How We Help: My Cheer Music Doesn’t Sound Like Cheer Music

On occasion, a coach will bring us music made by a local DJ, and his/her main complaint is “the music doesn’t sound like cheer music”. It’s a common mistake that many of us have made, but we live and learn!

Cheerleading music is, for lack of a better word, weird.  It is very alien to those who are not part of the industry. Bringing a cheer music request to an unfamiliar music producer usually results in a mix that sounds more like house music, or Saturday-night club music. It does not mean the DJ is bad, it just means he/she is not familiar with our unique style of music.

Cheer music is very “A.D.D.” and most people would not think to design a piece of music that changes so rapidly. At half the length of a radio song, mixes usually contain 6-8 songs plus another 6 voiceovers or raps! Non-cheer music producers also wouldn’t add in obnoxious laser sounds and explosions that stand out from the music. But we do, because it is part of our industry and part of our routine. These unique sounds, styles and flows define cheerleading music.

Another cause of this is sometimes producer talent. There are a large group of aspiring musicians, djs or producers that can hear the difference between two mixes, but do not know how to achieve the sound that they (or you) want. This is something that comes with time or experience, and their best mixes are likely ahead of them. Keep training!

In the scenario where a coach brings us “dj music”, we usually recreate the music from scratch, using the same requests that were given to the first DJ. The result, of course, sounds like cheerleading music.

Unless you specifically request a house mix, there won’t be any cheer mixes with a repetitive “bump bump bump” without giant explosions, wobbly risers and overly-excited voice overs coming from us. 😀