The Glossary: Sam Slater | Composer & Music Producer

Our first run of 2026 Glossary interviews features the insights of workshop leaders and speakers from our recently announced programme - Doors Open UNLOCKED: Creating sound worlds with Ableton. You can read more about the programme and apply for a place here.

Sam Slater is a Berlin-based composer, producer, and artist working across film, games, live performance, and recorded media. His work spans commissioned scores, collaborative projects, and self-directed releases, with an emphasis on how sound shapes pacing, atmosphere, and narrative continuity. He has collaborated with Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Mstyslav Chernov on documentary projects situated within journalistic and humanitarian contexts, where sound is shaped by real-world conditions and responsibility.

Slater served as score producer on Chernobyl (HBO) and Joker, and has collaborated closely with composer Hildur Guðnadóttir on multiple projects. His work on Chernobyl received major international recognition, including an Emmy Award, Grammy Award, and BAFTA Award, alongside further nominations across film and television. Recent and upcoming projects include music for the PlayStation / Housemarque collaboration Saros, extending his work into interactive and non-linear narrative environments.

Alongside screen and game work, Slater maintains an independent practice focused on material process and system design. His project OSMIUM centres on self-built instruments and bespoke electronic systems, developed for both live performance and recorded release, and presented at international festivals and cultural institutions.

He is the founder of Mt. Brings Death, a Berlin–New York–based label operating as a curatorial platform for artist-led, long-form releases across experimental composition and songwriting.

Across all contexts, Slater’s work is defined by textural exploration, disruptive formal composition, and a clear position on narrative sound.

What is your role in music, and what does your day-to-day look like?

My main role in music is as a composer and producer, as well as a musician. Day to day, I mostly work in the studio, collaborating with others, and dealing with all the associated management and organisational tasks that come with running your own business.

How did you get into your line of work?

More or less by accident. I knocked on the right studio door at the right time and suddenly found myself in a world of professional composers. I also spent a long time around the experimental scene in Berlin, meeting lots of wonderful weirdos who like building instruments and breaking things.

What skills are important in your job?

A lot of the important skills in my job are interpersonal. I’m not sure training is as important as people often say it is - you learn on the job. Things like self-management and organisation really matter — and, quite practically, doing enough exercise to not go insane in the studio.

If someone is excited to do what you do, what advice would you give them?

If someone’s excited to do what I do, my advice would be: don’t. Jokes aside, it’s very hard to get paid to do interesting things. Or, as my wife once said to me, if you want to get paid to do interesting things, do interesting things until someone starts paying you for them. That feels like good advice to me.

What have you found surprising about your role?

I’m always surprised by how much of my work is actually about just being really good friends with the people around me. I also haven’t seen many people who are genuinely rewarded for being an asshole.

Apply for a place on our workshop series Doors Open UNLOCKED: Creating sound worlds with Ableton here.

Browse jobs in music on Doors Open here.