Hullabaloo just recently finished composing and recording a song and cut-downs for the National Basketball League.  Firstly a big thanks to Mike McCarthy from Telegenic for putting our names forward. Thanks 'Guru".

The music will be used for all TV/radio spots as well as at the games and special events.  Have a listen to the song first and then we'll run through the process.

The brief called for hard hitting rock, while at the same time retaining an appeal to families.  The first demo idea we made scored three points with Phillips and the NBL, and after a bit of to and fro-ing with lyrics, we were set to record. 

Most of the song is sequenced on a computer.  Drums are normally the first thing to be programmed.  We used a combination of loops and synth drum sounds.  These come from either sound banks within the computer or external keyboards.  Although the song was to be very 'rock' we wanted to hold to the brief and not make it too hard.  So, we laid down some keyboard tracks to soften the sound.  We also included some scratching and other sounds to keep it contemporary.

Sydney session player Peter Northcote (pictured above) did some fantastic work with the guitars.  Firstly electric guitars and then two more tracks of acoustic guitar.  The acoustics again helps to soften the sound.  

Brydon Stace, who has just returned from London, did a fantastic job of the vocals.  We chose him because he can belt out a tune, yet retain a softer vocal quality.

To finish off the recording, Glenn and Geoff sang all the 'key' words and some backing vocals.  These were all double tracked (recorded twice), to fatten out the sound.

Glenn did his usual great job on the mix with some nice flanging and delays thrown in for added entertainment.

This is what Marc Wolf, Corporate Communications Manager from Phillips (NBL's major sponsor) had to say;

"Congratulations to all involved - pleasing both Philips and the NBL is not an easy thing to do, and once again you have managed with flying colours. Please pass on my thanks and gratitude to Glenn and Geoff for all of their great work."

You can visit the official NBL web site where you can get info on games and venues. And here to visit the Phillips web site.