What does your music studio look like?

[Tyros5Mad]

I would be interested to know how people have set up their music studio. Here's what I did.

I live in a tiny cottage with 2 bedrooms a lounge room, kitchen and bathroom. My 2nd bedroom is completely taken up by my online motor racing system so that only leaves the lounge room.

My goal was to set up a rolling platform with the whole "studio" mounted on it so that I can roll it out of the way when I am not using it. I have achieved that as you can see from the pictures.

1. I have a flat trolley with nice big easy rolling wheels.
2. Sitting on that I have an Ultimate AX48 Pro keyboard stand.It has two tiers and a place on top of it to mount a boom with a microphone.
3. Also on the trolley I have my Yamaha Stagepas 300 Mini PA system. The mixer attaches to one of the speakers.
4. On the lower tier I have the Genos Keyboard
5. I use a Sessions MH510 headphone set
6. On the top tier I have placed a wooden board
7. This holds my my laptop and TC Helicon Perform VK
8. I use an Audio Technica 2100 dynamic mike attached to the boom.

I have another desktop computer which you can see on the left. It is connected to a TV screen and I mostly use that when working with software. I connect it to the keyboard with a standard USB printer cable.

When I don't use the setup, I can just disconnect the power and roll it out of the way.

Regards,
Richard

[Pianoman]

Hello Richard.

It would be nice if you could take another picture from a longer distance,
so we can see the whole set up, wheels included.

Best Regards.
Pianoman.

[Tyros5Mad]

Okay how about this one?

Regards,
Richard

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[Toril S]

Hi Richard! Very neat! The wheeled studio is a great idea.

My "studio" consists of the keyboard, a laptop, headphones and a Scarlett 2i2 Focusrite audio interface. When I make music, I set the keyboard on my dinner table, and there the "studio" stays until I have guests. Then all is put away  I wish for an extra room to make a studio. I have many hobbies that take space, but you gave me some inspiration now. All the best, Toril S

[jgriffin]

Two years ago I bought a house that has a very nice area for my keyboard set-up.  On the other side of the Music Book cabinets is our "den area" with tv so I play alot with ear-phones!
For a change I'm not playing out anywhere now so all my keyboards are here at home.  My new Genos is upstairs in the grandchildrens guest bedroom.  My pride and joy Yamaha baby grand is sitting pompously by the front door.  She's been thru lots of ups and down with me but has finally found a home she loves and the acoustics are great in this area.

I have a custom made music stand on the Tyros 5-76 and custom supports under the Genos stand to raise it up.  I like to "lean" on a barstool when I play in an almost standing position.
All I had to do to get these made was to fix a big pot of chili for payback!

You cannot see them in the picture but I have two Bose Compacts (bought from Don M) set up at either end of the "studio" area. When I sit at my round table to work I can also see the tv - the best of both worlds. I feel very blessed to have found this place and the only drawback is that I have to keep working full time to pay for it!

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[jgriffin]

PICTURE 2

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[jgriffin]

PICTURE 3

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[jgriffin]

PICTURE 4

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[jgriffin]

PICTURE 5

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[Dick Rector]

It is not a studio but I call it my 'hobbycorner'.
My good old workhorse PSR 2000 on top of the PSR S950.


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[Toril S]

Very nic,e, Dick! I have the 2100 and the 970. A double stand would have been practical

[mikf]

Hi Janet
You should experiment with setting your Tyros at an angle. You can see that Dick has done this with his top keyboard. When you have a controller keyboard on the bottom you want to set that st comfortable playing height since that is the keyboard mostly played. But that then sets the top keyboard a big high to comfortably see and operate the controls. I used to angle the top keyboard at almost 30 degrees so the controls are almost facing you. If you don't do this you end up sitting high or almost standing to see the controls, and then the controller board is very low fircomgortable playing.
Mike

[jgriffin]

Hi Mike....that's a cool idea and one I had never considered.  If I even put some "wedge" pieces with any increase in angel it would be beneficial!  I will make another pot of chili and see if I can talk him into another project.   

