deannathegeek
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Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 199
Post Title: Skating Music
Posted: 02-05-2008, 05:22 PM
Every level of skating has its own time limits-at ISI Freestyle 1 a
program is 1.5 minutes +/- 10 seconds, while the spotlight event is a
minute. I think USFS Adult Bronze is 1:40. Anyways, there's a lot of
good music to skate to, but hard to find anything at the specified
lengths for a skating program.
I've taken it upon myself to cut my own music using audio editing
software, but (no offense to anyone) not everyone's computer savvy
enough to do this themselves. So out of curiosity, where does everyone
get their skating music from?
ps-I'm willing to help cut music for anyone if there's something you'd
like to skate to but can't find.
SkatingOnClouds
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Posted: 02-05-2008, 06:07 PM
My coach does mine. I am computer savvy, and can use Audacity pretty well to edit music, and would happily do it myself, but she does it much better.
She moves pieces of the music around, adjusts the volumes for smooth transitions between edits, and even ensures that the starting notes are at the right pitch for the key of the piece. She is a musician as well as skating coach, so she combines those skills to create really good skating programs.
patatty
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Posts: 166
Posted: 02-05-2008, 07:12 PM
I do my own using a wave editing program on my computer. I like to have all my music saved on the computer - this way I can burn new discs whenever I need to. I actually enjoy playing around with the audio files to find just the right cuts.
tidesong
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Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 667
Posted: 02-05-2008, 07:43 PM
I've gotten pretty good at using windows movie maker to do my music! It comes with all my computers and it does the job, it lets you change audio levels and fade in and out
Clarice
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Posted: 02-05-2008, 08:31 PM
I do my own and my daughter's, using Cakewalk Home Studio. I'm a musician, too, and am pretty picky about my cuts so that the finished product is not only the right length, but makes musical sense. One I was very proud of was her Junior freeskate - it was to a movie soundtrack, and we used 9 tracks with 11 separate cuts. By the time I was finished, you would have thought it had been composed that way.
Most of our coaches will do music cutting for their students, and a few parents take CDs to a local recording studio and pay to have them cut the music.
jskater49
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Posts: 1483
Posted: 02-05-2008, 09:33 PM
We've been lucky to have coaches who are very good at editing. I listen to some cuts at competitions and cringe.
We just had a mini-controversy with our spring ice show - we chose Nat King Cole's "Lazy Crazy Hazy Days of Summer", then decided against it because he sings "pretzels and beer" like a million times and didn't think parents would appreciate their kids singing along and because it was so repetitive we didn't think it could be edited out. Our coach, also the show director, said to use it, it was a cute song and she could edit it. Then the coach who was assigned to choreograph it listened to it and was sure it could not be edited and wanted a different song. This is after the costumes have been ordered. So our coach edits the song and you would never know there ever was any beer in it ;-)
j
singerskates
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Posted: 02-05-2008, 10:06 PM
I edit and remaster my own music. But I also edit and remaster for some of the coaches who coach at my rink. One of those coaches is also having me do music for the skaters she teaches at the other clubs. Plus I've done editing and remastering for skaters who have contacted me via the internet.
I'm not just a skater/FS music editor & remaster but I'm also a singer songwriter/musician.
Earlier today I just made a quick $60 for less than 3 hours work and that's a discounted rates. I brought my laptop and external DVD/CD recordable light scribe directly to the rink where the coach was coaching (was not at my home club rink nor was it a skate day for me). The coach said that I should go from rink to rink with my services.
sk8tmum
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Posted: 02-06-2008, 12:11 AM
We have a coach who is also a choreographer, and she cuts the music AND does the choreography for a lot of our skaters. She's amazingly able to cut and edit the music so that the joins are a)seamless; b) at the same volume level c) work with the choreography. I've seen her take an entire musical score and by pulling bits and pieces from a number of items, create something entirely new and unique that is coherent, cohesive and great to skate to. But, apparently, she's something quite special and unique in the skating world.
My two cents: I play music for many sessions, so am "closer" to the music than a lot of other parents. I find that in many cases the music editing detracts from the skate (fluctuating volumes, abrupt joins, too many switches in styles in a short program); and, some of our music editors don't master to a standard volume level. Now, I, as long suffering parent, know to "turn up" and "turn down" before a kid's solo, however, at competition, that little finesse gets lost.
BTW: I also teach music editing in my real life; however, I won't cut my kid's music because I don't know enough about how to put together an effective SKATING program with the bits and pieces flowing at the right time, tempo, etc, and getting the builds and pacing right. But, then again, I'm the one who was too terrified for a long time to express an opinion on a dress - !
Sessy
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Posted: 02-06-2008, 02:42 AM
try cutting it with goldwave. love the programme!!!
and I think you could with windows movie maker too, which also had fade-in and fade-out and cutting functions, but nothing else, but is entirely free on all pc's with xp on them.
NickiT
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Joined: Jun 2002
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Posted: 02-06-2008, 05:18 AM
I cut my own using Nero Wave Editor.
Nicki
Mrs Redboots
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Posted: 02-06-2008, 08:54 AM
I cut mine and Husband's using Audacity.
deannathegeek
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Posted: 02-06-2008, 09:36 AM
Yeah, I use Audacity too and I love it. I just did a really neat cut of Witch Doctor from the Chipmunks movie for my girls & I to skate to for the Family Spotlight event at an ISI competition at our home rink this summer.
It's great to see so many musicians (and computer geeks!) are skating as well. I used to play drums in marching band, and found that the rhythm I learned then is easily applied to skating now.
littlekateskate
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Posted: 02-06-2008, 01:32 PM
IF you are doing very simple cuts just for timing. Itunes will let you choose start and stop times under get info. Our coach does our cutting for a fee of course.
SkatingOnClouds
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Posted: 02-06-2008, 06:59 PM
How easy is it to edit out vocals using Audacity? Can you just edit it out or do you have to cut it out? Or is another (free) program better for that?
My daughter gets to choose her music for a technical comp for the first time, and of course is only interested in pop music with lyrics.
I am getting a karaoke CD with some of her fave songs on, rather than try editing the vocals out, but don't know how good these are.
deannathegeek
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Posted: 02-07-2008, 09:47 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by SkatingOnClouds
How easy is it to edit out vocals using Audacity? Can you just edit it out or do you have to cut it out? Or is another (free) program better for that?
My daughter gets to choose her music for a technical comp for the first time, and of course is only interested in pop music with lyrics.
I am getting a karaoke CD with some of her fave songs on, rather than try editing the vocals out, but don't know how good these are.
I haven't been able to edit vocals out of a piece, but since she likes skating to music with vocals maybe she should try an ISI competition, which allows vocal music. If she wants to stick with USFS, I like going with movie soundtracks. My daughter prefers music with vocals, too, but likes soundtrack music from movies like Underdog and Harry Potter.