Nodust Built His Entire Operation From a Bedroom and a Blue Snowball Mic

Most artists talk about their “team” like it’s a badge of honor. The bigger the credits list, the more legitimate the project. Writing camps in Malibu, A-list producers on speed dial, mixing engineers who’ve touched Grammy-winning records. That’s the expected trajectory for anyone serious about making it in music.

Nodust doesn’t have any of that. He’s the writer, the engineer, the mixer, the master, the cover art designer, and the video editor. His entire operation runs out of one room with one laptop, and he wouldn’t have it any other way.

The artist represents a growing strain of bedroom auteurs who’ve rejected the collaborative assembly line model entirely. Not out of necessity, though that’s where it started, but because the singular vision produces something that committee-driven music simply can’t replicate. There’s no dilution. No compromise. No “let’s try it this way because the label thinks it’ll stream better.” Just one person translating what’s in their head directly to your speakers.

His process is borderline obsessive. “I’ll spend 14 hours straight on a song, a good 50% of that is mixing,” he explains. “If I don’t finish it in one go it’ll never get finished.” That kind of hyper-fixation isn’t sustainable for most people. For Nodust, it’s the whole point. He describes those marathon sessions as the only time he can actually be present, not worrying about the past or future. The music isn’t just the output. The making of it is the meditation.

What’s interesting is how deliberate his workflow has become. He’ll throw a beat into FL Studio, slap on his baseline vocal preset, and then literally spit gibberish into the mic. At that stage, he’s not writing lyrics. He’s mapping the terrain, finding where the melody wants to go, identifying key points for vocal emphasis and effects. Only after he’s got that skeleton does he go back and write actual words to fit the framework. It’s backward from how most people think songwriting works, but it explains why his cadences feel so locked into the production rather than sitting on top of it.

His latest single “Numbers,” released in late November 2025, is a good example. Clocking in at just over two minutes, it hits with the kind of low-end that rattles car windows. The track doesn’t overstay its welcome because Nodust knows exactly what he’s going for and gets out once he’s made the point. No filler verses, no unnecessary bridge, just the idea executed and done.

The sound itself sits somewhere in a lane he’s been carving out for about a year now. He describes it as “2013 Chief Keef but he has ADHD and a hyper-fixation with Chrome Hearts hoodies and stimulants,” which is more accurate than it probably should be. His earlier work leaned heavily into emoplugg, influenced by artists like D1v, Bladee, and his close friend Kill Red. But after discovering Nettspend, esdeekid, Xaviersobased, and Feng last year, something clicked. He noticed that the trap and jerk beats dominating the scene didn’t have much melodic experimentation happening over them. That gap became his opening.

Nettspend in particular looms large. “He’s my favourite new artist right now and I think our styles would blend really well,” Nodust says. “HMU Nett!”

The track “Clairvoyance” with producer 999ines marked the turning point. “That was the first time I actually felt like I might have a shot at making it,” he says. He invested in a proper music video, and the result looked like it came from someone with resources. It didn’t. It came from someone with patience and an unwillingness to cut corners.

That DIY ethos extends to everything. His YouTube catalog, including videos like “M.I.A.” with Sheepy, “Zoot” with Snarko, “Geeked” with Malvi, “Dockyard” with n1ght4allzz, and “LapDog” with SuziWithAnUzi, produced by 22Archive, all went through his hands at some point in the editing process. His cover art doesn’t get farmed out to graphic designers. His mixes don’t get sent to someone else for approval. The trade-off is that his release schedule moves slower than artists with full teams behind them, but what comes out is unquestionably his.

When asked what he hopes listeners take away from his music, he doesn’t hesitate. “I just want to make people feel something. You know those songs that can make you feel like you’re seen, or you’re important, or the ones that make you feel like you’re untouchable. There are some really great songs out there that honestly are like drugs, they give you a high like you genuinely feel high listening to them. I want that, I wanna make music that makes people feel like they’re on drugs.”

He knows exactly what that feeling is supposed to feel like. Two songs taught him: “Sound of Silence” by D1v and “Notice” by Kill Red. “I swear they put drugs in those songs,” he says. “I’ve had full days of only listening to those songs on repeat all day. Like 8 hours straight of streaming the same song. I have ADHD. Anytime I feel like I need inspiration I listen to those two songs and then it’s impossible for me not to get in the studio.”

He’s quick to credit the people who have invested in his growth. Producers like Sheepy, who he calls “so talented and such a kind person.” His collaborator c0ll!e, who’s been there since day one pushing him to keep going. His girlfriend SuziWithAnUzi, who shoots his videos and much of his Instagram content, and who’s been building her own presence in Toronto’s scene. “Knowing someone that is at the level I want to be at shows that it’s possible,” he says. “It gives me the hope I need to keep going.” And his mother, who genuinely gets pissed if he drops something without sending it to her first. “Love you mama dust,” he adds, and you can tell he means it.

The bedroom producer phenomenon isn’t new. What feels different now is that artists like Nodust aren’t treating the limitations as something to overcome on the way to “real” success. The limitation is the feature. The isolation is what makes the vision coherent. When you’re the only person touching the work from inception to upload, there’s no one else’s taste muddying the water.

He’s got Toronto shows lined up for this year and more music in the pipeline. For anyone trying to follow along, he’s active on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, X, SoundCloud, Spotify, and Apple Music.