Ever since the global COVID-19 pandemic prevented us from gathering in-person, multi-screen music videos have become the go-to method of making music together without actually being together. The benefit of this style is that you don’t need a fancy camera or expensive studio lighting to make yourself look great — you can balance an iPhone on a paper towel holder and nobody will know!
I’ve been professionally editing corporate videos for many years, but music has always had a special place in my heart. As a drummer I understand how visual flow correlates to musical flow, so I can make your performance more than just a couple of static boxes on the screen. From student showcases to church choirs to rock bands, if you get in touch with me before you hit record, you’ll end up with a video you’ll be proud to share with the world. I’ll help you bring it all together.
The Process
Pre-Production
I will meet with you one-on-one to determine your project needs. How many performers will be involved? Will we need to create a backing track, or is there one already available? What is the ideal timeline and budget? Where will the final product be shown? Many people start with “I want to make a video,” but there are many key details that can affect the scope of the project if they aren’t discussed up front. My goal is to prevent you from going over budget, so I will utilize my experience to find any holes in the production pipeline and fill them before the first performer hits record.
If need be, I will also lead a training for your performers, including how to find a background that isn’t distracting, how to record and film without expensive equipment, and more.
Audio
It’s unlikely that your favorite music video was recorded live. Most musicians start with the audio recording, then lip sync to the recording when filming the video. There are several reasons for this, but the main thing you should know is that your viewers don’t care whether or not your music video was recorded live — they just want to see your smiling face and hear your beautiful voice!
We will work together to create an instrumental backing track. Providing this to all your singers means everyone will be singing in the same key and in the same tempo. We’ll give them enough time to record on their own (with guidance as needed), then I’ll take care of syncing them all to the instrumental and mixing it all together. You’ll receive a rough draft “filming mix,” which moves us onto the next step…
Filming
Your participants will blast the filming mix at high volume so they can sing and perform along with it in front of their camera. It doesn’t matter if they miss notes, because their audio has already been recorded! This process is all about looking good, so have them wear their best attire and find the least distracting background available to them.
Should they mute their audio before sending the files in? Absolutely not! The video sound will help me sync all the videos together. I will take care of removing unwanted sound in the editing stage.
Creating the Grids
Once I have all the footage, I move onto planning the grids. Ideally, this is worked out with you during the pre-production stage; but if you came into this project without a clear idea of how to align everyone, this is where that gets solved. Typically, the amount of people on screen is related to whoever is singing at that point of the song, so if your first verse has four singers, then four singers should be on screen.
I use Adobe Illustrator to roughly replicate the total performers in your video as rectangles, squares, circles, or whatever shape best fits the needs of the song. I experiment with the sizes and layouts until I find the most appealing method of fitting everyone on the screen at the right time, creating new artboards and new shapes for each new section of the song. I’ll worry about movement later.
Editing
Possibly the longest and most difficult part of the process, editing the videos together takes a lot of computing power, and often results in long rendering periods, depending on the amount of participants. There will be many hurdles, and many times when it feels like the whole project is a failure, but this is totally normal. Eventually, we find that aha moment, and it turns into something we can share with pride.
I use Final Cut Pro X on an iMac, where I’m often faster than my machine. Final Cut has a multicam feature that auto-syncs everyone with one click, but it does not automatically position them where they should be. I use the grids from Illustrator to place each performer, then add custom keyframe animation to make them move and/or transition to the beat of the song. Because each performer is edited multiple times, the editing stage will likely take several days to complete.
Revisions
Your feedback will be essential throughout the entire process. My ears and eyes will get fatigued, so I will inevitably miss something that stands out like a sore thumb for you. If you see or hear something you don’t like, all you have to do is point it out, and I’ll do my best to deliver a revision as soon as possible. The worst I can do is advise you in another direction, so let’s be transparent with one another, and we’ll end up with something great!