a couple of general control room questions

I've seen a lot of control room pictures where the sofa in the rear of the room is on a riser. Is there any reason for this? (acoustically speaking). Also, I'm considering a set of sliding doors in front of my mix position to enter the live room....do they have to be angled?

If you are sitting in a normal office chair at a console and your client is sitting on a couch behind you you will be looking down at him plus your body will block his vision of the console and your monitors both visual and audio yet when he's on a riser you look eye to eye and he can now see you monitors. No the doors don't need to be angled but they should have different thicknesses of glass.

Thanks John...I always liked the way it looked as well (the riser). I've seen some pics that appear to have it up on 2x4 or 2x6 with insulation stuffed underneath? Any other trick to them or is it pretty much what you see...

pretty much what you see. It's worth while to install some mike and line inputs somewhere so you can plug into the console from there.