New Custom Music Desk

[Vintage73]

I've been talking about it for years, and now it's time to actually build an audio desk for my space.

I'm an amateur producer, make no mistake, but I'd still like a music production desk I could be proud of. After seeing Quantum7's build here, I've decided to "put pen to paper" and design my desk, once-and-for-all.

I'm borrowing from desks I've seen all around the 'net, from an 88-key controller roll-out shelf, to rack spaces above and below the work surface, to the wheels that I'll eventually install so I can move it around my space (against the wall while my husband is working, and in the middle of the room while he's on his PC in the same shared space.).

I'm still in the design phase, but I believe I have everything nearly worked out in 2d. Next, I'll model and render in 3d, work out any bugs that may exist, and then build, and finally finish my new Custom desk.

Plenty to buy in the meantime, so the actual build process will be slow, but design should be pretty quick.

This is a rough draft of what I have so far; sorry, no details nor dimensions yet:



It's being built out of higher-quality plywood and finished in tinted, clear lacquer.

[trimph1]

Yeah...looks like it is doable.

Now that I have the time to get the job done I think my desk will be using my old architect's drafting table. 3/4" white oak 38" deep and 60" long. I got some laminated pine for the legs 3/4" wide ... mmmm

[Hink]

when we move I think I'll re-purpose my going on ten year old desk. It's served me well but now I have a 32" monitor added to it and I need a new design. But alas that is for a new place, with a real room of it's own. FTR this is the first (and maybe the last) you will hear me speak of moving, no such talk is on social media but my life has changed an awful lot in six months. The only economically logical path is to move downeast and use my VA loan to buy or build a house. The means is in place now and to continue to rent would be absurd, however to buy in Taxachusetts would unnecessarily slow my personal economic growth so my dream of Maine is the best answer and according to my amazing team of lawyers 2016 is the year for ol' Hink. Actually it's also kind of a now or never thing, all these changes have created a momentum that I need to use while I can.

I suspect I will be posting a thread on the build of my studio or conversion of a room as it were, it sure will fun. Another thing that will be nice will be setting up a proper shop for more projects. There are a lot of unique instruments I would like to build and I would like to get better at painting and finishing, these things are quite difficult in an apartment. I dont need gear that's for sure, my gear has grown so much in the 6 years I have been here...but I do need a better room....all I want is a room somewhere

[Vintage73]

Yeah...looks like it is doable.

Now that I have the time to get the job done I think my desk will be using my old architect's drafting table. 3/4" white oak 38" deep and 60" long. I got some laminated pine for the legs 3/4" wide ... mmmm

Nice!

This design is 72 inches wide, but when you consider that I'm currently using a 20-inch by 42-inch student desk with a 24-inch by 48-inch shelf on top of it, I'd say whatever I come up with will be an improvement.

[Vintage73]

when we move I think I'll re-purpose my going on ten year old desk. It's served me well but now I have a 32" monitor added to it and I need a new design. But alas that is for a new place, with a real room of it's own. FTR this is the first (and maybe the last) you will hear me speak of moving, no such talk is on social media but my life has changed an awful lot in six months. The only economically logical path is to move downeast and use my VA loan to buy or build a house. The means is in place now and to continue to rent would be absurd, however to buy in Taxachusetts would unnecessarily slow my personal economic growth so my dream of Maine is the best answer and according to my amazing team of lawyers 2016 is the year for ol' Hink. Actually it's also kind of a now or never thing, all these changes have created a momentum that I need to use while I can.

I suspect I will be posting a thread on the build of my studio or conversion of a room as it were, it sure will fun. Another thing that will be nice will be setting up a proper shop for more projects. There are a lot of unique instruments I would like to build and I would like to get better at painting and finishing, these things are quite difficult in an apartment. I dont need gear that's for sure, my gear has grown so much in the 6 years I have been here...but I do need a better room....all I want is a room somewhere

Owning is the "only" way. Well, renting is fine for some people, but if you want a proper audio setup, you gotta own. There's also nothing like owning your own home with the freedom (and responsibility) to do what you want with it.

Since Mark seems to be done with projects in our basement, I'd like to turn one half of it into a small wood shop (or at least enough room for my wood lathe), and the other half into a small studio, although I'd need to figure out what do with with all of our storage we have down there, now.

[Vintage73]

Colors.

I'm thinking a black laminate for the desk surface, electric blue or red-stained-wood laminate for the rest, with exposed-ply edges. Politics aside, I'm not sure if I want to go red or blue.

[Vintage73]

What are y'alls opinions on rack-mounted PC cases? That's what that big grey blob is in this design.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811165476

[justin3am]

Looks very nice! Make sure, if the desk is not easily movable, that you have access to the back of the racks. It's no fun having to remove gear from the rack in order to troubleshoot issues with cables. I keep my racks separate, so they can be removed from my tables/desk, if necessary.

I, personally, hate rack mount computers. I know people who swear by them but most of those people don't do their own studio maintenance. The computer will take up at least 3u and you'll need to make sure there is adequate ventilation which probably means leaving an empty rack space above or below. Rack space is precious in my studio but it looks like that may not be any issue for you. Depending on the case you choose, racking it could make maintenance more difficult as well. I prefer to have my desktop tower on a rolling cart. I can roll it out of the way most of the time but it's easy to access if I need to connect something new or open the case. If you make the cart yourself, you can make an enclosure and add treatment for noise.

