Beams Over Santa Fe: Ghost Pixel’s Artsy Side

Ghost Pixel was excited to get to expand our repertoire into the gallery scene on Friday, as we projected HD custom content over The Art District on Santa Fe‘s First Friday October Art Walk.  Ghost Pixel hauled a 7,000 lumen projector to the third floor of the 910 Arts Building on Santa Fe, from where they lit up the face of this gallery, across the street from 7:00-1o:00 p.m on October 7.  By mapping the angular top half of the building, VJ Ghost Pixel was able to create the illusion that the gallery wall had come to life.  People were pumped to see something new in the gallery district! We were elated to receive lots of praise and interest from onlookers who may not normally experience a GP light show at a live concert. We were also stoked pass out a bunch of our hot off the press business cards to our hoards of new fans!

We’re honored to have been asked back to artist Vickie Stevinson’s gallery again for November’s First Friday Art Walk, so if you didn’t make it out this month, be sure to head to Denver’s Santa Fe Arts District the evening of November 4th, when the Ghost Pixel crew will be bringin’ the heat with tons of new content which will be seen in Colorado for the first time ever.  Get ready, Denver. Our Beams Over Santa Fe on November 4th (Tom’s birthday weekend) is bound to be scintillating.

Special HUGE shout outs to:

Zack Shamy, one of Ghost Pixel’s founding members, for booking this gig.

& Vickie Stevinson, an amazing artist and person, for letting us invade her gallery space!!!

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Ghost Pixel Summer 2011 Recap Video

As promised, since we reached 150 fans on our Facebook page, we are releasing a new video today.  After the Ghost Pixel crew worked hard to build up a substantial custom animated clip library last winter, it was time to take to the festival scene this summer.  Through connections and relationships made this winter, Ghost Pixel was a hot commodity for many festivals during the Colorado summer evenings.  After working three nights at Global Dance Festival at Red Rocks Amphitheater, with Morgan Page and Paper Diamond, it seemed like summer had hit his it’s high point.  However shortly after the show, the invite came for Identity Festival in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  Identity Festival offered several large name artists; Jessie and the Toy Boys, The Disco Biscuits and a Ghost Pixel crew favorite: NERO.  ID fest also offered the opportunity to perform on stage along side the musicians, which made for a much more accurate and personalized audio/visual experience for festival goers.  This opportunity also made for some great footage as you will see.  A special thank you to Infinight Productions and VJ Infinight for inviting us to the festival but also for shooting some great footage.  There were also some very awesome moments to be had at  Marble Fest, in Marble, Colorado.  Truly one of the favorite festivals of the summer, it will continue to grow and draw larger crowds in the future.   Please view our Summer 2011 Recap Video and share it across all your social network profiles.  Help us gain more notoriety and don’t forget to “like” our fan page on Facebook, so you can stay up to date on where Ghost Pixel will be next.

Turntable.fun

Dammit.  We’ve been meaning to blog about our new favorite social-media-slash-music-player site, Turntable.fm for a while, and we just found out that NPR’s beaten us to the punch. Oh well, Turntable.fm is still shout-out worthy in our book.  The site, which allows users to virtually DJ in “rooms” for a live audience, provides a chance for everyone to share that new hot jam with strangers worldwide. Up to 5 DJs can share a stage, taking turns playing songs selected from a playlist they create.  Don’t like what you’re hearing? You can LAME a track with a click of a button. (Enough LAMES and the song will be skipped.) Love it? You can AWESOME a song, add it to your cue, download it, and add it to facebook. wuphf.

Our question: where’s the VJ capibility??? For now, Ghostpixel [5auce] has been providing a little eye-candy by posting dancing .gifs in the chat window. Open them in a new tab, and it’s like you’re at one of our shows… alllmost. Friend Tom on facebook to see when he’s online on turntable.

Marble Fest: A Little Gem That’s Turning into Something Big

Wow. You may have heard some of the buzz in the air recently surrounding Marble Fest. Up in the thin air in Marble, a tiny mountain town filled with a rich history, the buzz turned into an intoxicating type of magic last weekend.  All day long on Friday August 5, Saturday August 6, and Sunday August 7, some of the West’s most talented musicians delivered reggae, jazz, bluegrass, jams, rock, and rap to an attentive, dancing crowd.

