Since 1982, McDonald has engineered for an impressive roster which includes Patti LaBelle, Melissa Manchester, Ray Charles, Emmanuel, Wang Chung, Marilyn McCoo, Los Tiranos del Norte, Andy Williams, Billy Preston, The Whispers, Gladys Knight, Martika and hundreds of t.v. and film projects for Disney, NBC, PBS, HBO, Fox and Dick Clark. In recent years, McDonald was the highly requested engineer for albums by such artists as The Monkees, guitar rockers The Hellecasters, legendary jazz drummer Alphonse Mouzon, poet and composer Rod McKuen, and blues singer / actor Jim Belushi. In the last six years, Mike's advanced "ears" have been contracted for mastering (digitizing and re-mixing) over 400 albums for classic artists such as Sophie Tucker, Liberace, Gershwin, Cole Porter, Judy Garland, Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra and Johnny Mercer.

In 1988, at the beginning of the Soviet Union's era of Glasnost, McDonald co-produced the first "official" Soviet rock band, Autograf.  Mike later made history as the first American audio engineer to record in Moscow at the Songwriters' Summit (boasting American chart busters Michael Bolton, Cyndi Lauper and Brenda Russell) resulting in the album, "Music Speaks Louder than Words" (Epic).

Along the way Mike became a successful guitar repair specialist, doing pearl inlays and custom work for Jackson Browne, Stephan Stills, Ry Cooder, Bruce Springsteen and the Eagles. McDonald's talent for recording music of various cultures has allowed him to travel the globe, tracking and mixing for artists like Japanese superstar, Seiko Matsuda (Sony), Czechoslovakia's top singer Vasho Padejl (Opus), Finnish pop princess Merve (EMI), Argentine rocker Miguel Mateos (BMG) and Australian crooner Peter Allen (RCA). McDonald also produced an album from the funk / metal band Total Eclipse (Tabu / A&M Records).  An R&B artist Mike discovered and produced, Worthy Davis, recently won the Grande Prix (top artist, top song and best performance) at the Golden Stag International Song Festival in Romania.

A true Renaissance man, McDonald earned a UCLA degree in art history. He passed the Air Force Academy exams hoping for an eventual shot at the astronaut program. His serious love for science and astronomy is satisfied now with his telescope and creating sound effects for various sci-fi / space movies. Mr. McDonald has taken his encyclopedic knowledge of music into the realm of film and television. As a testament to his attention for detail, the Dolby Corporation hired McDonald to mix their presentation music demonstrating their six-channel surround system. He has digitally remixed the soundtracks for 85 20th Century Fox classic films and continues to thrive on musical challenges.