Last weekend, our team had the honor of hosting, shooting, and recording the 50 person choir for “Light the Lights”, Ric Podmore’s follow up to 2012’s “Share the Magic”. I was very excited to shoot this after seeing everyone in “Share the Magic”. So many faces that I recognize from growing up in the music scene as well as people I met here at Colorado Sound.
In the days leading up to the big weekend, we had been fine tuning and installing our new PA. This addition to the space has been something that we have been waiting to install for a while now, and it was done just in time to use for playback on the shoot! I’m so excited to see how this PA will allow us to utilize Studio W in new ways.
This was the first shoot in Studio W to involve this many people, so I was a bit intimidated seeing the line of people coming through the doors. Our team has had a few conversations guessing what our capacity would be, throwing out numbers from 40 to 80. Once everyone piled in, I was surprised by how comfortable the space remained, with plenty of space for everyone to socialize, and break off in groups. Still, 50 people is a lot to coordinate on a video shoot. Luckily our director, Justin, along with Ric Podmore did a great job keeping everything and everyone in order. As much as we were there to have fun, we had work to do.
After starting by tracking the choir parts for the song, we put away the mics, and brought out the cameras to begin filming. After we had a sufficient amount of footage, everyone broke off for lunch, as we prepared for our solo shots. Almost every single person in the choir had a solo line in the song, so after a few hours of working through those parts, we were ready to call it a wrap!
There were so many familiar faces in Studio W, and it was amazing to see all these people come together that I’ve worked with, either from live shows, or studio work. From musicians I worked with as early as 14 years old, all the way to musicians I work with currently at Colorado Sound. During our break for lunch, I walked outside W to see a beautiful sight. The lawn was filled with everyone sitting out and eating in the 70° November weather, smiling, chatting, and enjoying all the space we have at Colorado Sound Studios. Spending the last 2 years building this space felt so worth it seeing it used in this way. Bringing people together and creating good music and art.
I love seeing Studio W used in so many ways, and this shoot has to be one of my favorites. Every step that Studio W has taken in development over the course of the last 2 years played a part in this event. I can’t wait to see in what other ways we will be able to bring people together in the name of music and love of art.
Nick Goforth