Now that you have had a few weeks with the challenge; what are you missing/needing?

[Boudoir Guitar]

Not musical in nature, but I think a bigger desk! My recording rig is stiched together around my work setup. The interface and Mini fit around my work setup, but I didn’t have room for my studio monitors once I broke them back out so I threw them next to my work desk on a two foot tall IKEA table with my synth. So if I’m not using headphones, when I make a change to the mix, I roll my dumbass over about 3-4 feet, and drop my chair height to Oompa Loompa levels and listen via the monitors. I think I want a massive 8-10 foot desk/table so I have have almost two distinct stations, one for work (overrated) and one for recording.

I finally gave up on the side-by-side situation and now go opposed on opposite walls. That way when I'm working (on music) I'm not so easily distracted by the work station . The only downside is when someone can manage to see through the blurred background of my work teams video stream enough to stop mid-sentence "Is that a drumset behind you?!?"

 

[Gearzilla]

So if I’m not using headphones, when I make a change to the mix, I roll my dumbass over about 3-4 feet, and drop my chair height to Oompa Loompa levels and listen via the monitors.

 

[fretworn]

Not musical in nature, but I think a bigger desk! My recording rig is stiched together around my work setup. The interface and Mini fit around my work setup, but I didn’t have room for my studio monitors once I broke them back out so I threw them next to my work desk on a two foot tall IKEA table with my synth. So if I’m not using headphones, when I make a change to the mix, I roll my dumbass over about 3-4 feet, and drop my chair height to Oompa Loompa levels and listen via the monitors. I think I want a massive 8-10 foot desk/table so I have have almost two distinct stations, one for work (overrated) and one for recording.

I have used tables for decades because I much prefer them to desks. Much easier to get to the back.

Hell, I’m using my old bachelor pad dining table now.

 

[Whizzinby]

I finally gave up on the side-by-side situation and now go opposed on opposite walls. That way when I'm working (on music) I'm not so easily distracted by the work station . The only downside is when someone can manage to see through the blurred background of my work teams video stream enough to stop mid-sentence "Is that a drumset behind you?!?"

I only play it at lunch!

Yeah if my team could see all the gear I have within a 5ft radius of my work setup, they’d give me hell too.

 

[mbenigni]

I suspect your inner voice is nagging at you, telling you what’s “good” and what ”sucks”, ya gotta tell that dude to f*ck off for a little while until you’re finished working. Nothing can suck if it’s not finished yet! That was easily the best advice I’ve ever heard come from Devin Townsend, “Finish everything. If something is telling you it sucks when it’s not finished, how do you know it sucks? It’s not done yet” and I’ve often found that pushing through the suckage causes me to introduce something that makes it not-suck.

Man, people have tried to give me this (excellent) advice so many times over the years. I really wish I had managed to get it through my skull sooner.

 

[mbenigni]

Not really feeling like I need any "thing" at this point. More time, more clarity of vision (WTF am I doing and why?), a better capacity to execute that vision (experience, vocabulary, chops...)

 

[DrewJD82]

Not really feeling like I need any "thing" at this point. More time, more clarity of vision (WTF am I doing and why?), a better capacity to execute that vision (experience, vocabulary, chops...)

Yeah, the one-week deadline tends to remove some of those things. In some ways that’s good because it really forces you to get out of optionitis as you see the clock ticking down, whether that’s tonal or musical options. The benefit is that, for myself anyway, I don’t really view these songs as something I’m going to put on an album (well, last week’s most likely will but that was an anomaly) and tend to view them more as practice/keeping things fresh in my mind/throwaways, so when I DO sit down to record something I’d like to put out to the rest of the world, I’m not needing to refresh anything in my head and I’m constantly in a state of recording mode.

And it’s an excellent way to stock up on riffs and ideas! No reason nothing from these songs can’t be chopped up and used in other songs!

 

[mbenigni]

Yeah, the one-week deadline tends to remove some of those things. In some ways that’s good because it really forces you to get out of optionitis as you see the clock ticking down, whether that’s tonal or musical options. The benefit is that, for myself anyway, I don’t really view these songs as something I’m going to put on an album (well, last week’s most likely will but that was an anomaly) and tend to view them more as practice/keeping things fresh in my mind/throwaways, so when I DO sit down to record something I’d like to put out to the rest of the world, I’m not needing to refresh anything in my head and I’m constantly in a state of recording mode.

And it’s an excellent way to stock up on riffs and ideas! No reason nothing from these songs can’t be chopped up and used in other songs!

