brothers get into detail about their early work with country and Americana vocals, with remixes of major artists like Luke Combs, Zach Bryan and Ascending alum Shaboozey. So how exactly do they approach bringing country, folk and EDM together? Here, Matt and Chris talk about how they approach working with country vocals as dance producers, such as bringing their own instrumentation – piano, drums, guitar — into the beats.
• In aiming for a seamless blend between the beats and vocals, MC4D want to give country and folk music fans a genuine connection to their productions, and not have it feel like an incongruous mix of styles and techniques. Through challenging themselves to do this, the brothers share how it elevated their skills as producers and songwriters, and what country music standards have taught them about what it takes to make a great track.
• Over the course of their career so far, MC4D have done official and unofficial remixes of artists — and then have gone onto work with said artists on original music. Here, they talk about the "snowball effect” of this way of working, and how their early DJ mix series were a major catalyst for these collaborations. Taking it back to 2020, when pandemic lockdowns were spurring on at-home creativity, the brothers had time and room to experiment. Inspired by Two Friends’ Big Bootie mixes and their friend group’s love for country music, they set out to create mixes for their friends that blended country and dance music. 
• As they tell it, they weren’t expecting these mixes to travel beyond their friend group — but after uploading them to SoundCloud and seeing them spread organically online to a captive audience, Matt and Chris realized that there was something special going on, and decided to throw their energy towards the MC4D concept. 
• What advice would the brothers give fellow artists about wanting to go down a similar, genre-blending path? For them, it’s all about doing something that sounds different; something that they don’t hear already on the radio or in clubs. In mixing genres, you’re trying to hone in on a niche of people who are looking for something fresh. 
• Once you do an original blend, the niche will follow and things will blossom from there. The brothers share that they came to this realization themselves quite slowly: after making dozens of remixes of popular dance and pop tracks, they felt that they hadn’t hit on their true sound, but when they landed on their country-dance mixes, they knew they’d found that special niche. 

‍

How MC4D Use SoundCloud to Reward Their Fans, Pitch Collaborators and Share Their DJ Mixes 

• When they started making that original music, the first place they put it was up on their SoundCloud page. The brothers have used SoundCloud for years, and regularly use the platform to share new music, interact with fans and reach out to potential collaborators. 
• One of the core tips they share about using SoundCloud is to be consistent with your uploads. The brothers say that their goal is to “put out a song a month, whether that’s an original track, a remix or a mix.” By keeping the uploads consistent, they stay on their fans’ feeds and give more people the chance to discover them organically.  
• Over the years, the brothers have also made a special effort to engage with their fans on SoundCloud in original ways. Here, they talk about how they use SoundCloud’s features, such as pre-saving a release, sending unreleased tracks or demo snippets over direct messaging, and using geographical data through insights to find out which cities their fans are concentrated in, so they can tailor their tour bookings accordingly.
  
  

Sharing Their Creative and Collaborative Processes, Blending Live Instrumentation and Vocals With Dance Beats

• In the studio, the brothers have hit on song writing and recording processes that work for them. Here, they run down how they like to collaborate, which instruments and digital software tools they most often use, and an honest feedback loop between them keeps them grounded, creative and self-aware. It’s a process that allows them to keep up with their regimen of collaborations. 
• One of their most recent singles, “Take Me Home,” features the group Walk Off The Earth. Here, they talk about the making of the track, how the dynamic of the male and female vocal duet worked with their beats and the energy the track embodies. 
• As seasoned collaborators, MC4D share advice to fellow artists who might be starting out on a similar journey. It all comes down to working with people that you sincerely enjoy listening to but who also are a little out of your comfort zone. 
• By working with vocalists in the indie, Americana and country world, they’ve pushed themselves to be better writers, producers and performers — and it’s all up from there. When it comes to reaching out to artists, Matt and Chris insist on being forthright: send as many DMs as you like, because you never know who will reply, but always write custom messages so that you don’t leave the artist feeling like they just got a cold, impersonal pitch. One way that they do this is to make private playlists of demos for artists, and share them through SoundCloud direct messages. 

‍

MC4D’s Advice For Up-and-Coming Artists, From Income Streams to Studio Sessions and More 

• Whether you’re living in a big city or a small town, the music industry has never been more open to new artists pitching their ideas upwards, they say enthusiastically. After building relationships online, though, getting into the studio with people in person is always a bonus; a fortifying experience that can really evolve your artistry. 
• Their final tip, then, is to make the effort to travel to collaborators if you can — after all, the brothers’ sessions in LA and Nashville have allowed them to write in-person with some of the country artists they remixed all those years ago.
• In 2025, there have never been more options for artists to have multiple income streams. From touring to merchandise, brand deals to social media, it’s a broad church of options. But with options come questions — what’s the best route, and when and how should I take it? Here, MC4D gives honest advice about how fellow artists can build up their income through their music — from remixes to writing original music for TV, performance and more — but also encourages artists to take it steady. 
• Maintaining a full-time or part-time job while you get your music to a place you’re happy with is a legitimate route to take, too, and can even help ward off feelings of burnout and stress that come with making your music a full-time job too quickly in your journey. For Matt and Chris, they explain how comparison is a killer for building real long-term success, so move at your own pace. 

‍

Hitting The Road For The Wanderings Tour, and What Fans Can Expect In Fall 2025

• In fall 2025, MC4D are going on tour to celebrate their latest EP, ‘Wanderings.’ Having completed two tours in the past 18 months, they’re looking forward to the Wanderings tour. Shaping up to be a memorable experience for the brothers, they explain how this tour will feature custom built production staging and the pair also teases forthcoming appearances from vocalists who feature on their original tracks. You can find out more information on tour dates and tickets here.

‍

Links and Extras

Follow MC4D’s journey on SoundCloud.
Listen to their latest single, “Take Me Home,” featuring the group Walk Off The Earth.
Press play on MC4D’s 2024 EP, ‘Wanderings.’
Check out the latest MC4D tour dates here.
Hit play on their latest collaborative track with JOSEPH, “Postcard,” 
Hit play on one of MC4D’s earliest remixes, of Branan Murphy’s “Coming Home.” 
Explore some of MC4D’s wide-ranging influences, including Avicii, Kygo, The Chainsmokers, Luke Combs, Zach Bryan and more. 
Listen to the Next Wave Country playlist on SoundCloud.
Never miss an episode and follow the official Sound Advice playlist on SoundCloud.

Getting The Most Out of SoundCloud

Learn more about using DMs to connect with fellow artists and potential collaborators.
Learn more about how to make a custom playlist on SoundCloud.
Learn more about unlimited uploads, available with an Artist Pro subscription.
Learn more unlocking access to unlimited distribution, available with Artist Pro.
Learn more about getting heard with SoundCloud’s updated algorithm, available to Artist and Artist Pro subscribers.

To discover additional features a SoundCloud Artist or Artist Pro subscription offers, visit here. To catch up on past installments of Sound Advice and make sure you don’t miss out on future episodes, visit here.

‍

_{CREDITS Host: Vivian Host, Executive Producer: Mike Spinella, Producer: KC Orcutt, Audio Engineer: David “DibS” Shackney, Coordinator: Trevor McGee, Editorial Associate: Lauren Martin}