Live Music Videos

My friend Scot has a nephew in Nashville who asked him to meet a friend visiting L.A. She's a(nother) singer-songwriter in town to play some shows, so Scot was a bit reluctant. After meeting her and a friend, he didn't really care if she was any good as a musician.

But after checking out her MySpace page, it was obvious that Leticia Wolf was somebody to see and hear live. Plus, she invited him to sit in with her on harmonica during her set at the Cat Club on the Sunset Strip. I came along to record him, but because she tunes her guitar a half step down, none of his harmonicas were in key.

So instead, we sat with several friends at the front table, where I propped up the camera on my cellphone (after turning it off, of course). Because we were so close, the stage lights were actually too bright for my little camcorder.

(click image to see full size) While the lighting looked great to our eyes, she had a weird red glow on camera. Yes, I know how to white balance, but stage lighting is never white and I can't trust a 4 year-old consumer grade camera with a questionable viewfinder.

What I do trust is my ability to focus and compose shots on the fly, so all I had to do was follow her amazing show. As much as I hate the expression "fix it in post" I knew that this was going to be the case here.

(click image to see full size) Using some color correction and other editing magic, I fixed it real good (as we say in Texas). Now Leticia has a soft golden glow, which I feel is more appropriate for the music video (as opposed to the live performance). But that's just my opinion. You can decide for yourself by watching the videos on my YouTube page.