AUBURN — Corey Spurlin hasn’t had much time for video games in recent years. Heading into his 19th year as Auburn University‘s marching band director, his recent gaming experience stops at playing Mario Kart with his wife and three kids.
But now, he’s got enough reason to get back into it. His marching band will be the defacto sound of the upcoming EA Sports College Football 26 video game, which releases July 10. The program announced the news Monday, months removed from recording in December.
“I played this very EA sports college football game with my brother and my (college) roommate,” Spurlin told the Montgomery Advertiser. “To now have a collegiate marching band that’s playing the theme to the game that I played as a college student, that’s really pretty cool.”
In a first-of-its-kind opportunity, the band paved way for other colleges to have similar chances moving forward. This is the story of the moment’s coming to be and what it looked like to handle such an undertaking.
Why Auburn University’s marching band was selected to record EA Sports College Football 26 main theme
Steven Schnur, President of Music for Electronic Arts, reached out to Spurlin in early November 2024, explaining EA’s desire for a live marching band record the theme. He wanted it to be Auburn’s.
“He had really a good bit of prior knowledge about our band,” Spurlin said. “He had seen the Metallica show, and knew that we had won the Metallica contest. (He) Watched that video and was real impressed with the with the band.”
In 2023, Auburn’s band was one of 450 to take part in a contest by American heavy metal band Metallica. Performing a nine-minute, black-lit medley of For Whom the Bell Tolls and Wherever I May Roam during an Oct. 21, 2023, contest against Ole Miss, the spectacle netted an $85,000 prize.
“This was new for them,” Spurlin recalled. “It was new for us, and I think he had taken a look at our program and felt like he could trust us to, to be organized and prepared and do a good job.”
The timing was also idyllic. With Auburn football‘s postseason absence, the band could record during the final week of that semester’s classes. With the help of marching band arranger Ward Miller, a composition came together for an early December recording session.
How Auburn University’s marching band recorded EA Sports College Football 26 main theme
Most recordings for a video game soundtrack are easier than the Auburn marching band’s task, with professional studio musicians working in an actual recording studio.
In order to fit 380 college kids into a similar setting, however, a bigger space was needed. Enter Beard-Eaves Coliseum. The long-dormant, 10,500-seat arena that once housed Auburn’s basketball programs took shape as a makeshift studio.
“That was the first time I’ve sat down to do that,” Ross Tolbert, a fifth-year music education student from Helena, Alabama, said. “And I’m sure that was the first time anybody in that band had done that.”
The band’s head drum major, Tolbert conducted the recording. In some ways, it was an easier task for the band, which puts together three to four performances, sometimes in a week’s span, during football season. In this case, they had a week-plus to practice for a single moment, but that didn’t alleviate every challenge.
To make recording feasible, percussion was placed behind the band during recording, which was a stark contrast from its usual placement in earshot of the conductor. In turn, Tolbert described it as a “Doppler effect” coming from the group.
“It was definitely an adjustment to have to adapt to that listening environment, because we heard things later than what they were actually being played,” Tolbert said. “I had to basically drown out everything and just focus on keeping the same tempo.”
The learning curve wasn’t overly steep, as Auburn’s band needed no more than 90 minutes to record. To Tolbert, much of that credit goes to Spurlin and assistant director of athletic bands Nikki Gross, both of whom hold doctorates of musical arts. It’s also a testament to the band’s students, he said.
“We have 380 brilliantly talented musicians and auxiliary members that are so giving of their time, their efforts,” Tolbert said. “Every single person on that field that you see is so talented. There’s a reason that they picked us, and it’s because we can play well. I think that speaks to the musicianship and what we’ve developed here at Auburn.”
Adam Cole is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at acole@gannett.com or on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, @colereporter. To support Adam’s work, please subscribe to the Montgomery Advertiser.
