Have you ever wondered what it’s like to work with an award-winning EDM-pop duo like The Chainsmokers? Radda Reviewer Allie Pritchard worked with the group on several of their live performance music videos last year. Here’s what she has to say about her experience as well as recordings of the songs she worked on!
Allie Pritchard on The Chainsmokers live music video set.
You may have heard of the songs “Beach House,” “Hope,” and “Kills You Slowly” by the Chainsmokers. Last year, these three songs premiered on Vevo as live performance music videos complete with string players. I’m very thankful to have been a creative part of the writing and contracting of the string parts as well as the recording and performance of this project. The Chainsmokers’ blend of dance and pop has made a massive impact in the music industry since they first became widely known. So when the band released three of their songs recorded live, it gave their audience a new perspective on their evolving style.
I remember when I first posted about this project, all of my friends asked me, “How did you get this gig?!” My response was always, “I know a friend of a friends’.” If there’s one thing I’ve learned about the performance industry, it’s all about who you know. The Chainsmokers were in New York City, where I had just moved to from Las Vegas, and they didn’t know any string players in the area to contact for the project. Their drummer got in touch with one of my friends who lives across the country, they recommended me, and then I was put in charge of hiring other string players to participate. It was quite the chain of personal connections among us.
The team was super conducive to creativity and thought it would be “more fun” if I came up with the string parts with the help of drummer, Matt McGuire. We worked together on these parts for all three songs remotely, and when we finally had them completed, it was time to record. I asked two of my friends, Kat Lawhead (Viola) and Kiku Ono (Cello), to participate, which made the experience all the more fun. The recording process was trial and error as it would be with recording any new piece of music. We spent even more time working on the string parts during this recording process to make sure that they were just perfect for the songs.
The making of the music video itself was very exciting. It took place in a giant warehouse hanger in Brooklyn, New York. The hanger was mostly empty except for the drapes that hung in the middle, creating a moderately-sized room. This room contained a glass, circular stage, which was where the live performance was filmed. All the performers were situated relatively close together, facing inward toward each other in the circle. The string players and I were sitting on glass, reflective stools that blended in with the stage. I remember thinking, “How are they going to film this? We’re all faced towards each other.” It was a complete mystery until we took our first live take where we noticed the cameras were attached to the videographers, and they walked around the stage capturing various angles of each performer. All three of the live performance music videos were shot the same way. My favorite song to record was “Hope” featuring Winona Oak. She is basically a goddess on this earth, and I love her and her music. This performance is something I’ll always remember.
In 2019, “Kills You Slowly”, “Hope”, and “Beach House” were released one-by-one throughout the week of April 4th-10th. Looking back on this project a year later makes me incredibly thankful that I chose music as my path. Music has always been my happy place, and there’s nothing more inspiring than being able to collaborate with bands you admire. During challenging times like the ones we’re now facing in 2020, it’s important to reflect on the good moments in order to stay motivated, continue with life, and be productive. Develop goals that you can work toward now, and make plans that will come to fruition when this pandemic passes. Always give yourself something in the future to look forward to. Finally, if there’s one thing that this pandemic has taught me, it is to take hold of the things you control and focus on them. We may not be able to control what’s happening in the world, but we can control how we let it affect us.
— Allie Pritchard, Violinist
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