Austin’s underground creative scene just got a new home, and it smells faintly of smoked meat and possibility.
Secret Disco Society, the collective behind some of the city’s most inventive rave experiences, has transformed the former Texas Sausage Company building into Secret Disco Studio. The family-owned factory opened back in 1942 and spent decades supplying smoked sausages to the neighborhood until the pandemic shuttered operations.
Secret Disco Society clearly saw potential in the bones of the place and decided to pack it with new flavor. The building now houses three production studios and a modular event space designed for Austin’s emerging artists.
Credit: Texas Sausage CompanyThe facility includes a blacked-out DJ studio equipped with CDJs and multi-camera recording setups, a white cyc wall photo studio, a recording studio with Apollo interfaces and quality monitors, and an abandoned meat freezer which artists can paint, tag or completely reimagine between shoots. The entire warehouse doubles as an event venue for everything from raves to fashion shows.
“Secret Disco Studio solves everything we wish existed when we started five years ago,” says the organization’s founder, Tanner Friesen, whose team had to laboriously gut and power-wash the old meat factory before repurposing it. “We needed a space to learn how to use CDJs. A place to get proper headshots and promo videos. Somewhere to record our own music, shoot merch and not break the bank doing it. We built it for every creative in Austin who’s trying to level up.”
It represents a rare opportunity in Austin’s increasingly expensive market, giving creators a chance to beef up their portfolios without getting butchered by rent prices. The studio, Friesen adds, is “no-frills, affordable and flexible enough for people to experiment and push their own boundaries.”
The old factory may have closed up shop, but the building is still in the business of helping people bring home the bacon. Its pricing model keeps barrier to entry low, targeting creators who need professional facilities without venture-backed budgets.
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“We hope this becomes a space people look back on and say, ‘Remember that crazy thing happened at that sausage place?'” Friesen said. “And then go make something crazier next time.”
Secret Disco Studio is now accepting bookings via its Instagram page.
