Local music production company Thatch Music recently celebrated yet another major success, securing the prestigious tender for the SABC’s X-Factor reality series brand.
The company, founded in 2009, has been the force behind some of the countries biggest musical productions to date and therefore was the natural choice for the reality show’s musical production.
Working behind the scenes to ensure the success of some of South Africa’s most incredible live events in recent years, Thatch Music founder, owner and musical director James Bassingthwaighte is passionate about producing the best events possible. “I would like to be able to compete with international live broadcasts in terms of production quality. I know that South African viewers are looking for that kind of quality, especially now that so much international content is available and often goes viral. It’s important to me to be part of an industry that’s competing internationally on both musical and technical levels”, he explains.
Aside from interfacing with judges, record companies and the production team in terms of song selection, Thatch Music’s mandate for X Factor was to bring sexier and younger content to the shows.
To that end, many of the Thatch musicians and producers actually perform and produce on each track, also ensuring that each track is immediately ready for download on itunes.
From a musical perspective, there is nothing the company is not responsible for – and that’s even before the live broadcast takes place. “Its so refreshing working on the X-Factor as they are placing a lot of creative faith in us. It’s going to be an awesome first season and the audiences should go beserk for it”, Bassingthwaighte adds.
Bassingthwaighte believes that 2014 was a huge turning point for the talented crew at Thatch Music. The company has grown in leaps and bounds and has turned out phenomenally successful productions, from both a musical direction and live television broadcast perspective.
Some of their recent highlights include The Afrikaans music extravaganza Skouspel, The Metro FM Awards, two years of South African Music Awards success, as well as the Presidential Inauguration in 2014.
Bassingthwaighte believes his success is largely attributed to their attention to detail and the close working relationships with all their clients, as well as many of the countries leading artists.
James doesn’t cite his personal talent as one of the reasons Thatch Music is so successful. However, having won the SAMRO overseas scholarship competition for young composers that allowed him to spend a year in Boston, US, studying with some of the worlds’ industry leaders at the Berklee College Of Music in Boston taught him some valuable lessons and set the wheels in motion for his future.
Bassingthwaighte has surrounded himself with like-minded vocal coaches, musicians and producers, keeping the Thatch Music working ethic at the high standard he has always dreamed of.
Respected by their peers and musicians alike, Thatch Music is fast becoming the countries most sought-after music production and live broadcast company.
Praise for Thatch Music:
Kurt Darren
“I have worked with Thatch Music on various projects and have always found the working atmosphere professional, yet accommodating and fun – its always a pleasure!”
IFani
“As a performing artist on the Metro Awards and the SAMA’s, working with Thatch is always educational and pleasant.”
The Soil
“Every time we work with Thatch it feels like we are in our own backyard having fun with an extended family.”
The Arrows
“We have been fortunate enough to work with James at Thatch Music on more than one live TV broadcast and to say the least, he was so efficient that it made us feel nervous for some of the other broadcasts we have had to do when he was not around. Apart from being incredibly nice humans, Thatch Music functions with the efficiency and precision of a Swiss-engineered clock.”
