A (3:05)

Okay. Is there anything else you want to say about Bluey before we end?

B (3:09)

I think that Bluey is just out of this world. And I really like Australia, even though I've never been there. But it sounds fun. My dad went there. His name is Dallas Taylor.

A (3:28)

It's true. I'm so fascinated by Bluey that I flew halfway around the world to Brisbane, Australia, to meet the people who craft the show's sound and music.

C (3:38)

Hi, Dallas. Welcome to the Bluey Music Studio. This is where we make the music.

A (3:44)

Joff Bush is the main composer of Bluey. His studio is a quirky, colorful space filled with plants and knickknacks as well as lots of musical instruments.

C (3:54)

There's a bunch of stuff around here that might have been used in one episode or 10 episodes, but even though

A (4:00)

Joff makes the music for one of the biggest shows on the planet, he doesn't often choose the highest quality instruments that money can buy instead.

C (4:09)

I always like instruments that have a bit of character or a bit of a story to them. We start with this piano. The story behind this piano is that I wanted the cheapest, most broken piano they had in the shop. And I found one. I was like, oh, this sounds like cardboard. It's really quiet. I love it. And the shopkeeper said, I can't in good conscience sell you this piano. It's the one we use as an example to show how bad second hand pianos are. And so that was their, like, bad example piano. But I was like, but I love it. I'll take it. But I like things with character. And this was the next model up. So this was the one that were willing to sell me, but I use it on everything. You know, this is the real test.

A (4:55)

That little melody comes from Bluey's iconic theme song. In the main version that you hear when the show starts, Joff plays it on a melodica, which is a little keyboard with a tube that you blow into.

C (5:12)

Then the famous melodica collection. This is a brand that we did the Bluey theme of, But that's the sound of the show.

A (5:30)

Hearing him casually play these little melodies that have become such an important part of my life was surreal. Later, he picked up a baritone ukulele.

C (5:39)

The main guitar I use for Bluey is probably this one. This one was like 100 bucks, but I like this one because it sounds like cardboard, which is a trait I like from guitars, but that's I.

A (5:55)

And that's the theme to a classic episode called Turtle Boy, where Bluey's little sister Bingo finds a toy turtle on the playground.

B (6:03)

Do you want to play with me, T boy?

A (6:13)

What do you look for in the sounds when you're sourcing instruments, what are you latching onto?

C (6:18)

It's pure feel. Like I can't talk to any of the staff at a shop or anything. I just have to play everything and just go, what feels good? And then trust that, because otherwise someone will tell me what a good instrument is. And every time that happens, I always regret. I'm like, oh, why did I get this? Just because someone said it was good.

A (6:39)

Next, Joff revealed one of Bluey's secret musical ingredients.

C (6:44)

So I've got these, actually, I'll show you. They're called bling sounds.

A (6:47)

These bling sounds are actually chords made up of three instruments layered together. A bright electric guitar, an auto harp, which is an obscure stringed instrument, and a glockenspiel, which is similar to a xylophone. Put them together and you get this. Joff recorded blings in a bunch of different keys.

C (7:11)

Rather than me doing that every time, I've just created a library of bling chords. So if you listen carefully to the Bluey stuff, I often put these over all of the little chords, just drag them over and it's just this little. So it just gives us a sort of high end magic and sparkle to a lot of the pieces.

A (7:29)

Here's one in an episode called Daddy Drop Off.

B (7:34)

This was me and my birthday of candy.

A (7:37)

Since that moment he told me about them, I've been noticing these bling chords everywhere in Bluey. You usually hear them right as the music comes in. Oh,

C (7:48)

look, kids, it's become a bit of a running joke of, oh, how do we make it sound bluey? I chuck some blings on it.

B (7:54)

Oh, that's lovely. This episode of Blue is called Omelette.

A (8:00)

Then Joff opened a small wooden case and pulled out a music box. He also grabbed a little paper scroll with holes punched out for notes like what you'd see in a player piano. On the paper it said Family Law theme. Then Joff started feeding that paper into the music box.

