How to Cut and Edit Music for a Rhythmic Gymnastics Routine

1. Check the Required Duration Before You Edit

Before opening any audio editor, check the rules for the gymnast's actual category and competition.

For FIG senior and junior individual exercises, the exercise duration is:

1 minute 15 seconds to 1 minute 30 seconds

• Timing begins when the gymnast starts moving and ends when the gymnast is totally motionless.
• FIG evaluates timing in full-second increments and applies a 0.05-point penalty for each additional or missing full second.

For other levels, national development programs, or competition formats, duration requirements may differ.

So don't automatically make every gymnastics track 1:30. Check the applicable rules first.

Read: FIG Rhythmic Gymnastics Music Rules 2025–2028 →

2. Start With the Best Available Audio Source

Editing cannot improve information that is already missing from the source. Whenever possible, start with:

• an original audio file;
• a legitimately purchased high-quality download;
• a lossless master;
• a file supplied directly by the composer or producer.

Avoid building an important competition edit from a poor-quality copy when a better source exists.

One common mistake

MP3 → convert to WAV → assume quality improved

It hasn't.

If audio information was removed during lossy MP3 compression, saving that file as WAV does not restore it. The WAV is simply a new uncompressed file containing the already-compressed source.

Better workflow

Read: Why Professional Audio Quality Matters →

3. Don't Start Cutting Yet — Map the Song First

Before making the first edit, listen to the complete track. Identify its structure.

The labels don't matter. What matters is understanding where one musical idea ends and another begins.

Mark the important moments

Before editing, identify:

• PhrasesWhere do complete musical thoughts begin and end?
• AccentsWhich moments could support important choreography?
• TransitionsWhere does the music naturally change?
• DynamicsWhere does intensity rise or fall?
• ClimaxWhat is the strongest musical moment?
• EndingIs there an ending worth preserving?

Once you understand the map, you can decide what to remove.

4. Decide What the 90-Second Version Is About

Trying to preserve every part of a four-minute song usually creates a fragmented edit.

You don't need: every verse + every chorus + bridge + instrumental + original intro + original outro inside 90 seconds.

Instead, identify the essential musical idea

Ask:

Think like a short film

A competition edit needs an arc:

You may only have around 90 seconds, but the music should still feel as if it went somewhere.

5. Protect Musical Phrases

One of the easiest ways to make an edit sound amateur is to cut through a musical phrase.

Imagine a melody that naturally develops across eight measures. If you remove the middle two measures simply because you need to save five seconds, the listener may feel that something is wrong even without understanding why.

Better places to look for cuts

Cuts can often work more naturally:

• ✓ at phrase boundaries;
• ✓ between sections;
• ✓ around repeated material;
• ✓ before a new instrumentation enters;
• ✓ after a musical resolution;
• ✓ where rhythm and harmony allow a convincing transition.

This does not mean every edit must follow a fixed number of measures.

Preserve the logic of the music whenever possible.

6. Remove Repetition Before Removing Development

Popular music frequently contains repetition because the original song is designed for normal listening, not a 90-second sports routine. For example:

Verse → Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Bridge → Chorus

For competition, three complete choruses may not be necessary. Removing repeated material can preserve more of the song's development and contrast.

Example

Instead of Verse → Chorus → Verse → Chorus, consider whether the composition works better as:

Verse → Chorus → Bridge → Final Climax

The second version may cover more musical territory in less time.

There is no universal formula. The goal is to maximize meaningful musical development within the available duration.

7. Don't Create Too Many Cuts

More editing does not necessarily create a more exciting routine.

A 90-second track made from twelve unrelated sections of a four-minute song can feel like channel surfing. Every few seconds:

The gymnast has no time to establish anything.

8. Transitions Should Sound Intentional

Sometimes two excellent sections of a song simply do not connect naturally. One may end in a different harmonic, rhythmic, or textural environment from where the next begins.

A hard cut can produce a rhythmic jump, sudden volume change, unnatural vocal interruption, broken ambience, missing reverb, or an obvious edit.

Editing tools may help

Depending on the music, an editor might use:

• CrossfadeGradually overlaps the outgoing and incoming sections.
• FadeReduces or introduces audio gradually.
• Reverb tailCan sometimes preserve the natural decay of the outgoing section.
• AutomationAdjusts level through the transition.
• RearrangementMoves or reconstructs sections so they connect more naturally.

These are audio-production techniques, not FIG requirements.

The goal is simply for the listener to hear music, not the edit.

9. Be Especially Careful When Editing Lyrics

Vocal music adds another layer: language. A cut can be musically acceptable while making the lyrics nonsensical.

Common problems

10. Build Around Musical Accents — But Don't Manufacture Too Many

Accents can be valuable for rhythmic gymnastics choreography. FIG expects body and apparatus movements to correlate with musical accents and phrases.

That may tempt editors to add artificial BOOM, HIT, WHOOSH, IMPACT every few seconds.

Be careful.

Competition music should still sound like a coherent musical composition.

Better question

Well-produced music often contains many natural choreographic cues: percussion hits, harmonic changes, orchestral accents, melodic peaks, pauses, instrumentation changes, and rhythmic breaks.

Use the music before trying to decorate it.

11. Dynamic Contrast Is More Valuable Than Constant Loudness

Making the entire track loud and powerful does not automatically make the routine stronger.

If everything is at maximum intensity, the music has nowhere to develop.

The second structure gives the choreography more opportunities to demonstrate dynamic change.

FIG Artistry specifically considers changes in the gymnast's body and apparatus movement that reflect dynamic contrasts in the music.

12. Give the Routine a Real Ending

The ending is one of the most important parts of a competition edit.

Don't simply cut the file at 1:30.

A track that abruptly stops because the time limit was reached sounds unfinished.

Look for:

The gymnast's ending and the musical ending should feel intentionally connected.

13. A Competition Track Should Sound Complete on Its Own

A good competition edit should ideally feel as if it was meant to be that length.

Edit Existing Music or Use Competition-Ready Music?

Both approaches can work.

Neither option is automatically superior. The relevant question is whether the final competition file works musically, choreographically, technically, and legally for its intended use.