music specialist projects
planning and delivery for ambitious musical video projects
Every now and then, someone ingenious comes up with a wild and crazy new way to capture a music performance. Sometimes it's a live-take, one-shot performance with a bunch of hidden and wireless mics, other times it's a live-stream from a floating stage on the middle of the Thames.
When these projects come in, they often require a huge amount of planning and careful thought. Working closely with the producer whose vision it is, I'm asked to facilitate the idea and to make what seems a beautiful plan, into a technical possibility.
If you haven't seen this Jack Garratt x Blogotheque one-shot, go check it out, it's amazing (if I say so myself)
Restrictions such as radio-mic coverage, in-ear mixes, carefully placed spot-mics, and a resilliant playback/talkback/cueing system for the musicians, crew, and camera-operators becomes an integral piece of the puzzle to get right. And as this photo demonstrates, sometimes even instrument logistics factor in: "Will this piano still be in tune if we strap it under a helicopter and fly it up a ski slope?"
We helicopter-winched this up 3000ft. and tuned it... and then it was cloudy anyway and nobody could see the view we'd works so hard on.
There's a little selection below of some of the specialist music films I've been lucky enough to be a part of...