A walk-up is a cue, not a music video. The batter, the server, or the wrestler is already walking. The song has to arrive with the name and get out of the way before the next announcement. For $40 you get one original song after you pay and finish the intake. The same offer sits on the high school sports page. Hear the quality bar in the player above, then come back to the handoff.
The examples on this page, like Ridgeview and Maya Cole, are composites. They show how to fill the form. They are not a list of clients.
The clock the booth actually has
Stand behind the press table once. The announcer is reading a lineup card, the pitcher is already on the rubber, and the student on the laptop has one hand on the space bar. If your file needs a login, you missed the at-bat.
- 8 to 15 seconds for the personal cue.
- The name, or the number, in the first two seconds.
- School or mascot if it still fits. If it crowds the name, cut it from the short edit.
- No spoken intro longer than the walk.
- MP3 on the laptop or a USB. Not a link that buffers.
A full song can still exist for the bus, the pregame speaker, and the group chat. Say both jobs in the intake if you want the short cue to be the one they play at the plate. If you only say "a walk-up song" and then send three paragraphs of biography, you will get a song that is too long for the cue.
What to send so the name is right
Mispronounced names are how walk-ups die. Write it the way the announcer should say it.
- 1Player name, and a pronunciation if it is not obvious. Example: Maya Cole, MAY-uh.
- 2Number and position.
- 3School and mascot.
- 4Sport: baseball, softball, basketball, volleyball, wrestling. The cue changes.
- 5Feel: drums, bass, a chant, a short brass hit. Name artists if you have them.
- 6One true detail, not a resume. "Leadoff, slaps the other way" is a detail. A list of summer teams is not.
- 7Primary job: plate, court entrance, or pregame speaker.
Example intake, labeled as an example. Ridgeview softball. Maya Cole, number 7, center field, leadoff. Pronunciation MAY-uh. Feel: sharp drums, a shout of "seven" then her name. School: Ridgeview. Mascot: Otters, but the cue should say Maya, not a team chant. Primary job: the walk from the on-deck circle. Full song can live on the bus.
If this is really a team tunnel song for football, use the football page and say tunnel. Do not force nine batters into one chorus.
Principal-safe, and announcer-safe
The booth will not play a diss of the pitcher. They also will not play a joke only the dugout understands if a grandparent is in row two with a printed lineup.
A principal can read this
- Seven, Maya Cole
- Ridgeview, watch her go
- Leadoff, let it fly
Leave this out
- A line about the other pitcher by name
- Anything crude the dugout thinks is an inside joke
- A nickname the player has asked people to drop
- Song lyrics copied from a famous walk-up
Put the limits in the form: "Say the name and the number. No opponent. No copied hook." If the player is a minor, keep the lyric on the field. No dating jokes. No body comments. That is not a style note. That is the line.
When to buy
Buy when the role is real. If the lineup is still a guess, wait until the coach knows who hits first, then send the form the same day. You want the file in the booth's folder before the next home game, with a practice rep if you can get one. Put the next home date in the intake. We do not promise a number of days, so do not tell the announcer the song will exist by first pitch if you paid an hour ago.
One parent pays $40. If four families want four cues, that is four songs, not one chorus with four names squeezed into fifteen seconds. Be honest about that in the group chat before anyone Venmos.
How the file gets to the plate
Coaches are not the audio department. The person who presses play might be a parent volunteer with a laptop from 2014. Build the handoff for that person.
- Rename the file Player-Number-Walkup.mp3. Example: Maya-Cole-7-Walkup.mp3.
- Text it to the coach and to the announcer, or to the parent who runs the table. Two people, not the team thread.
- Ask for one live test with an empty field or at the start of practice. The practice handoff is the same idea.
- Stand where the crowd sits and listen once. If the name is late in the track, tell the booth to start at that second, or ask us to use the short cue.
- Leave the USB in the booth bag, labeled with tape, not in someone's jacket.
If the school uses a house music library with a paper form, attach the same file and write the cue in one line: "Maya Cole, number 7, start of at-bat, original recording." Do not attach a playlist.
Checklist
- 1Name and pronunciation written down.
- 2Number and sport.
- 3Short cue requested as the primary job if the plate is the point.
- 4No opponent, no copied hook, no joke a grandparent should not hear.
- 5File name a stranger can read.
- 6Two recipients: coach and the booth.
- 7One empty-field test before game day.
- 8$40 paid by one person, with the next home date in the form.
Senior night walk-ups are a different length. The player is walking with family, not stepping into the box. Use the senior night guide if that is the night you mean.