But as soon as the last light of alpenglow shone on the valley, the amphitheater took on an other-worldly, fairyland quality… The “light show” was about to begin. Ghost Pixel visuals (or “the guy with the light sabers” according to one festival goer) was proud to bring a new media to the community of Marble, and the Crystal Valley.  Accompanying rock and jam bands, the stunning visual projections danced through the trees and ricocheted off giant slabs of marble in the historic quarry. In an amphitheater with such natural beauty and depth, the dimensionality of our visuals overwhelmed and excited audience members of all ages.  Bouncing off and moving past the joyous, dancing crowds, our visuals took on a new, closer to nature, persona.

Marble Fest is the first three day festival for which Ghost Pixel has exclusively produced and run visuals.  We’ve definitely learned and grown, met some great musicians and new friends, and made some new business connections from the experience.  If you didn’t make it up to Marble Fest this summer, give yourself a slap on the wrist for missin out on the magic, and mark your calendars for August 2, 3, 4 2012!

If you have any video or photos from Marble Fest, we’d love to see them! Send them to ludlowdesigns@gmail.com, pretty please!

We’ll be compiling a “Best of Marble Fest” video with HD footage soon, but in the mean time, check out this footage from STONEFED‘s killer Saturday night set.

BIG PROPS to Meagan and Shanti at SMG Connections for dreaming up this fantastic event, and working so hard to make the dream a reality.

Marble Fest is This Weekend! (Aug 5-7)

Marble Fest is almost here!  The countdown to this weekend has begun, and we’re so excited to be a part of this growing festival.   We’ll be projecting some brand new, nature inspired 3D content on the marble slab stage and in the trees. The forest will become magical as it’s illuminated by 7,000 lumens of light from dusk until the party stops on Friday Aug. 5th, Saturday the 6th, and Sunday the 7th.  The music, venue, and atmosphere at Marble Fest will all be world-class, and the best part is that the festival is 100% free!  Headliners include Joint Point from Telluride, The Williams Brothers Band from Grand Junction, Stone Fed from Moab, and  PKB (Pete Kartsounes Band) of Boulder.  We really hope you’ll be able to come dance with us in one of the most beautiful little-known mountain towns in Colorado.

Marble is a little less than 4 hours west of Denver.  To get there, take I-70 W to Glenwood Springs, and take Hwy 82 headed towards Aspen. Turn right onto HWY 133 at Carbondale, and follow this beautiful highway up the Crystal River 22 miles to Marble. View Marble on a map.

Public Displays of Affection

Happy Friday everyone– here’s hoping that you all have had a great week! Here at Ludlow Designs, our air conditioning has been broken for the last few days, so, we’ve been inspired to build some hot, steamy, content for all of our upcoming events.  We’ve got some big shows in the works… Keep in touch, we’ll pass all of the deets on to you ASAP!

In the meantime, we wanted to share a little bit of Ghost Pixel/ Ludlow Designs media love from upcoming and past events that we are and have been a part of this season.

First of all… we were feeling pretty famous when Tom got approached at The 1up in LoDo. (If you haven’t been to this arcade-bar with 4-foot Jenga, go soon, but on a weeknight to avoid lines!)  Tom was recognized as a VJ at Global Dance Festival because of his eye-catching Positive Threads hat!  Sweet.

Upcoming:

Planning under way for Marble Fest- from the Sopris Sun,  7.14.2011 p.4

Past:

From Paper Diamond at Global Dance Festival 7.15.2011

Photographer Josh Thiel recently dropboxed  us his amazing photos from the Paper Diamond set at Global, which (as I’m sure you remember from our last post) VJ Ghost Pixel was honored to VJ. We created a slideshow of our favorites from the set, check it out below.

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We also found this youtube video from the set that really shows off our  visuals well! And all we can say about the song ‘Power Remix’ by Paper Diamond is ‘yip yip yip yip yip yeah’! Thanks, 2111dankStreet for posting on YouTube.

From Reverb (A music review site by The Denver Post)  Hot Shots: VJ Battle @ Denver Art Museum 4.27.2011

Also, be sure to check out our new Quote Request Page at http://ludlowdesigns.wordpress.com/got-a-project/… and let us know what you think about it!

