Category Archives: Music Selection Ideas

Barbie Girl Clean promo

Barbie Girl, Squeaky Clean edits for choreo

The Barbie movie is out today! Barbie Girl is a great song, but some of the lyrics are highly inappropriate for use in a dance studio. I have cleaned this one, removing the lines “undress me everywhere,” “kiss me here, touch me there”, and others, to present you with:
• Barbie Girl (Squeaky Clean) (3:04, 2:56, 2:41, 2:26 – $9.99)

Click to listen: 2:26 Preview2:41 Preview2:56 Preview3:04 Preview

Email me at morriss@squirreltrenchaudio.com if you’d like this version! Browse 1300 more clean edits and mixes in my Squirrel Trench catalog.

Buy 5, Get 5 Free

Buy 5, Get 5 Free!

It’s that time of year again – time to pick out new music for the upcoming season’s routines. If you want competition-level clean song edits and mixes, my Buy 5, Get 5 Free offer is now permanent! This offer also applies to any number of songs more than 5, so if you Buy 12, you get 12 Free! (The purchase has to be made in one request in order to qualify.) There’s no greater library of flawless, clean, choreo-ready song edits and mixes, than right here: Squirrel Trench choreo-ready music catalog

Check out the catalog, with 1300 tracks organized by style of dance, and email me at morriss@squirreltrenchaudio.com with your selections!

Why choose Squirrel Trench Audio?

I am proud to say that the Squirrel Trench Audio catalog now contains more than 1100 flawless clean edits and mixes, and more are being added regularly. Some of you may not yet have discovered the joys of making your music selections from this catalog. If you haven’t checked it out yet, here is what you get in every track:

  • Every clean edit and mix has been carefully analyzed for song structure, and the resulting edit is optimized for integrity. This ensures that the soundtrack for your choreography has a beginning, middle, and ending, and that the emotional high-point of the song is retained so that your choreo’s emotional impact on the audience is maximized. Too many self-created edits leave the emotional payoff of a song on the cutting room floor, which robs your choreo of impact.
  • Objectionable lyrics have been cleverly omitted, obscured, or replaced wherever they occur. Every cleaned lyric retains the original timing and beat, so that your performers remain on track, and your audience remains focused on your performers.
  • The audio quality of every song and mix in the catalog is impeccable. Too many self-created edits are saved at a low audio resolution. This is similar to saving a photo at low-res. The result is pixelated. With most audio programs, you don’t even hear the damage done to a song saved at low resolution until you play it back. Every track in the Squirrel Trench Audio catalog is saved at a very high audio quality.
  • Transitions are smooth and flawless. Really, this goes without saying. In some cases, virtual instruments are played to ensure that transition is flawless. Reverb and delay are employed where appropriate. Your audience will not even notice that the song has been shortened, keeping their focus where it belongs; on your dancers.
  • Tempo is always analyzed to ensure edits points are precise down to the millisecond where possible. Counts are never compromised, ensuring consistent 8-counts throughout the routine. Sadly, too many instances of self-created edits miss beats, creating strange 6-counts, 7-counts, and even such awkward results as 5.5-counts. In the Squirrel Trench Audio catalog, no song ever misses a beat.
  • Volumes are all at a consistent level. You never have to go diving at your volume knob to turn down a too-loud track, or turn up a too-soft track. If used in competition, you will never experience the embarrassment of your song being abnormally soft in comparison to others.
  • Heads and tails are optimized. Songs do not start abruptly, nor are there long lag-times between when “Play” is pressed before the music actually starts. Endings are smooth and natural, never awkwardly cut off.
  • Every track has a hard ending – no fade outs are employed, which robs your dancers of receiving the applause they deserve on stage instead of in the wings.

Too many self-created edits have issues with one or more of the items listed above. Many dance teachers don’t realize that when such music is played at competition or recital, hearing awkward jumps, skips, or fade-outs takes the audience right out of the routine. With every handcrafted Squirrel Trench Audio edit and mix, you are guaranteed that your audience will maintain their focus throughout the soundtrack where it belongs: on your choreo and your dancers.

