Tag Archives: music

I love thrilling choreographers with exciting music!

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As much as I enjoy editing and cutting popular songs to dance competition length, I take special pride in creating unique remixes that are often used for group routines, especially jazz, character, tap, and hip hop routines. Here’s what a choreographer in Utah had to say after I tweaked a remix to amp up the excitement level even higher:

“NAILED IT!!!! I am soooooo happy it is literally perfect! EXACTLY what I had in mind! I am so excited, the girls are going to freak out. Thanks a million, I really appreciate your help and creativity! You are great! So glad I found you! Thanks again!!!!”

— Daysha Pedersen, choreographer,
Cedar City/Salt Lake City UT
January 16, 2013

How important is music to dance?

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Dancer/choreographer Bree Hafen has written an excellent article about the role that music plays in her dance life on her blog. It’s called The Mystery of Music Decoded.

I think the best part of Bree’s article is how she explains how much care she takes when selecting music to match the song to the age-level of the dancer(s). It’s also great to get her insights into how important music is since it provides the emotional foundation of the entire dance.

Fresh interpretations of Stairway to Heaven

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Song choice for a dance routine is often undertaken with the greatest of care. The song instantly sets the mood for choreography that accompanies it. Many dancers enjoy dancing with songs that they are already familiar with, and thus popular songs are often a great choice for dance.

While Led Zepplin’s Stairway to Heaven is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest rock and roll songs ever written and recorded, it is also one of the most over-played songs of all time as well. Kind of like what the Mona Lisa is to paintings. We’ve seen the Mona Lisa reproduced thousands of times, and we’ve heard Led Zepplin’s Stairway to Heaven thousands of times.

So if you are considering Stairway to Heaven for dance song choice, a wonderful route to take is a cover version of the song. In a competitive environment, this can do wonders for making the music, and thus the routine, feel fresh, new, and exciting, while still using a popular song. Here are three fantastic and fresh alternatives to Led Zepplin’s original version:

Stairway to Rock version (featuring a wonderfully funky beat)

Rose Reiter version (very moody and intense)

The Insurgency version (female singer)

Enjoy! And as always, if you need one of these songs, or any other, cut, edited, or remixed for a dance routine, shoot me an email.

Another happy dance music customer

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I had the great pleasure of editing the music of a number of soloists at Cedar City, Utah’s On Stage Dance Studios last year in the January to March time frame. I’m happy to report that dance parents at On Stage Dance Studios have already begun having their music edited by Squirrel Trench Audio again this year, and I am happy that they are loving the results that we deliver. Here’s what another satisfied dance parent had to say today:

“Hi Morriss! Thank you so much! It’s perfect! You are definitely the best at what you do! The choreographer said you are amazing and that she can’t believe you were able to do it so that it blended so well and didn’t even sound like it had been cut. Not to mention how fast you are at getting it done too. Talk to you again the next time we need some music cut. :) Have a great New Year! Thanks again”

— Andria, dance parent
at On Stage Dance Studio, Cedar City, UT
January 1, 2013

Time to fix things up

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Most group music is probably now finished for the season. Perhaps a few solos still need to be created. In any case, with the bulk of the primary music editing season behind us, now is a great time to fix any glitches that might exist in the music you are practicing with. Better to fix it now than just before competition, so your dancers have a chance to get used to the fix!

So to put the finishing touches on your music stylings, we can fix any unnatural sounding transitions, skips, hiccups, pauses, or drop-outs. In addition, we can perform Mastering services, which will ensure that the volume of the music is at the expected level, without introducing distortion, which is what would happen if you simply increased the volume using music editing software. Read more about that here in Mastering the Loudness of your Dance Competition Music.

More happy dance teachers and parents

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It has been such a great pleasure creating so many fantastic edits and remixes for dance studios, teachers, and parents. In addition, we’ve done music edits for the winners of the Dance Mom of the Year contest that was held earlier this spring on DanceMom.com. Here’s what the grand prize winner had to say:

“Had Sav’s ballet solo music edited by Squirrel Trench Audio (A DMOY prize).  He did an AMAZING job!  Sav’s ballet teacher was thrilled and impressed!
THANK YOU!”

— Savgirlsmom,
Dance Mom of The Year contest winner
November 1, 2012

In addition, we’ve created some slamming remixes for Rhythm Dance Company in Westborough, Massachusetts, and are looking forward to having them performed!

“Just listened once through- I Love it and am so glad I found you!!!  I have more mixes to send your way if you can do them!! Thanks again!  Psyched we can work together.”

— Nicole K., studio owner,
Rhythm Dance Company, Massachusetts
September 28, 2012

Determine the tempo first

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Here’s a tip that will make all of your music edits (or cuts) much, much easier.

I just got an emergency assignment to edit a popular remix/dubstep song down to the routine length of 2:30. The dance teacher just couldn’t make it happen. This is very understandable; there are a lot of echoes and the dynamic range is pretty compressed, making it difficult to make out the downbeat in the waveforms.

However, if you start your editing projects by determining the tempo, and then lining up the downbeats to the tempo grid, doing the edits becomes a piece of cake. I am almost embarrassed to say that by lining up the music to the tempo grid, I had about 8 seamless cuts done in about 15 minutes. Boom, done, because I determined the tempo was exactly 140 bpm before starting to make transition points.

Not every music edits goes that quickly. Freeform jazz, or any music done without a click track can be really tricky to edit seamlessly. But for modern dance music, figuring out the tempo first can make the difference between hours and hours of waveform alignment (and still not getting it right), and a perfect precision job that is done in minutes.

If you are tired of pulling your hair out trying to get your music cuts to be seamless, send me an email instead. Let me know the name of the song and the length that you need the finished piece to be, and I’ll make it happen for you for only $39!

Creative remixes for dance

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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?

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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!

Looking for music inspiration?

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For you dance teachers and studio owners, it’s an exciting time of year. The kids are back in school, and the 2012-13 dance season is about to get underway in earnest.

Are you tired of trying to cut music, spending hours upon hours to try to get it right, only to wind up with clicks, jumps, skips, off-beats, and hiccups? We are here to help. For only $39 (less with quantity), we will deliver any song to you at the perfect length and structure for your dance routines. Not only are we masters of music editing and remixing, we also understand what is needed to make music work for dance. If this sounds like the relief you need, then send us an email with the song(s) you need, and the length you need them to be.

And if you have a group dance and are looking for inspiration in terms of fresh music, email us to learn about our custom remixes. We’ve done quite a variety over the years, and they are sure inspire your choreo to reach new heights.