Tags: marble fest, paper diamond, vj, vj battle

Global Dance Festival Recap

Our heads are still spinning after playing Red Rocks three nights in a row! What a weekend! Special thanks to all the VJs that also threw down. Props to VJ Infinight (aka “the human trapper keeper,” he organized us all), AeonChild Visualist, Max Nova, Helix, Nathan Wheel, Voodoo and Keska for all the eye catching and captivating content, and props to Paper Diamond and Morgan Page for the awesome music that made the experience at the second stage so incredible.  A few more members of Ghost Pixel (Zack & Brian) were excited to meet all to the talented VJs at Global Dance Festival; we can’t wait to colab and perform again with all of you soon!

A few highlights from the 3 night festival at Red Rocks:

Thursday

1. Getting the iPad and MacBook Pro to sync after a momentary stressful networking conundrum.  Thursday was also Ghost Pixel’s 1st opportunity to VJ with an iPad control at a live show, as opposed to the last few shows, when he used an iPhone (both utilizing the TouchOSC app).
2. Surviving the potential torrential downpour,
   and getting to VJ in front of this backdrop…  gorgeous, right?!!?
   
   
3. Dancing to some of the best mainstage and Euphonic Conceptions stage sets of the weekend- Big Gigantic, Kid Cudi, Mikey Thunder, and Half Color all put on memorable, danceable sets that we wished we could have seen more of- running up and down those stairs from stage to stage is exhausting! Check out this video from Big G’s set, and pay close attention to the stellar LED visuals by Aeon Child Visualist. We were mesmerized by his symmetrical, multi-layered stunning visuals all weekend long! (No wonder he won the first place prize at the 2010 Winter Music Conference VJ Challenge in Miami Beach.)

Friday

1. VJing for longtime fave and inspiration Paper Diamond! VJ Ghost Pixel says he was honored to get to try to mimic Alex B’s (Paper Diamond’s) stage presence. We think Ghost Pixel threw down a high energy, high contrast, dynamic set that perfectly complimented Paper Diamond’s progressive electro-hip-hop bassy beats. Check out a video from the set below:

2. Feeling like we got swallowed right up by the Skittles rainbow amidst all of the neon tutus, homemade dayglow jumpsuits, and glittery bra-tops we saw this weekend. Rather than take our word for it, please do yourself a favor, and check out this People of Global Dance Festival Sildeshow from The Westword. A personal fave from the slideshow? This fine fella… good thing his head won’t get cold.

Saturday

1. VJing Morgan Page’s set was a huge honor! He’s a very talented, Grammy nominated producer who’s on the way to the top of the scene. We’d work for him again anytime.
2. VJ Ghost Pixel (Tom) was super stoked to get to wear his super new. super custom Positive-Threads-Ghost Pixel-Colorado-Rockies hat for the first time at Red Rocks on Saturday! Positive Threads is an awesome local laser clothing company who’s going to be sponsoring and collaborating with Ghost Pixel in the future! Check out the new hat…
   In the daylight…And under the laser!
   All in all, we’re so happy to say that Global Dance Festival was a great success. Although our feet and eyeballs are still slightly exhausted, we are so honored to have been a part of such an incredible team of VJs on the Scion Bass Stage, and we’re crossing our fingers for an invite back again next year! Thanks to all who came out, saw the lights, and danced!
   

Tom and our buddy, Matt, backstage Saturday

Tags: concert, dance, electronica, global, music, projection, vj

Ghost Pixel Goes Cube with New ‘In Tides + Drifts’ Video

Ghost Pixel always seeks to collaborate with artists and musicians who push us to create captivating, unique, story-driven content.  That’s why we’re ecstatic to announce our next collaboration, with Goes Cube, a 3-piece band out of Brooklyn. Goes Cube commissioned Ghost Pixel Visuals to create a music video for the title track of their new album, “In Tides & Drifts.”

Goes Cube’s lead singer and guitarist, David Obuchowski, had seen some of Ghost Pixel’s past work, and was impressed.  Obuchowski, a talented writer as well as musician, spoke with Tom (of Ghost Pixel) about his desire to put out a video unlike any that Goes Cube had produced in the past.  He wanted the “In Tides & Drifts” video to tell a story, not just show old band rehearsal footage. Loosely related to the lead singer’s real life relocation from Brooklyn to Colorado, the video will tell a story about what it’s like to be living in a big city, and feel almost trapped by that city.

