Samuel John rae on SoundBetter

Hiya - I'm Sam, 25 y/o producer in love with raw authenticity, lush strings, silky smooth synths and broken up distorted drum grooves. I love collaborating with artists, calling out uniqueness in them and sharing their story. Having toured globally playing folk in my teens, graduated music production at Uni I've made home as a producer in Glasgow.

First developed through classical violin, then toured playing folk acorss South Africa, New York/Toronto, Tokyo/Kyoto, I graduated with a first in Popular Music Production and Composition at Edinburgh Napier university, inadvertently becoming a strong multi-instrumentalist in the process, and now work as a freelance Producer/Mixing/Mastering Engineer.

I offer, with a deep catalogue of experience in each discipline,
- Production
- Mixing
- Mastering
- Session work

Values I work and live by: life and music is a gift and so I desire to treat your art with the utmost care, bringing out quality, character and your artistic intention in every bar. Making music is also a privilege and so I will work with passion to bring your dream into fullness of reality. Every artist has a unique story and journey, and so I desire to best meet your uniqueness and inspire confidence into your performance. Essentially I will treat you well!

I'm super influenced by Aaron Dessner, Finneas, Kings Kaleidoscope, Rivers and Robots and Makoto Fujimura. Though, also desire for each and every project to be it's own adventure into the unknown. The moment I stop having the desire to innovate is the moment I know it's time to hang up the headphones!

Drop me a message! I'd love to hear from you!

Send me an email through 'Contact' button above and I'll get back to you asap.

Credits

Languages

English

Endorse Samuel John rae7 Reviews

by Megan
Sam is genuinely a well of talent and creativity, he will take your song and transform it to a lush musical world of its own. He adds character and musicality and takes the time to listen to your vision and work with you to get something even better than you dreamed up. He’s such a kind person and an immensely talented musician in all aspects of the word!!
by Edward L Holmes II
Sam Rae is an absolutely marvelous hidden gem. Working with Sam was seamless and streamlined as we collaborated on my last spoken word album. Sam was my ghost producer and went above and beyond the call of duty to ensure I was happy with the work accomplished.

I am very gracious for his keen ear and hard work.
Hire Sam.
by Catherine Noel
Sam produced my first 2 songs and did a fantastic job. As it was my first experience recording music, he walked me through the process, gave me tips, and was very encouraging. I felt that he understood my vision and the essence of my songs really well and his additions stayed true to the heart of what I wanted to convey while drawing out even more beauty and character from the music. He is incredibly skillful with mixing and producing, and he genuinely cares about the people he works with. It is a joy to work with him!
by Jen Kirsten
Sam did 3 masters for an EP I worked on. He goes above and beyond in his work ethic. Sam mixes and masters with clarity but also an inspired creative flare with a deep understanding of audio and taste. I would whole heartedly recommend Sam, and definitely will use his services again in the future!
by Josh Hamilton
Sam produced my EP and I couldn’t have asked for a better collaborator. Every decision was made with care and purpose, and he championed my vision through the whole process. Sam’s also genuinely interested in taste and genre, and was so willing to deep-dive into the niches of inspiration that I brought. Totally worth it.
by Ruth Weller
Sam wrote & produced the intro & outro music for our Podcast (“House of Word and Spirit”). We couldn’t have been more delighted with what he did!! Our brief was that we wanted something bespoke that was full of life, and would be engaging to all ages but especially Gen Z. We were blown away by what he wrote, and the quality of the production was outstanding. We plan on working with him again, and would definitely recommend.
by Zak & Lyndsey Robb
We are delighted with our debut EP we released with Sam. He poured in an abundance of creativity, flexibility and patience to work with us to get the songs to a place we were all really happy with. We'll be working with Sam for future projects and can highly recommend him to you!

Interview with Samuel John rae

Q: What's your typical work process?
A: Communicate well with client. What is your dream and your journey leading here. I want to know what makes you, 'you' and how I can call out that uniqueness in this project. It's all about story. Next comes either recording your performance or you sending it over. As I begin to work on any production elements I aim to keep you involved if you want it, letting you hear creative risks I might be taking in searching out your sound. Once you're happy with a production mix, I'd step into mix/master mode polishing a complete radio-ready track. We'll then have three revisions (though they won't all be needed as we've journeyed well together) and then we're good to go!
Q: Tell us about your studio setup.
A: As you walk into my space you're first aware of how cosy it is. I strongly believe a warm place to be creative is so important. Next you would notice my proud white HS7's flanking a large 4k display and Macbook. Your eyes would maybe then wander to notice my effects rack sitting next to my Arturia Keylab 88 with my Seaboard, Shimmering blue Reverend and my Taylor packed in it's case. I rock an analogue/in the box work flow at the moment and I love the rawness yet expansive space for play it fosters.
Q: What other musicians or music production professionals inspire you?
A: I genuinely try to constantly be inspired. I love the songwriting of Finneas/Billie. I am captured by the sample textures of Mk.Gee/Fred Again. I adore the modern fizz yet mellow tone of Aaron Dessner's electric guitar. I also love the fun of Post Malone, while the synth work carried out by Daniel Pemberton really excites me.
Q: Describe the most common type of work you do for your clients.
A: As a strong producer and composer, complimenting a clients songwriting and performance with instrumentation, texture and mix/master that feels at home with their uniqueness is central to all work I do.