Post Your Workstation Pics!

[Jonathan Stevenson]

Hey Everyone,

My business partner and I are rebuilding his basement this fall. It's a 400 sqft basement and we're going to gut it and completely re-build it into a bad ass editing Man-Cave. So, what kind of desks work best for editing? What would be a good layout? How should we light the room? What color should we paint the damn walls?

So far, we plan on having 2 Mac Pro dual screen workstations with Red Rockets and Rocket BOB's, a 46" Panasonic Plasma for playback, maybe a projector, a couch or two if they fit, wall outlets for HDMI and XLR, a phone-booth sized Audio booth, a modest sized server rack, and more...

If you have the ultimate workstation, we'd love to see pics. Thanks everyone!

[Jonathan Stevenson]

Come on, no one?

[Shawn R]

That sounds very cool, I am thinking of re-doing my basement as well. I definitely could use a man-cave:thumbsup:

[Shawn R]

What I would say is make sure you have a sub-floor. If a pipe breaks or there is flooding you don't want anything to get wet. Add to the security system a flood sensor. For walls you can get products that won't absorb water. Sound proofing for the ceiling. Dimmable lighting. Separate the lighting into groups and have seperate switches....task, general.... . Wiring for power, install GFCI breakers in the panel. If you have a long desk use cable management systems with plugs every 12 inches.

Check out this company, you can get their stuff at home depot:
http://www.legrand.us/Wiremold/Raceway/Nonmetallic-Raceway/Single-Channel-Raceway/Plugmold-Plus-NM2000-Multioutlet-Raceway/NM2000.aspx

Indirect lighting for working that way no glare on screens.

[Shawn R]

This is just a kick ass office setup here that I found googling.

[Bruce Allen]

Come on, no one?

It's the weekend - see what I can do on Monday.

Bruce Allen
www.boacinema.com

[Jonathan Stevenson]

Great tips Shawn, thanks! Bruce, don't let me down...

[Sarah C.]

"He said, MAN-CAVE."

giggle. :)

Peter Jackson's post facility...
http://www.parkroadpost.co.nz

[John Saunders]

Here is a pic of ours, nothing special, we still need to work a little on the lighting and I want to switch out the samsung LCD for a panisonic plasma. We built the desk ourselves and are working on building a second desk for our other workstation. We painted the wall a certian grey from sherman williams that I saw some where on a forum its a lot cheaper that the real calibrated grey paint:blush5:

[Jonathan Stevenson]

Here is a pic of ours, nothing special, we still need to work a little on the lighting and I want to switch out the samsung LCD for a panisonic plasma. We built the desk ourselves and are working on building a second desk for our other workstation. We painted the wall a certian grey from sherman williams that I saw some where on a forum its a lot cheaper that the real calibrated grey paint:blush5:
Dude, this is exactly what we're going for. Love the hardwood floors, but does it mess with your acoustics at all? How hard was it to build the desk?

[John Saunders]

The wood floors don't really mess with the sound all that much for what we do if I wanted to get into audio mastering then I would do something different and also have some treatment but for the work that we do it isn't necessary. The desk wasn't to hard to build if you are some what handy. If you want I will try and dig up the dimensions/drawings. I modeled it off of a desk I saw online that was like $3k and I thought I could do it for cheaper. I think the it cost like $400 for all of the wood, paint, and laminate.

[Jonathan Stevenson]

The wood floors don't really mess with the sound all that much for what we do if I wanted to get into audio mastering then I would do something different and also have some treatment but for the work that we do it isn't necessary. The desk wasn't to hard to build if you are some what handy. If you want I will try and dig up the dimensions/drawings. I modeled it off of a desk I saw online that was like $3k and I thought I could do it for cheaper. I think the it cost like $400 for all of the wood, paint, and laminate.
If you still have the dimensions, that'd be so awesome if you shared them with me. Thanks so much!!

[John Saunders]

Here are the basic dimensions. If you have autocad or something that you can open and work with a .dwg file I can send you the file with more details. Also if you are interested the paint I was talking about is:
sherman williams
"7071 gray screen"
BAC 0Z 32 64 128
B1-BLACK - 17 1 -
Y3-DEEP GOLD - 4 1 -

[Imran Farouk]

What monitors are those? Very nice set up John :)

[John Saunders]

which ones?

