Building a Studio Desk

I think most of us would agree that the desks available for purchase(Argosy, Omnirax, etc) may be terrific audio production desks, but they also are more expensive than the average home-recorder-dude can buy...I've decided that I'm going to build a desk for my control room, and I'm not quite sure where to start. Heres what my thoughts are: 56x36x28 raised stand for monitors tilted rackmounts from the stands does anyone know of a website where i could get information on the best types of wood and most sturdy construction of a desk? I'll try to post plans for the desk to better visualize what I'm trying to do... Thanks! ev

It is hard to answer your question when you don't even show your location. I live in Canada, where wood is dort cheap. Plastic laminates are expensive. Right beside me is a Roxul plant. Cheap again for me. Give info so that we can give guidance,

sorry, i live in the bay area, california. cost isn't the biggest factor in this, although the smaller the price the better, to a certain extent.

Here are some links with basic ideas of construction. A desk is really not that hard, you have to have the frame that holds it up and the flat surface you choose to use. A hardwood is the best way to go instead of a plywood. How deep you wanna go is another factor. Most of the desks you mentioned (except for the argosy) cnsist of 3 flat surfaces joined together with some sort of framing. a Lower flat surface, the main flat surface and the monitor shelf (flat surface) Not hard at all. Easily built for under $100 Bucks. The next Question is how pretty do you want it. that is when the price goes up. These links are not specific, but give you some construction concepts. http://popularmechanics.com/home_improv ... fice_desk/ http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercuryn ... 854.htm?1c As for me I built a desk to house my Mackie 32x8 and a 24E extender. I kept it simple. I only wanted to impress myself, so I made it up of a series of 2x4's 3/4" Particle Board and 2x6's. Made an armrest the height of the front of the console and covered it in neoprene and vinyl fabric. Painted the desk black and voila I had a mix desk with a monitor stand above the console. Bryan Giles

Giles, This was exactly what I was looking for! I'll let everyone know how it goes. also, has anyone built speaker stands? i'm thinking about just buying a pair, but if I can build them i might as well! Thanks, Ev

Here's a plan I drew for one of our "metric speaking" members a while back, with some cautions about modes as well - to convert mm to inches (if you already know, don't shoot me) just divide mm by 25.4 - http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewt ... aker+stand You could also (if you're equipped) build out of steel like the store-bought ones, but I'd watch resonances even more carefully... Steve

so would it generally be a bad idea to put the speakers on the desk? i know that early reflections should be considered, as well as the right angle and height positioning, but if i attached a similarly built stand to the desk, is there anything im forgetting that would cause problems? thanks a million for all the help, ev

Placing them on the desk the main concerns are early reflections (placing them behind the desk, the angle of incidence off the desk is usually shallower and reflections miss the ears and go for the back wall instead; also, decoupling. This can be helped with something like foam mouse pads, or the Auralex Mo-pad thing. Place a large flat mirror on your desk (or over your console, if it's on the desk) - if you can see your speakers in it, move them away from your head until you can't see them in the mirror. If you can't do that, some people just use a piece of Auralex foam mounted on a piece of plywood and mount it temporarily over the console, at an angle where you can still see the controls but the sound can't reflect off the console. Compromises are everywhere; mainly it helps to know what your choices are, so you can choose the lesser evil... Steve

nightshade, Have a look around here...........: http://www.longsoughtfor.org/postn/html ... _album.php ..............you may find further inspiration. 8)

If you might consider starting with a simple, super strong, welded steel bench custom built to your size requirements, you could take a look at these guys: http://www.benchpro.com/ The most basic bench (4 legs and a laminate top) is a great starting point for a custom studio desk. I had one build to 48"w x 30"d x34"h and I'll probably never buy a replacement - it will certainly outlast me (welded steel). The price was a pleasant surprise: about $225 for the size I wanted plus about $60 for Fedex Freight delivery. I had checked out probably every studio furniture brand and quite a few hi tech "creative office" furniture companies and was always disappointed by how non-sturdy the desks were. Although I am operating without a console right now, I might have one of those little Studer 269 mixers in my future and those things weight about 70lbs. 90% of the studio or "creative office" desks looked like they would fail if you looked at them funny while supporting that kind of weight. The Benchpro table could easily support the console and whatever truck delivers it to my studio.

How deep you wanna go is another factor.

Heres how deep I went. If its SOLID your looking for, then make it out of steel. Heres mine in the assembly stage. Heres a few features I designed into it. Stainless steel rectangular steel legs that are cable chases(die into floor chases with no feet). Welded rectangular steel tubing frame almost 10' long. Sound and vibration proof belly cabinet for computer, patchbays, amps, etc(not shown in these pics but it is built) Full length padded arm rest with 4 output headphone jacks with A/B/C source select switch modules at each end, also with 2 hi z and unbalanced inputs for direct line ins, fold out hood for repatching equipment, full length cable tie off gloss black laminate monitor shelf(part of hood), 10 specie hardwood endcaps, full length multicolor plex lighting lens over mixer, full length linear rolling racks for remotes(ball bearing carriages under armrest) 2 custom multi directional arms that latch into brackets for Midiizer, drinks, ashtrays and other things, ......ah.... lets see :p oh yea, remote air supply under belly cabinet for computer.....ah.....vacume port......ah ....shielded conduits through legs for network lines, electrical, video, cable, multi snakes for 2 16 track MSRs and Master, builtin rotating FX racks on each side of mixer.......custom full length chrome slatwall bracket under lens for flat panel monitor brackets, clipboards, pics etc.....well thats all I can think of at the moment. Heres links to more pics if you care to look. And some AUTOCAD files that I detailed it. These were taken in the assembly stage, but I'll post some pics of it as it now later on when I have time. Ok, I'm done. Have fun. I did, and still do. I modify it all the time. Still using it after 8 years. It was the best thing I ever did for my studio. Its worth the time to build something that lasts. Mine took 3 months to fabricate and I did it ALL myself. Now if I had only known Knightfly when I designed it, it might have been perfect, acoustically speaking. :lol: Although the platform is designed to float itself within a floating floor. fitZ :) Detail files http://www.clubq3a.com/rkpics/consldtlB.jpg http://www.clubq3a.com/rkpics/consldtlD.jpg More Pics http://www.clubq3a.com/rkpics/C8.jpg http://www.clubq3a.com/rkpics/C2.jpg http://www.clubq3a.com/rkpics/C3.jpg http://www.clubq3a.com/rkpics/C5.jpg http://www.clubq3a.com/rkpics/C6.jpg http://www.clubq3a.com/rkpics/C7.jpg http://www.clubq3a.com/rkpics/C21.jpg http://www.clubq3a.com/rkpics/C22.jpg http://www.clubq3a.com/rkpics/C15.jpg http://www.clubq3a.com/rkpics/C11.jpg http://www.clubq3a.com/rkpics/24.jpg http://www.clubq3a.com/rkpics/27.jpg http://www.clubq3a.com/rkpics/28.jpg http://www.clubq3a.com/rkpics/29.jpg http://www.clubq3a.com/rkpics/30.jpg http://www.clubq3a.com/rkpics/32.jpg http://www.clubq3a.com/rkpics/34.jpg http://www.clubq3a.com/rkpics/35.jpg http://www.clubq3a.com/rkpics/36.jpg http://www.clubq3a.com/rkpics/43.jpg http://www.clubq3a.com/rkpics/46.jpg http://www.clubq3a.com/rkpics/47.jpg http://www.clubq3a.com/rkpics/50.jpg http://www.clubq3a.com/rkpics/51.jpg