When you want the best quality, flawless clean edits and mixes, always turn to the professional resource that you can trust: the Squirrel Trench Audio catalog. And even more amazingly, the pricing is incredibly affordable. Clean edits start at just $4.99 and mixes are $14.99-$29.99, and discounts are always given when you order three or more tracks. Email me at morriss@squirreltrenchaudio.com for more information or to place an order.

Warrior for Peace, choreographed

I am pleased to share Julie Bartoletti and Carly Higgins Sargent’s (of Dance FX) interpretation of Warrior for Peace spoken word soundtrack:

Watch this space for another choreographic interpretation as a duo from Susan’s School of Dance, as soon I have a link to its video. If you are interested in this track, it is $9.99. Please email me with the request and I will send a PayPal invoice for that amount.

Senseless

I was deeply saddened by the Las Vegas shooting. In the tragedy’s aftermath, I decided to create an original spoken word soundtrack that I hope you will consider bringing to your audiences through your choreographic talents. This soundtrack features two young ladies giving voice to my words. Click the play button below to hear Senseless. (Note: this soundtrack may engender deep feelings of sadness. Please be emotionally prepared before listening.)

I am making this track available for $9.99. If you are interested in purchasing it, please email me at morriss@squirreltrenchaudio.com.

There is Always Hope

Squirrel Trench Audio is pleased to present a new, spoken word soundtrack, with an anti-suicide message: There is Always Hope. Music is One More Light by Linkin Park. Voice over written by Andrea Norris Olsen and voiced by Shaunessey Lambert. Edited for a 2:51 routine length. $9.99. Click here to listen to the preview: There is Always Hope.

Email me if you are interested in getting this track.

More spoken word soundtracks for choreography can be found here: Squirrel Trench spoken word soundtracks.

Helping Ashley at Ohana

I love getting feedback from dance studio owners and choreographers. Especially when they find that my catalog of cleaned and edited songs and mixes transforms the music selection task from a headache and chore into an easy and exciting process of finding music that is perfect for their choreographic vision. Here’s the latest from Ashley Kohl, Creative Director for the Ohana School of Performing Arts in South Hadley, Massachusetts:

“You totally ROCK!!!! Wow, thanks so much Morriss! I’ll be in touch with more … this resource is a serious lifesaver. I have shared it with all of my instructors. I am so much more excited to pick music than I have ever been. It’s usually so daunting and stressful. Game changer!

Thank you for being so generous and helpful!”

—Ashley Kohl, Creative Director
Ohana School of Performing Arts, July 22, 2017

If you’d like to check out the listing of more than 700 clean songs and mixes, just click this link: Squirrel Trench Audio catalog. Find out how easy picking perfect music for your choreography can be!

Tap choreographers: It’s Time for Tea

If you choreograph tap or jazz, I have come across the most amazing song for a routine. And it’s pretty far off the beaten path, not a song I’ve ever heard at a competition. I will deliver a squeaky clean version, perfectly edited for a 2:39 routine​. As one dance teacher exclaimed today “This is FABULOUS!”

Listen to the preview here:
Time for Tea (Squirrel Trench Clean 2:39)

If you’d like to get this version, just email me at morriss@squirreltrenchaudio.com!

Oh.My.Gosh by The Bunnies from Sing

OH.MY.GOSH is a fun hip hop song from the original motion picture soundtrack of the movie Sing. Oh.my.gosh is perfect for younger kids doing a hip hop routine, except that singing “butt” over and over and over again my not be appropriate for some audiences. Squirrel Trench Audio to the rescue, with a perfect and squeaky clean version of the song, where ALL instances of “butt” have been removed! The routine length is 2:10. Send me an email if you are interested in this squeaky clean version!

Edited songs for your dance recital

It’s that time of year again; time to select music for your dance studio’s recital. The good news is that Squirrel Trench is here to save you the time and frustration of aligning waveforms. Instead, browse the Squirrel Trench Audio archives of clean edits and remixes. Every edit and remix is created with recording-studio standards of quality, optimized for choreography. The archive now shows about 400 out of a total of more than 1,000. Special consideration if you’re interested in more than one song:
Squirrel Trench Audio archives