Did you decide to bring your Dj fantasy to life? Are you an undiscovered singer that is preparing for their big break? Did the band finally get back together? The first question that will probably pop in your head is “What gear do I need for a home studio?”
It’s crucial to include studio furniture in their essential music studio gear list. The performance of the design control rooms and mounted loudspeakers are usually calculated when they’re empty. Once a large amount of equipment has been added, on the other hand, both the modal distribution and the responses of the loudspeakers at the listening position can be drastically altered.
No audiophiles would be likely to place anything between themselves and their hi-fi loudspeakers, yet recording engineers sometimes do far worse things. They place large, resonant, reflective, absorptive, diffusive, diffractive objects (mixing consoles) between themselves and the monitor loudspeakers. Also, they often position effects racks and computer monitors in places where disturbance of the loudspeaker responses is guaranteed.
Also, your studio furniture is an important part of your creative environment, thus, you need something that can turn up your productivity and get your juices flowing. Moreover, you’d look and act so much more professional with your clients. To conclude, choosing the right music studio furniture and positioning it correctly will influence your performance in more than one way.
How Do I Organise my Home Recording Studio?
Mixing Desks
source: prosystemservices.com
Although there is no soundproof evidence yet, there is reasonable doubt that the ergonomics of different worksurfaces that musicians use might impact their decisions while setting parameters, controls and while mixing. Some engineers prefer working hands-on with knobs, filters and sliders while others prefer a mouse. Either way, the right music studio gear gives freedom of movement, whichever way you prefer to work.
What does a mixing desk do? A proper mixing desk along with an angled rack shelf and mountable rack rails is able to will help you maintain the perfect audio and ergonomic environment. Choose a desk that’s at least 150 x 80 cm to cover everything you need, interfaces, hard drives, laptops.
Moreover, you’d definitely need a Z-shaped height-adjustable keyboard shelf. They’re available for keyboard and controllers up to 88 keys. The Z-shaped design also creates more legroom while keeping all of your equipment stables.
What is the best mixing desk though? Solid oak top and side panels, front armrest and feet stand for superior quality and durability. Some types of ash wood species are also used for the construction of desks due to their good strength and appearance.
Rack spaces should be available on both the right and left-hand sides. Some even have an added lowered panel in the back of the work surface allowing you to place a screen level with the desktop. The mixing console, being a long term tenant on your mixing desk, should be a proper and proportionate size to both your desk and your studio. A mixing console that occupies a lot of space will inevitably negatively affect the sound quality of the monitor system.
Large mixing consoles should not be chosen for their ability to impress clients, because a price will be paid in terms of monitoring accuracy. In fact, from an acoustic perspective, the rule for mixing consoles is “the smaller, the better.”
Studio Chairs
source: output.com
Musicians need to maintain proper posture for long periods of time while performing focused, fast, repetitive, asymmetrical, complicated movements of the arms, hands and fingers. In addition to the variety of miniature movements the body makes, it also performs static work. Hence, both sitting pressure and upper body posture are extremely relevant in the sitting comfort of a musician.
The ergonomics of a musician’s chair can not only influence the creative and the producing process but is also important in preventing diseases like playing-related musculoskeletal disorders (PRMD).
There are certain studio chairs that provide low back support, relieving the pressure while you sit or play and thus giving you the boost of confidence you need. There are plenty of contemporary designs that will fit in perfectly in your music studio.
An extremely flexible mesh was developed specifically for these chairs that’s able to supply solid ergonomic support without added lumbar support and gives you enough space to play your musical instrument. The armrest supports can be folded away, so when you play your guitar, they are not in the way. The 3D rotatable armrest provides arm support while mixing and engineering or can spin backward to create large space to perform without being in the way.
Inspired by the texture of muscle, we achieved the best balance between flexibility and strength. For example, materials like MuscleFlex® are both comfortable and breathable perfect material for seat back and seat cushion that suits customers of all body types.
Moreover, the best studio chairs have additional back behind the back support to store is everything they need during the creative process, such as music sheets, capos or cables.
Racks
You can find universal equipment racks available in four sizes: 8-space (SRK8), 12-space (SRK12), 16-space (SRK16) and 21-space (SRK21).
All the racks are constructed of heavy-duty steel with fully enclosed side panels, as well as both front and rear rack rails, thus, are able to accommodate any rack-mounted gear setup Their side panels also feature perforations for passive ventilation. Racks set upon four 75mm casters with locking fronts can handle a weight capacity of up to 130kg.
Keep your equipment racks low and avoid positioning slanted equipment racks behind the recording engineer’s head if they are within direct view from the loudspeakers. Don’t mount the monitor loudspeakers at a steep angle as the high frequencies arrive at the ears totally inappropriately, distorting perception and the desired accurate frequency balance.
Keep your computer to the side of the mixing console during serious mixing sessions. Their ideal position would be out of the way of the line of sight to the loudspeakers. Convenience will sometimes suffer at the expense of monitoring quality but this will be stripped to the bare minimum with the right music studio gear.
Stands
source: output.com
Studio monitor stands should, of course, have an adjustable height, but that’s just the beginning. The right monitor stands will be multipurpose and fit most desktop studio monitors and small-sized studio monitor speakers both horizontally and vertically.
An extremely robust steel construction will not only give them years of life in your music studio but also the ability to handle rentals, events and all the transport and shock that comes along. An added snap-in locking mechanism makes setting up and taking down equipment safe and easy.
Close-field monitors are better placed on stands behind the mixing console, rather than on the meter bridge. Small loudspeakers should be mounted with the common axis of the drive units in a vertical line.
Mounting the main monitors high up is not a good idea. The acoustic centres of the monitors should be sited low enough to reduce desktop reflexions and to keep the timbre constant for people operating the mixing console and moving around the room.