Audio: krk V6

40" LCD: some 1080p samsung (it was laying around and I didn't want to
take the 50" panasonic from our viewing/theater area)

Computer: I'm pretty sure that they are the Samsung 2433BW, we bought them when we bought our new G5 in november to go with our old G5. We were going to use the Apple cinema display with the new one but once we set them up we decided that there was not enough difference and that we liked the larger screen and higher resolution of the samsungs, so we put them on the new system.

CRT: Old sony 17" BVM

Did I miss any? ;)

[Imran Farouk]

Cool! Thank's so much! I was wondering bout the desktop ones since they looked really good with that LCD above it. But brilliant set up overall! Amazed you got 4 monitors going at once...

Jonathan,There's a bunch of set up's on flickr if you take a look there, though I don't like many of them because they seem rather crammed up compared to John's set up...
I'll try to find the links and post em here later

[John Saunders]

If any one wants the autocad file for the desk I put it up here:
www.cgllc.com/desk/

[Grinner Hester]

http://grinnerhester.com/edit2.jpg

[Martin Weiss]

Thank John for the pictures, drawings and especially the Autocad file. Greatly appreciated!

P.S. Feel free to post more Pictures ;)

[Jonathan Stevenson]

http://grinnerhester.com/edit2.jpg
This is really awesome! Is the desk custom? I love the setup.

[Shawn R]

Grinner, are those seperate waveform displays under the 2 LCD's? What kind of LCD's are those as well? Love the old school CRT. I need one of those as well.

[Shawn R]

When I was visiting a well respected facility in Mexico most of their desks were large sheets of plywood on saw horses.

[Jonathan Stevenson]

Anyone else have some cool workstations they want to share?

[Jeff Kilgroe]

I'm holding off showing pics until I rearrange and get my new plasma. :) But Panasonic is taking too damn long!

[Jonathan Stevenson]

Which one are you getting?

[Jeff Kilgroe]

Either the TC-P50VT25 or the TH-50P3F13* Both are 50" and use the same panel, both 3D capable. The latter model is the "pro" version, which can take the various input boards. The model number on the latter may change, I've seen a few variations of it as Panasonic hasn't officially announced it yet. Both should be on display at NAB. with the VT25 model coming avilable to buy before the end of April.

There is also the TC-PxxG25 models, which will be very similar, sans 3D. However, they only run at 48Hz for 24fps content so flicker is often apparent. The two mentioned above will operate at 96Hz for 24fps content. I'm leaning toward the pro model unless it takes them too long to deliver or the price is too far out of line. Traditionally, the pro models are only $100 to $200 more than the top of the line consumer models, but they get you on the interface modules. Like the TH-58PF12UK. 12th generation 1080p panel for about $2250 delivered. But it costs $2400 to get the dual-link HD-SDI module for it. The VT series is supposed to have a full ISF calibration mode with support for gamma curves, etc.. If that's the case, I see no reason to go the Pro route when I can use an AHA Hi5 3G HD-SDI to HDMI converter for like $550.

[George Tsai]

My apartment about 4 years ago. I've moved since and had a new studio setup in my garage. the garage setup is actually balanced and padded but havent gotten around to taking a picture yet:-P oh yea and a lot cleaner than the apt too:-P

http://www.fouridiots.com/pictures/longbeach/aptoffice.jpg

[Jonathan Stevenson]

Holy CRAP George! That's nuts!! Way to make the best of your tiny space :-)

[Felix K.]

How did ya get in??

[George Tsai]

How did ya get in??

haha, theres a small crack on the left side.... not everyone that tried fit:biggrin5:

[Matthias Hutter]

If someone is interested, here is a pic of my home photo/sound workstation, more serious color correction is done at the photo club lab lab 10 minutes away.

http://i49.tinypic.com/23lxcv9.jpg

[Jonathan Stevenson]

Looks like the image doesn't want to load all the way?