Goes Cube has a “style of many styles,” explains K. Anderson of The New Review.  They’re  “a band that takes hardcore, punk, stoner, sludge, and indie and mashes them into something quite tasty.” Ghost Pixel plans to tie in that signature Goes-Cube-type-personality, but this video will be like no other that they’ve ever put out.  The “In Tides & Drifts” video will still be edgy, it will still be hardcore, but with a new twist.

At Ghost Pixel, we’re excited to work closely with Goes Cube on the preproduction and conceptualization phase. Then, the project will be opened up to the Ghost Pixel community for all of us to have fun with.  The video will consist of both 2D and 3D animation, and we’re also toying with the idea of stop-motion.  Look for the “In Tides & Drifts” video this fall, but in the mean time be sure to pick up Goes Cube’s newest album of the same name.  It won’t disappoint.

Tags: 2D animation, 3D animation, design, music, music video, stopmotion

Marble Fest to Include 3D Projection Mapping by Ghost Pixel Visuals

Marble Fest, a small, but growing mountain music festival, is bringing its technology into the 21st century this year with the help of 3D projection mapping and lighting. One of the hidden gems in the summer music festival scene, Marble Fest, is located in the tiny town of Marble, CO, in Gunnison County.  Marble Fest takes place this year August 5th, 6th, and 7th in the historic Mill Park.  In the past, the Festival has centered around old timey and bluegrass music, but will expand in 2011 to include a wide variety of musical genres, from “blues to bluegrass, jam bands to jazz.”   Look for some of the top up-and-coming acts in the western US, such as The Williams Brothers Band, Bourbon Toothpaste, Joint Point, Pete Kartsounes Band (PKB), and Stonefed.
Ludlow Designs and Ghost Pixel of Denver are excited to team up with Marble Fest promoters, SMG Connections this year. They hope to help bring the Festival to the next level this year with state of the art 3D projection mapping and lights that will accentuate the natural beauty of the venue.  Look forward to 3D projection of stunning animated content on the Festival’s marble slab stage and in the trees at night.  Ludlow Designs and Ghost Pixel, a collaboration of 3D Artists, Motion Designers, Musicians, Lighting Choreographers, and Video DJs of Denver, is dedicated to bringing unique experiences to live events and installations. Past projects include projection installations for Michal Menert and BeatServer of Pretty Lights Music, Denver Art Museum’s Untitled series, and Big Bang Music Festival.  Tom Ludlow, founder of Ludlow Designs, states that he is “excited to experiment with live music, nature, and technology at Marble Fest this year”.

Marble Fest, unlike so many music festivals of similar caliber, is free to the public thanks to generous support from sponsors.  In addition to world class music and lighting, Marble Fest goers can also look forward to local and unique food, beverage, arts, and clothing booths inside the park.  Festival camping and free parking are also available. For more information, to become a vendor, sponsor, or to join the volunteer street team, visit http://marblefest.org or e-mail meagan.goodwin@yahoo.com.

Tags: bluegrass, concert, festival, projection, vj

VJ Ghost Pixel to VJ at Global Dance Festival

We’re stoked to announce that VJ Ghost Pixel  will be VJing all three nights at Global Dance Festival Colorado at RED ROCKS AMPHITHEATER this July 14, 15, and 16!  Some of us had a phenomenal night dancing at Global Dance Fest in 2010, so we’re so excited and honored to be workin the Festival in 2011!  Look forward to some hot new summertime animations from the whole Ghost Pixel crew.

The lineup for the ninth annual Global Dance Festival is diverse and exciting.  This is the first year ever that Global at Red Rocks has added an extra night, making it a three night event. Thursday features some of the hottest names in music today, within and outside of the electronica industry, like Empire of the Sun, Kid Cudi, and Big Gigantic.  On Friday, be sure to check out some of our favorites, Paper Diamond and Fresh 2 Death, as well as Skrillex, LMFAO, and Major Laser.  Saturday’s headliner, industry veteran Benny Benassi is sure to draw big crowds, too!

3-Day passes have already sold out! So if you’re looking to dance the night away at “a stunning spectacle featuring state of the art lights and lasers that accompany every beat from the best sound system in Colorado…. [at] one of the premier electronic music events in the United States,” (GDF) then do yourself a favor, and buy yourself 3 single-day passes today from Ticketmaster or in Denver at Cherry Creek Mall or Twist N’ Shout. See you there!