SCOTTSDALE, AZ, FEBRUARY 17, 2026 – Ubisoft's Just Dance series is one of the most enduring and successful rhythm-based dance games, with nearly 30 titles spread across a wide variety of gaming platforms. Since 2011, the series has regularly featured the work of guitarist/composer Steve Ouimette [Call of Duty series, Far Cry 6, the Guitar Hero series], a talented sonic chameleon who has composed some of its most unique and interesting original material.

For Just Dance: 2026 Edition, Ouimette has unveiled 'Prehistorock', a rip-roaring caveman stomp built around an ensemble of Ouimette's self-made instruments and improvised percussion. To capture an appropriately primitive authenticity for the song, Ouimette utilized a pair of SCHOEPS Colette modular microphones with MK 4 Capsules exclusively for the recording.

Out-of-the-box game composing

Ouimette's initial assignments for the Just Dance series were in line with work he's done for other musical games, a process he refers to as 'forensic re-recording'. This requires him to meticulously research and recreate sounds from classic recordings so that they are indistinguishable from the real track. Although this can be painstaking work, the process has given him an encyclopedic knowledge of popular music and its various production styles. "Scoring these games has awakened the musical chameleon in me. You jump from genre to genre, learning their nuances from the inside out. That immersion has shaped me in a big way. It's expanded my instincts as both a composer and producer and given me a much wider palette when I'm creating something original.

"When Ubisoft saw that I was comfortable stepping outside the box, the doors opened to a lot of their more experimental and interesting tracks."

One of the hallmarks of Ouimette's original work in the Just Dance series is his penchant for getting unusual assignments. This has often required him to experiment with unconventional recording techniques as well as inventing his own instruments to satisfy the requirements of a particular brief. "For nearly 15 years they've trusted me with some ridiculously unconventional briefs – from Bollywood Christmas songs, to Balkan dances, to Arabic trap track and many more." he says. "Each one demands a creative, respectful approach and an ear for the sonic signatures that make the style work.

"Game developers love real instruments for immersion purposes – to draw players into the experience," he continues. "It's creating that fingerprint of humanity in an otherwise very virtual instrument-focused world that makes a difference. For that reason, I still record a lot of real instruments and look for ways to embellish those human elements in the capture. This necessitates careful attention to microphone choice, which was especially true on Prehistorock, one of the craziest tracks I had to do for the most recent game."

Behind the 'Prehistorock'

As part of his original assignments for Just Dance: 2026 Edition, Ouimette was given the brief to write a stomping prehistoric rock track that would sound like a Mammoth or T-Rex on the move. To invoke the sound of primitive man, he knew that percussion would play a major role in the sound of the track. "What sparked my process was knowing I'd be limited to one or two syllable words to suit the 'caveman' aesthetic," he explains. "That really pushed for a percussive approach to the song – stomps, claps, banging on wood and stone, that kind of thing."

"Once I had pulled out every percussion instrument I had in the studio, the task then was giving it a big, full sounding capture to really get that girth to the track. I happened to have on loan a pair of Schoeps microphones in the studio that ended up being perfect for the task."

Ouimette utilized a pair of Schoeps Colette microphones with MK 4 capsules in a spaced arrangement to capture an improvised orchestra of percussion, including Cajon, Bongos, Woodblocks, Shakers, and a few of his own home-made percussion instruments for the proper effect. "The clarity and warmth of the Schoeps microphones were exactly what I needed to capture the right sounds for this track," he says. "I've been in the same room for over 20 years and know it well. It's tight and controlled. Using the Colettes I set up a semi-circle of my percussion and just picked them up where they laid to create a nice, deep stereo image that ended up sounding like a massive ensemble of players."

"It was a really unique song that required a level of audible humanity to make it work, and the Schoeps microphones played an important part in that. No quantizing and a little 'human'-ness goes a long way, and Schoeps helped me capture that feel."

For more information about Steve Ouimette, please visit: www.steveouimette.com