Tag Archives: custom

Welcome Dance Studio Life readers

I am pleased to welcome readers of Rhee Gold’s fabulous magazine Dance Studio Life. If you opened up to the inside back page (the Dance bag) section, you may have seen Squirrel Trench’s very first print ad, reproduced here.

Welcome and thank you for taking the time to find this web site! Squirrel Trench Audio has been serving dance studios in North America and worldwide since 2011. (more background here.) We create lyrically cleaned-edits and edits crafted specifically for choreography, of your favorite songs, as well as custom mixes for dance studios, pom teams, gymnasts, figure skaters, fitness competitors, pole athletes, and vocal competitors.

We have an archive of more than 1,000 song edits and remixes, of which 400 are listed here: Squirrel Trench Archives.

We also take custom edit and mix requests; however, due to popularity, we currently have a large backlog of music work. Requests from the archives are fulfilled immediately however. For more information, please email me: morriss@squirreltrenchaudio.com.

 

Another happy soloist in Alaska

Just finished remixing a fun mashup of several songs, including Britney Spears’ Work Work, into a unique solo routine for a young dancer in Bethel, Alaska. This unique remix features custom drum and bass additions for an exciting, never-before-heard audio foundation for choreography. Here’s what her mom had to say after listening to the finished piece:

“THANK YOU MORRISS!!!
I love it, and my daughter keeps saying, ‘That is sooo cool!’
It is perfect!”

– Delilah Hodge, dance parent
after hearing her finished custom remix for her daughter’s solo
I’d say mission accomplished!

Pom Routine for 1852 Dance

Cheerleading_Pom_Pom_Wet_Look_00036-2Just got finished creating a custom pom routine remix for a dance teacher in Lexington, Tennessee. This fun remix was just under two minutes in length, and featured five songs with spiced-up rhythms and beats, all at a tempo of 142 Beats Per Minute (BPM). I hope the studio has great results with it! If you need custom music for a Pom routine, just send an email! Here’s what Whitney had to say about the finished mix:

“Thanks Morriss! I love it!!!! You will definitely have a repeat customer! Thank you for giving so much attention to the details- you created a lot of depth with this piece of music.”
– Whitney Durham, Nov 6, 2013
1852 Dance, Lexington, Tennessee

Great feedback from Dance for Joy

Kim Houli, studio owner of Dance for Joy had some feedback recently about her Squirrel Trench remix for her studio’s opening recital number, Dancing Through The Ages:

Just wanted to let you know that our opening number is AWESOME!!! The music is perfect! I’ll be sure to post it on you tube when the DVD’s are in this summer 🙂 thanks again!

— Miss Kimberly, dance studio owner at
Dance for Joy, Brielle, New Jersey
April 14, 2013

To listen to and watch Kimberly’s studio’s opening routine from last year, a Wizard of Oz theme, you can view it here:

If you want to have this kind of reaction to hearing music that is created just for you, we’d love to deliver it for you. Check out our Music Editing/Remixing Services.

And now, you too can purchase and use this remix, thanks to a new service called Legitmix. Preview and purchase this mix here:

Get more Squirrel Trench remixes at Legitmix

Ready for some musical inspiration?

DANCE-silhouetteDance teachers, and studio owners, this post is for you.

Right at the peak of Regionals competition season, heading into recitals and possibly Nationals, there is much that needs to be worked on. Some of you are also getting ready for a new season of routines, which means new choreography, which means new music.

When you are ready to start working on the next season, and need musical inspiration, then look no further than a Squirrel Trench Audio custom remix. Every piece of music is worked on individually and uniquely for YOU and your dancer’s needs. There is no cookie-cutter process, and you will not hear your music used by another dance studio. For dancer teachers who love great music, we think the difference between a piece of music which is custom crafted just for you and your dancers is a difference that can be FELT throughout your process of working with your students. You KNOW that this music is YOURS and YOURS ONLY which is something you can feel great about.

We’ve created custom remixes for a number of dance studios throughout the country, including Beatles remixes, Michael Jackson remixes, Janet Jackson remixes, hip hop remixes, movie/Broadway soundtrack medleys, and many others. We’ve also done scary horror-movie themed remixes, and Dancing Through the Ages medleys. We can do recital opening/grand finale numbers such as this fun Wizard of Oz production.

If a Squirrel Trench custom remix is just the ticket to get your choreographic creative juices flowing (especially for your teen, junior and senior groups), then the process is easy. Just email me (morriss@squirreltrenchaudio.com) or give me a call at 413-535-0621 to discuss the ideas you want shaped into the music for your routine. Pricing varies depending on the complexity of the project, but is generally in the range of $89 to $129.

Call or email me when you are ready to get started!

