Building my own studio furniture

This month I decided to try and build a desk for my studio, as I have not been able to find anything commercial or affordable, and I had some pretty precise ideas about what I wanted.

The first thing I did was design the desk using Google Sketchup. This is a free 3D modelling program that takes a bit of practice to use effectively but I think it was worth it. Here's the front view:

The critical features were firstly the overall depth and width - it has to fit into my spare bedroom! My 23" DAW monitor has to fit in the middle between the two equipment bays; and I also wanted the option of having my 76-key controller front-and-center, yet be able to put a cover over it and get back the desk space for when I'm tracking guitar, bass, vocals, or mixing. The width of the keyboard "drawer" will fit the Roland Fantom FA-76 nicely.

The largest rack module I have is a Roland D550 - these things are deep! So I tried to make sure that the angle and depth of the equipment bays would be able to handle that unit.

3D modelling in Sketchup (or any good tool) is great in that you can rotate the model around:

Plenty of room for wall-warts; MIDI, power, and audio cables; and perhaps even a power-strip.

The next stage involved planning out the materials: I'd decided on 3/4" ACX plywood for the main panels, but how much would I need? And how would I lay them out?

Sketchup isn't really sufficient for figuring this out. I used Microsoft Visio:

This image shows a multi-elevation plan of the desk, and allowed me to finalize the dimensions and get the basic panels and number them. Not shown is the second page of the plan where I lay out the panels - rotated where necessary - on two 4x8' rectangles.

Cutting large sheets of plywood is, I guess, a cinch when you have a large workshop with tablesaws and what-not, but I made do with laying the sheets out on the floor of the garage on top of 4x2 supports and using a short "Japanese style" pull-saw to cut out the panels:

Once I had all the panels numbered with pencil on the reverse (lesser quality) side, I attempted to put them together using gravity to make sure there were no gross mistakes:

It was at this point I realized I could really use an extra shelf for the computer monitor between the two equipment bays. This would let me put my audio amplifier (not rack-mountable) under the monitor.

I then pre-drilled all the screw holes, and assembled the desk in raw wood state, again to ensure that there were no alignment errors that would require me to manufacture an extra panel or two. Nope, it was all good.

(I'll skip any pictures of dis-assembling and treating the panels with MinWax Tung Oil finish, because this is not a cabinetry forum!)

Here's the final, assembled desk:

The legs are 1 5/8" line posts, 22" long, with end caps at the bottom for feet. They are attached to the bottom of the desk using Klee Klamp flanges.

After some re-arrangement of the studio room, I finally got it installed:

It's almost perfect. Here's what I would change if I made a Mark II model:

22" off the floor is a little too low. The bottom edge of the desk cuts into my knees unless I lower the chair. There are two possible solutions: One is to cut out a recess in the bottom panel of the desk, a kind of shallow semi-ellipse out from under the bottom of the Fantom keyboard. This might weaken the desk slightly but I think that could be handled with extra bracing in some fashion.

I could pull the Fantom keyboard out from the cavity so that it overhangs the front of the desk, but it's tricky (see below) and I'd need to cancel out the friction of the keyboard's rubber feet on the desk surface.

The second solution - which I will probably use - is to use 23 or 24" legs and raise the total height of the desk an inch or so.

Another minor problem that I'm kicking myself for not realizing, is that the fantom requires a number of plugs to be connected at the pack: Footswitch, 24-bit digital audio out, MIDI in and out, etc. Unfortunately, the 24-bit digital audio plug is almost exactly in line with one of the internal support panels of the desk, and there isn't quite enough clearance. To solve this, I had to move the Fantom all the way over to the left side of the cavity so it is right up against the left side of the desk. It fits... but it is not as elegant as I'd hoped, and requires care when easing the keyboard in and out of the desk.

The solution here is just to shorten the internal supports - you can see in the rear sketchup view above which ones need to be shortened. There is no real requirement for them to exend so far towards the front of the desk.

I hope you enjoyed this little article. Feel free to ask me any questions about this project, and I'll respond below.

Thank you for an informative and inspiring post.

Would you mind sharing an estimate of your cost of materials and hours spent creating this?

Tech -

It took me a couple of weekends ... 20 hours of straight work, distributed over 4-5 days.

As for cost:

2 x 4x8' ACX Plywood $76

4 x 1 5/8 Klee Klamp Flanges $64

42' 3/4" pine moulding for edging $20

2 x 6' line posts $16

Box wire brads (edging) $1

2 pairs of 6u rack rails $40

1 Qt Tung Oil Finish $17

1 box (75) wood screws $4

_____________________________________

Total: $238

I've missed out some minor items and rounded up to the nearest dollar but that's definitely ball-park.

Great job! Similar TARGET='_blank'>to the one I built last year... but yours looks cooler with the slanted side racks

I had exactly the same costs, around $230 if I remember correctly.

here was mine during the cutting stage. The members of KSS gave me also very useful tips to finish it (in the thread)

nice work guys. this reminds me i also need a new table for computer and racks. tho i plan to make them tilted at 45 or more degrees, and turned to face me, with a narrower table in the middle.

in the spirit of DIY,

ive been spending all my free time last cpl of days on building more wideband and bass traps for my mixroom. first batch was built by a carpenter cpl of yrs ago, but this time i finally decided to put some of my own sweat into it, and save some money in the process. i like the result, except that im so damn slow with it.. takes away waaay too much time to build a single frame of 120x60x20cm.

Looks great!

I made one a couple years ago too, but the keyboard goes on top, and then I have a sliding drawer for the computer keyboard and mouse. 2 rack bays that are 12 spaces each and then a top shelf where my speakers sit. I have a swinging arm that my monitor is mounted to so I can move it where I need it to go.

The last photo shows that you are having difficulty with cable management. Good cable management is an art. It takes hours of practice over multiple enivronments to get it right. Once you have developed this skill it is invaluable. You will never have to worry about dangling cords or a messy appearance again. Practice with masking tape. Then finalize your design with tie wraps, tubing, and other materials.

Regarding AC power adapters ("wall warts"), there are short cables available to separate the power adapter from the outlet.

Sound quality can be improved slightly by moving the speakers further back from your desk. They should be at one foot or more from the wall and at least a few feet away from where you sit.

One thing I would recommend for those using plywood:

Get 3/4" ply with a nice birch veneer for the top layer. Where you have exposed plywood edges, use matching iron-on veneer strips to make it look like solid hardwood.

With a little red oak stain ( or the color of your choice ), you can make it look quite lovely, and it doesn't scream "plywood".

I built a couple of synth cabs that way and they turned out really nice:

This is absolutely true. I wish my room was bigger, but I'm very space constrained. In order to pull the desk out and the speakers back, and still have the speakers out a foot from the wall, I'd be wedged up against the back wall.

I've profiled the response of the room and I know it is nowhere near flat. I could use some bass traps and an equalizer on the audio amplifier.

Nice work, Mate!