I've worked with The Cure, Tricky, Pnau, David Byrne, Neneh Cherry, Erasure, Cyndi Lauper, The Human League, Alison Moyet, Marilyn Manson, David Bowie & Mick Jagger, Siouxsie & The Banshees, Robert Plant, The Mission, Marcella Detroit, John Lydon, Yazz, Yazoo, Femi Kuti, Lisa Stansfield, The Chameleons, Depeche Mode, & The Sugarcubes.
I grew up in rural UK on a farm - a long way from cool record shops and clubs. My music listening growing up was mostly pop radio. I still love good pop music. I'm always looking to make a song more mass appeal. Love coming up with musical hooks on guitar or keyboards. I do a lot of additional production these days where I have creative input to add parts to take your song to the next level. I'm also just as happy to mix what you send me. I love EDM as much as I do rock, pop, goth and indie.
I'm a drummer and drum programmer. I use Logic Pro with Universal Audio Interfaces and have some pretty awesome vintage outboard equipment like Telefunken, Neve, Api mic pres and eqs + Manley, Urei, and API compressors. I use a lot UAD & Wave plug-ins. I have Arturia & Native Instruments synths keyboards + vintage Roland and Kurzweil synths.
I was a drummer in a band before starting at West Side Studios, London, owned by great producers, Clive Langer & Alan Winstanley, where I assisted on sessions with great acts like Duran Duran, The Human League, Madness, Asia, Lloyd Cole & The Commotions and graduated to engineer in 1895. Some of my first credits were for David Bowie on the Absolute Beginners soundtrack and Mick Jagger and Bowie's version of 'Dancing In The Street'. https://soundcloud.com/marksaunders/sets/mark-saunders-work-list
Would love to hear from you. Click the contact button above to get in touch.
Credits
- The Cure
- Tricky
- David Byrne
- Erasure
- David Bowie
- Mick Jagger
- Cyndi Lauper
- the human league
- Neneh Cherry
- Alison Moyet
- Marilyn Manson
- The Mission UK
- Marcella Detroit
- The Sounds
- Shiny Toy Guns
- The Mavis's
- Femi Kuti
- The Sugarcubes
- Ian McCulloch
- Coldcut
- Mory Kante
- Yazz
- Yazoo
- Lisa Stansfield
- Bomb The Bass
- Depeche Mode
- Robert Plant
- The Chameleons
- Lloyd Cole And The Commotions
- Madness
- robert wyatt
- Sandie Shaw
- Madonna
24 Reviews - 5 Repeat Clients
Endorse Mark Saunders- check_circleVerified
Another track completed with Mark and another stellar job! Mark sees what the end goal is instantly, brings his years of experience and throws in all his creative energy to get a fantastic end result.
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The mixes of the songs are magnificent. the sounds and rhythms are exactly what i like, I hope to collaborate with him again, Mark is an artist.
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Mark really goes the extra mile. You're really getting a 'producer' in the classical sense of the word; one who will give you feedback about what could make your song better and introduce creative solutions that completely transform the way you think about the sonics of the thing. Awesome guy.
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Mark mixed and mastered an alternative rock track for us. He brought a very exciting mix which really brought the song to life with guitar tones that will blow your mind and an expressive production style that captured our character and vibe we were seeking. Easy to work with you, efficient and to say he's a top professional is an understatement.
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We always enjoy working with Mark. He always takes our songs to new and exciting places while being mindful of our wants and receptive to our feedback. Thank you!
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My second round of work with Mark and am very happy! Mark is super experienced, talented and a pleasure to work with. Looking forward to working with him on more material.
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Mark is an artist. He understands the deep, unspeakable mood of your music and finds a way to translate it into sound; not just in his estimable production, but in his musical additions and arrangement ideas. On top of that, he works fast. I got my finished song back within days. Don’t miss the opportunity to work with him.
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Mark is amazing at what he does. If you want that classic British indie thing but with the sheen and precision of the contemporary radio, you've found it. His mixes are explosive and imaginative. He knows your sound better than you do.
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Once again, Mark did great things with our song. He took it in a direction that we never would have even dreamed of. Mark offered a couple of different visions for our tune. We let him know which direction we preferred, and he took it from there. Even though we gave him much creative freedom with the track, Mark still listened to our wants and needs and delivered us an awesome production and mix. I can't wait to work with him again.
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I had a great time working with Mark on this track. He's the utmost professional. He quickly understands the intention of the project and finds the core sonic idea of the song. Mark offers his creative opinions and draws upon his talent and vast experience to quickly take your track to the next level! I thoroughly recommend working with Mark!
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Mark took our song to another level with his production, mixing and mastering expertise. We never could've imagined how great our song would turn out. Mark was very responsive and receptive to our requests, but he also offered helpful suggestions and some minor changes that really made our song shine. This was our first time using SoundBetter, and we will definitely be asking Mark to work with us again in the very near future. Thank you, Mark!
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Mark brings out the very best in you and your material. Mark is incredibly creative with an ear of gold. I am so grateful that he takes his time to help me out!
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Mark took my bedroom project and added sounds and arranged it into a real banger. With a lot of feeling and artistry and feeling for the details. I suspect we must have somewhat similar musical tastes because it was scarily close to what I myself would like to do not have the skills for. I can warmly recommend Mark to everyone. Mark is a genius in my eyes!
It was great working with Mark on my first single! He's got a great ear and helped problem solve things we could do with the track to make it sound the best it could. He also added so many cool flourishes that highlighted the feel I was going for and was always open to feedback.
