[SnicklefritzG]

I found some disco music that complements my horse's personality and gaits very well. The only problem is that I can't find a version without the singing. Well, I sort of did in a karaoke version with no lyrics, but the quality wasn't nearly as good. In fact, it sounded kind of cheesy. Has anyone else run into this when trying to find good freestyle music? Any ideas on how to deal with this?

[TwoBrooksFarm]

What song is it? I have some musician friends that might can find it or recreate it.

[Beentheredonethat]

Keep searching. You should be able to find a version with better quality without lyrics. I have done whole disco freestyles WITH words that worked very well--I was riding a mare and it had words appropriate to that. You might also be able to take the original and mute down the words so they're there, but not so loud.

TwoBrooks--I'd love to talk to your friends. There are so many techno music whizzes out there, it would be great to pool our talents.

[Simbalism]

There is a great free download program at Audacity.com. I have used it to edit music for musical freestyle. I can't remember if it can delete lyrics as I haven't used it for a while, but it might be worth checking out if you can't find the song without lyrics.

[Beentheredonethat]

I am a tech idiot and I use Audacity, so it is pretty doable. You can lower tracks on it, and I think if you were a little smarter than me, you could probaby fade out vocals.

Well, look what tech idiot me did? Found a video on how to back off vocals on a song with Audacity!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYO7Fj5BORM

[SnicklefritzG]

@twobrooks: the songs I'm thinking of using are all by KC and the Sunshine band,
specifially:

"I'm your boogie man"
"Get down tonight" and
"Shake your booty"

[TwoBrooksFarm]

Getting on the phone now... Will keep you all posted. :-)

[oreobob]

I talked to a musician friend of mine about freestyle music. He pointed out that the backing track music, which is what you get with the karaoke versions, often don't contain the melody thats sung, but rather complements it. So even in a recreation, you would need some instrument to "play the part of the vocal" to get the song you recognize. This is why when you listen to the karaoke track you can recognize the instrumental parts but the parts where the singer sings sound different.
I'm going to a freestyle clinic this weekend, will see if I get any additional tips on where to find music.

[TwoBrooksFarm]

Okay, just talked with my friend. Yes he could record this songs when he plays them but would have to buy the rights to o so. He says it could be anywhere from 'sure dude do it for free' up to several hundred dollars. He said look on iTunes and see if ANYONE has already done it like a cover band or something.

[SnicklefritzG]

@twobrooks: I checked on itunes and there are lots of versions but they either have lyrics or are cheesy karaoke versions. What exactly does your friend do?

[TwoBrooksFarm]

He has his own studio and mixes and records music for artists. If you want u can ask him to check into getting the rights to record the music you asked about but he says as a warning it may be expensive. Let me dig a bit for you too and see what I can find... You never know.

[SnicklefritzG]

@twobrooks: thanks for your help.

I checked iTunes again for those songs and can't find anything without lyrics that wasn't a jazzed up karaoke version. I also tried audacity and wasn't able to reduce the vocal track without also reducing some of the attractive features of the original songs. If you do find anything out, let me know!

[PiedmontSporthorses]

I was having the same issue with my most recent freestyle. Try searching on iTunes, youtube, or the internet for piano, string, orchestra, symphony versions of the songs. Some people are super talented and have done a version that might work. You can always email them to see if they have a downloadable version. If not, and if it's a pretty good quality (on youtube) you can download and covert the youtube video to an MP3 file which can work... check out http://www.youtube-mp3.org/

[oreobob]

Just came back from a fabulous freestyle clinic! Tons of fun.

What level freestyle are you looking to do? One tip that came up is to consider leaving the lyrics in if you are talking about doing a lower level freestyle. Vocals are always allowed, and can be useful in keeping the judge more engaged. This is helpful in the lower levels where there are less movements and more long stretches of the same gait/movement.

Another thought is to mix the karaoke version with select snippets of the lyrics, which can be used to indicate transitions or highlight movements. This may make the music sound closer to the original, as well as be used for artistic effects. This can be tricky in the editing, though.

Of course you can always run across judges who don't like lyrics anywhere, but they might not get the disco music, either.