Absolutely! It really blew a lot of cobwebs away in a hurry, just getting me to break out an old PC I wasn't using, clear off my desk, and put things (hardware, software) together in a simple way that I knew would be effective.

Your point about an arbitrary deadline erasing a lot of the pre-self-judgement (which you described in the other post I quoted) is also crucial. My first submission was like, "OK fine, I need to record anything. Let the drums do the work. Power chords, boomer bends, whatever. Export." And that was really fun, actually! :) But if I do that again and again, I feel like the point of the exercise will slowly diminish. Ideally, little by little, we should keep pushing our boundaries. For my part, I'd like to be able to record something more intentional - maybe something more challenging that I've been meaning to record for a while; maybe legitimately "write" something new, even. But I have to be careful not to run headlong into something beyond my capabilities, get frustrated, decide it sucks/ I suck, and give up.

 

[DrewJD82]

Absolutely! It really blew a lot of cobwebs away in a hurry, just getting me to break out an old PC I wasn't using, clear off my desk, and put things (hardware, software) together in a simple way that I knew would be effective.

Your point about an arbitrary deadline erasing a lot of the pre-self-judgement (which you described in the other post I quoted) is also crucial. My first submission was like, "OK fine, I need to record anything. Let the drums do the work. Power chords, boomer bends, whatever. Export." And that was really fun, actually! :) But if I do that again and again, I feel like the point of the exercise will slowly diminish. Ideally, little by little, we'll keep pushing our boundaries. For my part, I'd like to be able to record something more intentional, maybe some thing more challenging that I've been meaning to record for a while... But I have to be careful not to run headlong into something beyond my capabilities, get frustrated, decide it sucks/ I suck, and give up.

I know exactly what you’re saying! At a couple points on the other forum where this challenge originated, I had to drop out because I wanted to do something more intentional rather than “Press record and see what happens”. But yeah, the challenge certainly worked in getting everyone to dust off the cobwebs and get the gear put together. I fully expect a magnum opus from all of our members by the end of the year.

 

[Jarick]

I finally gave up on the side-by-side situation and now go opposed on opposite walls. That way when I'm working (on music) I'm not so easily distracted by the work station . The only downside is when someone can manage to see through the blurred background of my work teams video stream enough to stop mid-sentence "Is that a drumset behind you?!?"

Ugh, I'm in the same boat. I really don't know how I want my desk setup.

If I have the desk facing the wall, there's a couple huge benefits. There's way more floor space as my chair is out in the common area, and all of the cable mess is hidden behind the desk against the wall. But then my camera is facing out into the rest of the room so all my music crap is visible behind me, as well as any kids or pets walking around. Plus if I have headphones on my wife likes to sneak up and scare me occasionally.

On the flip side, if I have the desk facing the room, the camera points to the wall behind me which is better for calls, and I can see everything that's going on in front of me. But I have the issues where my desk has to be a few feet from the wall taking up more space and making me feel more cramped. And all my cable clutter is right out in the open.

I also need a better desk at some point. I'm torn between getting a good sit/stand desk that's set up more for work and then adapting it to my music needs, or getting a studio desk and adapting it for my work needs.

Maybe a good solution would be to have like a bar height table that I can stand at and take calls from a laptop?

Anyways, some things on my desk wish list would be:

• Rack space for my Axe FX 3
• Cable routing/management
• Riser for monitors would be nice
• Drawer for my MIDI controller would be nice
• Some kind of shelf for laptop docking and what not

 

[Jarick]

You know what might be a nice compromise would be a good sit/stand desk and then a monitor riser with a built in rack sitting on it.

Looks like there's some custom options online for about $400:

I'm not handy at all otherwise it seems like a good project. I guess I could probably get all the tools to make it for about the same cost.

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

Ugh, I'm in the same boat. I really don't know how I want my desk setup.

If I have the desk facing the wall, there's a couple huge benefits. There's way more floor space as my chair is out in the common area, and all of the cable mess is hidden behind the desk against the wall. But then my camera is facing out into the rest of the room so all my music crap is visible behind me, as well as any kids or pets walking around. Plus if I have headphones on my wife likes to sneak up and scare me occasionally.

On the flip side, if I have the desk facing the room, the camera points to the wall behind me which is better for calls, and I can see everything that's going on in front of me. But I have the issues where my desk has to be a few feet from the wall taking up more space and making me feel more cramped. And all my cable clutter is right out in the open.

