Home recording desk ideas

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Look out!R4XvW3

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I have had a very small area to work in but that is going to change as I am moving into a new house in May and will finally have a spare room that will be a studio/ office space. I have a modest setup and it will stay that way, but I still need more space and will finally be able to have a much bigger workspace. I included a pic of my current setup situated in my 'man corner' of our master bedroom (very, very cramped). The workstations designed for home recording have shelves to elevate the monitor, but I don't want to do that; I like the monitor location right where it is the way I have it. I just want a much bigger table and I would then have room to put the speakers on, something like these, and have them directly on the table for some slight elevation:


I'm looking for table suggestions or suggestions in general, please! :-)
 

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Doesn’t look like you have a lot of stuff. Seems like just a slightly bigger desk or table would work.

Get some stands for monitors and put the computer on the floor and you’d have better set up.
 
You might want to look into a more studio oriented desk. Something that has some rack space underneath.

New house, dedicated studio space, it’s pretty much a given that you’ll want to expand your equipment.

Why not pick up a desk you can grow into.


Just food for thought.
 
Another idea.

Maybe if you’re handy, build a desk???

There’s a member here, I think he goes by “HomeStudioGuy” or something similar that offers DIY plans.

Eh just throwing out crumbs
 
Custom desk is perhaps the best option. But not everybody can do DIY. There are lots of great workstations out there. This home recording resource might have some recommendations.
 
You don't have to be real handy to build your own desk. Just some access to a few tools. Based on the room I was using at the time, I took a 4x8 sheet of birch plywood, cut it down to 32" x 8 ft, rounded off one corner (because it was near a door opening), and cut some 1"x 4" notches in the back to pass cables through. I bought 4 table legs that screw into mounting plates (screwed into the bottom of the desktop, and with the 16" x 8ft of wood that was left, built a double shelf to go underneath (that also supports the center of the whole desk), and a couple of small shelves for the top. I stabilized the whole thing with a couple of 'L' brackets attached to the top and screwed into the wall. Stained all the wood and had it in place in an afternoon. When I divorced, it was easy to take apart and set up in my new space.
 
As an additional work surface, I went to Home Depot and bought an 80"x24" hollow interior door with a cutout for handle and latch. Then picked up 8 cinder blocks 16"x8"x8". I stacked the blocks vertically in 4 staggered columns of 2 blocks each so they supported the middle as well as the ends. I placed an old cotton hand towel atop each column to protect the wood, then laid the door on top with the handle's hole at the center rear (good for running cables if needed). The current surface height is 33", which is good for standing at the desk, but it's easily lowered if I should need to convert to a sitting position.

Mine is an unfinished, non-primed, unhung door which cost $25 on sale at the time - and the blocks were less than $2 each. Currently, the doors look like they've gone up a bit at $35, but the blocks are the same.

There's lots of room for under desk storage.

door.png

desk.jpg
 
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Designed and built this desk above in 2009 for $50. Sold Build Plans for it, too.
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Built this desk above for $100 (and rack and monitor stands and frameless oc703 black acoustic panels and my "Black Hole" Bass Traps behind desk).
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I designed and built the desk, above, for about $150 but used the sliding keyboard drawer from the previous desk that cost about $40 for wood and sliding drawer rails.
 
Look out!R4XvW3 said:
I have had a very small area to work in but that is going to change as I am moving into a new house in May and will finally have a spare room that will be a studio/ office space. I have a modest setup and it will stay that way, but I still need more space and will finally be able to have a much bigger workspace. I included a pic of my current setup situated in my 'man corner' of our master bedroom (very, very cramped). The workstations designed for home recording have shelves to elevate the monitor, but I don't want to do that; I like the monitor location right where it is the way I have it. I just want a much bigger table and I would then have room to put the speakers on, something like these, and have them directly on the table for some slight elevation:


I'm looking for table suggestions or suggestions in general, please! :-)
Click to expand...
Make sure monitors are elevated to your ear level. 😉
 
I recall hearing somewhere about issues with comb filtering caused by a level desk top. If I recall, a 15 degree angle downward towards listener is recommended. Maybe do some research about that if you are building yourself. I wish I could remember where I heard that... likely an acoustic treatment forum..
 
I just bought this desk from Don Hawkins in Oklahoma. Hawkins Studio Consoles He made it to fit my Tascam M-520 console. Perfect for my needs with tons of rack space. I’m finishing it with stain on the sides, and Formica on the top shelf and desktop surfaces for a punch of color and durability.
BA4B4005-95F6-4CC7-9ABA-0E7BD3DBE734.jpeg
 
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That’s a really nice product. There is always something about wood that is so nice to sit at. I’ve bought a big wide metal based one for our other studio and already discovered that I measured the keyboard that was supposed to slip under the front edge, but the supporting struts are too intrusive and it fits really badly!
 
If at all possible don't have the monitors on a desk or even a shelf. 'Skeletal' stands are the best solution and, as someone else said, tweeters should be at seated ear level. Do not be afraid to invert the speakers if necessary.
If the PC is going on the floor* don't have it 'front out', turn it through 90dgrs. That gives you easy access to the rear connectors, so, flat against the wall so it takes up less space in the room but don't obstruct a fan!

*I made a plinth for mine to keep it off the dusty carpet. I also used a slab of chipboard with foam stuck on it, reduced some residual fan 'drone' to near zero.

Dave.
 
If you're looking to maximize your workspace, you may want to consider a desk that has an elevated shelf. This will give you more vertical space to work with, which can be very useful when you're trying to keep your cables and cords organized. Additionally, it can be helpful to choose a desk that has a built-in cable management system, as this will help keep your workstation neat and tidy.

--
Jason Hook. I enjoy remixing old songs using Audacity together with UnMixIt for vocal removal or isolation
 
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