In a perfect world, every cheer team would have the luxury of working directly with an experienced music producer to compose the perfect mix to suit every competition routine. But in reality, that service is outside the budget of many cheer squads. Luckily, with enough creativity, any cheer team can achieve equally great results using premixed music.
If you’re shopping for cheer mixes on a budget and determine custom music is not an option, we have a few tips on how to improve the use of budget-friendly cheer music. Most teams who go the custom route choreograph their routine without music and then complete an 8-count sheet, which gets handed over to a music producer who creates a mix to match the routine.
If you are buying premixed music, it doesn’t work that way, because the music is already mixed. What you can do is chart out the premixed music on an 8-count sheet to create a layout based on what you hear. At Power Music Cheer, the mixes include a list of all the songs they contain, and you can preview the entire mix. If you play the music on repeat, you can calculate how many 8-counts are dedicated to each song and decide which section of your routine you would like to use for each song. This is the best way to maximize the use of your music and ensure each part of your routine matches up with the mix.
In this way, you can be sure you’re not transitioning during the climax of a song or stuck in the middle of your pyramid section as the music changes to the song intended for the dance section.
Also, with Power Music Cheer, if you find a mix that is close to what you want for your routine but needs minor adjustments, you can upgrade and add or remove 8-counts for any section. If you decide to go this route, just be sure to delete the same number of 8-counts that you add so that you do not exceed the time limit.
Here is an example of a free Power Music Cheer mix to give you an idea of the sort of raw material you have to work with. Feel free to download and use this mix as you wish!
Section: | 8-Counts | Song Title
- Intro | Half (5-6-7-8)
- Open | 5 | “Doin’ Work”
- Transition | 1
- Stunt 1 | 7 | “You Should See Me in a Crown”
- Transition | 1
- Jumps | 3 | “Teamwork”
- Stunt 2 | 4 | “Level Up”
- Transition 1
- Tumbling 6 “Do It Like This”
- Transition | 1
- Basket Toss | 2 | “Capital Letters
- Pyramid | 8 | “You Gotta Want It”
- Transition | 1
- Dance | 4 | “Level Up”
As you can see, we’ve created a solid framework, with pump-up songs intentionally paired with sections where they will have the most impact. With this mix, we’ve placed our remix of Billie Eilish’s “You Should See Me in a Crown” during the first stunt because it has a killer drop that can coincide with the execution of a stunt. Then we bookend a remix of Ciara’s “Level Up,” starting with the next stunt and finishing strong during the dance section as an upbeat finale the judges aren’t likely to forget. Check out this mix and many more at Power Music Cheer.
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