Yeah, it's nice to build a studio in a house you own. We made the mistake of buying a 1-bedroom house with the intention of adding another room for my studio. Well, because the house was built on the very edge of the lot (before there were rules against doing so), we'd have to tear down the whole place in order to get the permits to add another room.

As a consolation, Brit has allowed me to build my studio in the living room, where the entertainment center used to live. Now the video games are in the bedroom but she's just happy that there are no longer drum machines and cables all over the bed.

[Vintage73]

Ouch! I'm sorry to hear about that.

We're in a small, two bedroom house, but it's more like a one bedroom with a den as our back door is in that room, which is also our shared office.

I'm kinda seeing where you're coming from with maintenance on a rack-mounted PC. In order to dust it, I'd need to completely remove it. That may be an issue. I'm already accounting for extra space above, below, and around it, so space is not really a concern for me.

I am considering adding two more rack spaces on each of the top boxes, as well as taking it from 12 inches deep to 16 inches. I wish I could do 30-36 inches overall depth, but I need this to be able to fit through our doorways, which are 29 inches wide. I'd rather it not be a permanent resident of this house.

It will be on rollers. I just haven't drawn them, yet. And I have accounted for access doors on the back. Again, they're just not apparent in this drawing.

Thanks for everyone's replies so far!

[Vintage73]

I don't know if I've been staring at this design too much already, or disappointed that it's only 39-3/4-inches tall or that it's so rectangular, but I almost feel like completely redesigning it from the ground, up.

I have the capability of creating some of the most interesting shapes for this desk, but I feel like I'm trapped by the space that it will be fitting into, its necessary size (I only have 72 inches to work with for width and 18 inches for depth), and the features I'd like it to have (4U-or-6U-over-10U rack spaces).

If I had my basement to built a rudimentary studio in right now, I'd build something completely different from this, and it would be far more interesting and inspiring with all sorts of curves and fascinating angles. I tried to fit in a couple of extra notches in where I could into my current design, but it's not enough to satisfy me.

The more I look at this design, the more I think: Boring.

The possibilities are endless. Why am I so stuck?

[Vintage73]

On the "good-news"-front, I've ordered some samples of various styles of laminates. I've even included some metal laminates to see if anything strikes me. Then there's a color I hadn't even thought of: Green. It's a very creative color, though I'm still wondering if I want a rich blue, instead.

I wish I knew when these samples would arrive. I don't have any tracking information.

[Vintage73]

Modular.

Eureka!

That's the key to me being able to build the way I would like. That way, I can build a desk that is deeper than 28 inches, and it will allow my design to grow and change as my space changes.

I have a couple of different ideas running through my head on how to modularize this current concept, because I really am limited by my current work space. However, being able to go 30 inches or more deep will open things up, considerably, for me.

I think I've been convinced NOT to go with a rack-mounted PC. It just seems like too much of a hassle.

I think going modular will also allow me to spend far less on my first desk than I was planning, originally. That way, I'll be able to make one-half of it drawers and shelves, but be expandable to rack spaces later on, if need be. I seriously don't need 28-32 rack spaces right now, and probably never will.

Back to the drawing board, as they say.

[pekbro]

If you get the right rackmount case, cleaning wont really be an issue, basically you
just slide the tray out the back and blow it off. Easier than a typical PC actually.
The thing with the rack mount is you likely need to use blower type video cards
or in the extreme water cooling. Blower types will exhaust the heat out of the case.

You could also go with an HTPC or if your willing to shell out some coin
a fanless type. Depending on what you want to do with it. You can squeeze
quite allot into a small form factor now days...

The fanless type is generally for industrial or auto use, but it solves some issues
with cooling and cleaning. They are not cheap unfortunately (good ones anyway)...

Finally you could always just build the PC into the desk in whatever form factor you
want. A PC mounting really isn't terribly difficult to construct. You can use a bench mount
if you don't want to go to the trouble of laying things out.

If it were me, I would probably go with the build option. Honestly, with the smart
use of extension cables you can pretty much put anything anywhere.


-Cheers

[Vintage73]

Wow. I have a whole series of product lines flying through my head with this.

I just need to figure out the details, which I'm also working through, and am almost there.

I've also been perusing Pinterest for various ideas on desk layouts and styles, as well as visiting links from those Pins. Lots of cool studio stuff on Pinterest. Interesting general furniture designs, too.

Okay, okay, before I get too far ahead of myself...

[Vintage73]

If you get the right rackmount case, cleaning wont really be an issue, basically you
just slide the tray out the back and blow it off. Easier than a typical PC actually.
The thing with the rack mount is you likely need to use blower type video cards
or in the extreme water cooling. Blower types will exhaust the heat out of the case.

You could also go with an HTPC or if your willing to shell out some coin
a fanless type. Depending on what you want to do with it. You can squeeze
quite allot into a small form factor now days...

The fanless type is generally for industrial or auto use, but it solves some issues
with cooling and cleaning. They are not cheap unfortunately (good ones anyway)...

Finally you could always just build the PC into the desk in whatever form factor you
want. A PC mounting really isn't terribly difficult to construct. You can use a bench mount
if you don't want to go to the trouble of laying things out.

If it were me, I would probably go with the build option. Honestly, with the smart
use of extension cables you can pretty much put anything anywhere.


-Cheers

That may be true, but I'm not sure where one would get such a rack-mount case. The ones I was looking at don't slide out of the back. They open from the top.

I think it would be awesome to have it built into my desk. I may need to look into that. Got any suggestions for links?