Tom Campbell

No longer working

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27 Reviews (22 Verified)
Tom Campbell on SoundBetter

Due to full time work commitments I am no longer offering my services via SoundBetter

Due to full time work commitments I am no longer offering my services via SoundBetter

Send me a note through the contact button above.

Credits

AllMusic verified credits for Tom Campbell
  • Adele
  • The Snuts
  • Spandau Ballet
  • The Snuts
  • Michael Kiwanuka
  • Michael Kiwanuka
  • The Snuts
  • Sault
  • Jack Peñate
  • Little Simz
  • Michael Kiwanuka
  • Michael Kiwanuka
  • Michael Kiwanuka
  • Michael Kiwanuka
  • Jungle
  • Birdy
  • Ellie Goulding
  • Kylie Minogue
  • Kylie Minogue
  • Kylie Minogue
  • Spandau Ballet
  • Spandau Ballet
  • Dannii Minogue
  • Kylie Minogue
  • The Snuts
  • Kylie Minogue
  • The Snuts
  • Spandau Ballet
  • Spandau Ballet
  • Birdy
  • Birdy

27 Reviews - 5 Repeat Clients

Endorse Tom Campbell
  1. Review by MASAYOSI K.
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    I was very surprised at how complete this is now!
    he has a high degree of expertise for.
    I recommend it!

  2. Review by Thomas H.
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    Tom is very easy to work with - he is patient, communicates clearly, and takes direction very well. He is willing to work hard to help you accomplish your vision; you can put your trust in him to get your tracks to a high level of sonic quality.

  3. Review by Humphrey B.
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    Tom was super easy and helpful to work with. Very fast and he nailed the mix first time round with only a couple of tiny changes. Already working with him on more tracks.

  4. Review by Damen S.
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    Tom was super easy to work with. He was quick in responding to any requests and he made me feel very comfortable in trusting the process of getting the right mix. I'm very satisfied with how my song turned out and I will definitely use him again in the future.

  5. Review by Tony A.
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    At every step, Tom was able to interpret my requests and get exactly the sound we were after. He's able to provide an his own characteristic sound, with lots of character and texture, while maintaining your original vision. The final result he gave us was fantastic. Even the mastering engineer gave him kudos!

  6. Review by Randy D.
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    As newcomers to the mixing/mastering side of music, we weren’t sure what to expect of this process. But Tom’s professionalism, patience, and sincere love for music was an absolute godsend. His turnaround speed is lightning quick, and thanks to his intrinsic musicality, each round of mixes and revisions felt tasteful and “musical.” Moreover, his keen ear for detail made this an extremely gratifying process.

    It is hard to find a better engineer than Tom Campbell on SoundBetter.

  7. Review by Brendan A.
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    It has been an absolute pleasure working with Tom! Not only is he a masterful engineer, but he's also a great communicator and really took the time to listen to my ideas and thoughts. I hope to work with him again- he's a truly gifted musician and engineer.

  8. Review by Brendan A.
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    Always a pleasure working with Tom! Highly recommended!

  9. Review by Alessio
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    Always a pleasure to work with Tom. His kindness and professionalism are rare qualities in this job! Thank you!

  10. Review by Jack
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    by Jack
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    It was my second time working with Tom, and the second time he's smashed it!

    Great communication, highly skilled and genuinely cares about the track. Highly recommend!

  11. Review by Alessio
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    Tom is such a great person and a very excellent sound engineer; he followed us in all stages of mixing production with a great competence. We'll work with him again in the future!

  12. Review by Rickoshay
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    Tom works hard to get the song sounding how you want! I gave him something a bit experimental and he did as many revisions as it needed to get it sounding how I wanted! Appreciate it.

  13. Review by Maeve Bee
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    I've LOVED working with Tom and he's done a superb job mixing 7 tracks of mine in total. He made my songs infinitely more pro-sounding and polished, listened every step of the way and is probably the most patient and kind person you could hope for!

    <3

  14. Review by Deborah C.
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    Tom was patient, understanding, and extremely accommodating throughout the entire process. Would highly recommend!

  15. Review by Jack
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    by Jack
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    Tom's a really talented mixer and a great guy to boot. Always patient,
    polite and on board with our ideas, he helped us get the mix we were looking for. Thanks mate!

  16. Review by Brendan A.
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    Tom was both extremely communicative and wonderfully pleasant to work with. He really listened to me and brought out so many new textures in the music. Highly recommended!!

  17. Review by Miriam Wakeling
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    It was again a pleasure to work for Tom on a cello recording. He sends all the stems and well marked score very clearly. He is very understanding and encouraging which makes the remote process very easy and more enjoyable.

  18. Review by Rory Dempsey
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    Enjoyed working with Tom. Very nice track and his communication was excellent. Hope to work with him again.

  19. Review by Michael T.
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    Tom was an absolute pleasure to work with. The whole process was extremely professional and the results are fantastic. Tom has a very musical approach to mixing. He utilises his expert technical ability intuitively and skillfully. We will definitely be working with him again! Highly recommended!

  20. Review by Miriam Wakeling
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    Tom is great to work with, he is very clear in what he wants, giving well marked scores and stems. Communication is always prompt, a pleasure!

Interview with Tom Campbell

  1. Q: Tell us about a project you worked on you are especially proud of and why. What was your role?

  2. A: The Little Simz album 'Grey Area' was made really quickly, in less than a month, and went from being what we considered as a nice collection of some really good songs to a really successful album that a large audience connected with. I was the engineer on that project and was there from the first demo tracking to the final mix.

