Virtu Stealth Music Engineer’s Chair

Yes, I'm reviewing a chair...but it's not just any chair.

By Craig Anderton

If you do mixing and recording, you end up sitting. A lot. And sitting is not necessarily something that makes your back particularly happy, so several years ago I bought a Herman Miller Aeron chair. While it was better than the average office chair, a couple years into it the foam back support broke, as did the right armrest mounting. Granted, this actually turned out to be an advantage because the missing arm make it easier to play guitar while sitting down. But given the price, and the fact that I’m not a particularly heavy guy, I felt there was no excuse for having these kinds of problems in what I considered a relatively short period of time.

Then at the WFX convention in Nashville, I saw a chair that the company claimed was designed specifically for musicians and engineers. Of course I was skeptical; after all, our butts are all pretty much the same, right? But I sat down and found it very comfortable. So I talked to the designer, Steve Knight, about what justified calling it a design for musicians and engineers—and in the process, it became clear he put a lot of thought into not just what would make a comfortable chair, but one that would address the particular needs of the studio or touring professional yet still have a relatively conventional look.

Knight was a professional race car driver who had his share of broken bones and other physical issues, so his primary motivation for getting involved in chair design was so that he could take care of himself with something not only comfortable, but that offered solid back support and took pressure of the lower back’s vertebrae. The Virtu Stealth isn’t the only chair his company makes, but here’s why the claims of it being something for us musicians more than hold up.

Although it’s less expensive than a Herman Miller chair—always a consideration for musicians!—the Virtu Stealth is a better chair. It’s built solidly; instead of the Aeron’s foam back support, there’s a tough plastic mesh in a metal frame. As to the back support, it’s for real. This is the only chair I’ve ever used where my back felt better after sitting in it than before. The backrest matches the curve in your back and is spring-loaded, so as you lean forward or backward, the backrest follows and continues to provide support. The only caution I’d give is to spend some time getting the backrest height adjustment just right for your back to provide the most lumbar support.

Removable arm rests make it easier to play guitar or bass sitting down.

The arm rests are removable (with this chair, you don’t have to break an arm rest to accommodate your guitar) and you can vary their width, so no matter how you position your arms when mixing or typing, there’s support. They can also angle inward or outward. Of course the chair’s height is variable, but the entire seat pan can tilt backward and be locked into place. Even more interestingly, you can also slope it downward/forward somewhat to place your thighs in a position that relieves back pressure. The convex mesh seating surface distributes pressure evenly where you’re sitting; I noticed that not only did my back feel better, but it also felt like there was better circulation to my legs.

Furthermore, if you tilt the seat a bit forward and raise the height, you can sort of sit/stand and if you’re a singer, your diaphragm isn’t scrunched up. The chair also has a smaller horizontal “footprint” than a Herman Miller, so you can put two chairs side-by-side when you need two sets of hands on a mixing console. Although there’s no extended height to support your neck, I didn’t really think about it because I found the back support was so solid that my spine just did what it wanted to do, and my neck ended up being in alignment anyway.

There are three main models, with prices ranging from $549 to $650, although it’s well worth visiting the Stealth chair site to see if any sales are happening. You also need to choose the right height for your needs; the Studio Model goes from 19.5” to 25”, while the Touring model does 22.5” – 30”. Super-heavy-duty casters are optional ($75), but they also raise the height somewhat so take that into account. Unless you plan to roll your chair over concrete, I doubt you’d need the special casters.

Overall, the Virtu Stealth has really proven itself. The attention to detail is considerable, so it takes a while to pick up on all the details. For example, the chair is non-reflective so it doesn’t reflect lights if you’re mixing in a front of house situation.

I’ll admit it may seem odd to get excited about a chair, but when you spend as much time sitting as I do, it’s not just a chair—it’s an investment in physical well-being. To take a cue from MasterCard…big screen computer monitor: about $800. SSD terabyte drive: $400. Not having a sore back after grueling sessions: Priceless.

RESOURCES

 Buy the Virtu Stealh Chair from:

ErgoLabs

Crown Seating

Mix engineer and pro audo writer Mark Frink talks about the Stealth chair.

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 Craig Anderton is Editorial Director of Harmony Central. He has played on, mixed, or produced over 20 major label releases (as well as mastered over a hundred tracks for various musicians), and written over a thousand articles for magazines like Guitar Player, Keyboard, Sound on Sound (UK), and Sound + Recording (Germany). He has also lectured on technology and the arts in 38 states, 10 countries, and three languages.