I also need a better desk at some point. I'm torn between getting a good sit/stand desk that's set up more for work and then adapting it to my music needs, or getting a studio desk and adapting it for my work needs.

Maybe a good solution would be to have like a bar height table that I can stand at and take calls from a laptop?

Anyways, some things on my desk wish list would be:

• Rack space for my Axe FX 3
• Cable routing/management
• Riser for monitors would be nice
• Drawer for my MIDI controller would be nice
• Some kind of shelf for laptop docking and what not

As most know, I am AALLLLL about diy-ing stuff that is music related and making it custom to my specs - see my FM3 combo, etc. I went back and forth via PM with a few folks around here for an annoying several weeks with different desk design ideas to build and - every one of them was going to cost almost as much to build as I wound up spending on my Output Platform, and not being much more functional. And would take weeks to build. This desk has been really great in terms of cable management and giving me enough useful space for all my current crap as well as enough that I can add a synth or two as well. It has honestly been one of the best uses of gear funds in the last couple years...certainly more useful than another round of modeler flipping.

My sit/stand solution is that I have my work computer on a standing station and music is sitting, so flipping between them gives me the needed mix of sit/stand. I've found my back/body is best when I just mix things up a lot throughout the day rather than trying to find a single "ideal ergonomic setup".

For video - my employers MS Teams platform auto blurs the background well enough that the only reason folks can even tell what's in the background is because my boss and co-workers all are well aware of my habits and office space. Most platforms should make it easy enough to hide a messy background at this point. I don't Videocon with outside folks, but if I did they would have no idea what was behind me. Honestly, occasionally letting the music scene be visible to co-workers/boss has if anything helped humanize the telework relationship (I've been working for my current boss for 6 years and never met her in person).

 

[DrewJD82]

You know what might be a nice compromise would be a good sit/stand desk and then a monitor riser with a built in rack sitting on it.

Looks like there's some custom options online for about $400:

I'm not handy at all otherwise it seems like a good project. I guess I could probably get all the tools to make it for about the same cost.

A table/band saw, some nails ands screws and you’re good to go! You could have all those tools and the wood cheaper than $400 and then have the tools for the future!

 

[la szum]

Pretty sure a Load Box is in my immediate future. I want to be able to
record/use some of the tube amps here, too.

I sold one, so now I have some funny money to play with a bit and decide
where to go with it. Load Box and MIDI/Key Controller. Probably drum software
upgrade in the mix, too.

 

[Whizzinby]

I have used tables for decades because I much prefer them to desks. Much easier to get to the back.

Hell, I’m using my old bachelor pad dining table now.

Yeah I’m giving consideration to just buying a sturdy narrow 8-10ft table rather than desk, to be able to spread everything out enough, and throw a combo amp underneath with some sorta storage bin for cables etc. Streamline everything.

 

[fretworn]

That’s the thing about tables… They tend to be large and you have room to actually work.

 

[fretworn]

I’ll toss in one more little nugget… I worked at home for the last 25+ years. (My commute was mostly to an airport.) But my home office always had a table on it to work on if not two.

 

[Whizzinby]

That’s the thing about tables… They tend to be large and you have room to actually work.

It’s like a major epiphany when you realize a traditional desk sucks and the answer has been there all along.

 

[la szum]

Church Potluck Table for the win!

 

[mbenigni]

My sit/stand solution is that I have my work computer on a standing station and music is sitting, so flipping between them gives me the needed mix of sit/stand. I've found my back/body is best when I just mix things up a lot throughout the day rather than trying to find a single "ideal ergonomic setup".

I spend a lot of time trying to get one relatively small desk functional for both work and music, whether I'm sitting or standing. (Doctor recommends more of the latter.) What I recently arrived at is the following. (Sorry, cables etc. are a bit of a mess today.)

Large screen in the back is an all-in-one running Ableton etc. If I want to sit and work on music, I just pull its keyboard and mouse up front and go. Alternately, I can put its keyboard and mouse on the standing converter (moving the laptop down) and work on music sitting or standing:

If I need to do office work standing, I can leave things as pictured above, raise the standing converter, and optionally, slide the whole thing forward. To work sitting, all I need to do is pull the laptop forward, and move the keyboard back. It's always feasible - if not optimal - to work with both systems simultaneously.

The rest of my music space (also a bit of a mess today), as seen from behind the desk:

A friend of mine just gave me all of his hand me down sound treatment panels. (He's building a fancy new studio.) Hope to have those up soon.