C (8:16)

And I used to do this with all the themes. And this is from another show I worked on ages ago called the Family Law.

A (8:23)

The Family Law was an Australian sitcom that Joff made the music for. Here's the theme song, which sounds very bluey to me. In a scene from the show. You'll also hear the main character, Ben, practicing clarinet. And here's Joff turning the hand crank on his music box to play that same song. It's beautiful.

C (9:12)

I used to do this for all the different shows I worked on up until Bluey. It was just like a little thing. At the end of the series, I was going, I'm gonna make a little music box of the themes. But it was also a way of encouraging me to sort of like, keep the music simple enough to be able to be recognisable and playable on a music box.

A (9:31)

Why is simplicity important to you?

C (9:34)

I think it's really important for kids music because I think a sense of clarity, a simple melody or something, simplicity ties into sense of clarity. Having a sense of clarity, I think makes your show feel comfortable in a way. And that's particularly important for young kids. It's not that you can't have themes or music that feels scary or as adult or isn't too kiddie. It's just that you have a clarity about the music that helps tell the story and that it feels safe because they understand what's going on. I also just like it. I always like something you can whistle or something like that. I sound like such a boomer talking about they don't make good tunes anymore sort of thing. And maybe I'm also really bad at that, sort of mixing palettes and stuff like that. So, like, I have my sound, but whenever I venture out, it's like it doesn't quite work. It's a bit fake.

A (10:33)

Personally, I can't imagine Joff composing something that sounds fake. His music on Bluey is full of authentic emotion, just like the show itself. And it's also incredibly varied. If you listen carefully, you'll realize that every episode has a unique melodic hook, which is something that Bluey's creator, Joe Brumm, decided early on.

C (10:52)

That was one of the first things he told me, because I was like, oh, we'll come up with a sort of library and a palette for the whole show. And we talked about that. And he goes, no, I want something different every episode. Like, we're starting from scratch, like we're making a whole new short film. And so one of the first things we do is, after we talk about it, is we often come up with like a macro theme, like a single hook for that episode. And that's often from the perspective of the kids. If the kids are playing a game of Hotel, for example, write something like, what would a six year old imagine the soundtrack to A fancy Hotel to sound like.

B (11:29)

This episode of Bluey is called Hotel.

C (11:37)

So that's a very perspective approach rather than following the drama.

A (11:42)

You can hear this perspective approach in tons of Bluey music. Here's some swashbuckling adventure music for when the kids play Pirates.

B (11:50)

This episode of Blue is called Pirates. One day there were three pirates.

A (11:58)

And here's some Celtic sounding music for when the kids think there are fairies in the house.

B (12:03)

You know what this means? What? We've got fairies. This episode of Bluey is called Fairies.

A (12:13)

How does your brain get like, if I just made up a scenario, you know, like, how would kids going up to the top of a skyscraper for the first time. How do you. Like, where does your brain go with something like that?

C (12:24)

Yeah, I mean, I think it's like it's a little bit more story behind it. You know, is it a game in the elevator or is it about them conquering their fear of heights? What is it? Because even if it's not shown on screen or even it's not in the script, we want to press for what that is so we know what the music can be covering that might not be seen. So if it's. It's. Oh, it's actually just about them having fun in the elevator. On the way up, I'll have a game of elevator and maybe we'll play around with, I don't know, elevator music style. Some Muzak, But a kid's perspective of what Muzak is. And we'll have some fun with that

A (13:07)

and say that there is, you know, a fear of heights element to that. The delicacy of communicating that to children. How do you communicate fear, but also in a warm, kind way.

C (13:19)

Yeah, I mean, yeah, both of us, a million ways, I suppose, but probably this imaginary episode, probably going through, like, what's the approach we're going to start

A (13:29)

with for an episode that deals with a heavy emotion like fear? Joff said he might build the music around the story arc of the episode or what he calls a structural approach.

