How to Build A Studio Desk For Music Production

Setting up a recording studio may seem easy. Buy a mixer, buy a digital recorder, and buy a microphone. Invariably what happens over time is you start buying more pieces of gear. Rather quickly you will see a need to organize and layout that equipment in a logical manner that facilitates the recording process. In this article, I will show you how to make a simple, studio desk using an Ikea Jerker desk or equivalent type of desk. This desk cost about $300 dollars buying used items on my local Craigslist.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Industrial desk
• 2 8 Space Racks
• Wood bracing
• hexagon screws
• keyboard tray

1. When putting together a desk, you will need to make sure your desktop is large enough and sturdy enough to support a mixer. Furthermore, you would like to leave a little room on either side for a computer monitor or a place to put a writing tablet to help capture musical ideas. Since most personal home recording involves a computer these days, you will also want a nice keyboard shelf. Look for something that has sturdy side legs that can support 2 shelves above the main desk area. For this article, I chose an Ikea Jerker desk. If you look around, you can find other similar type of desks in your local Craigslist. Expect to pay $100-150 for the desk.

2. 
    
   Layout the desk for fit...

   When recording music, you will find that you will need various pieces of gear to make decent recordings. These may include some or all of the following: pre amps, compressors, effects units, midi sound modules, midi and audio patch bays etc. Most semi-professional and professional equipment are manufactured in a standard 19" rack format which is a format that is often used with professional audio gear. Two hard shell plastic 8 space racks were used. Space refers to the number of standard 1 unit rack space. So in this case, the rack will support 8 units of racking equipment.
   
   Plastic cases were used over building racks from wood to save on weight, cost and materials. Though you can build wood racks fairly cheaper, they are often heavy and would add more to the weight of the entire desk. The plastic racks also offer other benefits explained later. When you figure cost to build and time involved, the trade off on the plastic cases saved several hours on this project. A 1 x 8" piece of scrap wood was used. I prefer cedar or other good looking hardwoods as it offsets the industrial look of the desk.
   
   On this project, hexagonal screws were used to both match the screws the desk was comprised of and to provide a more stable assembly.
   
   Tools required: Safety goggles, Skill saw or chop saw or hand saw,Tape measure, Electric drill with screw attachment, set of hexagon wrenches, hexagon screws with bolts, rack screws to mount rack equipment to a rack. Most of the rack screws can be obtained from a musical store or a electronics store or computer store that supports large enterprises since most large computers are stored in racks. Finally, I can't emphasize safety enough. Always wear goggles and protective eye wear when drilling and assembling pieces like this. Many of these materials are hard plastic or comprised of compressed wood fibers. Pieces of material can come loose while drilling.

3. 
    
   Securing Shelf With Wood Brace

   The first step was to brace the 1st shelf above the main desk area. Rack gear can get heavy fast and extra bracing was required to maintain shelf stability. In this case, cut a piece of the 1 x 8" into a 12" length. Place the wood strip on the outside leg of one leg at a 45 degree angle from the bottom of the shelf to the back wall of the desk leg. The piece will stick out past the shelf and past the back wall.
   
   Using a marker, make a cut mark on the inside of the wood behind the desk leg and a mark on the inside of the wood beneath the shelf. Take your time and make a straight line.
   
   Using a saw, carefully cut the 1 x 8" x 12 piece on the marker lines from step one. For a professional look, a chop saw will make the neatest cut. When you are finished, you should end with a piece of wood that likes like parallelogram.
   
   Placing the piece of wood on the inside wall of the desk checking fit on the underside of the shelf. Secure this with a clamp. Select two holes
   on the outside of the desk leg choosing the holes that would be closest to the center of the wood piece in a straight line. The shelf and the wood should abut evenly. Secure the wood piece by placing two hexagon screws through the desk leg securing on the other side of the wood support piece with nuts. A nice piece of wood will also give the desk a nice warm touch. Repeat this process for the other desk leg.
   You can also attach a strong wood board beneath the shelf between the two wood supports to support heavier loads.

4. 
    
   Adding Racks

   The next step is to remove the handles and feet from the plastic racks.
   Each rack is secured on the first shelf in two places. The outside wall of the rack will be bolted to the desk leg like the wood piece in Step 3. You will need to place the racks flush against the front of the shelf. Drill pilot holes through the racks from the Desk leg and secure with hexagon screws. Repeat this process for both racks.

5. 
    
   Secure rack side wall to desk leg.

   Secure the racks on the inside using bolts.

6. 
    
   Securing Racks to Shelf.

   Secure the racks to the shelf through the rack feet wells. Drill a pilot hole with a drill and secure with a hexagon nut.

7. 
    
   Left Rack Organization

   When mounting rack gear, mount those pieces that you will interact with more frequently closer to the bottom.
   
   Other considerations include:
   
   - mounting items of similar i/o types together to facilitate patching and shorter cable runs.
   
   - mounting similar pieces of gear together in the same area
   
   - mounting gear that you will interact with the most closest to your dominant hand.
   
   In this example, I have placed digital recording and digital units together to facilitate patching and shorter cable lengths. The recorder is place in the bottom since this piece of gear is accessed more than the other pieces of gear in this rack.

8. 
    
   Right hand Rack - Dominant Hand Items

   On the right hand rack, install items that are often used in conjunction while recording or accessed and changed during the recording or mix down process. These are usually processors, pre amps, compressors, patch bays, etc.

9. 
    

   Finished functional recording desk. The top shelf can be used for monitors if you do not have room for monitors on the desk itself. You could

Tips & Warnings

• This is a real simple recording desk to build. The work area is very efficient.
• you could add wood shelves on the outside of the desk legs to hold monitors.
• there is enough room beneath the desk to mount stand alone racks to hold power amps and power strips. This has the side benefit of moving items that contribute noise in a studio away from audio components.
• using and removing the handles on the plastic rack cases provide more airflow around rack equipment and also provide side access points to help keep cable runs shorter.
• Before you undertake this, put together a list of all your rack gear and the combined weight. If you are going past 150 lbs or so, this solution may not be your best bet or you may need to consider stabilizing the desk with 2 x 4" under the desk.
• Copyright 1/2009 ETM1109

[jrockjams]

on 11/17/2009 Nice article. I run pro tools at home and built a desk myself. I wanted to come check your out. Vey cool. 5* and a rec!

[b1gguy]

on 11/17/2009 Nice article. This is something I've always wanted to do, and once I save up the $$$ I'll likely follow your article to make one! 5*

[lifeengineer]

on 11/11/2009 Great details in your tips including explainations why you made each decision. Your music production setup is a dream for me. I have a midi controller setup and most of the racks that you are using, I use in the software form.

[argyle]

on 1/7/2009 Great detailed article! My brother is into this stuff, I am going to send him this link.

[MSmith]

on 1/6/2009 Great details. You've done it! Welcome to eHow.