Last month, we were hired to do sound for an installment of Southwest Airlines’ “Live at 35” concert series. Each video follows an up-and-coming artist as they give a brief interview, board the plane, and perform for the passengers during the flight. Filmed on Southwest’s inaugural flight to Maui, the shoot presented exciting challenges. We covered artist interviews/b-roll throughout the course of the trip, and recorded a live music performance midair at 35,000 feet!

To prepare for this unique challenge, we knew we had to pack enough gear to cover both traditional interviews and the performance by a four-piece band while still traveling light enough to fly. In addition to a standard Nomad kit (featuring a Sound Devices 664 mixer, 5 wires, and hop-to-camera capability), we brought dynamic mics, DI boxes, and plenty of mic cables.

With gear in hand, Andy (pictured left) was able to record artist Lily Meola and her band as they performed for the passengers onboard. We had a great time on this shoot! You can check out the episode of Southwest’s “Live at 35” below:

https://southwest.fm/live-at-35/live-at-35-with-lily-meola/