[Matthias Hutter]

Hmm, works fine for me.
I have uploaded a more compressed version, does it work now?

-Matt

[Jonathan Stevenson]

Ah, works fine. Guess my browser was being stupid.

Love those audio monitors! What model are they?

[Robert Frank]

Love those audio monitors! What model are they?

Dynaudio BM6a's. Sweet.

I'm a big fan of their stuff and have recorded and mixed many tracks on my BM15a's.

[Matthias Hutter]

Those are BM12a's.
I've bought them half a year ago after months of test hearings, and I really like them. The EMU 0404 Interface sitting beside them cannot hold up to that standard, but sadly there wasn't enough money left for something better - at least for now.

[Robert Frank]

Those are BM12a's.
I've bought them half a year ago after months of test hearings, and I really like them. The EMU 0404 Interface sitting beside them cannot hold up to that standard, but sadly there wasn't enough money left for something better - at least for now.

12a's even better!

When your finances allow look for a used Metric-Halo ULN-2. Steller audio performance and will be the perfect match to your Dyna's and worth every penny.

[Charles X]

Those are BM12a's.
I've bought them half a year ago after months of test hearings, and I really like them. The EMU 0404 Interface sitting beside them cannot hold up to that standard, but sadly there wasn't enough money left for something better - at least for now.

Love Dynaudios - are they definately not BM6a Mkii's ? I thought the BM12a's were a bit bigger...

about to put down some cash for a pair of Dynaudios - but trying to decide what model.

How have you found them ? are they good for just general music listening as well as editing ?

[Matthias Hutter]

How have you found them ? are they good for just general music listening as well as editing ?
As I don't do sound editing for a living (I'm a physics student), thats what I mainly bought them for. But after long test hearings, I'd say it mainly depends on location and preferences. If you're listening near field, don't have a too holm room and enjoy neutral, revealing sound, they are hard to beat. As a bonus, they don't suffer nearly as much from ear fatigue as many other studio monitors do.


When your finances allow look for a used Metric-Halo ULN-2. Steller audio performance and will be the perfect match to your Dyna's and worth every penny. Yeah I have heard about them (though not actually heard them), but I did not have more money left.

are they definately not BM6a Mkii's?
They are the 12's. Maybe they look smaller because my desk is rather small.

Good night,
Matt

[Charles X]

Great thanks for that Matthias...
Sounds like just what I'm after for my medium sized room.
Now to try and listen/compare the BM6amkII vs BM12A and make a decision..
Only thing I'm thinking is that the BM6amkII's might be better should I decide to get a sub down the line... hmm

[Torrey Loomis]

Suite at the old studios at Silverado. New studio pics when the new Apple Hexacores are released...

Torrey
-----------------------------------------------
Torrey Loomis
President & CEO - Silverado Systems, Inc.
(916) 760-0032 • FAX (916) 404-5258
torrey@silverado.cc
Web http://www.Silverado.cc
Blog http://silveradosys.blogspot.com
Twitter http://www.twitter.com/silveradosys

Build your own RED Rocket™ system: http://bit.ly/7F4QA1

[Neil Larson]

Here is a pic of ours, nothing special, we still need to work a little on the lighting and I want to switch out the samsung LCD for a panisonic plasma. We built the desk ourselves and are working on building a second desk for our other workstation. We painted the wall a certian grey from sherman williams that I saw some where on a forum its a lot cheaper that the real calibrated grey paint:blush5:

Thanks so much for posting the specs of this workstation. I'm currently building it and am very excited to have it finished!

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/3klBjjTFRrFYdGZPakApGw?feat=directlink

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/3klBjjTFRrFYdGZPakApGw?feat=directlink

[Jonathan Stevenson]

Torrey, this is sweet. What's the material on the back wall? I assume it's for sound dampening? Also, what kind of desk is that?

[John Saunders]

Thanks so much for posting the specs of this workstation. I'm currently building it and am very excited to have it finished!

http://picasaweb.google.com/114640295711944825557/WorkstationPic#5443692648613433554

No problem I have gotten so much valuable info off of this forum it is nice to give something back.