  3. Q: What are you working on at the moment?

  4. A: I'm working on a band project where a lot of the parts were recorded separately in people's houses over the course of lockdown. It's been an interesting challenge to bring it all together but I think we've done some amazing work and it's sounding really great.

  5. Q: Is there anyone on SoundBetter you know and would recommend to your clients?

  6. A: I'm quite new to the platform I'm afraid so I haven't networked a lot yet, but I'm looking forward to making some new connections.

  7. Q: Analog or digital and why?

  8. A: If I had to pick one I'd say digital simply because of ease and speed of work and how that impacts creativity. Working entirely in the analogue realm can be exhausting and time consuming, not leaving enough space or energy for reaching people's full creative potential in my opinion. Having said that, I don't think I could live without a few analogue things.

  9. Q: What's your 'promise' to your clients?

  10. A: I'm not going to fight you on anything or ever say no to trying anything. You're the boss and we'll try any way of doing things that you like. I may disagree with things time to time, it's only natural, but I love being proven wrong as it's the only way to learn and get better.

  11. Q: What do you like most about your job?

  12. A: Probably when we figure out what the main vibe or shape of the track is, the first time we get a sense of it's final form. It's a key moment that you just feel happen sometimes and it's really satisfying because usually it's an affirmation that we've done our job well.

  13. Q: What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?

  14. A: Well the most frequent questions are probably requests for mix revisions, which I always answer promptly with a 'can do, no problem'.

  15. Q: What's the biggest misconception about what you do?

  16. A: Perhaps that the key to turning a demo song into a successful recording, commercially or artistically, is giving it a really big shiny production. Firstly, not every great song needs to sound epic to become a great track, and secondly, if the song its best version of itself then there's nothing the production can do to save it.

  17. Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

  18. A: I would probably try to find out what our common ideals are; stylistically, in terms of how we work, for what purposes we're making the music, etc. I find the most important thing when working for or with someone is to have a shared understanding of what we're aiming to achieve on all fronts.

  19. Q: What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?

  20. A: My advice would be to either try and work out exactly what you want to end up with, or be flexible enough to be open to arriving at something unexpected. Communication can be frustrating sometimes if you aren't able to properly express what you'd like if you are after something very specific, and the thing I want most is for the client I'm working with to be satisfied with the result.

  21. Q: If you were on a desert island and could take just 5 pieces of gear, what would they be?

  22. A: Well, with a Macbook Pro, a UAD Apollo, an AKG C414-B-ULS, some DT770s, and a pair of NS10s (with a quad amp), I could probably work forever.

  23. Q: What was your career path? How long have you been doing this?

  24. A: I first got a job as an assistant engineer at a studio in London just over six years ago, and about a year after that I began professionally engineering in that environment. Before that, I earned a bachelors degree in music from Royal Holloway University of London.

  25. Q: How would you describe your style?

  26. A: I'd say my style of working is a juxtaposing mix of having fun but still being very serious about it. I think it's really important to enjoy the stuff you're working on and even be silly at times, creativity comes far more easily when you're relaxed, but at the same time work as though you intend to get a great finished result.

  27. Q: Which artist would you like to work with and why?

  28. A: There are quite a few but I wouldn't want to jinx it by naming them here! I'd love to work with someone like Hayden Thorpe from Wild Beasts, his voice is absolutely incredible.

  29. Q: Can you share one music production tip?

  30. A: Instead of using lots of big long reverbs on things, often I'll use a different effect to give a phsyco-acoustic impression of a big space, an aural illusion if you will. This might be a tempo synced delay, creative adjustment of pre-delay on a smaller reverb, distorting a room sound to make it sound big, or even subtly adding a reverb to a similar sound somewhere else in the mix.

  31. Q: What type of music do you usually work on?

  32. A: I usually work on music that's been played on real instruments or seems like it could have been played live in a room somehow. That's not to say that I don't also work on electronic material, but whatever it is usually has some foothold in the acoustic/physical realm.

  33. Q: What's your strongest skill?

  34. A: I would say one of my strongest skills is using Pro Tools to edit and rejuvenate recorded material that's fallen short of its mark. Often when you capture a musical source, the short-comings of various real-world constraints mean that its quality diminishes compared to how you imagined it sonically. Over the years I've learnt many tricks and techniques that can breathe the life back into the music in these instances.

  35. Q: What do you bring to a song?

  36. A: A good production frames and represents the song as best as it can. A big part of this for me is perfectionist approach to engineering and mixing with the aim of making an excellent recording, but the most important thing is making sure that everything done is adhering to the emotional tone of the music.

  37. Q: What's your typical work process?

  38. A: Usually I will listen to a demo and try to imagine a production around it. I find if I have an idea of where things can go, then I have a sort of blueprint that I can use to start building things right away. I like to work fast, so once I have a vague plan, I aim to get it all down quickly so that there's an energy and momentum in the process.

  39. Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

  40. A: I have a home studio setup in a small sound treated space in my flat in London. Here I've got my NS10s, all my instruments, guitar amps, preamps, synths, and microphone that I use to work on music.

  41. Q: What other musicians or music production professionals inspire you?

  42. A: I love the work of people like Justin Vernon of Bon Iver. He's an artist, a producer, an engineer, and a collaborator, happy to take any role to work with people and get the job done.

  43. Q: Describe the most common type of work you do for your clients.

  44. A: Most commonly I would say I produce, that is to take a song where it needs to go to be a finished recording. This often involves a bit of everything; engineering, playing, re-structuring, mixing, etc.