A television show, filmed where the records get made.
Saturdays on KNVA, The CW Austin. Austin bands playing on the studio floor, and talking about what they played.
The most recent one
Vallejo
What it is
Bands come into the room, set up on the same floor where records are cut, and play. Between songs they talk about the music. It airs Saturday evenings on KNVA, The CW Austin, and lands on the YouTube channel afterwards.
The format is deliberately not a music video. There are skits, there is comedy, and there is a lot of Austin in it. Bands are people, and the show treats them like people rather than like a product being launched.
It has run for nineteen seasons. The first five alone reached thousands of households a week and passed a hundred thousand views on YouTube.
And it does something no other studio in this city can offer the artists it records: it puts them on television.
Why a recording studio runs a TV show
Because the room already had cameras, a stage-sized live floor, and a producer who plays in a band. The show is what happens when a studio is run by someone who spent thirty years on the other side of the glass.
And because a record is not finished when the mix is done. A band needs somewhere to be seen. Nineteen seasons in, the show has become the top of the funnel for the studio: bands play it, then they book the room.
Watch it
Saturdays on KNVA, The CW Austin. Every episode is in the archive, and the show has its own site at 512studioslive.com.
Get your band on the show The channel
Common questions
Where does 512 Studios Live air?
Saturday evenings on KNVA, The CW Austin, with every episode also posted to the 512 Studios Live YouTube channel afterwards.
How many seasons has it run?
Nineteen. The first five seasons alone reached thousands of households a week and passed 100,000 YouTube views.
Can my band get on the show?
Yes, and there is no submission fee. The show exists to put Austin bands on television. Send us your music and where you have been playing.
Is it really filmed at the studio?
Yes, on the same 22-by-22 live floor where records are cut, through the same console. That is why the performances sound like records rather than like a TV set.
Do I have to record at 512 to be on it?
No. Plenty of bands play the show and record elsewhere. Plenty play it and then book the room, but that is their call and never a condition.