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Packaging a Home Music Studio by Hacking an Off-the-Shelf Desk


©2007 by Steven K. Roberts
Nomadic Research Labs


 This is a collection of packaging hacks that compress a suite of performance and recording tools into a tight and efficient package, starting with a "Creation Station" desk.  Included are work-arounds for some of the annoying problems encountered when assembling oddly shaped objects that need to work together as a system.
 The author's music studio


It seemed simple enough when I first gave in to the deadly GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome):  get a bunch of audio tools, plug them all together, and begin making beautiful music.  No problem.

But once I started unpacking boxes and actually trying to make everything fit, it became clear that there's a bit more to it than that... at least if you want it to be an efficient system that is pleasant to use and doesn't look like the proverbial rat's nest.  I'm not just talking about cable hygeine; it's all that other stuff that they don't tell you about when you fill the online shopping carts with shiny gizmology.

How can you get the studio monitors into a decent position with the bass drivers at ear-level without teetering them on tall stands that invite disaster?  Where the heck do you put the computer keyboard when the synthesizer itself has to be on a low enough surface to optimize the height of the keytops?  How do you mount the mixer so that it's at a comfortable position with all the controls visible?  And if you need to read music, where does the music stand go when there's a big computer screen directly in front of you?

Since none of this was addressed by off-the-shelf components, I had to do a bit of custom work... and the intent of this article is to help others avoid wheel-reinvention when it would be much more fun to get on with playing.

A Brief Note on Component Choices

To put this collection of packaging hacks into perspective, I should very briefly outline my particular suite of goodies.  This affects some of the designs (especially that of the keyboard shelf), and you should take it into account when considering these techniques for your own application.

There is a list of my components with associated mini-reviews over yonder (opens in new window for convenience), but basically, it's this:
In addition, a few related items are cabled into the same mix:  Icom 706mkIIG amateur radio transceiver, TTUSB turntable for inhaling old vinyl (though it's a bit noisy), video tools including the home security system and transports for various formats, a docking port for the field recorders, and other random bits.

All this adds up to a mish-mash of oddly shaped hardware, and the vague idea of somehow rackmounting things turned out to address only a tiny part of the overall problem.  I originally wanted to rackmount the mixer (ears are available at a ridiculous price), but in an integrated desk environment that isn't as easy as it looks... many connectors come out the back, and the available rack space is too short anyway unless you buy a producer's workstation that is designed for such things. 

Let's take the "desk hacks" one at a time and figure out how to put all this stuff together...

Putting the Studio Monitors Where They Belong

The "Creation Station" desk comes with a nice top shelf that is 37" off the floor.  When I'm seated at the keyboard, my ears are 53" off the floor... and the KRK bass drivers on the little Rokit RP5 monitors are centered about 5" up from the surface on which they rest.  That all translates into the speakers being 11" lower than they should be, not to mention taking up extremely valuable shelf real-estate.  I considered picking up floor stands like some of the professional recording studios use, but they are major space hogs and famous for being dangerously top-heavy... the wrong tool for my living room.

Instead of doing a bunch of carpentry, I used some 7/8" stainless tubing and matching 60° railing mounts made by SeaDog for the marine market, and installed on the desktop with #10 flat-head machine screws.  These are very robust, and easily handle the weight of even larger monitors:


Sea-Dog Rectangular Base

Sea-Dog Model 281600 Rectangular Base (about $8 each)


I used the formula for right-angle calculations to determine the optimum tubing length:  knowing that I wanted the bottom of the speaker platform to be 15.5 inches off the main table surface (not the shelf), I plugged that and the 60 degrees into

sinθ = opposite/hypotenuse

and came up with 17.9 inches.  I lopped off  a couple of chunks with a tubing cutter, and then, with a bit of measuring and playing with a carpenter's level, found the mounting locations and marked them with a Sharpie.  Once I drew "first blood" with these holes in my brand new desk, the other modifications were much easier! 

Here's a look at the other end.  I found a left-over mystery piece that came with a Costco particle-board office desk, chopped it in half, painted the raw edges black, and centered the new speaker platforms over the other pair of 60° railing mounts (I happened to have some round ones in the shop, but used rectangular ones for the lower end that is subject to much greater cantilevering stress):


Speaker Platform

Underside of outboard studio monitor shelf, currently holding a KRK Rokit RP5


The net effect of this is quite nice.  It provided an obvious place for a headphone hook, moved the monitors away from the clutter of the desk and up to the optimum height... and they even look classy with that shiny stainless support.  The cables are twist-tied to the tubing to minimize visual clutter, and when the larger monitors arrive (which will overhang the platform) the look should be even cleaner. 


