Pressure Cooker Studios

09/09/2026

Have a project that needs original music? This is a call for briefs. Not budgets.

FAME Week Africa × Pressure Cooker Studios are launching the Songwriting Camp 2026. A three-day creative initiative connecting African music makers with filmmakers, directors, agencies, brands and content creators who need original music for their projects.

Submit a real creative brief. Get original, sync-ready music made for your project. At no cost and no obligation. Free to test in your edit. Love the music? License it at catalogue rates.

Whether you're developing a film, documentary, campaign or digital content. If it needs an original score or track, we want to hear about it.

Submitting is free. Spots are limited. Creative brief submissions close 25 September, so get yours in. If your brief is selected, all you need is a valid FAME Week Africa 2026 ticket ID.

Submit your brief: https://bit.ly/4cUnt0P

T's & C's apply.

07/09/2026

What happens when Foley becomes the music?

For the latest Hunter's Iced Cold campaign, Director Kyle Lewis wanted to build an ASMR-inspired soundscape entirely from Foley, letting every crack, crunch and icy texture create the rhythm of the film.

Glass was shattered, hands were plunged into buckets of ice and leeks were twisted and crushed, all in the name of sound.

As Kyle puts it, “There’s something about the human touch that you simply can’t replicate.”

In the latest edition of our Director’s Vision series, Kyle takes us behind the sound, reflecting on his time on our Foley Stage and the hands-on craft that shaped the campaign.

Read the full piece: https://bit.ly/4i84ofc

Director Kyle Lewis steps onto our Foley stage and unpacks the ASMR-inspired, hand-crafted sound design behind Hunter’s Iced.

03/09/2026

A score built from scrap, wire and imperfection.

In a new piece for Muse by The Clios, CEO James Matthes takes you behind the Original Music for The Philipstown WireCar Grand Prix, and why creating a sound unique to this story meant stepping away from perfectly recorded instruments.

Inspired by the handmade wire cars themselves, our team built and recorded bespoke instruments from wire, tin cans, scrap metal and found materials, embracing every buzz, rattle and unpredictable resonance. Together with MuNeyi’s vocals, these sounds became part of a sonic world rooted in Philipstown and the imagination of the children racing through its streets.

As James puts it, “Humans aren’t perfect. Some film scores shouldn’t be, either.”

A huge thank you to Muse by Clios for giving us the space to share more about the craft behind this very special project.

Read the full piece here: https://bit.ly/4i0oZSF

As a composer, I don’t think in terms of good or bad sound. It’s more about how emotive something is, and whether it feels right for the project. A recent example is The Philipstown WireCar Grand Prix documentary, which tells the story of the world's only wire car grand prix. During the annual e...

03/09/2026

Real briefs. Real music. Real Creative Impact.

FAME Week Africa × Pressure Cooker Studios are launching the Songwriting Camp 2026. A three-day initiative where curated South African producers, composers and musicians respond directly to your creative brief and turn it into original, sync-ready music.

No stock tracks. No library trawling. Music made specifically for your project. At no cost and no obligation. Free to test in your edit. Love it? License it at catalogue rates.

Submitting is free. Spots are limited. Creative brief submissions close 25 September, so get yours in. If your brief is selected, all you need is a valid FAME Week Africa 2026 ticket ID.

Submit your brief: https://bit.ly/4cUnt0P

T's & C's apply.

01/09/2026

Just a heads-up!

Applications for our Music Internship close on 9 September, so make sure yours is in before the deadline.

If you’re passionate about composing music for games and commercials, hungry to learn and ready to grow, we want to hear from you.

Bring it. Be hungry.

Apply now: https://bit.ly/4c9cWyH

01/09/2026

You bring the story. We'll bring the sound.

FAME Week Africa × Pressure Cooker Studios are launching the Songwriting Camp 2026. A three-day creative initiative connecting African music makers with filmmakers, directors, brands and content creators who need original music.

Submit a real creative brief. Get original, sync-ready music made for your project, at no cost and no obligation. Free to test in your edit. Love the music? License it at catalogue rates.

Submitting is free. Spots are limited. Creative brief submissions close 25 September, so get yours in. If your brief is selected, all you need is a valid FAME Week Africa 2026 ticket ID.

