
Composing a Theme: Premier Hockey Federation Sings a New Song Boutique agency Audiobrain crafted the league's anthem for branding and broadcast By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital
Friday, January 14, 2022 - 8:19 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
There are many pieces of the live viewing experience that sear lifelong memories into the minds - and hearts - of sports fans. Perhaps one of the more underrated elements of madeleine in our collective sports conscious is music.
That is especially true of the sport of hockey, where, just last year, one of the most talked-about storylines of the NHL's reunion with ESPN was the return of the brand's iconic theme song.
On the women's side of the game, the top-flight North American women's professional hockey league was rebranding itself, and the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF) was looking to bring a fresh audible identity to its newly minted brand.
The PHF turned to the team at Audiobrain, a boutique sonic-branding agency based in New York City, to develop a pulsating, energetic theme that would not only accompany the league's new name and logo but debut on broadcast alongside a season-long live-distribution deal with ESPN in the U.S.
You have to engage and bring emotion to the consumer, says Audrey Arbeeny, owner and Emmy-winning executive producer/creative director, Audiobrain. They have to feel something. I've been doing this a really long time, and, when I listen to this piece of music, I get excited.
The process of developing a sports-television theme is an intriguing one, and, for the team at Audiobrain, it's one that includes a lengthy research process. Composers consumed anything they could about the league to identify its brand energy. That included watching multiple NWHL (the league's former name) games, consuming press conference, and talking to key stakeholders in the league: executives, coaches, and players.
By the time we start writing, says Arbeeny, we all sit down, and we say, What makes this different? What's going to make this stand out? And that music is so unexpected. It is as strong as any broadcast-brand theme that we've ever written.
https://www.sportsvideo.org/new/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/OpenMusic_re-encoded_edit.mp4
According to Arbeeny, the key qualities that were identified - and ultimately influenced the final product - were empowerment, inclusivity, and integrity. The team also aimed for a gender-neutral feel in its use of strings and brass.
We follow a branding process, she explains. There's a discovery, and there's research. How is the brand positioning itself, what does it stand for, what are its values, and what are its core attributes?
We're not just writing 15 demos and saying, Tell me which one you like,' she continues. Every one that we write, every concept that we write, the composers tie it back to what we heard from the brand, and that's how we get the right characteristics into the sound.
Audiobrain has quite a legacy in media music and sound effects: its r sum includes some Olympics work for NBC, the Microsoft Xbox 360, and a past edition of the Major League Soccer anthem. The group currently has six award-winning composers on its staff and has been serving the industry for more than two decades.
I knew not only of Audrey's [ability] to create and understand music as a business but [her ability to] understand how to use music to brand, says PHF's executive media consultant Michael Cohen. That was important for this project because, as the Premier Hockey Federation enters its seventh season, it's the most extensive production ever of games being on-air anywhere. We didn't want to just start and throw these things on a media platform without really starting with What is [the league] supposed to feel like, look like, and, importantly, sound like?'
In addition to the primary theme, the Audiobrain team also worked closely with Cohen and the broadcast side to develop a variety of teases and bumpers that fit a traditional broadcast package. What will hit viewers' ears at the top of a game broadcast vs. the open of a league-branded podcast, or when the game goes to a commercial in the middle of the second period, or during a Goal of the Week segment at an intermission break.
The PHF established this theme to be universal, not one designed just for the live game broadcast. This is a theme that will accompany the league in all environments, be it in-venue or on content across social platforms.
It's a cohesive, unified communication, which is where all of voice and sound are going now, says Arbeeny. It is gigantic.
The Premier Hockey Federation returns to action on Saturday wen the Metropolitan Riveters visit the Connecticut Whale at 1 p.m. ET and the Buffalo Beauts visit the Toronto Six at 2 p.m. Both games will stream live in the U.S. on ESPN+.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
11/06/2026
Maxon Brings Real-Time Architectural Visualization to AIA26 With New Redshift fo...
11/06/2026
ABC Kid's Caper Crew Shoots Australian Adventure with Blackmagic Design
Brie Clayton June 11, 2026
0 Comments
DP Judd Overton and team bring Wes A...
11/06/2026
PTZOptics, and LayerJot today announced live demonstrations at InfoComm 2026 showing how prompt-based AI, robotic camera control, and high-performance computing...
11/06/2026
Lightware, an industry leader in signal management, announces the release of GPIO-Button-10S, a dedicated control interface enabling straightforward press-to-a...
11/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/06/2026
Kiloview, a leading innovator in AV-over-IP video solutions, will return to InfoComm 2026 (Booth# N8327) with broadcast-grade AV-over-IP solutions designed for ...
11/06/2026
Australian Games Industry Glossary of Terms 10 June 2026
From DAU and EULA to COT and QADE, here's a list of game industry terms, industry jargon and their...
11/06/2026
Berklee's Tonya Butler Named Music Business Educator of the Year The Music Business Association honored Butler at its annual Bizzy Awards.
June 10, 2026
...