The workstation next to it that I didn't show....

http://www.cgllc.com/desk/office3.jpg
I'm currently working on a smaller desk design for it.


Our panasonic for review and testing outputs.

http://www.cgllc.com/desk/office4.jpg


And if some one in the wash dc area wants a good deal on a sony crt we have 2 PGM-200R1U that are just taking up space.
http://www.cgllc.com/desk/office1.jpg

[Anson Fogel]

I can't say enough about Middle Atlantic MDV series (not the more expensive studio series) furniture - built like a tank, the right color, the right riser options - and as they are the world' leading maker of racks, all kinds of options to rack rails and mounting. And cheap.

No pictures, but my studio is built around it.

B&H sells it, as do lots of others - link to their site at

http://www.middleatlantic.com/studio/mdv/mdvovr.htm

[Jonathan Stevenson]

Man, I wish good workstation desks didn't cost $4000. They're made from Amazonian trees or something? Kind of true with any decently made desk I suppose...

[Robert Frank]

Man, I wish good workstation desks didn't cost $4000. They're made from Amazonian trees or something? Kind of true with any decently made desk I suppose...

I've always had sticker shock with prices for office furniture in general.

Honestly, I don't see how any of these MDF type furniture have $4000 worth of value. I've built quite a number of studios as a consultant and also for my own use and this is usually the point where both myself and the client look at the numbers and really question the cost/benefit ratio.

[Jonathan Stevenson]

I've always had sticker shock with prices for office furniture in general.

Honestly, I don't see how any of these MDF type furniture have $4000 worth of value. I've built quite a number of studios as a consultant and also for my own use and this is usually the point where both myself and the client look at the numbers and really question the cost/benefit ratio.
Can you offer any advice on building a good basement studio? I don't know if you read my original post at the start of the thread, but we're hoping to turn our basement into an awesome studio. Since you've built a few, maybe you have some good insights?

[Anson Fogel]

The studio furniture we have did not cost 4 grand for a desk, each piece is in the 400-600 dollar range, our complete system - corner desk w/riser and 2 rack bays, side desk w/riser and 2 rack bays, rack with riser and other accessories was under 2 grand all together as I recall...and

[Torrey Loomis]

Torrey, this is sweet. What's the material on the back wall? I assume it's for sound dampening? Also, what kind of desk is that?

JS,

Actually, the material on the back is just black foam core! I bought it at the local art shop so I could blacken the suite--there is a huge window right behind the foam core. However, we couldn't build a wall against the window, so we just inserted the black foam core and a few cuts made it fit in perfectly.

The console is from Winsted. Its their 94" digital desk with shelf:

http://www.winsted.com/l3_mediaworkstations_digitaldesks.htm

We sell them for about $2500 plus freight. Fairly easy to setup yourself if you've done Ikea-level work before.

Torrey
-----------------------------------------------
Torrey Loomis
President & CEO - Silverado Systems, Inc.
(916) 760-0032 • FAX (916) 404-5258
torrey@silverado.cc
Web http://www.Silverado.cc
Blog http://silveradosys.blogspot.com
Twitter http://www.twitter.com/silveradosys

Build your own RED Rocket system: http://bit.ly/7F4QA

[Grinner Hester]

Grinner, are those seperate waveform displays under the 2 LCD's? What kind of LCD's are those as well? Love the old school CRT. I need one of those as well.
those are oldschool Tektronix scopes. Still a requirement if in Avid land.
You are more than welcome to the old CRT monitor. While I paid several thousand dollars for it back int he day, I can't seem to get 300 bucks for it today. lol
gimme 150 bucks plus shipping and it's yours, man. Still works like new. Internal and external sync and all the bells and whistles of yesterday's broadcast monitor.

[Grinner Hester]

This is really awesome! Is the desk custom? I love the setup.
yeah. I had a bay window to fill and a client's husband made me a great deal on making it to spec.
I recently moved my studio and here's the new set up:
http://grinnerhester.com/NewDigs.html
http://grinnerhester.com/GrinSuite1.jpg
I like this a lot. Veeery low overhead and I'm no longer giving the client the back of my head. Much better.