C (13:39)

So we could do something that is a bit more structural, where we talk about maybe there's some smaller accomplishment that happens earlier in the episode or something that we can seed an idea of things being okay at the end.

A (13:53)

In other words, even though the kids might be afraid at first, the music is hinting that things will turn out all right. And on the other hand, I think

C (14:01)

that perspective approach with the kids fear, it'd be like watching a nightmare. It's like, this kid's terrified. But I'd probably take a bit More of an external approach for something like that and something that maybe is trying to reassure at the end. But I probably wouldn't play the theatre so much. I don't know. Have to see it

A (14:26)

now. One of the most beloved Bluey episodes is called Sleepy Time. It's the episode that I often send people when I talk about Bluey as an example of the incredible range of emotions the show can achieve in under eight minutes. I also think that Joff's score for Sleepy Time is one of the most brilliant uses of music in all of media.

C (14:45)

Something like Sleepy Time. It's a bit more philosophical or psychological, really.

A (14:50)

The episode starts with Chilli the mom, reading Bingo a book about the planets before bedtime.

B (14:55)

And what's this planet called? Mercury. Good. And the big hot star in the middle? The sun. That's right.

A (15:03)

When it's time to go to sleep, Bingo decides she wants to try sleeping by herself.

B (15:08)

Mom, I want to do a big girl sleep tonight and wake up in my own bed.

A (15:14)

Then Bingo has a dream where she flies through the solar system, visiting different planets. And for the music, Joff adapted a classical suite by Gustav Holst called the Planets. Here's the refrain from the Jupiter movement as recorded by the Berlin Philharmonic.

C (15:39)

The big message of that episode is Bingo's journey to finding independence. But she also has her parents love all the time. So how do we help sell that? So when we use the theme at the end, Holster's Jupiter, we took little snippets of that and seeded them throughout. Whenever the parents are showing love to

A (15:58)

their kids again, here's that Jupiter theme. And here are some snippets of that melody in the episode. Like when Chilli responds to Bingo wanting to sleep alone.

B (16:17)

You do your best, honey, but remember, I'm always here if you need me, okay? Sweet dreams.

A (16:25)

Or when Chilli gets up to get Bluey a glass of water, listen to the high sustained melody behind the plucked strings.

C (16:41)

So it's like you're subconsciously reminded of what that is. The parents love is that little melody from Holst.

A (16:49)

Towards the end, Bingo's blanket falls off the bed and she starts shivering. So Chilli snuggles up to her and warms her up. In Bingo's dream, she flies to the sun, which represents Chilli. Then the full Jupiter theme begins.

C (17:13)

And so when we get back to the end, it hits you a bit more emotionally because you've got both. The story showing Bingo going, I'm a big girl now. I've got independence.

B (17:23)

I have to go. I'm a big girl now and then,

C (17:28)

marrying that with this concept of I will always be there for you, as Chilli says, and I will always love you.

B (17:33)

Remember, I'll always be here for you, even if you can't see me, because I love you.

C (17:44)

And that's a really powerful concept for anyone. And so yeah, we're manipulating people in that way, but that's a very structural and philosophical psychological approach.

A (18:01)

Apart from Sleepy Time, one of my favorite pieces of music from Bluey is from the episode the Signature. It's Bluey's longest episode ever, and it might end up being the series finale for Joff. Scoring that episode was a unique and delicate process, and he even hid a secret melody inside the key theme. That's all coming up after the break. You know why I love Summer? All those plans we made finally make it out of the group chat and into the real world because there's more time to fit everyone in. Whatever you've got in store this summer, capturing those memories with your crew is a must. And the iPhone 17 Pro from AT&T helps you do just that. Its center stage front camera auto adjusts the frame to fit everyone into group selfies. You don't even have to turn your phone. That means no awkward cropping or asking strangers to take it, just the perfect group selfie every time. And ATT makes sharing those moments with everyone easy because you have to share the picture and or it didn't happen, right? Right now at, at and t ask how you can get iPhone 17 Pro on them with eligible iPhone. Trade in any condition requires trade in of iPhone 15+ or higher, excluding the iPhone 16e and 17e requires eligible plan. Terms and restrictions apply. Subject to change. Visit att.comiphone or visit an ATT store for details. Congratulations to Killian Payne for getting last episode's mystery sound right. That's the correct sound from the language learning app Duolingo. It's a sound that's become synonymous with the app, even appearing in the Barbie movie.

