Sara Abdelbarry on SoundBetter

A female music producer?! You don't see those too often. Producer, songwriter, and session musician (guitar, bass, vocals) Sara is here to help you make some killer songs, indie rock or otherwise.

Sara has over 6 years of experience playing music and is here to help take your song from good to incredible. Fronting the NJ-based band Teen Idle, her solo music project, she works in the realms of producing, writing, and playing every day.

Whether it's producing your song, helping write one, or playing guitar, bass, or singing on your track, Sara is here for it all. She's most fluent in the indie, alternative, rock, and pop genres, but is willing to work with you on whatever material you have. Shoot her a message and discuss your project.

Her own music, which one could call indie rock, has been played on radio stations across the country, including KEXP, KXLU, and WRSU. She's also worked with small indie labels and worked on music for short films.

Sara will take your song or idea and help you on the journey of turning it into a commercially viable product.

I'd love to hear about your project. Click the 'Contact' button above to get in touch.

Credits

8 Reviews

Endorse Sara Abdelbarry

by MASTERED BY KRAMER
Verified (Client)
SARA gave me a beautiful mix and i made a beautiful Master for her. her music is amazing and she is a total professional. i had a wonderful experience working with her. please come back anytime you need more Mastering work from me, Sara!
by Andy Schichter
Verified (Client)
Sara was a pleasure to work with. She's an extremely gifted songwriter and producer. Very professional and communicative throughout the mixing process. I highly recommend her for any production needs.
by Claude Lumley
Verified (Client)
Professional, clear and polite! Loved the music and recording for this very cool project!
by Travis Sullivan
Verified (Client)
I had a great experience working with Sara. She had clear expectations for her project and was very open to my creative ideas as well. She is also an amazing songwriter and producer and I highly recommended checking out her music!
by Fuji
Verified
Sara was an awesome person to work with! Great communication and also a great songwriter!
by Tiya
Verified
Sara is a beautiful producer with a deep understanding of collaboration. She is very talented and a lovely person.
by Sofie S.
Verified
It was a pleasure working with Sara! She quickly understood what I was going for and helped me along the way. Can't wait to work with her again in the future!:)
by Adam L.
I was looking for someone to write/produce a song for a video I was making and Sara was recommended to me through a friend. She got the song back to me quickly, and it honestly turned out better than I ever would've thought, considering she didn't have many reviews on here yet. I had some lyrics written already, but she made them way better and wrote all the music. She's clearly pretty great at what she does and you should work with her if you're thinking about it!

Interview with Sara Abdelbarry

Q: What are you working on at the moment?
A: I'm currently working on a full-length album, which I am recording, producing, and writing myself.
Q: Analog or digital and why?
A: Both! Digital because of the ease and analog because of the warmth.
Q: What's your 'promise' to your clients?
A: To dedicate myself to your project until I reach a result we're both proud of.
Q: What's the biggest misconception about what you do?
A: That a producer can take a poorly-written song and make it sound like gold.
Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?
A: What do you want out of your project? How would you describe the mood of your song? Who are some reference artists you love?
Q: How would you describe your style?
A: I am a rock/indie rock musician at my core, but I'm influenced by so many styles and all decades, even jazz guitar, so I think I bring something very specific to the things I work on in that I have a very discernable style. Like a Velvet Underground means of production (sparse, drone-like) meets ABBA (catchy, melodic).
Q: Can you share one music production tip?
A: Well, first it starts with the song. So work on your craft and write a good song, and the production will follow.
Q: What type of music do you usually work on?
A: Indie rock, shoegaze, indie-pop, rock, alternative, alt-pop, but I also have an ear for singer-songwriter and straight- up Billboard Top 10 pop. If I feel I can't contribute something to your particular project or style, I won't hesitate to let you know.
Q: What's your strongest skill?
A: Listening! I think when some producers start out, a mistake they make is filling a song with so many additional parts that it loses its touch, but what I do is often find a subtle way to make additions that enhances the vocals or whatever the standout part of the song is.
Q: What do you bring to a song?
A: A fine-tuned musical ear and an ability to hear what a song needs right off the bat.
Q: What's your typical work process?
A: First I'll listen to a client's song until I can find the groove, and by that I mean, until I can figure out what I need to add to the song or how the song could benefit from additional production. Then, I get to work recording. I like to build up a song with layers, sometimes subtle, sometimes not. But if the song is more sparse, I'll figure out how it could benefit from a subtle addition.
Q: Tell us about your studio setup.
A: I have a Focusrite 18i8 interface, along with an array of electric/acoustic guitars and every pedal you could imagine, a bass, multiple keyboards, a vintage Boss drum machine, and a MIDI keystation, so I'm basically set up to record whatever type of song you want.
Q: What other musicians or music production professionals inspire you?
A: Bands: The War on Drugs, Beach House, Vampire Weekend, St. Vincent Producers: Rostam Batmanglij, John Congleton, Brian Eno, Sylvia Massy
Q: Describe the most common type of work you do for your clients.
A: Production/polishing songs, songwriting, or session playing