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Over at my soundware label Treeswift Audio, I’ve been recently working on a project that should be of interest to anyone who wants to delve deeper into creating sounds with synthesizers: Jan’s Patchwork Corner will be a series of workshop videos on synthesis and sound design. In each episode, I’ll take a deep dive into one of my synth patches – either from one of my commercial libraries or from a music production ­–, describe the thought process that went into every design decision, and explain how all the components work and come together to achieve the sound that I’m looking for. In a nutshell, I wanted to make the kind of tutorial that I would have wanted to be around back when I got into synthesis.

The first episode, in which I recreate a synth pad sound from my library Zebra Elementals: ISLA, is out now, and more are on the way. If you’re at all interested in synthesizers and how to get them to make sounds in a deliberate and purposeful way, keep an eye on the Watch page at Treeswift Audio or follow us on YouTube!

Anyone who has even so much as dabbled in learning Blender, the almost-too-good-to-be-true 3D creation suite that has become one of the lead actors in the success story of free software, has probably come across the name of Andrew Price. The Australian-based 3D artist, aptly nicknamed Blenderguru, has famously created some of the most beloved and ubiquitous educational videos that have been essential companions of budding 3D artists for more than a decade.

Andrew’s latest project harkens back to the colorful donuts that served as the workpieces in his early tutorials and have since become his calling card. Under the title Baker’s Dozen, he has created a collection of highly stylized, eye-catching animation loops featuring all kinds of donut-shaped objects that range from the photorealistic to the whimsical. The “originals” of these creations were then auctioned off in digital form, with all of the proceeds going to the Blender development fund to support the future of the software project.

I was excited to join the project as its audio director, creating seamless music loops and sound design for each of the animations.

Nordic woods are mythical places as they are, having been the inspiration and setting of millenia of folk tales, poems, and musical works. The gorgeous universe of Trollmannskogen (The Wizard’s Forest) invites kids of all ages to discover and explore the wonder and whimsy that surrounds them everywhere when they roam nature with open eyes. Directed by Jon Løvaas and produced by illustration and animation house Sandnes Media, the series consists of multiple episodes in which Norwegian folk tales are being re-told with beautiful hand-drawn animation and interspersed with live-action vignettes, the latter of which invite the audience to find the inspirations behind the creatures, places and events of folklore in their natural environments of today.

True to the themes, the music of Trollmannskogen ties the sounds of Nordic folklore into a sweeping fantasy setting, at turns shifting between magical whimsy, grounded pastoral colors, and soaring moments of grandeur. In addition to contributing the end-to-end musical score, I was also responsible for the audio post production and mixing of the episodes, which have since been featured on publisher Gyldendal’s online education platform Salaby and spawned an accompanying series of children’s books.

Even with terabyte-sized sample sets reigning supreme in the media scoring world, synthesizers play a hugely important role in our work; they provide us with the sounds for the more electronic flavors in our music, but – maybe more importantly ­– they’re also indispensable tools for creating our own, truly unique and unheard-of sounds. Whenever a project comes along that calls for it, I make sure to earmark some time to sit myself down with a couple synths and come up with my own signature sounds and earcatchers, and for almost as long as I’ve been doing that, I’ve considered making collections of my own sonic creations and sharing them with fellow composers one day.

That day has now come: I’m excited to announce the launch of my own soundware label Treeswift Audio, under which I will produce and sell my own libraries of synth and sample-based instruments. The debut product is Zebra Elementals: ISLA, a collection of 120 ready-to-play instruments for u-he‘s excellent software synthesizer Zebra2, all of which are inspired by water and fluidity in some form. The library is primarily aimed at other professional film and media composers, but is also an essential source of inspiration and creativity for anyone making electronica and pop music.

Since it’s only tangentially related to my musical work, I’ll only sporadically mention my sound design products on here; but if you’re interested in any aspect of music production yourself, I invite you to bookmark the Treeswift Audio website and follow us on Facebook to stay in the loop!

I’ve recently had the pleasure to be a part of the jury for the Scorelief 2021 film scoring competition, a charity event organized by The Cue Tube and Northern Film Orchestra. The contest is affiliated with a fundraiser benefiting technical workers from the event and entertainment industry that lost their income as a result of the pandemic.

Contestants were asked to write and submit an original score for a segment from the 2019 animated short film SPRING, directed by Andy Goralczyk. With almost 2000 submissions, the event was an astonishing success, which turned evaluating all the entries into quite a challenge! Thankfully it was rewarding work, as we were all impressed with the creativity and quality on display in the submissions.

Congratulations to the winners, and thanks to everybody who took part in the event and donated!