Olympic Ice Skating: World-Class Athletes…Low-Class Music

[Bill_S]

A classical radio station in Columbus, Ohio wrote a story this morning with the title "Olympic Ice Skating: World-Class Athletes…Low-Class Music", and complained about the poor recording choices and low budget allocated for program music. The opening paragraph begins with...

"What is it with the music at the Olympics? Not to channel Andy Rooney, but it seems that when you have a budget that, according to one report, exceeds 1.75 BILLION dollars, the music for the ice skaters could be just a little better. "

Complete story at the following link...

http://www.wosu.org/blogs/classical/?p=9081

[Skittl1321]

My complaint, however, goes to the WAY it is mixed and to the terrible quality of the recordings they use. I’m sure by now my family hates to watch the Olympics with me, because I spend my whole time whining about the music and how much better I could do it. In the report I saw, the allocation for technology, which I assume would include editing equipment, was nearly $392,000,000.

The assumptions of the author in this article were incorrect. The Olympic committee (or even the individual federations) have nothing to do with the skater's music. The skater uses the music all year long, before they have any idea if they will be going to the Olympics at all. Each of them is on their own to find a service (or do themselves, I can't imagine elite skaters do this...) to edit their music, and PAY for it. The only thing the Olympic committee has to guarantee is a good player, and, maybe, good acoustics. Even at the big competitions (so I assume the Olympics- may be different there?) the skaters check in and provide the music to the LOC.

It's no surprise with the little athlete support that they do get, that the money goes more towards training and equipment expenses, and slightly less to music (though I bet those cuts still cost a small fortune)

[Isk8NYC]

He's confusing the Olympics music budget for the ceremonies and venues with the skater's actual performance music.

I agree - the music this season was zzzzzz, but I think that they were well-mixed. Except Lysacek's abridged exhibition program - I don't like that mix at all. You can hear where cymbals were spliced in to hide the cuts.

DH hates the mixing of songs to provide fast and slow sections in skating programs, but if they didn't do it, the skaters would die on the ice, lol.

The music is usually found by the choreographer for elite skaters. Some skaters make suggestions, but often the choreographer provides selections they think would work best for the skater. Sometimes, they fall on their face, like Mao's long program. That's a dirge, but she did a great job of skating through it. For other skaters, like Plushenko, whatever's playing over the sound system is fine since he doesn't skate to the music anyway.

I think this critic doesn't really know what he's talking about. The various skating music service providers should set him straight over there, not here. We don't need any more spamming about their services.

[RachelSk8er]

Each of them is on their own to find a service (or do themselves, I can't imagine elite skaters do this...) to edit their music, and PAY for it.

I doubt elite skaters at this level even pay for their music editing, they probably have recording studios that cut their music as a method of advertising, just like they get costumes from top designers given to them for the same reason.

There was way too much Firebird this year, that's my only gripe. Has the ballet been reproduced and touring again within the past year or two to explain the resurgence of it for skating music? Even locally I've heard a lot of kids/teens using it this year.

[Skittl1321]

I doubt elite skaters at this level even pay for their music editing, they probably have recording studios that cut their music as a method of advertising, just like they get costumes from top designers given to them for the same reason.


Tanith and Ben were quoted saying that the "multiple costumes for the free dance have gotten very expensive, but it's part of the sport"- so I don't think all the elite skaters are getting their costumes free.

And while I can tell you who made a few of the costumes (well, maybe just Evan's) I can't tell you who cut any of their music- so if it is given to them for advertising purposes- they are doing a pretty bad job of advertising it!

I can see it being part of the choreographers fee- but I would bet the editing service passes the cost to the choreographer, who passes it along to the skater. Many Olympic skaters are relative unknowns- so while I can see Yuna's music being comped, I don't see the same thing happening for Evora/Ladwig, for example.

[Isk8NYC]

The music cost is usually part of the choreographer's fee, so the actual cost is buried. Whether or not the choreographer cuts the music himself/herself depends on the choreographer. I remember Sarah Kawahara saying that she worked with a sound engineer, but I don't know about the other choreographers.

Again, that's just for the higher-level skaters. Many coaches provide the music editing services for lower-level skaters. Many coaches still use cassettes and vinyl records for music sources.

I know of several skating parents who cut music for skaters. One is just a computer geek with a good ear, the others are part-time party deejays with good equipment.

[AgnesNitt]

Wier said a costume (one that he didn't use) was $4000 down the drain, so they're not free.
I've been told Jennifer Wester makes her own costumes, and her husband's too.

[Johnny_Fever]

I've never heard of a judge awarding extra points for good recording quality. Its not a priority for most skaters, although I think it should be.

[Artemis]

I've never heard of a judge awarding extra points for good recording quality. Its not a priority for most skaters, although I think it should be.

Not extra points for good recording ... but conversely, if a recording is very poor quality, it can have a negative impact on the overall feel. Esp. if it means the audience can't "get into" the music, which in turn can have an adverse affect on the skater. And if the music is bad in terms of choppy edits, that can have an effect on the choreography mark.

I remember one example from pro skating, although this was related to acoustics rather than the recording itself: Josée Choinard skated a program to a piece of music called "The Sweater." It was a humorous program that required the audience to be able to hear and understand the lyrics. At the Canadian Pro competition the sound was good, the program killed, and she won. At an American pro competition a couple of weeks later, the acoustics were really bad so the audience couldn't hear the lyrics and had no idea what was going on -- as a consequence the program fell really flat.