Tag Archives: remixing

Savannah Ballet’s Little Mermaid

IMG_1624I am extremely honored to have helped the Savannah Ballet with the music and sound design for their production of The Little Mermaid. The premier performances were this past weekend (April 24 & 25, 2015), and received rave reviews from those that attended. Managing Director Abby McCuen asked for my assistance in assembling a collection of about a dozen songs into a cohesive 45-minute set for Act I of the ballet. It was an exciting and challenging project, and Abby received several compliments on it. Here are a couple of photos from this beautiful performance. Click on either one to enlarge it.

For more photos, view Savannah Ballet’s photo album on Facebook.IMG_1780

 

Looking for music inspiration?

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.

Welcome to Squirrel Trench Audio!

Welcome! Squirrel Trench Audio is proud and honored to be the official sponsor this week of DanceMom.com’s Dance Mom of the Year Contest! It’s only fitting, since this week, the contest is all about the music used in dance. Break a leg to all of the Dance Moms competing! And we are also excited that we will be giving the winner a FREE music edit!

The mission of Squirrel Trench Audio is to ensure that all dancers have gorgeous, beautiful, funky, grooving, and/or soulful music to dance to. Towards that end, there are many things you may find valuable on this site. We have:

• Tips for all you music editors out there, including how to Avoid Awkward Fade-Outs, Understanding Song Structure, and CD Care Tips

• Songs that are a little off the beaten path in the categories of Jazz, Tap, and Lyrical

• For those of you looking for a professional music editing service, we also offer song edits for $39, or custom remixes starting at $74. Some samples are here, and Testimonials are here. We can also fix music that has already been edited, but that still have jumps, clicks, or glitches in it, as well as master music for proper volume, if it has sections that sound too soft in competition halls.

Feel free to browse this site, and ask me any questions at any time. I can be reached via email at: morriss@squirreltrenchaudio.com.

Break a leg, all you Dance Mom of the Year contestants, and break a leg to all the other dance parents and dancers as you enter another year of exciting competitions!

Protect your CDs inside your dance bags

Have you ever had this experience? You are at the dance competition and the CD with your competition music won’t play. The judges ask you for a backup CD, you give it to them, and it also won’t play. You look at the underside of your CDs, and much to your dismay, they are complete scratched up.

I sincerely hope this has never happened to you, and that it never will.

I’ve previously written about using only top-quality, name-brand CD-Rs to minimize the chances of getting a bad CD-R, or a bad lot of CD-Rs. I’ve also given you the Top 5 care tips for your precious CDs.

Tip number 5 from the preceding list is DO NOT put your CDs in your dance bag! The reason why is that, while you may have your CDs in a jewel case or a sleeve, all it takes is ONE grain of sand to work it’s way into the sleeve for it to start scratching the sensitive plastic surface, making it completely unreadable.

My girlfriend, Lesley Lambert, who is a dance teacher and a dance mom, came up with a brilliant solution. Since it only makes sense that dancers are going to carry around their competition CDs, backup CDs, and rehearsal CDs in their dance bag, she realized she could protect them from dirt and foreign objects by putting the CD into a plastic baggie. A standard sandwich baggie may be too small; one size bigger may be required.

So if you are going to put your CDs in your dance bag, put them inside a plastic bag and seal them first, so that they remain playable!

Testimonials for Squirrel Trench Audio

Normally I like to contribute many ideas and techniques for how YOU can edit your own dance routine music better, but I would be remiss if I didn’t occasionally post some of the glowing testimonials that are coming in for my Squirrel Trench Audio music editing and remixing work. It is truly a pleasure to make so many dance parents, dance teachers, and dance studio owners happy by providing solid, click-free, glitch-free, well-structured music for their superlative choreography.

Here are a couple testimonials; more can be found on the Testimonial page:

“You are a rock star! This is amazing! I can not wait to see her rock out on stage to this version!”

— a dance mom in Texas,
December 17, 2011

“Oh my goodness!  This is great! I can’t wait to have her listen when she gets home from school today.  I will have her bring it to gym and see what the coach thinks about timing.  I’m sure it will be great.  Thanks so very much! That was fast!”

— parent of a gymnastic student in Ohio,
who needed a music edit/remix for a floor routine
October 11, 2011

“It sounds great; I love your work!”

— Miss Daysha, dance teacher at
OnStage Dance Studios, Cedar City Utah
February 21, 2012

“Thank you! It’s perfect….I’ll be sending some more requests soon.”

— Miss Kimberly, dance studio owner at
Dance for Joy, Brielle, New Jersey
November 2, 2011

Solos, duos, trios, and gymnastic floor routines

It’s been a blast doing some fun music editing and remixing for this dance season’s soloists, duos, trios, as well as for a number of gymnastic floor routines. I’m really excited for all of these songs to be performed by a wide age-range of students, anywhere from ten to eighteen years old. The songs range from jazz to electronic to pop, and artists range from Martin Solveig to Club des Belugas to Dee Dee Bridgewater.

If your son, daughter, or student still needs their music professional edited for dance routine length or gymnastic floor routine length, send me an email, and I’ll try to get it done for you right away!

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!

 

 

 

2011-2012 dance season is underway

As we gear up for the 2011-2012 dance season, Squirrel Trench Audio has been super busy getting music ready for a new slate of superlative dance routines.

Some dance studios have started their junior, teen, and senior summer camps, and their group numbers have their soundtracks finished. Many of these are character and concept pieces – routines that tell a story. Several are tap pieces, several are jazz pieces, and at least one is a character piece. All of them are the foundation for winning performances. When the music is generating excitement for the kids, that enthusiasm is going to translate to the dance floor, which will make for excited audiences, which makes the kids more excited, in a positive virtuous cycle.

In addition to numerous remixes prepared for a competition level studio, I’ve also just recently edited a beautiful lyrical piece for an older teen, as well as a character medley for a dancer in Texas. With modern technology, Squirrel Trench Audio knows no bounds… I deliver your finished song or remix as an mp3 in a private folder just for you or your studio.

If I have time, I will post some music remixes that I created for dancers last season that have been retired, so you can get an idea of the quality work that Squirrel Trench Audio delivers – quality that is equivalent to what a major recording studio would deliver. Also, Squirrel Trench Audio is on Facebook, so feel free to “like” our page.

If you are getting your music ready for the 2011-2012 dance season, check out our services, or email me for more information about our music editing and remixing!