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Al Harding began his musical doodling
transcribing “The Mod Squad Theme” on his toy piano, back in the 1970’s in Geelong, Victoria.
He went on to study music at Melbourne
University, majoring on trombone and piano, graduating with a Degree in 1982.
Al quickly established himself as a sought after and adaptable multi-instrumentalist in the Melbourne music scene – eventually leading to long stints producing, performing and touring (on keyboards, vocals and horns) with The Black Sorrows, The Deborah Conway Band, Boom Crash Opera, The Stephen Cummings Band and many other bands. Al was once offered the keyboard gig in Crowded House, but it wasn’t to be.
Al knew he wasn’t an archetypal touring rock musician, when, instead of trashing hotel rooms, he used to tidy them!
So after many years of grinding tours and waiting around in airport lounges, the home-body got stuck into tinkering in the studio from the early 1990’s onwards, composing film and TV
underscore, sound design, advertising soundtracks, and song writing production with great success, winning various national awards along the way.
Projects include scoring the USA feature film, The Heist, Halifax fp, City Homicide and Canal Rd. for Australian TV, and the composition of many local and international TV and cinema ad soundtracks, with clients including: Holden, Mazda, Shell, Fosters, Telstra, Cadbury, and Mitsubishi. Al and Sam recently completed the score and sound design for the 2022 Australian feature film My False Vacuum, as well as producing orchestral works for the Australian feature films Celeste, I Am Mother, and the title song for H is for Happiness, together with the score for the Howard on Menzies documentary, (ABC), and writing the title song for the Backroads TV series, (ABC).
“I love working with Al Harding. He has an extraordinary sense of picture and story. He creates and sustains a beautiful palette and style so that his music is unforgettable. He also works hard at creating rapport – he quickly gains your confidence, puts you at ease and communicates his needs so that he can realize the score with great verve.”
Brendan Maher / Director / SPOOKS, UK
“Briefing a composer is one of the most difficult things to do as a creative person because music is so subjective, so personal and so powerful. In over 25 years of working with Al, we have spanned every style, every category and every budget. He has delivered every time. I have never known Al to be stumped by any brief. He understands the demands of the advertising format better than anyone I know. But then, I should get out more!”
Sean Cummins / GLOBAL CEO / Cummins and Partners
“I have had the pleasure of working with Big Al for the last 25 years. Our association has not only been a pleasant one, but one that has supported each other’s careers along the way. GasInc had been used many times by Al to complete the sound production for his music jobs. Al has a great track record and a deserving reputation of being one of Melbourne’s leading commercial music writers. I look forward to continuing our relationship long into the future.”
Rodney Lowe / Director/Sound Designer / PRODUCTION ALLEY
“Al is always the creative perfectionist. His studio reflects this as does his love of quality, and thankfully he also applies both these traits to his composing and producing. He is a wonderful collaborator and always travels those extra miles in the journey of a creative project, giving it the attention and finesse that is so necessary to achieve something that is better than good.”
Lynn-Maree Milburn / Director / Ghost Pictures