I was wondering how you guys edited your music. Do you do it yourself, or do you get someone to do it? I know that some of the high level skaters in our club gets their music done by a pro. Anyway, I'd love to hear your experience with finding and cutting the music for your programs


Katya

I cut my own music and have started to do some editing for other skaters. I have a new iMac and it is wonderfully set up for digital editing of music (and videos). It came with Sound Studio, which is a very easy and powerful music editing program. iTunes allows you to burn a CD in about a minute (from opening up the software to completing the CD). My previous Mac (which I just sold to my coach!) was a Power Mac G4 and I used Pro Tools Free (from Digi Design) with the CD burning software that came with the burner (it was a Sony). That worked well, too, but Sound Studio is just wonderful. One thing that impressed my coach and me was the ability to custom fade in and out, so you can really control how different pieces of music blend together. I'm sure you can do that with most software.

I love my iMac.

I do think there was a previous thread on this, so if you wanted more specific program suggestions, you could probably find them there.

Pat

I started about 5 years ago cutting a music program for my daughter using the sound program that came with SoundBlaster, which was OK but didn't have some of the nice features I use now on Soundforge. As time went on I started to do programs for other skaters, and gained experience with the edits. Even now I am still learning to use all the cool features of my music editing program. Fade ins and outs are nice, but crossfades are even better in some cases. I have some preset functions that will reduce the extreme highs and lows in the music eliminating anything that will boom over the speakers. I also do a lot of volume adjustments so that the different cuts will match better. I use compress and expand to help with timing. I use envelopes sometimes to change how once piece meshes with another.

My point is that it has taken quite a while to become experienced with the editing process. When I listen to older programs I did, I see how far I've come in learning to do this well. It can still take several hours to play with pieces of music, seeing how they sound together, and tweak the final product to my satisfaction. I am picky, picky, picky....

I also sometimes think the composers would be horrified by some of the editing I do.....I may have as many as ten cuts/edits in a two minute program... I often eliminate repititious phrases in the music, or pauses that take up too much time...

Anyways....your computer may already have a program you can start playing with. You can also often download demo versions of editing programs to see how you like them. Cool Edit is one that is popular.

I used to do mine myself the old-fashioned way with tape deck and turntable (a lot of the music I used was from old albums I already own). Now that CDs have come around, I've cut a few of the easier ones myself, without computer aid.

But my last program was so tricky to cut (I think it had close to a dozen cuts!) that I turned it over to a senior skater friend of mine who did a great job. He's now doing custom work to fund his skating.

You can download Cool Edit Pro 2.0 for a 30 day trial from www.syntrillium.com. But if you have $250 to spend on a great investment, I suggest purchasing Cool Edit Pro 2.0 by Syntrillium Software. It can do literally everything you can possibly do in terms of audio editing ie: echoing, reverbing, delaying, amiplfication, filtering, splicing, noise reduction, mixing, & splicing. In terms of looking for music I usually use kazaa media desktop I search for mp3's of composers of the particular music I would like to skate to (hans zimmer, john williams, jerry goldsmith, danny elfman) and when I find something I'll go purchase the cd if only because cd audio is much better quality than mp3 audio. I also cut music too so if youre interested in having your music cut using professional software, just send me a PM

I too use cool edit and know how to use all the attributes. I do music for everyone from preprelim (adult preprelim or prebronze) to senior level and I'm a singersong writer who figure skates and competes, so I know what you need.

B

You know how to contact me if you want me.

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"It's not age that determines but the heart." "Skating is not just a sport for the young but it's a passion for the soul of the young at heart." Brigitte Laskowski

I am a nomadic adult skater who is a member of Windsor FSC (Skate Windsor) WOS SC again since Sept. 1st, 2008.

http://eastcastlemusic.tripod.com

Singerskates Sports Music Editing

Another one for Cool Edit

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The best whisper is a click

i use a video editing software to do it... it has the crossfades and lots of audio controls and i'm happy with it

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Tidesong

Thanks everyone who replied
I'm going to investigate different softwares on the web now. This is my first try at editing music, and I'm really excited to see how it turns out. I don't know if it will be my program though (still toying with the idea of competing), I just want to play with it and see.

I have one more question...
For, say, a 1.5 minute program, do you think there should be any tempo changes? When I watch the little kids who skate at my level, they don't really have any changes in their music at all - it's just one smooth piece. However, when I spoke to another adult skater, she suggested a change in music for moves and footwork - but at her level she skates a 2.5min program. Any thoughts?

When this question came up before, someone recommended "Audacity", which is free (download Audacity here ).

Here's the thread: Music Editing

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Hi,
As far as the tempo changes, the old school was fast-slow-fast. This is easy to get in in a long program, and takes a little more effort in something only 1.5 min. Also, it depends on the ability of the skater. I would watch some skaters skate to a single note, or no music for 4min, but this could be pretty dull with a low level skater! The judges like to see variation is skating power and tempo, and for many skaters this means slow to slow music and fast to fast music. However you can do a piece with a little variation in the tempo, if you can make sure to show that you can vary the power of your skating. Many skaters believe that it's easier to pick a slow piece, but remember that poor positions and lack of control and such really stand out. Fast distracting music can hide a lot of form breaks, but often ends up looking like the skater is running from element to element, not completing anything.
So, pick a piece appropriate to your abilities. If the piece naturally has a tempo change, great. If it doesn't and you can still show an ability to vary power intensity, then go for it.

I was wondering if anyone had any ideas for a selection of music for me to use as my Junior Sliver/Pre Novice test. I have a lot of ideas myself, but i want a wider selection for my coach to pick form

Thanks!!

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~*jo*~