Submit your brief: https://bit.ly/4cUnt0P

T's & C's apply.

31/08/2026

As Women’s Month comes to an end, we’re celebrating three women whose journeys show there’s no single path into the music industry.

Astrid Iverson, Katryn Nieuwoudt and Sarah van der Spuy may work across Production, Publishing and Marketing, but their stories all started with music. From violins and choirs to songwriting and sound technology, those experiences continue to shape how they approach their work today.

In our latest piece, we talk about the long way round, finding your place in the industry, the value of a musical ear beyond the studio, and what it means to be a woman building a career in music today.

As Astrid puts it: “Women are here in this industry, and not just in the wings supporting, but sitting at the head of tables.”

Read the full piece here:
https://bit.ly/4zDojsr

Meet the women in the music industry leading production, publishing and marketing at Pressure Cooker Studios. Real stories on women in the music and audio.

26/08/2026

What makes music actually work in an edit?

Not all pre-cleared music is created the same. From structure and transitions to emotional arcs and endings that land exactly where you need them, the difference between stock music and production music can have a real impact on your edit.

In our latest blog, we unpack the difference and take a closer look at how our Pressure Music Catalogue is built from music created by professional composers for real briefs and real productions, then curated for one-stop sync licensing.

If you are looking to license high quality music, our Music Catalogue and Publishing Lead Katryn Nieuwoudt can help you find the right track for your brief.

Read the full blog: https://bit.ly/4xStMu0

Follow on Instagram for new music, playlists and catalogue updates.

25/08/2026

From the Cape Flats to the Durban International Film Festival (DIFF), From From Dust We Spin continues to make its mark.

The Mail & Guardian takes a closer look at Director Julia Jansch’s award-winning documentary, the world of South African car spinning, and the powerful relationship between Logan Maart and her mentor Mark Linden at the heart of the story.

The film recently took home Best South African Documentary Feature Film at DIFF, making it eligible for Oscar consideration. We’re incredibly proud to have composed the Original Music and Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, led by our Senior Composer, Andries Smit.

A huge congratulations again to Julia, Southern Point Pictures and the entire team behind this special project.

Read Kibo Ngowi’s full feature in the Mail & Guardian here: https://bit.ly/3ShvV3e

Listen to the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack here: https://bit.ly/3Sni7En

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Julia Jansch's award-winning documentary 'From Dust We Spin' explores the unique South African motorsport of car spinning through the eyes of Logan Maart, a teenager finding her path, and her mentor Mark Linden. The film, which debuted at the Durban International Film Festival, delves into the sport...

20/08/2026

You're going to want to turn the sound up for this one.

The new Hunters Iced TVC is an ASMR-inspired sensory overload, designed to give you goosebumps and bring the brands ’Refreshes Like Nothing on Earth' promise, to life.

Every shot was meticulously crafted and captured in-camera. We brought that same hands-on approach to the sound, treating the Foley as another layer of the filmmaking process rather than something added afterwards.

Enjoying the full capabilities of what our Foley Stage offers, we plunged frost-bitten hands into buckets of ice. Shattered pieces of glass, snapped and twisted leeks by hand and experimented with a range of unexpected textures to create every crack, crunch and icy detail you hear throughout the film. Director Kyle Lewis was fully immersed in the process, working alongside the team in the Foley Studio to experiment, explore and help shape the final soundscape.

It's a celebration of human craft at its finest, where the same care, creativity and attention to detail shaped everything from what you see to what you hear.

Big-ups to our collaborators:

Client: Heineken
Agency: VML
Executive Creative Director: Nhlanhla Ngcobo
Senior Art Director: Tumi Mkhuseli Sethebe
Senior Copywriter: Tebogo Jonas
Integrated Producer: Linda Hauser

Production: Egg Films
Director: Kyle Lewis
Producer: Vjorn du Toit

Offline Editor: Anthony Lee Martin
Post: Mushroom Media
Grade: Kyle Stroebel
Online: Sarah Kwan

Sound Studio: Pressure Cooker Studios
Creative Director: James Matthes
Creative Producer: Astrid Iverson
Audio Engineer: Alex Smillie
Foley Artists: Denys Marcel and Angelique Murray