Desk/Workspace - what works?

[swarfrat]

I'm curious what people have found works for them for a desk (furniture, not a mixing console.)

I'm not a keyboard player. I can bang out block chords in C and G, but that's about it. I'm guitar player, dabble in bass and drums. I have a PC and a Zoom R24. I also have this ginormous table desk. But regardless of desk size, big or small, I've never really felt like I've found something that works well for guitar/bass.

I also have a drum set in the room - managing transport controls from the drum kit is also frustrating. I'm not particularly interested in the furniture you see in MF/Sweetwater (unless it actually does work). To me, they just look like expensive furniture that still won't be guitar friendly and won't work as a normal desk when it's time to pay bills. I also have one of those rolling rack frames with a rack mounted mixer on the top half.

Has anyone found something that really works? Do you just manage transport controls from a remote pedal for guitar/bass/drums? Can you actually play your keyboard at your desk, or is that also done away from the desk? I'd like to dump this humongous desk so I can get my workspace closer in with the rack and instruments, find some other place to put the clutter that accumulates on desktops.

 

[ofajen]

A few thoughts...

I want as little furniture in the studio as possible, to leave more room for people and instruments.

I use a small rolling rack/mixer cart that I made for the compact Mackie mixer with my rack effects right below. I keep that in the main mix down location with the monitors behind and setting on Tube Traps.

I still track and mix to tape. The tape machines are to the left of the mixer. I have an 8-track on a low rolling cart I made and it has a 25’ wired remote, so I can start record or playback, rewind, etc. from anywhere in the space, even while playing drums. The 2-track is next to it, also on a low rolling cart I made for it. I haven’t bothered to track down a remote for it, but it sits right next to my mixer so it is easy to reach when I’m using it.

I have three keyboard synths and they live on keyboard stands to the right of the mixer. Right now I have two on a three level stand in the corner, and the third on a single stand facing the other way so the player can see the drummer and other players. Personally, I prefer to have the keyboards set up that way, with room underneath for easy access to pedals when I’m sitting and the option to have more available when played while standing.

I have a small table off to the left side of the mixer beyond the tape machines that I keep my favorite drum machine on, along with picks, music and papers. The top is basically a fragment from an old corner desk unit and it is attached on a base I made from scrap lumber.

So, that’s how I’ve handled it. It all works just fine and virtually no cash invested other than a few bits of hardware to put stuff together. Your approach will have to be at least somewhat different in that you are presumably using a computer running a DAW so you will need some flat surface for that.

Good luck. I hope that helps.

Otto

 

[Aloe]

I also have a small room with 2 amps, drum kit, etc.
I need a desk for several cases: one is the computer, sound interface, etc. this all actually resides on the whatever desk I have. I however wished sometimes I had a stand-up desk for this purpose not to sit or bend down to manage my transport/channels/etc. I sit when I'm the engineer and I'm recording something, but I stand when I play.

If I would be not comfortable with tuning the stuff inside my laptop, I'd get a faderport or something like this. or an iPad so I could do it remotely. as I have very limited space, though, I just go to my computer and tune whatever I need.

I also need some kind of space for instruments -- electronic percussion, desktop looper, midi keyboard, etc. at this point my best bet is that those instruments need to be on separate desk than the recording engineer's one. as my space is limited, I usually use something like drummer's or piano stool or cajon to put the instrument on top of it.

 

[garp]

I'm not particularly interested in the furniture you see in MF/Sweetwater (unless it actually does work). To me, they just look like expensive furniture that still won't be guitar friendly and won't work as a normal desk when it's time to pay bills.

+1. Years ago, I had one of the those big studio desks/workstations, but it just consumed too much real estate in my home studio. I ended up replacing it with something much smaller and cheaper purchased at a Staples store. My synths reside on separate tiered stands. My rack gear isn't racked, but rather stacked neatly on inexpensive wire shelving purchased at a Loew's store. As for remotely managing DAW transport controls, I simply use a second USB keyboard and a really long cable. I know there are all sorts of Bluetooth thingies and iPad apps for this sort of stuff, but I'm into simplicity these days.

 

[buldog5151bass]

Get an idea what size you want, and start hitting Goodwill or Ikea - work from that direction.

My rehearsal space uses an old (really old) sewing machine table. Perfect size for the monitor and keyboard, it has drawers for picks and such, and looks really nice.

 

[Badwater]

I use the (Studio Trends 46" Desk). has racks to mount gear, and elevated platform for studio monitors. Deep enough to keep the monitors away from the wall, and tuck wires behind. And can support a good sized HD monitor for the computer. Best part, is, they go on sale from time to time, and cost less than a cheap bass.

 

[silky smoove]

Deep enough to keep the monitors away from the wall

Be careful with this. In most cases you actually want the back of your monitors as close to the front wall as possible without actually touching it in order to drive the quarter and half wavelength cancellation frequencies high enough to be easily dealt with acoustically. When the cancellation occurs in the bass and midbass it can be a major pain to treat acoustically. Only rooms that are very large should have their monitors located away from the front wall. Here's a handy calculator for calculating cancellation frequencies relative to monitor placement: Invalid Link Removed

For example, if you have the backs of your monitors located 1" from the walls you'll have a quarter wavelength cancellation frequency of 3.4khz, which is extremely easy to deal with acoustically. At 12" the quarter wavelength cancellation frequency dips down to 282hz, which is quite a bit harder to deal with although well within the range of most broadband absorption products. Get out to 24" and the frequency is down at 141hz and starts becoming very problematic. You have to get all the way out to 114" (i.e. nearly 10-feet) before the cancellation frequency dips down to 30hz where the monitors likely can't reproduce much content in the problem area and you're likely to handle what little would be reproduced with a very low frequency HPF across your entire mix.