BIO
With a career that includes sound design and product consulting for Ableton, Xfer, Roland, Korg, Kilohearts and Sequential—plus serving as Technology Editor for Beatport News—Francis Preve has carved a niche as one of the audio tech industry's most in-demand designers and strategists.
In 2017, Preve introduced his Scapes artform—entirely synthesized procedural audio recreations of field recordings—which got the attention of the immersive sound design industry.
Below is his discussion about the nature of sound from Ableton’s Loop conference in 2017.
Currently serving as Special Advisor for SXSW’s Future Of Music conference programming, Preve has been interviewed on NPR and at Ableton Loop. He has also presented and/or moderated panels on audio, synthesis, and production at conferences including SXSW, WMC, MacWorld, O’Reilly, and Project BBQ.
Francis Preve is also the founder of Symplesound, a soundware company focused on creating intuitive instruments and presets—as well as factory sample and wavetable development for top-tier synthesizer products like Xfer Serum, Ableton Wavetable, Kilohearts Phase Plant, Korg Electribe Wave/Modwave, and Roland n/zyme.
In 2019, Preve was selected by The Bob Moog Foundation to program the legendary modular synthesizer, TONTO, at the National Music Centre in Canada. Here’s a walkthrough on Preve’s work designing on the world’s most important modular synthesizer.
Musically, Preve's production output includes numerous tracks for YouTube Creator Studio, which have received hundreds of thousands of plays as of the time of this writing. His work in dance music has included remixes for Dragonette, Orbital, Gabriel & Dresden, Sander Kleinenberg, and Dave Seaman. His original productions include collaborations like "Yin/Yang" with Wolfgang Gartner, "Glow Ballz" with Matt Lange, and "Get Down" with John Acquaviva & Olivier Giacomotto.
Sound design
Synthesizers and software that currently integrate Francis Preve's designs include Ableton Live (versions 4-11), Xfer Serum, Roland Cloud, Korg (Modwave, OpSix, Prologue), Korg Gadget (and iOS apps), Sequential (Prophet 5, Prophet X, Pro-3, Take 5, REV2), and Kilohearts Phase Plant.
In addition to these clients, he has also designed for AAS, Avid, Mixed In Key, Native Instruments, Propellerhead, and iZotope. In 2016, Preve launched Symplesound to create flexible and user-friendly instrument libraries for Ableton Live, including the iconic PurpleDrums - a tribute to Prince's production techniques.
WRITING
Francis Preve's 20-year writing and editorial career includes hundreds of reviews and tutorials for magazines including Music Radar, Computer Music (UK), Create Digital Music, Resident Advisor, Future Music, Roland Articles, Electronic Musician, EQ, and Music & Computers – as well as serving as Technology Editor for Beatport's music blog, Beatportal.com. Preve has also authored three books on production for Hal Leonard, including The Remixer's Bible in 2006.
His latest book—AudioKit Synth One: The Ultimate Guide—is a complete introduction to learning the essentials of synthesis. As a free book (and Top 10 best seller) on the Apple Books store, this guide has reached thousands of electronic musicians.
Download link below.
Production
Having produced and/or remixed electronic music for over 20 years, Francis Preve's discography spans numerous genres. The most familiar work for many dance music fans would be "Yin" and "Yang"—co-wrote and co-produced with Wolfgang Gartner and considered one of “the best tech house songs ever” by Billboard Magazine. Other collaborators include John Acquaviva & Olivier Giacomotto, Matt Lange, Cloudchord, Jan van Lier, and Gabriel & Dresden. Currently, he composes for television, film, and Google’s YouTube Creator Studio.