Music videosLos Angeles (Burbank) & Albuquerque
Music video studio rental in Los Angeles
A music video production studio in Burbank and Albuquerque: 250+ music video sets and locations, five looks in one day, the finished shot in camera.
- 250+ sets, ready to load
- Five looks in one day
- Virtual set operator included
- Pioneered 2007, now patented
Or call 818-934-3775 Burbank 818-861-7317 Albuquerque
Productions that have trusted us
The networks, the streamers and the studios have all shot here.
Hart to Heart, Aquaman 2, Inventing Anna, Bosch, The Mummy, Greenland, Deadliest Catch and national spots for T-Mobile, Amazon and Domino's. Full credit list
Every music video location on the treatment, without a company move
Five looks in one day. Instead of scouting music video locations around Los Angeles and moving the company between them, a music video studio rental here puts every look in one room. Each location is a photoreal virtual set that appears around your artist live, in camera, on our stage. You see the finished shot on the monitor while you film, and the location changes between setups in seconds. A rooftop at dusk, a neon club and a Manhattan penthouse become one shoot day, and the edit starts the next morning. Two studios run the same method, in Burbank, California and Albuquerque, New Mexico.
A typical music video burns its budget on locations and venue hire: permits, vans, load-ins, and the hours lost moving the company between them. Every world in the set library loads in seconds instead, so the artist stays in makeup, the lighting stays dialed, and the day goes to takes instead of transport. For artists, labels and video directors, that means more looks per dollar. And because the composite happens live through our patented CastleVision method, there is no background to add later in post.
Included in every music video booking
- The studio floor and 250+ ready-to-load virtual sets: clubs, rooftops, penthouses, deserts, neon streets
- The virtual system operator who runs the sets live, in the rate
- Multi-camera Unreal Engine and the patented CastleVision pipeline, so the composite is finished in camera
- Lighting, grip and audio packages already on the floor
- Dressing rooms, hair and makeup, green rooms and production offices
Optional, quoted to the treatment
- Crew package: three camera operators (one on the jib) and a teleprompter operator. Or bring your own director, DP and team
- A custom world built to the treatment by our in-house set builders and artists
- A real place captured with CastleVision and brought onto the studio floor
What is on the floor for a music video day
Both studios run the same CastleVision pipeline on a green screen cyclorama, and every set in the library loads at either one. The cameras, crane and lighting below are on site. If you were pricing a bare floor, compare our Burbank sound stage rental.
Burbank, Los Angeles
154 S. Victory Blvd, Burbank, CA 91502
Directly across from Nickelodeon, about 5 minutes to Warner Bros., about 15 minutes to Hollywood and to Burbank (BUR) airport
- Pre-lit green screen cyclorama, 20-ft ceiling (15 ft to grid), silent HVAC
- Three Panasonic Varicam 35 cinema cameras with Fujinon Cabrio 20-120mm and 14-35mm zooms
- A 13-ft CamMate Encodacam jib, plus encoded Vinten heads and dollies, for sweeping performance moves with the world locked in place
- Three Ultimatte 12 keyers and Mo-Sys StarTracker tracking, with ISO and composite recording, so the edit gets every camera angle plus the finished composite
- A giant LED video village, where the whole team watches the finished composite as you shoot
- Easy load-in for equipment and even vehicles onto the stage, and 20+ parking spaces
Albuquerque, New Mexico
8610 President Pl NE, Albuquerque, NM 87113
About 10 minutes from the Albuquerque Sunport
- Three ARRI Alexa 35 cinema cameras with Fujinon cinema zooms (14-35mm and 20-120mm)
- A carbon-fiber telescoping crane with dolly for performance moves, and Tilta Nucleus-M wireless focus
- 36 Aputure Nova P300c fixtures across the grid and floor, and a full grip package
- Three Ultimatte keyers and three camera-tracking systems for the live composite
- A star-talent motorhome for the artist, dressing and makeup rooms, and a furniture and prop warehouse
- A Qualified Production Facility, so qualified spend can earn the 30% refundable NM film tax credit
Music videos shot here
Music videos and live performances from our studios
Khalid’s Satellite, directed by Levi Turner. John Legend and Common performing Glory on an Unreal Engine recreation of the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Alicia Keys on a floor that changes mid-song, on cue. Two Émilie Simon videos, each in its own world. Tap any tile to play with sound.
Music video sets
Music video sets: clubs, neon streets and performance halls
The worlds treatments ask for most, from the performance club and the arena to the story cutaway. Each loads in seconds, in Burbank or Albuquerque.
Music video locations in Los Angeles, loaded in seconds
A typical LA music video location list reads like a club, a rooftop, a garage, a desert road and a beach. Here each one is a photoreal Unreal Engine virtual set, so the rooftop skyline holds at whatever hour the treatment says and the beach stays at golden hour without the tide table.