Completed monitor platform

Completed monitor platform


Adding a Keyboard Shelf

It was now time to deal with the messiest problem... where on earth to put the computer keyboard and mouse.  The problem is obvious:  the underside of the Creation Station desktop is only about 25" off the floor (it has to be, since the keytops are about 4" above the table surface), and my knees just barely fit.  Trying to add a pull-out keyboard drawer would be ludicrous, and a bit of experimentation quickly proved that putting it off to one side would be intolerable.  I really wanted it floating just above the Roland, nicely in line with the Macintosh.  Even though this is not my writing/emailing/browsing machine, it's inevitable that I'll be spending conserable time at the helm, and it has to be at least somewhat comfortable.

Once I realized that the two rack spaces in the desk are actually fairly useless when a tall digital piano is sitting in front of them, it became clear that what I really need is a continuation of the synth's upper surface... strong enough to hold whatever I might want to put on it.  A quick inventory revealed that this is not just the Mac keyboard and mouse pad, but also the iControl for GarageBand and some yet-undefined role in supporting the mixer. 

The top of the piano has an approximate 9° slope, so why not continue this line with a full-width black shelf, shaped to blend nicely into the workstation?  I cut a board to 7.5" width and 53" length, angled the ends to match the shape of the desktop, and beveled the front edge to meet the Roland's rear edge gracefully.  After considering and quickly discarding mounts based on the rack rails (fiddly) or shaped blocks (closing off useful access), I picked up four pipe flanges and 5" pipe nipples, then assembled them and wrapped the posts with self-vulcanizing rubber.  The trick now was to mount the board at a 9° angle, properly located to give the impression of being a part of the piano.

To get the angle, I cut a couple of wedges on the table saw, tacked them to the board with finishing nails, and used a router to mill out a pad approximately 3" in diameter:


Routing the angled mounting face

Milling the keyboard shelf mounting pads at a 9 degree angle

This wasn't too painful; I just drew a circle in the desired location, stuck on a couple pieces of white tape at the edges as a visual cue, set the wedges to match, and freehanded the cut.  While spewing sawdust, I also carved out a little clearance notch to allow finger-access to the RD-700SX power switch:


Keyboard shelf routing complete

Mounting pad and power switch clearance notch on underside of shelf


This became much less ugly once painted (latex flat black).  I countersunk the holes for 1/4" flat head bolts, and did a test-fitting behind the piano:


Keyboard shelf supported by pipe and flanges

Keyboard shelf is supported by a pair of stands made from 5" pipe nipples and matching flanges


Top view of keyboard shelf

Top view of completed shelf showing angled ends and beveled front edge


In use, this is proving to be an excellent solution to the problem.  I wouldn't want to write a book on this Mac keyboard since there's really no way to rest my arms, but the overall workflow in a music context is pretty much ideal.  I later discovered that the added music stand (technically, "music desk" in the parlance) crowds my fingers a bit, but there's not much I can do about that without raising the Mac even higher.  It's a good compromise for the application, and as a bonus the iControl and mixer benefit from the solid platform.  To wrap up this part of the project, I applied a strip of adhesive-backed felt on the underside of the beveled edge to rest softly on the back of the Roland and eliminate any rattling or surface abrasion that might occur during vigorous jamming.

(Oh, and that guy on the mouse pad is me in a previous life, pedaling a computer-laden recumbent bicycle 17,000 miles around the US.)


Keyboard shelf in use

Keyboard shelf loaded with gear


Mounting the Mixer

This one was a head-scratcher for a while... I sat there with the new Mackie 1402-VLZ3 mixer and tried to figure out how to mount it in such a way that it would handle plugging and unplugging without sliding, present a convenient operating angle, and not render any of the connectors inaccessible.  The top shelf of the desk has an appealing curve, but that doesn't make things any easier when it comes to bolting on square things.

The solution was pretty easy, and involved raiding the stash of boat parts once again... this time for "offset hinges."


Mixer mounted with stainless offset hinge

Stainless offset hinge (1 of 2) attaching the Mackie mixer to top shelf.  I didn't have any #8 wood screws; please ignore those ugly #10 heads protruding above the countersinks!