It was great working with Mark on my first single! He's got a great ear and helped problem solve things we could do with the track to make it sound the best it could. He also added so many cool flourishes that highlighted the feel I was going for and was always open to feedback.
It was a very nice experience working with Mark. He always hit straight to the point and easily portray pictures in my head. We never worked on redundant things since he was able to keep pushing the project forward. At the end, he totally lifted my music up to another level, and it became my best experience of listening to my own music.
I thoroughly recommend Mark Saunders. He has a proven track record of working with big name artists and has brought the same passion to our music. He has produced and mixed 4 songs for the Last of the Fallen Angels and taken each song to another level. I have been really impressed with his ear for picking out the best in our tunes and his attention to detail. His musical additions and drum programming are subtle yet bring out the best in our songs.
Mark’s skill as an engineer and producer is on the highest level. His ability to understand exactly what a song needs is remarkable. He has an incredible attention to detail and listening to his mixes in headphones is amazing. Mark is also a multi instrumentalist. If he does feel inspired to add something it will definitely enhance the song making it even more what you were going for.
Mark will take your song to a level beyond.My name is Marcella Detroit aka Marcy Levy. I was part of the band Shakespears Sister and also have worked w Eric Clapton, Elton John & more. Mark produced an album for me in 1995 called "Feeler" and it still sounds so fresh and relevant! He's very deft with sound design, incredible engineering skills, plus he's a fantastic musician. He also produced a song of mine in 2021 called "My Weekend" on my album released in November of that year and did a fantastic job. I can't recommend him more! He's very creative too and likes to try interesting approaches to music which I love.
I could sum Mark up in one word ‘Genius’ and leave it there but I will also go onto say that Mark is the full package, not only an incredible producer, mixer, remixer, musician, writer, creative and Wizard behind my latest single ‘I AM WITCH’ but also an absolute gem of a human being with a heart of gold. Highly skilled and easygoing at the same time.
Interview with Mark Saunders
Q: What was your career path? How long have you been doing this?
A: I started off playing in bands as soon as I got my driving licence and then I joined Westside Studios in west London in 1984 and made the tea and learned the ropes from Alan Winstanley who had engineered and produced The Stranglers, Elvis Costello, David Bowie, Lloyd Cole and The Commotions, Bush amongst many others. I was house engineer about a year later, getting my first engineering credits on a Robert Plant remix and Mick Jagger and David Bowie's 'Dancing In The Street'. I went freelance in 1986 and in a couple of years had my first hit as a co-producer on 'Buffalo Stance' by Neneh Cherry. It reached no. 2 on Billboard Top 100 singles chart. I then met Robert Smith from The Cure and starting doing mixes for him including the 7in mix of 'Lovesong' which also reached no. 2 in the Billboard Top 100 signals chart.
Q: What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?
A: Please don't be shy to reach out. If I like what you are doing/creating, I'll do my best to accommodate you!
Q: Analog or digital and why?
A: If I could afford a full time studio maintenance guy, I'd go for analogue any day. The tape machine would have to be from the mid 70s to the early 80s - I think that was the greatest era for most gear actually. The problem is keeping the old gear up and running!
Q: What do you like most about your job?
A: That generally working on music doesn't feel like 'work'. When I'm working on something I love, time fly's and I don't want to stop!
Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?
A: How many tracks/parts have you laid down in the song you want me to mix.....and then I pray it's under 48.
Q: If you were on a desert island and could take just 5 pieces of gear, what would they be?
A: My 1968 Epiphone Riviera electric guitar, my laptop with Logic Pro, a good two channel mic pre, my Flares Pro headphones and my Soundelux U96 mic.
Q: Can you share one music production tip?
A: Clean up the bottom end! Get rid of extraneous low end from vocal mics and acoustic guitar mics. It all adds and contributes to muddiness and confused bass notes.
Q: Tell us about your studio setup.
A: I work in Logic Pro (since V1.0 in '94!) using a UAD Apollo interface and UAD Plug-ins. I also have old school outboard mic pres, compressors, eqs though by Manley, Neve, Api Urei. I use Arturia, Native Instruments, ReFx Nexus and Addictive Drums for synth, keyboards and drum sounds. My favourite vocal mic is my Soundelux U96 but I also have a Neumann U87 and other Neumann, Audio Technica, Sennheiser and Rode mics.
Q: What other musicians or music production professionals inspire you?
A: Hard questions to answer as I love lots of different musicians and production styles. At the moment, I love the production on the Dua Lipa records and Harry Styles - I also really like them as artists. I love Steely Dan and the production, musicianship and especially the engineering on those records. I'm all over the map really. Love Bowie, Led Zeppelin, The Cure, Kate Bush.
Q: Describe the most common type of work you do for your clients.
A: More mixing and additional production these days
I was the Co-producer, Engineer, Programmer, Mixer in this production
- Buffalo Stance by Neneh Cherry
- Mark Saunders Various One
- Mixing EngineerAverage price - $800 per song
- RemixingAverage price - $1000 per song
- ProducerAverage price - $1500 per song
- Track minus top-lineContact for pricing
- Electric GuitarAverage price - $150 per song
- Songwriter - MusicContact for pricing
- Programmed drumContact for pricing
Turn around usually one to two weeks. 2 x revisions included - after that extra charges may apply depending on how many/how big the changes are...but I am a reasonable guy!
- The Cure
- The Human League
- Logic Pro
- UAD Apollo
- Manley
- Pye
- Neve
- Roland
- Kurzweil
- Neve
- Api
- Urei
- Soundelux
- Neumann
- Sennheiser