B (19:46)

What about dad? Can't just leave him. He'll be fine.

C (19:49)

Boligrafos boligrafos boligrafos

A (19:55)

and here's this episode's mystery sound. If you know that sound, submit your guess at the web address mystery.2000. Anyone who guesses it right will be entered to win a super soft 20,000 Hz T shirt. Up until now, there have been three seasons of Bluey, and season three ended with an episode called the Sign. In it, the main family is planning on selling their house and moving to another city. Bingo is excited about it, but Bluey is sad about leaving her friends and her life behind. It's a really special episode for multiple reasons. While most Bluey episodes are around eight minutes long, the sign is 28, which makes it feel more like a deep emotional journey. I won't spoil exactly what happens in the plot, but by the end it feels like a finale, which was very intentional. About six months after the Sign came out, Joe Brumm, the creator of Bluey, revealed that they were working on a Bluey movie. In the same message, he announced that he was planning on stepping away from the TV series in the event I can't wrap my head around doing more seasons myself. The sign will mark my TV finale for Bluey, and I wrote it as such. Now it's unclear if the show might continue without Joe, but Bluey has really been his baby from the beginning. He wrote almost every episode and it's hard to imagine the show without him guiding it.

C (21:29)

We knew this was going to be such a beautiful, important episode, so we really spent a lot of time playing around and perfecting it. It's like this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to make something work on a show that's this special and an episode that's this amazing. Let's make something that we can be really proud of.

A (21:47)

One of the main story themes of the sign is the idea we'll see, which comes from a story that Bluey's teacher reads to their class.

B (21:54)

It's called the Farmer. See what you think of its ending.

A (21:58)

In the story, a series of good and bad things keep happening to the farmer, but every time his neighbors say

B (22:04)

that's such bad luck, or that's such

A (22:07)

good luck, the farmer just says, we'll see. The point is, you never know how things will turn out. What might look like bad luck now could end up being good luck later and vice versa.

C (22:20)

We'll see. And that's quite a hard thing for young children to, like, compute.

B (22:27)

Is that a happy ending or a sad ending?

C (22:29)

It's both coming to terms with sometimes not everything works out the way it should, and sometimes it works out and whatever will be is meant to be. But that was such a theme of the episode. So I wanted to write a We'll see theme. And I felt like this was like a bookend to the three Bluey series as a whole. And I don't know what the future of Bluey is going to be. But regardless, it felt like there is a little encapsulated story within there. So I wanted this theme to feel like a bit of a bookend.

A (23:06)

But how do you encapsulate an entire series in a single piece of music? Well, if you're Joff Bush, you start with the theme song and then do something musically mind blowing with it.

C (23:16)

The melody is the Bluey theme in reverse. So if I go to a piano, maybe I should go onto a piano. So we've got like the blue theme's an E. The first thing was to take it to its relative major, which is G, and then reverse it. And so it's kind of generously twisting on that. Obviously had to change a bunch of notes to make it into him. Not to get too scientifically and mathematically exact with a reverse, but it's based off that. I wanted it to feel familiar, but also most like a bookend. And by having that reversal of the theme, it felt like it tied in there, but it was the end of something.

A (24:07)

Next, Jaf pulled out his phone and opened up the voice memos app. He scrolled a bit and then found the original piano demo that he recorded for this theme.