- Nightclub and lounge
- future night club, lounge and club, bar, all nightclub and lounge sets
- Rooftop and penthouse
- rooftop with a city skyline, Manhattan penthouse, all rooftop sets
- Alley and neon street
- neon streets, Japanese city at night, all alley sets
- Garage and loft
- underground racing garage, artist’s loft, cyberpunk interior
- Desert and beach
- Moab desert, beach with cliffs
- Concert hall and arena
- concert hall, center arena, all concert hall and theater sets
- Stylized and fantasy worlds
- clouds, fractal glacier, Sanctum Draconis cathedral, fantasy and medieval worlds, sci-fi and spaceship sets
- Clean white space
- virtual white cyc set for choreography and beauty passes
Browse every world in the full set library. If the treatment needs a place we don’t have, we build it or capture the real location and bring it onto the studio floor.
Check availability
Send the treatment. We’ll price the music video.
If you need to rent space for a music video, the artist, the looks you need and your dates are enough to start. A producer replies with availability at both studios and a quote built on your actual shoot.
- Turnkey. The studio, the 250+-set library, lighting, grip, audio and the operator who runs the virtual sets are included
- Your director, DP and glam team run the floor. An optional crew package adds three camera operators (one on the jib) and a teleprompter operator
- Two studios, in Burbank, Los Angeles and Albuquerque, New Mexico. Quoted against your shoot, never a rack rate
Rather talk it through? 818-934-3775 · Burbank
818-861-7317 · Albuquerque
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Your inquiry is in.
A producer will reach out to talk through your project and next steps. Need us sooner? Call 818-934-3775 (Burbank) or 818-861-7317 (Albuquerque).
How a music video shoot works here
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Pick your worlds
Browse the set library and shortlist the looks that match the treatment: a lounge and club, a bar, a cyberpunk interior. Performance space, story world, cutaway locations. If the treatment needs a world we don’t have, we build it or capture the real place.
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Shoot them all in one day
Sets swap in seconds between setups. Run performance passes in one world, story beats in the next. The set can even change mid-song, triggered on cue, the way the floor transforms under Alicia Keys in the reel above. Multi-camera, with its own render for each camera, so every pass buys you coverage.
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Walk out with the finished shot
The world composites live, in camera. What’s on the monitor is the finished frame. Straight to edit and color, no post-compositing round trip.
Performance videos and live performances
For a performance-based video, run the whole song in one world, then load the next world and run it again. The world can also change on a cue inside the song. When the performance needs to go out live, the studio runs a live video-linking pipeline, so the composited world goes out in the feed to wherever you stream it. Demi Lovato performed “Lovely Day” from our Burbank studio for the Celebrating America inauguration special.
Three ways to shoot a music video in Los Angeles
Rent real locations
Each look is a separate venue with its own fee, load-in and light, so five looks can mean five bookings and more than one shoot day.
Rent a green screen room and add the world in post
The artist performs to an empty green wall, and the world arrives later from VFX. Nobody on set sees the final frame until post. If that is your plan, you can rent the green screen studio on its own for traditional chroma key.
Load the location live, in camera, here
The world appears around your artist live, in camera, and the director sees the finished shot on the monitor during the take. Each camera gets its own render, so three cameras can move in different directions around the artist. In Burbank, a giant LED wall is the video village, where the whole team watches the finished composite; the background itself is composited on green, live, in camera. That is virtual production in Los Angeles the way we have run it since 2007. For the difference from shooting on an LED volume, see our LED wall vs live composite comparison.
How much does it cost to make a music video here?
We quote every music video against the actual shoot rather than a rack rate. The number moves with shoot days, the number of looks, camera count, crew size, how much custom world-building the treatment needs, and which studio you book.
What comes off a music video budget
- No company moves between looks
- No location or venue fees, and no scouting
- No set construction required, and nothing to strike
- No travel, per diems or weather days
- No reshoot rebuilds, because a set reloads exactly, even months later
See music video studio rates and what drives the cost, then send the treatment for a quote.
The studio the networks use, for your artist
We pioneered real-time virtual production in 2007, and the pipeline is now patented. Warner Bros., HBO, Netflix, NBC, CBS, Amazon, BET, Paramount and Hearst have all shot in our studios, and Kevin Hart’s Hart to Heart shot on the Burbank floor. Music has been part of that from the start: John Legend and Common performed Glory on a recreated Edmund Pettus Bridge, and Demi Lovato performed from our Burbank studio for a national inauguration special. Our optional crew brings 25+ years of network television experience.
The same production studio handles commercials, vertical drama and sci-fi worlds, so a label can shoot the video, the behind-the-scenes, vertical cutdowns and promo spots on one floor in one booking. See more in the video gallery and the full credit list.
Questions
Music video studio rental: cost, looks, crew and prep
- How much does a music video studio rental cost?
