Since 2020, we've produced concert films for musicians outside the mainstream under the WeLive label – born out of the live-music standstill during the pandemic. A stopgap became its own format: 16 episodes, over 1 million viewers, two national awards, and state funding from Baden-Württemberg that let us expand the format across the entire state.
At a glance
- punchline studio's role
- Camera, direction, editing, mixing & mastering
- Partners
- Lahrer Rockwerkstatt e.V., Schlachthof Jugend & Kultur Lahr
- Timeframe
- Since May 2020, ongoing
- Scope
- 16 episodes, 17 music styles
- Awards
- Deutscher Rock & Pop Preis (2020), Alternativer Medienpreis (2021)
- Funding
- Innovationsfonds Kunst, State of Baden-Württemberg
The starting point: stages closed, artists without shows
Spring 2020: the first Covid lockdown shuts down the entire live culture scene. Concert halls, clubs and festivals close, shows are cancelled across the board – and it's musicians outside the mainstream who lose their only stage and any media attention first. Many cultural venues turned to simple livestreams instead. The problem: a phone or a single camera at the mixing desk rarely does a musician's performance justice, and a stream is gone the moment it ends.
The idea: a film instead of a stream
Pirmin and Maik Styrnol, the brothers behind punchline studio, chose a different path. Instead of streaming live, they produce elaborate concert films released only after the fact – with the same standard they otherwise apply to recordings with international acts like Deep Purple, Uriah Heep or Wishbone Ash. The idea: create something a band could still use as a filmic calling card long after the pandemic.
Lahrer Rockwerkstatt e.V., a volunteer-run association supporting the regional music scene of the Ortenau since 1996, became the promoter, handling technical setup and hygiene concept on site. Schlachthof Jugend & Kultur Lahr came on board as the venue.
The execution: full production value, not a shortcut
To make sure the films would still hold up as a full production after the pandemic, the team set a production level rarely offered to regional artists in this form:
- up to 15 cameras, many of them moving
- a roughly 30-person crew per episode, including Lahrer Rockwerkstatt's volunteer technicians
- several weeks of preparation plus around four weeks of editing and post-production per episode
- a dedicated mix and master instead of raw mixing-desk signal
- a deliberate staging choice: the camera crew and technicians are visible and audible in every episode, so the artists have real reactions in the room despite no audience
One deliberate decision from the start: performing artists receive a fee. It's funded through sponsors, foundations and the Innovationsfonds Kunst of the State of Baden-Württemberg – a clear stance against the expectation that musicians perform unpaid during a crisis.
16 episodes, one channel
Every episode is its own concert film with its own genre, location and staging. From singer-songwriter to percussion ensemble, ska-punk to classical fusion – deliberately without genre limits:
- Dominik Büchele & Umleitung
- Qult
- Pervez Mody
- Von Welt
- No Authority
- Oil
- Dead Venus
- Matt Woosey Band
- Fatcat & Hannah Wilhelm
- Classic meets Electro
- Everdeen
- Tuys
- Zweierpasch
- Boum Percussion
- Leevo
- Attila Reißmann
The outcome: over 1 million viewers and two awards
The very first episode, with singer-songwriter Dominik Büchele, was watched over 20,000 times the night it was released and drew strong praise from the trade press. Episode six with rock band Oil passed 50,000 views within a day. Across all 16 episodes and platforms, the series has now reached more than a million viewers.
Awards & funding
- 2020 – Deutscher Rock & Pop Preis, for advancing music culture
- 2021 – Alternativer Medienpreis, category "Networking"
- 2021 – Innovationsfonds Kunst of the State of Baden-Württemberg: the funding enabled the expansion into "WeLive on Tour" across the entire state
Since April 2021, this has meant regular new concert films with artists across every genre from venues throughout the state – and WeLive is still running today.
What this means for your project
WeLive is our own project, but the experience behind it – multi-camera concert films, our own audio mix, a crew that can capture a full evening with confidence – goes straight into client work. Whether it's a single concert or a multi-part series, that same production experience is behind our concert film production. And if only the sound needs to come from your own recording, we can handle that separately through Mixing for Concert Recordings.
Frequently asked questions
Want a concert film with this level of ambition?
From a single camera to WeLive-level production: we make concert films that work as booking material, social content and proof that a band delivers live.