My Studio Desk Build

[the_drip]

Being in montana and having nothing else better to do i decided i was going to design and build my own workstation. Ive been working on my studio desk now for about a week and a half pretty solid for about 3-6 hours a day and im finally approaching the finishing stage of this whole project. thought i would see if you guys thought i was headed down the right track, Im lucky enough to have a father who has a substantial Work shop and the right tools to get this job done.

The rack cabinets are made from Both 5/8 and 3/4" baltic birch plywood. joined together with an assortment of Dado's and Pocket screws(Which by the way are incredibly handy).

and the tables top and shelf is made From 3/4" Cherry Plywood which is not cheap( pray not to fuck up when cutting) and the Large peices of trim are Solid cherry in 3/4" and 5/8" widths joined on with Biscuts.

Im getting pretty pumped to be done this thing and hopefully will be by tomorrow night Then its gonna be another week of putting on oil, Semi gloss Poly, and end up buffing with some wax.... after its all said and done i will probably put a huge fucking chip in it the first time i move it out of the shop but until then it will be pretty. : ) Check it out!

 

[Ermz]

Looks fantastic man!

Just one question. Are you concerned that maybe those high side shelves/racks may cause comb filtering interference with your monitors?

 

[Genius Gone Insane]

wow that's fucken dope

edit: in fact, you should put teh planz on teh internets

 

[Damian B]

I'm impressed, it'll look pro once the lacquer goes on!

 

[the_drip]

well shit, i hope not... any ideas On how to avoid "cone filtering". Honeslty i dont even know what that means. Im a better carpenter then i am a recording engineer . I was Kind of going for my Own Argosy Vibe

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Dual15K-803/

by looking back and forth tweeking the shapes of the rack and just shifting them to a 22 degree angle( I know it doesnt look anything like there's it was just a reference . with my monitors on top of the racks they are just about level with my Head if not just an inch or two lower.

I could put up a basic plan but it might take me some time to go back through the steps to figure out a how too guide.... So far ive been going off what i have in my head.

 

[Ermz]

Yeah totally man, I get the look you were going for. It's looking very cool and pro, but basically what concerns me is the height of your two shelves on the sides.

If you are blocking off part of your speaker, or if your speaker is not too much higher than those sides you're going to hear both the direct sound from the monitors, along with a really early reflection from the desk surface and that's going to mess with the clarity of what you hear. If you're actually planning to mount the speakers on the two shelves then it should be fine! My concern comes more from if you're planning to mount your monitors on speaker stands.


...now get off your ass and design me a Argosy Aura360 clone

 

[the_drip]

OOOOhhh ya.i get what your saying now..ya there going up top on the racks. My Computer Monitors fit in ever so Nice on the tables Shelf. and my Midi Keyboard fits in nice on the table top. But Everytime I think about drilling Holes in the cherry for cables I die a little bit on the inside.... Picture dont show it but the wood Grain is Fucking Sweet and I was very careful to line up all the grain of the cherry ply wood peices to flow from front to the back of the desk.

Tell you the truth i have been thinkin about making custom studio furniture....but then again I dont even know what cone filtering means...{dreams Crushed} guess i will have to get better at recording.

 

[Ermz]

There's definitely a market for more affordable studio furniture out there, and it looks like you do a pretty good job.

There's not much to learn apart from a few acoustic rules.

-You have to minimize comb filtering with your design. So your desk surface should ideally reflect as little sound as possible.
-You should create some models with un-impeded sides so that those with speaker stands can get a good result.
-The smaller the profile of the desk, and the lower it is, generally the better it's going to be for audio.

You seem to have designed something really cool for your purposes though. Can't wait to see the finished product in the room, with all the gear on!

 

[James Murphy]

Just one question. Are you concerned that maybe those high side shelves/racks may cause comb filtering interference with your monitors?

this was my first thought as the pics loaded.

 

[Iron Chef of Vag]

well i got all the Trim and moldings cut out yesterday and im going to start staining Tonight. Had a delima choosing the color cause i really wanted to keep the natural Figure of the cherry intact but a few test pieces later and its a hair more blotchy then i had expected so im going to be going with Pennsylvania cherry which has more of a redish hue and brings the browns out of the cherry.

oh by the way im the same guy...Just different computers to lazy to change login names

 

[nwright]

Man, the build looks sweet, but the desk part looks smaaalll in between those 2 rack units. Maybe it's just the pics. I personally would have cut the height of the rack sides down to just a few inches higher than the middle shelf, but that's more subjective.

And it's COMB filtering.

 

[mick thompson]

looks fucking gorgeous! i want to do something like that in the future only its going to be covered in polished granite stone because i can make it up in my dads workshop. its going to be heavy as fuck but its going to look one of a kind.

thats a real nice build though above, the trims add a touch of class to it - lets pray you didn't fuck up the measurements and everything fits! great job! post a pic when you get it into the studio

 

[Erlend_]

Very cool.
Ive have drawn up plans for my own desk and it looks very similar.

I cant start building it yet though because Im shopping for a new apartment and I need
to know what the room Im gonna use will look like.

 

[Soundlurker]

Very cool, thanks for the photos

 

[MetalJonesy]

very nice desk!! its inspiring, mite fashion one myself when i have the time!

 

[Iron Chef of Vag]

thanks for the kind words from everyone! i would have aslo liked to have made the space between the racks just a bit bigger but Plywood only comes in a 4 by 8' So by making the widest point 4 feet I save on material waste and i get a pretty neat grain pattern out of the hardwood...I would have liked to made the racks slightly shallower angle but just for smiplicity and cutting all the miters i just went with a 45' angle.

 

[Iron Chef of Vag]

Very cool.
Ive have drawn up plans for my own desk and it looks very similar.

I cant start building it yet though because Im shopping for a new apartment and I need
to know what the room Im gonna use will look like.

ha. Im moving to an apartment as well. Wich is why i made the desk come apart in three sections...the two racks and the Table assembly. I pray it fits

 

[the_drip]

just finished staining, onto some poly tomorrow