Power Rangers
Question: What kind of live show can you have when all you've got is a thirty second theme song?
Answer: A very short one.
Solution: Call Hullabaloo Ninjas!
And we were all set to bring out all those great Japanese sounds when.... we found out that these ninjas were more of your heavy metal variety.
So here's the job. Create eight tracks of about two and a half minutes each, but no melody. Of the eight tracks, we have one for each Ranger, plus a common theme intro and some more mysterious tracks. No worries. (Have a listen to samples below)
First stop, compose. We've listened to a bit of heavy metal music in our time, but I wouldn't say its our favourite. But that doesn't stop Hullabaloo Ninjas. A few listens to music of the genre and we're away. This process takes a week or so to get the compositions mapped out.
Second stop, the big drum sound. We looked through a few loops, but couldn't find a whole lot that fit the bill, so we ended up programming most of the drums from scratch. Later on we added a few loops here and there to spice up the mix. Mind you, with this style of music, getting loops to sit in with all those guitar riffs isn't easy.
Next stop, guide guitar and bass. Glenn pulls out his trusty Fender Strat to lay down the guitar and I figure out what he's done and make a bass line to suit. From there we get to play with some other instrumentation, keeping in mind that there's a whole lot more guitar to come. That doesn't leave a lot of room. We're looking for little pinpoints that can stick out here and there.
With such guitar oriented music, the next choice was obvious. Peter Northcote. A guitar for every situation.
When Pete arrived we gave him the brief, heavy. Within minutes he had the right guitar and the right guitar patch on his computer. I won't tell you the name of it, but most heavy metal guys would be proud.
It's not easy to walk into a studio and learn that much music quickly, even if you write it down first. But I guess that's one of the gifts session musicians have. Since heavy metal is quite a big sound we doubled up almost every guitar track. It allows you to spread it across the stereo field giving it the illusion of "BIG"!!! Two sessions later, Pete was done.
Next came the bass. As we recorded Peter, we'd make slight alterations to the piece because of the way he'd play it, or a slight change in the riff. This is why we only record guide bass to start with. Now I can record to a final guitar track and get everything's nice and tight.
From there we tighten up the drums and make sure all the accents are as they should be. Lastly comes the mix. That involves walking out and leaving Glenn with it for a few days.
A final listen and we're done. Mix the tracks to CD and ship it off to Hong Kong. Another job completed by Hullabaloo Ninjas!
Have a listen to a few short grabs. Remember to turn up the volume!!! Click on the link below