- We quote every music video against the actual shoot, format, camera count, number of looks and dates, not a rack rate. The studio, the CastleVision pipeline and the set library come as one package, with the on-stage virtual system operator included and additional crew available as an add-on; the quote spells out everything else the shoot uses. See our rates page for what drives the number, then tell us about the video.
- Where can I shoot a music video in Los Angeles?
- The usual answer is to rent real locations one at a time: a club, a rooftop, a warehouse, each with its own load-in and a company move to reach the next. Our Burbank music video studio puts those locations on one floor as virtual sets that load in seconds, so a club, a rooftop and a desert fit in one shoot day. The same set library is available at our Albuquerque studio.
- How many looks can we shoot in one day?
- Sets load in seconds, so the limit is your shot list, not the studio. A treatment with five distinct worlds, a rooftop at dusk, a neon club, a Manhattan penthouse, is one shoot day on our floor, with no company moves and nothing to strike.
- Are the backgrounds added in post?
- No: that’s the point. Our patented CastleVision pipeline composites the world live, in camera, across multiple cameras at once. What you see on the program monitor during the take is the finished shot, so the edit starts the day after the shoot instead of waiting weeks on VFX.
- Can the set change during the song?
- Yes. The operator can trigger a set change on cue, mid-performance, the way the floor changes under Alicia Keys in the reel on this page. Between setups, a whole new world loads in seconds.
- Can you build a custom world or recreate a real place for our treatment?
- Yes. There are three ways to get the location: pick it from the set library, have our in-house set builders and artists build it from your reference, or capture the real place with CastleVision and bring it onto the studio floor. Custom looks can be branded. John Legend and Common performed “Glory” here on an Unreal Engine recreation of the Edmund Pettus Bridge.
- Can we bring our own director, DP and creative team?
- Yes. You keep full creative control. Your director, DP, choreographer and glam team work the floor, and the virtual system operator who runs the sets is included in every booking. If you need camera crew, our optional crew package adds three camera operators (one on the jib) and a teleprompter operator. We handle the technology; you make the video.
- Do you shoot music videos on an LED wall?
- No. The world is composited live, in camera, on a green screen cyclorama, and each camera gets its own render, so three cameras can move in different directions around the artist without sharing one wall. In Burbank, a giant LED wall serves as the video village, where the whole team watches the finished composite while you shoot. It is a monitor, not the background.
- Can we stream a live performance from the studio?
- Yes. The studio runs a live video-linking pipeline, so the composited world goes out live in the feed to wherever you stream it. Demi Lovato performed “Lovely Day” from our Burbank studio for the Celebrating America inauguration special.
- Do we need a film permit for a music video shoot?
- Filming in Burbank presently requires a city film permit. Albuquerque requires no film permit.
- Where are the studios located?
- Two studios: Burbank, California, at 154 S. Victory Blvd in the Media Capital of the World, about 15 minutes from Hollywood and from Burbank (BUR) airport, and Albuquerque, New Mexico, a Qualified Production Facility where your shoot can qualify for the state’s 30% refundable film tax credit.
- Where does the artist get ready?
- Dressing rooms, hair and makeup, green rooms and production offices come with every booking. Burbank has five green rooms and a hair and makeup room with lit vanity mirrors. Albuquerque adds a star-talent motorhome alongside its dressing and makeup rooms.
- Can we put a real car or props in the shot?
- Yes. Physical foreground pieces, furniture and props blend with the virtual set, and the Burbank studio has easy load-in for equipment and even vehicles onto the stage. Albuquerque keeps a furniture and prop warehouse on site.
Everything else a music video producer asks about
Sets by room, the two studios, the money, and the other formats that can share the booking.
- Nightclub and lounge sets The performance club, the lounge and the neon room on one page
- Rooftop sets The skyline behind the artist at whatever hour the treatment says
- Alley sets A gritty city alley and a neon Hong Kong alley for the story cutaway
- Concert hall and theater sets A stage and a full house for the performance cut
- A custom world for your treatment Built by our artists, or a real place captured with CastleVision
- How CastleVision works The patented method behind the live, in-camera composite
- Unreal Engine filming studio The engine every world in the library runs on
- Green screen virtual production vs. an LED volume What changes for moving cameras and multi-camera coverage
- Green screen studio in Los Angeles The pre-lit green cyc, also rentable for traditional chroma key
- Video gallery Music videos, commercials, film and TV shot in our studios
- Rates and what drives the cost Why every music video is quoted to its own shoot
- The Burbank studio Across from Nickelodeon, about five minutes from Warner Bros.
- The Albuquerque studio Three ARRI Alexa 35 cameras, a telescoping crane and a talent motorhome
- New Mexico film tax credit How the 30% refundable credit works on qualified in-state spend
- Commercial studio rental Shoot the brand spot or the label promo on the same booking
- Book a studio tour Watch a set load live, by appointment, before you book
Send the treatment, the looks and your dates. A producer reads it and replies with availability at both studios.
