Phoenix homeowner syncs 40,000 lights to holiday music

Valley home displays 40,000 LED lights programmed to dance to music

Preparations for one holiday light display at a Phoenix home begins all the way in February. FOX 10's Megan Spector learns how one homeowner is spreading Christmas cheer in his neighborhood.

PHOENIX - One Valley home is trading silent nights for technicolor beats, turning their property into a festive light show for the neighborhood. The lights actually dance along to holiday jams.

By the numbers:

The owners of the home, located at West Marco Polo Road and North Central Avenue, say there are about 40,000 LED lights decorating their house this year. In order to coordinate the lights with the music, it takes more than Christmas magic.

Sean Makela is going above and beyond to keep his Phoenix neighborhood merry and extra bright during the holidays.

"You get all these sweeping motions, or up and down, or just crazy effects all over the house," Makela said.

It is a house decked out with lights programmed to dance to the music.

"We have specific songs that we sequence to all the different props in our house," said Makela, the mastermind behind the light show.

The backstory:

The magic starts in December, but the prep starts in February.

"I’ll probably do five or six songs a year and they take me roughly 60, 70, 80 hours per song to do," Makela said. "I’m behind a computer for 400 to 500 hours during the year just sequencing this."

How It Works:

Then it’s showtime.

"Everything is run through a little Raspberry Pi, just a little tiny computer," Makela said. "And it houses all of the songs, it houses all of the music and the sequences and everything. And that computer tells all the lights what to do at any given moment."

It is a tradition that’s in its 7th year, now with about 40,000 LED lights.

Big picture view:

"We’re kind of running out of room. But we try to add every single year," Makela said.

Perfectly wired and precisely programmed, the home is ready to light up the street.

"I like that it’s coordinated to music and that it’s all very synchronized. I think that’s very unique," one spectator said.

Another added, "I love it. It’s pretty cool to see the lights that are synced to the music. I think they did a great job. It’s fun to watch."

"The community loves it. We love doing it for the community," Makela said.

What you can do:

Rain or shine, the house will light up every night until the 31st. You can watch from the sidewalk, or even stay in your car and tune into the radio to watch the show.

Location of the home.