Congratulations to Ross Saunders who has / have been nominated in Production Award: Record Producer of the Year sponsored by Paul McGeechan in the MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards 2026. Vote for Ross Saunders now! It’s going to be another great night at the MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards on Saturday 5th December in Paisley Arena, Lagoon Centre. Why not join us for a brilliant night of music and awards. Buy a ticket here.
We asked Ross of Ross Saunders the following questions.
Tell us about yourself
Ross Saunders is a recording, mixing and mastering engineer available for hire, operating at GloWormRecording – a high end recording studio in Glasgow, Scotland. Ross was classically trained from the age of 10, has been a professional bassist since the age of 17 and has specialised in recording, mixing and mastering for over 15 years.
Ross’ musical career began thanks to an impromptu ‘listening test’ in primary school resulted in 7 years of classical violin and piano lessons.
Although classical training had a crucial effect on his musical learning, it didn’t come with a ‘cool factor’ attached to it and as a result his hunger for learning the guitar took hold. However, there was a slight issue. Every 13 year old boy wants to play guitar when they start a band at high school; but who’s going to play bass?
Horrified by the prospect of ‘only 4 strings’ and root notes to play, he wasn’t keen to say the least, but thankfully a chance event occurred. The drummer in his first band decided it was time to show him the most important musical clip of his life; a video of John Entwistle from ‘The Who’ playing his infamous bass solo in their hit, ‘My Generation’. Having just witnessed the ‘coolest’ thing he’d ever seen in rock, he started to beg his parents for a 4 string bass on a daily basis.
Despite being so fortunate to obtain a decent musical education from an early age, music had always been a major priority in Ross’ life thanks to his father David’s impressively eclectic taste in bands. Through David’s endless musical boot camps, Ross incorporated many styles into his own playing; everything from progressive rock, to Scandinavian nu-jazz, to 70’s P-funk.
Upon finishing high school and earning a place on Strathclyde University’s B.A. Applied Music course, Ross began to focus his efforts solely on bass guitar and audio production as endless projects of varying genre were beginning to pour in. The course also graced its students with an extensive network of musicians from all backgrounds, stretching from Classical to Folk.
Ross graduated from the B.A. Applied Music Course with Honours in 2005 specialising in bass guitar and recording and sound production. However, that was merely the beginning of his musical journey…
During his time as professional bassist, Ross has been fortunate enough to have shared the stage with the likes ‘George Clinton’, ‘Snarky Puppy’, ‘Martha Wainwright’, ‘Edwin Collins’, ‘The Cat Empire’, ‘Nizlopi’ and ‘Imelda May’, to name but a few.
Ross maintains a fundamental ethos of engineering music in an organic, warm and musically non-linear fashion via a complex tonal tapestry of industry standard analogue and digital equipment. Projects of all sizes can be accommodated and will receive the same level of hard work and attention to detail regardless of your budget.
Ross believes in 'flirting with the line' when it comes to making music. In other words, he tends to favour rich layers of 'musical’ saturation, soundscapes with a fearless low end and a 'harmonically rich' stance in general; all for the sake of getting the artist's point across creatively and sonically.
Any particular career highlights?
Recording Mama Terra at GloWorm in 2021, which involved a collaboration with NYC session musicians and the growth of a band that was then fortunate enough to record again at GloWorm Recording last year and mix their album at Studio G Brooklyn, NYC with Grammy nominated producer and mixing engineer, 'Joel Hamilton'. Joel is literally my mentor when it comes to engineering and mixing, so it was a privilege to hear his compliments on my recording and watch him mix the album last year in Brooklyn!
What are your plans for the future?
Continuing to work with the fantastic team at GloWorm Recording and staying on the path of building a unique and special studio that doesn't compromise in any area when it comes to making standard setting music with amazing artists.
Ross Saunders Social Media
Website: http://rossdavidsaunders.com
Instagram: @rossdavidsaunders
Listen to music: http://https://rossdavidsaunders.com/mixing
The 2026 MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards are on the 5th December 2026 in Paisley Arena, Lagoon Centre! You will be able to watch it live in person (buy a ticket here).
Hosted by Scottish personalities Alistair Heather and Mary Ann Kennedy, the night will welcome live performances from some of the brightest lights on the thriving trad scene today including Valtos, Gnoss, Sian, Fèis Phàislig, Spodo Komodo and BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician Rachel Groves and many more!
If you would like to support Hands Up for Trad in their work with Scottish trad music and musicians why not become a friend of Hands Up for Trad. In addition to our high profile events like the Scots Trad Music Awards, we also deliver a less well known, education programme for young people from 8yrs right through to young adults at the start of their careers. Read more here.