This of course involved a bit of disassembly of the Mackie and careful cleaning to be sure no bits of steel were left to float around amongst the circuit boards.  The case is strong enough that the mounting with two hinges is all that's needed; the bottom edge is fully supported on a 1" strip of neoprene that runs width of the mixer cabinet (see photo in next section).

The Music Stand

After a few feeble attempts to play with a sheet of music poked between two rows of keys and flopping back over the shelf, it was more than a little obvious that I'd have to deal with this music stand issue.  I started to make a simple one with a 12x19 piece of polycarbonate and some 1x2 aluminum extrusion, but this is one of those little aesthetic points that needs to be, well, pretty.  A bit of research turned up Manhasset 4802 replacement desks for orchestra-grade music stands, so I ordered one.

These are designed to plug onto a round vertical post, but adapting to the existing hardware would have been more troublesome than just making a simple pivot block that screws to the top shelf.  Here it is:


Music stand pivot block

Manhasset 4802 "music desk" is supported adequately by simple pivot block (hidden nose is rounded)


This turns out to be at about the right height, and also allows the stand to pivot back to the horizontal when required for access to the rack space below.  I really should have painted it, but was too anxious to try it.  One of these days.  Mounting to the shelf is with four deck screws, and the block was pre-drilled to prevent splitting.  Given the constraints of keyboard access and Mac screen height, I have found it most comfortable to keep the music stand tilted to the same approximate angle as the mixer.


Music stand and mixer

Music stand at the same angle as the mixer; I can just see the bottom of the Mac screen over the top (a shorter person could simply place the Mac on a board to raise it a bit).  The stand can't tilt too much toward the vertical without making it a bit awkward to type.


Dave Dixon's music desk mount

Here's another approach... a few months after this page went live, I heard from Dave Dixon.  He started with the full Manhasset music stand, and came up with this simple and elegant mounting by chopping off a 3" section of the support tubing and mounting it to his desk with a couple of 1/2" electrical conduit clamps.  Looks like it works well!


Closing Comments

Since writing the above, I've made a few additions: 
  1. A pair of dimmable halogen track lights over the workstation, placed to ensure no glare from the sheet music or key surfaces.  (There are little pull-out LED lights on the Furman power conditioner in the top left rack space, but they are not too useful down there except for the Mac keyboard.)
  2. I've augmented the KRK RP-5 monitors with the larger RP-8.  The sound is richer and deeper at lower volume settings, which reduces the tendency to bring out scratchiness in the piano sounds.
  3. I got rid of the mouse and pad in favor of the Logitech TrackMan Wheel, which now sits on top of the Roland (see photo below).
  4. A big loose fabric dust cover that drapes over the whole system.
  5. The amazing Zoom H2 field recorder.
Overall, this system integration project was pretty simple as such things go... all this stuff is electronically interoperable, so it only required packaging and mounting hacks.  The complete system is nicely contained in the desk, which can conveniently be moved on robust casters without breaking anything.  There's plenty of room behind all the good stuff for little "out of sight, out of mind" accessories like the FireWire interface and USB hub, and it's probably inevitable that Java-the-cat will find it a good place to nap and watch "World TV" out the window.  The condenser microphone is on a Bob Heil desk-mount boom that tucks nicely out of the way, and there's room for a little collection of music books between some antique granite book ends... just for a retro touch to an otherwise highly geeky environment.


Completed Studio Desk

Completed Music Workstation... over time, I wanted more "depth" and added the larger studio monitors.  The resulting spread of sound is excellent.


Later improvement with trackball

The trackball uses less real-estate than the old mouse.  You can also see little labels on the mixer channels.  The sheet music is Beethoven's Fur Elise in the excellent Humphries book (see Amazon link below).


Track lighting over the keyboard

The tracklights are halogen on a dimmer, and are positioned to avoid reflection from glossy sheet music, the keyboard, or any other significant surface.  These were from Lowe's (much nicer than the Home Depot stuff).


I hope some of these techniques are useful to you, though of course different keyboards will present a variety of integration challenges.  I'd love to hear from you if you build your own incarnation of this, or have other packaging designs to suggest.

Now that I'm past the tool-building frenzy and into learning how to press keys in the right order, here's my favorite place to buy sheet music:

And, while we're at it, here are some of the music books that I have been finding most useful:


A bit of inspiration... Wilhelm Kempff playing the first movement of Beethoven's Moonlight Sontata. I used to listen to his recording of this back in the 1970s, and was very moved when I found this treasure on YouTube. Talk about playing from the heart...