Brianna Roland wins Starbound Senior Overall

Congratulations to Brianna Roland for earning Elite Gold in both of her solo performances at the Starbound regional competition in Springfield, Mass. yesterday. These fierce performances earned her both First and Second place in the overalls for her age category. Her jazz routine Lady Jackson features an original Squirrel Trench remix of Janet Jackson’s Nasty, and her lyrical routine features a Squirrel Trench edited song by OneRepublic.

Beatles remix – Somehow Someway

The following dance routine titled “All You Need Is Love” – was an Elite Senior jazz/character routine performed at the 2012 StarPower Springfield, Massachusetts Regional competition. Choreography by Lesley Lambert. Audio design/remix by Morriss Partee, Squirrel Trench Audio. Story & audio concept inspired by Cirque Du Soleil/Beatles partnership Beatles’ Love

I love doing custom, creative remixes for dance such as this one, and am excited that quite a few dance studios will be using Squirrel Trench Audio remixes for the 2012-2012 dance season. And more are currently in the works! If you are looking for a unique dance remix, then shoot me an email and let me know your concept and routine length.

Creative remixes for dance

Britney Spears beautiful new lookBesides delivering structurally-sound remixes of single songs, perhaps my favorite music editing project is a creative custom remix. These come in many forms. I just finished a remix of four Britney Spears songs for a large competitive group at a studio in Georgia, and I’m about to begin on a “Dance Through The Ages” remix for a non-competitive studio in New Jersey. And if you are looking for a two-part cheer music edit, that is no problem as well. Other custom remixes I’ve finished include a Pixie Hollow theme, a Mary Poppins mash-up, a Wizard of Oz retelling, a train medley, an evocative drum journey, a Beatles remix inspired by the Cirque du Soleil masterpiece Love, and many more.

If you are looking for some fresh new ideas in music to give yourself a creative boost for your next choreographic masterpiece, then shoot me an email. Prices for these custom remixes depend on the complexity, but typically run between $74 and $149.

What is possible in music editing for dance?

I realize that there are many people coming to this site who may not be aware of what can be done to music to get it into shape for a dance routine. So here are just a few of the things that can be changed or re-shaped in getting a song ready for choreography. If you have any questions about it, don’t hesitate to send me an email with your questions!

  • Edit the song for smoothness – Many amateur music editors will cut a song in a spot that doesn’t make sense for a smooth flow. We have an in-depth understanding of music structure that enables us to deliver a polished edit that flows best for choreography. Just let us know how long the routine will be, and we will deliver your song at that length. Email me for more info; pricing is $39 per song.
  • Speed up a song – Advances in digital music processing enable us to speed a song up (or slow a song down) by a little bit or a whole lot. Tempo is usually measured in Beats Per Minute (or BPM). Many dance songs have a tempo in the ballpark of 120-126 BPM. Faster songs that are danceable are 132-140 BPM, and there are other songs that work at 90-100 BPM. It’s all about the groove. Since most dancers don’t know the BPM of a song, it’s okay to tell us that you want a song sped up by 5% or slowed down by 10%.
  • Slow down a song – see above. Any music can be sped up or slowed down. We can even deliver several versions for you at different speeds, for rehearsal purposes.
  • Create a unique remix – Given the right parameters, we can come up with a unique remix of a song or combination of songs. This takes some collaboration, so if you are interested in something like this, this or this, then send me an email, and we can talk further on the phone or via email. Usually this process starts with a concept for the dance, and continues from there.
  • Make a song louder – Dancers often want their music to sound as loud as every other song that is being played on a sound system. If you are using a song from a movie soundtrack, or an older song from many years ago, and it’s not loud enough compared to other songs being used, send it my way and we’ll get it just right for you. Sometimes older songs could use more bass, and we can increase the bass as well. (more on Mastering for Loudness here).
  • Remove swear words or other objectionable lyrics – Many songs have a clean version available, but many do not. Some songs have objectionable lyrics throughout, and should not be used for family-oriented dance. Sometimes a song will be perfect, but have one or two objectionable words or phrases. I have successfully removed such words from many songs, even ones where it seemed impossible. I am proud to have helped one dance group improve their score because competition judges were deducting points because of the objectionable lyrics in a Christina Aguilera Burlesque song. I removed the offending lyrics that were repeated six times throughout the song, and the routine no longer received deductions due to the content of the music.

That covers the basics. Happy dancing!

An introduction to Squirrel Trench Audio

An introduction to Squirrel Trench Audio. This video segment covers why it’s important for dance teachers and dance studio owners to edit your dance music correctly from the start!

If you are new to Squirrel Trench Audio, or music editing, here are some links to what you can find here on the web site:

How to Avoid Awkward Fade Outs

Song Ideas for: JazzLyricalTapContemporaryMusical Theater

Services offered: Song editsCustom Remixes

Let me know if you found this video worthwhile, and what music editing tips you’d like to learn about in future video segments. Your feedback is appreciated!