Submitted by: Jon Bennett

 

Anyone who has watched a cheerleading competition live at a stadium or in a television broadcast knows that cheer performances are associated with loud, driving, high-octane music that doesn’t let up for a second. Somewhere in the mix might be a remnant of a half-recognized commercial song but that does not count for much when the whole mix is analyzed. There are a number of reasons why a cheerleading mix is so different from a regular commercial song, and this in turn explains why cheer mixing professionals are so sought after and why mixing cheer music is much more intricate and difficult than might be supposed. Even if the song or songs underlying the cheer mix is somewhat slow, there is no time for slowness or gentle moods in a cheer mix. In fact the absolute opposite is true. The sound has to be wall-to-wall and high-powered all the way. The squad has just two or three minutes to make its impression so every nanosecond counts. There are several techniques whereby cheer music professionals achieve this effect. It all comes down to layering, and there are several ways in which this is achieved. First, the cheer mixer can layer different songs, usually themed for their driving variations or other unifying characteristics. Then sound effects and custom voice over recordings can be added. This is a highly creative exercise, with editing, repetitions and volume variations – in a word top class mixing – used to achieve the perfect surround sound effects. It should be obvious from the above that cheer music mixing is a skill somewhat removed from the highly physical aspect of cheerleading dance, stunts and gymnastic routines. As long as the cheer mixer has an idea of what the coach and squad want to achieve through the mix, he or she can act practically in isolation once the coach has notified the mixer of the length piece required and the preferred songs that should be included in the piece. This has led to the extraordinary situation where a cheer music professional working in North Carolina, for instance, can mix a top class cheer mix for a squad in Texas.