11/06/2026
Ann Mincieli to Receive Honorary Doctorate at Berklee NYC Graduate Commencement The five-time Grammy-winning engineer and producer, known for her longstanding...
11/06/2026
Summer solstice shows from C il House and Late Date from 9pm on Saturday 20 Jun...
11/06/2026
The GeForce NOW summer sale kicked off today with limited-time savings of up to ...
10/06/2026
DAZN-owned digital-media company launches three fan-first series leaning into cr...
10/06/2026
Clear-Com has announced the appointment of Jason Dino as Southwest Regional Sales Manager USA, covering Southern California and the Southwest region. Dino joins...
10/06/2026
An 11% decrease in number of global broadcast deals reflects the organization...
10/06/2026
The Women Without Boundaries Awards recognize women whose work is advancing the future of media, broadcast, AV, workplace technology, digital experience, and re...
10/06/2026
Today is match day minus two for FIFA and HBS. On Thursday, there will be two ma...
10/06/2026
SES is supporting broadcast distribution of the world's biggest football tou...
10/06/2026
NDI has announced that BirdDog has become the first hardware manufacturer to achieve full NDI 6.3 compatibility across its complete lineup of cameras, encoders,...
10/06/2026
Vince Caputo and Scott Carter, winners of the 2026 Sports Emmy for Outstanding Post Produced Audio have been announced as presenters for the 2026 SVG Advanced A...
10/06/2026
FOX One today unveiled a slate of new product features and enhancements designed to elevate the viewing experience for fans on the official streaming platform o...
10/06/2026
Primary production partners Dome Productions and Raycom Sports once again played...
10/06/2026
The Women in Sports Filmmaking Experienceship is an immersive professional devel...
10/06/2026
The league has expanded its HSAN architecture for the NBA Finals to manage more ...
10/06/2026
The inaugural MoonPay X Games League (XGL) Winter Draft will take place Wednesday, September 16, 2026 at Cosm Los Angeles from 7-9 p.m. PT. The event will strea...
10/06/2026
The University of Oklahoma (OU) Athletics Department and Learfield have announce...
10/06/2026
The Video Services Forum (VSF) has released TR-06-4 Part 8, a new specification for RIST Satellite-Hybrid: Out-of-Band Method. The specification creates a mecha...
10/06/2026
Riedel Communications provided the communications infrastructure for the 14th World Live Neurovascular Conference (WLNC) in Lisbon, supporting live medical proc...
10/06/2026
A still from The Doom Generation by Gregg Araki (Courtesy of Sundance Institute)
By Lucy Spicer
Have you checked out our Sundance Film Festival 101 list yet...
10/06/2026
Get Hands-On with Interfaces & Mic Preamp Brands
If youre after a new interface or preamp, then GearExpo UK is the place to be! Well have a whole host of au...
10/06/2026
November 13-14 2026, The Midway, San Francisco
Following their recent rebranding, MONO Music Conference (formerly Music Expo) have officially announced thei...
10/06/2026
Debut instrument free for limited time
deFORM is the debut release from newly founded developer ebbandflow, and it's being offered as a free download fo...
10/06/2026
Alone Australia Season 4: Meet the Cast
10 June, 2026
Media releases
WATCH THE TRAILER
Smash-hit survival series Alone Australia drops its highly anticipa...
10/06/2026
DEADLY THEN, DEADLY NOW, DEADLY ALWAYS: SBS & NITV IGNITE NAIDOC WEEK 2026 WITH ...
10/06/2026
Rohde & Schwarz and TRUMPF advance laser-based drone defense with THORIS LCS Rohde & Schwarz is showcasing THORIS at ILA 2026: A sovereign, end to end counter...
10/06/2026
MAHLE and Rohde & Schwarz develop application for sensor testing of modern drive...
10/06/2026
Production and Development Funding supports the creation of compelling, commercially viable, artistic and culturally relevant South African screen content. Deve...
10/06/2026
Media buyers and sellers can now compare YouTube reach from computer, mobile, an...
10/06/2026
Accedo, Humans not Robots, and the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) have announced the launch of Ecoflow X. Formerly an IBC Accelerator project, ...
10/06/2026
Frequency, the engine powering the world's leading streaming television channels, today announced that James Smith has joined the company as General Manager...
10/06/2026
At the 14th World Live Neurovascular Conference (WLNC) in Lisbon, Riedel Communications provided the communications infrastructure for live medical procedures s...
10/06/2026
Globecast, a leading provider of broadcast, media, and entertainment managed services, today announced the launch of its Content Exchange platform powered by Or...
10/06/2026
Klvr will showcase how venues, integrators and production teams are rethinking disposable battery usage at InfoComm 2026 (Las Vegas, June 17-19, booth #N6311). ...
10/06/2026
The Video Services Forum (VSF) has further enhanced the Reliable Internet Streaming Transport (RIST) protocol by incorporating a new feature, RIST Satellite-Hyb...
10/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
10/06/2026
Today, Google DeepMind released DiffusionGemma - an experimental open model built for exceptionally fast text generation. NVIDIA has optimized DiffusionGemma to...