TAYTE NICKOLS
PRODUCER. SONGWRITER. ARTIST DEVELOPER.
CINEMATIC, RAW, ROOTED IN STORY. HE’LL GO ANYWHERE — A CHURCH, A BURNED-OUT HOUSE, A FIELD AT MIDNIGHT — TO FIND THE THING THAT MAKES A RECORD FEEL REAL.
“Watching Tayte work with such precision and care is a powerful reminder of why I no longer take on production myself. His talent and dedication set a high standard.”
Tayte started on the other side of the glass, as a performing musician, and learned production in a modest studio in a small Liverpool town. At 23 he opened Mad Fox Studios in Manchester — one of the youngest commercial studio owners in the North West.
Out of that room came records for a new generation of artists — Alex Spencer, Finn Forster, Jack Critchlow — that earned BBC Radio 1’s Track of the Week, five iTunes No.1s and Spotify editorial playlists. In 2024 the Music Producers Guild named him Breakthrough Producer of the Year; the following year he was shortlisted for Writer/Producer of the Year.
MPG BREAKTHROUGH PRODUCER OF THE YEAR 2024. SHORTLISTED FOR WRITER/PRODUCER OF THE YEAR 2025. FIVE iTUNES NO.1s. BBC RADIO 1 TRACK OF THE WEEK. SPOTIFY EDITORIAL PLAYLISTS. CUT AT ABBEY ROAD, RAK, STRONGROOM AND METROPOLIS.
“What makes Tayte Nickols stand out isn’t just his technical ability or his stylish spaces. It’s his blend of irreverence, taste, and emotional intelligence — a modern producer with an old-school sense of purpose.”
Since then: Pale Waves, Preston Smith and Jack Harris, with everything from production and songwriting to release strategy, visual direction and full creative development. A one-stop creative partner and a safe haven for new talent — and, for the artists who want it, a longer-term collaborator building the version of them a label can’t argue with.
Art first. Ego last. The record comes before everyone in the room, including him. Tayte writes, plays, records and produces most of his projects himself — fewer people between the artist and the idea, and no waiting for a session player to feel it.
He doesn’t make safe records, and won’t help you make one. Bold, unconventional, occasionally uncomfortable — always in service of the song. And the job doesn’t end at the master: release strategy, visuals, how the project meets the world. If it affects whether the record lands, it’s part of the work.
Today he works between two rooms. The City — a multi-room studio in Hampstead, London. The Lake — Willow Lake, an off-grid, solar-powered studio on a 20-acre farm in the Lake District. He’s also a regular at Abbey Road, Strongroom, RAK and Metropolis, and has worked in Los Angeles, New York, Berlin and Belgrade.