About Me
Tom Foster is a Boston-based film composer, music producer, and sound designer whose work blends emotional storytelling with a refined technical craft. Originally from South Africa, he has shaped music and sound for stories ranging from intimate character pieces to large-scale environmental documentaries, collaborating with organizations and creatives such as Netflix, UNESCO, HarperCollins, the Save Our Seas Foundation, and renowned voices including Dr. Jane Goodall and Yo-Yo Ma.
Alongside composing, Tom directs, shoots, and mixes - owning post-production end-to-end for podcasts and documentary video. His scores mix acoustic instruments with electronic textures, built around whatever the scene actually needs - sometimes that's a single melody carrying the whole film, sometimes it's just texture sitting under a scene. He works closely with directors and editors throughout, and cares more about serving the story than showing off the music.
Tom grew up in a filmmaking family - his father, mother, and uncle all professional filmmakers - so he was exposed to the language of film and music, and how they work together, from an early age. His musical foundation has been shaped by mentorship from two composers: Lenny Williams, a six-time Emmy-winning composer and pianist with over three decades scoring television and film, and Kevin Smuts, the award-winning composer behind My Octopus Teacher and numerous internationally recognized documentaries. Under Williams, Tom refined his orchestration and sense of musical pacing. Through Smuts, he learned documentary scoring at the highest level - building emotionally grounded music for nature-driven and human-centered stories. Their guidance still shapes how he approaches the work today.
Tom's early career took shape at the Sea Change Project, where he served as head composer, sound designer, and mix/mastering engineer. During that time he contributed additional music to My Octopus Teacher, the Academy Award and BAFTA-winning Netflix documentary, and helped build a body of work centered on intimate, human-centered stories about the natural world. His role there grew well beyond the score - he's recorded, shot, and mixed audio and video across 35+ environmental documentaries for the organization, directing interview and cinematic footage for international broadcast and campaign use, and engineering a fully immersive vibroacoustic installation.
Since 2023, Tom has also worked as an audio and video producer for Berklee College of Music's Alumni Affairs team, composing and producing original scores for short-form promotional films, and producing, editing, and engineering "Pass the Mic," the college's award-winning alumni podcast. He brings the same post-production ownership to the "Impact in the 21st Century" podcast, where he leads audio and music for a weekly interview show featuring scientists, authors, and founders - handling everything from editing and mixing to advising on episode structure and pacing.
He's also worked as a producer, engineer, and recording specialist alongside artists including Zolani Mahola, Yo-Yo Ma and the Sea Change Project, and Genevieve & Milo - bringing the same storytelling instincts from film into songwriting and record production. He works across Pro Tools, Cubase, Logic Pro, and Steinberg software.
Tom graduated Summa Cum Laude from Berklee College of Music with a degree in Film Scoring and double minors in Recording & Production and Acoustics & Electrical Engineering, supported by the Berklee World Tour Scholarship. He continues to score films, produce audio and video, and take on post-production work for collaborators around the world - aiming to build a career around music and stories that prioritize human connection and emotional honesty.