"The judge's first comment was 'great music'." Victoria Martin
Are you a rider who needs a strong, steady beat to stay in sync with your dressage music? Do you want a popular music sound without the full expense of studio band recording? Maybe you would just love unique dressage freestyle music unlike any other rider's. We'll use your engineered custom music as a basis to create a one-of-a-kind remix freestyle loaded with interesting rhythms and added impact.
Our studio band producer, Kevin Hall, is a session and club drummer in Austin, Texas. He can record live percussion to enhance many styles of pre-recorded music and play your favorite beat, from rock to hip-hop, reggae to Latin, or techno. New Age and World music especially benefit from added percussion.
Kevin provides cues in the music to let you hear movements and turns coming up. He'll play distinct rhythms to match your horse's footfalls, establishing a strong relationship between music and horse. All popular percussion instruments are available for recording, not just basic drum set. Our added percussion is primarily live with a few synthesized accents.
Give a listen to our remix music samples below. The percussion is so convincing, you'll think it was part of the original recording.
Scroll down to the price section to find costs.
Here's how it works: You make selections and if the music lends itself to adding percussion, we'll record samples for your consideration. If you choose not to go forward with added percussion, you pay only for the samples. If you approve samples, we record percussion tracks to match your engineered freestyle music, add the tracks to the mix and balance. If you know what you want, a lower cost alternative is to skip the samples and proceed directly to final recording.
Remix Freestyle Sample
You'll hear a musical transformation as percussion gives our "Acoustic Alchemy" freestyle the Wow! factor. The rider selected New Age flamenco guitar music to which Kevin added a distinct Latin beat. Kevin recorded 6 separate drum parts on kick, snare, rack, floor toms, hi hat and cymbals. He then over-dubbed shakers, woodblock, claves, triangle, tambourine, bongos, guiro, congas, cowbell and assorted splash cymbals. Finally, he added a few synthesized parts like djembe, hand claps, and miscellaneous sound effects.
The original music with no added drums is pleasant, but uninspired. The remixed freestyle is more rhythmic and more fun. You'll hear the horse's footfalls in the music and a sense of build to the end. Medium and extended paces are highlighted with percussion. Cues are provided in drum parts to help the rider prepare important movements.
The music is narrated with gaits and important movements from the rider's actual choreography, designed by Beth Hall.
Sample #1: We took a traditional piece of classical music and Kevin added drum set, side stick and tambourine. The resulting sound is classic and modern at the same time. The added rhythm emphasizes the footfalls in trot to make it easier for you to ride in sync.
Sample #2: Here's the same piece of trot music with hip-hop rhythm. The idea originated with Beyonce's "Single Ladies" track to give classical music a contemporary sound. In addition to drum set, Kevin used shaker and triangle.
Sample #3: This canter music has a very pretty melody, but lacked striking rhythm. Kevin added percussion in a field drum style, similar to a march, to accent the horse's leading foreleg each time it should touch the ground with the beat.
Fees to add percussion to your freestyle are in addition to costs listed on our Custom Freestyles page.
*You can lower your cost by not requiring samples before we record drum tracks to match your engineered music.* Beth can still forward an mp3 of your music to you as drum parts are worked out and before final mixing takes place in the studio.
Music Samples with Drums: payable before samples are recorded Second Level-Intermediare I - $200 Grand Prix - $300
Performing and Recording: payable before final tracks are recorded Second Level-Intermediare I - $350 Grand Prix - $500
Engineering: payable with final engineering costs Second Level-Intermediate I - $150 Grand Prix - $200