C (24:16)

I recorded this right after reading the script, so I hadn't seen any visuals yet. And I wanted to create this wheel C theme. So it's got the theme in reverse. It's got this sort of like, I like to think of it as almost like a river flowing, never ending, pulse of life type riff going underneath. And then we've got the stuff a little bit in the middle, which is like, we'll see, we'll see, we'll see. It's beautiful.

A (25:41)

For the final version, Joff left out the piano chords and just kept the melody. He also layered in mandolin, acoustic guitar, accordion and vocals.

C (26:03)

This has become a such a big part of the Bluey sound. I think this. Me going ooh, as high as I can.

A (26:21)

Once it was in decent shape, he sent it to his regular violinist. Here's the we'll see theme in the episode when Bluey's mom Chilli admits that she doesn't know if moving is the right choice for their family.

B (26:44)

I guess we'll see. We'll see. Yeah, we'll see. Actually the binoculars.

C (26:59)

But at the same time that contrasts with the Bluey theme that is also played throughout. It's the first time in any of the series where we actually use the Bluey theme as underscore as well.

B (27:09)

Dad, wake up. What?

A (27:12)

Huh? Oh, hi, Bingo. How's it going?

B (27:14)

Release. Oh, sorry.

C (27:16)

And we use it in a very like almost sitcom y way for transitions you know, like a little.

B (27:25)

Where is Bluey? Bluey, you're supposed to be at flower girl practice.

C (27:35)

There's these two themes that contrast each other and bounce off each other. One sort of represents the world of Bluey as it is. And the will C represents what is upsetting the regularity of the day in the life, the world there.

A (28:08)

You've brought so much joy to a world that has experienced it in a different way. That you've experienced it.

C (28:17)

Yeah.

A (28:17)

And so if you were to describe your experience on Bluey from your eyes and your mind, how would you describe that?

C (28:25)

At its best, it was just a bunch of friends making something together. I love those moments, that camaraderie and everybody working together to make it as great as it can be. And I love the spotting sessions when we're just in this room here, coming up with ideas and throwing around the room, jumping on the piano and just getting in that flow state and forgetting about anything that's making the show that we want to see and we want to hear.

A (28:54)

How does your brain comprehend? And when you are creating something or a composer or a creator, an artist of any sort, you create, create, you know, and as soon as you hit send and it's done and approved, you're just right back to it again and then again and again.

C (29:08)

Yeah, but even, even then, I mean, there's been times where we've pressed send and then we go, hang on, I think we can do this better. And we come back and do it, which is insane. Nobody does that in this industry. That's a like, no, it started sound. There might be some little things where we, you know, finish it, send it, then we lie in bed and go, no, no, no, no. And then go back and. And tweak it. But, yeah, I think there was a real passion from everybody on my team and everybody everywhere to make something that we will be really happy to look back on over the years and go, oh, we made that. That's beautiful.

A (30:06)

20,000 Hz is produced by my sound agency, Defacto Sound. To hear more, follow Defacto Sound on instagram or visit defactosound.com this episode was written and produced by Casey Emerling with

C (30:18)

help from Grace East.

A (30:19)

It was sound designed and mixed by Joel Boyder. A huge thanks to Joff Bush for welcoming me into his studio and being so open and generous during my trip to Brisbane. To see my visit to Joff's studio, subscribe to my YouTube channel. Dallas Taylor MP3 over there. You can also see me join JAF for a recording session session of the new Orchestral Bluey album up here. You can find clips of these videos on Instagram and TikTok under that same name. DallasTaylor MP3. All of these links are in the Show Notes. Thanks for listening.

B (30:56)

Bye.

A (31:01)

Before we go, a big thanks to ATT for sponsoring this episode. To find out how you can get the iPhone 17 Pro for $0 with an eligible iPhone, trade in. Go to att.comiphone or visit an ATT store. And don't forget that our Listener Story competition is running right now through May 31st. To see the rules and submit your sound story, visit 20k.org 2026 or tap the link in the Show Notes. Thanks.