[mikf]

Janet
There are some neat stands that have this facility to set keyboard angle built in to the top supports if you are willing to splash out. The guitar centers have them. And a good solid double X stand will let you adjust the heights of both keyboards without the blocks under the feet and still be very stable.
I no longer have the double set up because I changed to a CVP and gave away my old keyboards and stands but if you go to Articles on the PSR tutorial under the music tab and scan down to CP33 review you will see a pic of my old set up. Actually the top keyboard is as almost at 45 degrees. I did eventually scrap this very futuristic looking stand for a double X type as it was more stable but have no pic of that.
Mike

[robbiedoes]

Nice topic . So here we go with my "studio" details:

• Yamaha Genos
• Yamaha HS-80 active mobitor speakers
• Yamaha HS10W active subwoofer
• Yamaha AW2400 harddiskrecorder (mostly used as mixer)
• Beetronics 7 inch external monitor (for lyrics only)
• Sennheiser e945 wireless microphone
• Shure SRH940 headphones

This all is set up in my kitchen for some years now. Just because it is nicer to play music downstairs (for friends or visitors) instead of playing music in the bedroom only. And the little carpet under the keyboard is helpful to prevent the footpedals from sliding away while used.

[Tyros5Mad]

Nice Robbie,

The gear is in your kitchen? That's interesting.

BTW how do you connect an external monitor to the Genos?

Regards,
Richard

[travlin-easy]

Currently, my studio/office looks like a disaster because I have a lot of my sailing gear stored in it as well as my music gear. My desk is covered with medical reports and X-rays that I'm working on, and every square inch of shelving has something on it. The book cases are filled to capacity, and now there are more printers in the office than anyone should even dream of having. Some days, It can be difficult to walk from the door to the PC without nearly tripping over something. I'll post some video after I get the place cleaned up.

Cheers,

Gary

[J. Larry]

How about a small table at the end of the living room?  22-inch monitor screen, 5-inch Mackie monitor speakers, and recording computer from Sweetwater.  Also, just enough room for the S970.  Works nicely and I can look out the large front window for the mailman, newspaper, walkers, dogs, and everything else headed for the public park next door.

[Toril S]

Gary: Sounds familiar, minus the sailing gear and the medical reports/X-rays. 

[keynote]

I hear you Gary. My setup is not the tidiest either. I've got several cables strung loosely on the floor plus as you can all see my studio is setup in the garage. This actually works out really well for me since I like to crank up the volume now and again and the area is well insulated which helps to isolate the sound to that particular area. As far as gear the Genos is the centerpiece of course. I recently sold my Tyros3 and my Roland Fantom G7 so at the present the Genos is my sole keyboard. The monitors are Mackie HR 824 MK2's. The big guns on the floor are two Pioneer HPM-100b speakers which are consumer grade but some of the best speakers Pioneer ever produced. The mixer I'm using is a Mackie 1202 VLZ Pro. Headphones are the Beyerdynamic 770 Studio headphones along with a Shure SM58 mic. To the very right of the photo I have a Denon AVR-2700 Dolby Digital receiver that I use to push the Pioneer speakers. Behind my computer monitor is a 35" Sony Trinitron XBR TV that I use for playing video when needed. I move the computer monitor out of the way of course. Oh, and my Universal Audio Arrow sits atop the Genos as I previously discussed in another thread. I assembled the computer myself. I'm using a Gigabyte Aorus Gaming 5 motherboard with an Intel i7-8700K CPU running @ 5 GHz. 16 Gigs of DDR4 RAM. A Samsung 500 GB Evo 860 SSD. The Arrow is hooked up to a Gigabyte Alpine Ridge thunderbolt 3 pcie card. Windows 10 Professional. My software DAW is Sonar Platinum as I mentioned previously. Oh, I almost forgot. Sitting below the Mackie mixer is a Klipsch sub-woofer.    Finally here is a little something extra I hope you also enjoy although it's a little off topic.

Mike     

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[Gunnar Jonny]

Keynote,
this most be what hey call 'Garage Band'.   

[robbiedoes]

BTW how do you connect an external monitor to the Genos?

Regards,
Richard

Hi Richard. I use the i-Tec USB2HDTRIO. It's a little device you can connect to the USB port of the Genos. The output of the device can then be connected to a VGA, DVI or HDMI compatible monitor. On the Genos you can configure if the screen output must be an exact copy of your Genos screen, or if the output shows text/lyrics all the time. I choose the last option, as I always need lyrics (always forget them) but need the touch screen to operate the Genos.

[Joe H]

I built a stand on wheels.  It is very compact.  25" Deep, 44" wide and 56" high.  All my sound modules, MIDI patch-bay, hardware MIDI controllers, audio mixer and preamp are all within reach.  I seldom use speakers... mostly headphones.  I have a Yamaha BC2 Breath Controller headset hanging right above my headphones. When I'm using the Breath Controller, I use a foot pedal for Vibrato on the VL voices. (adjustable with the JL Cooper Fader Master.

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[ckobu]

At home I practice in a small room. I made a multifunctional table that adapted to the room. When I replaced Tyros4 with Genos I missed just 2 centimeters 
I've upgraded the table and now I enjoy playing again.

https://youtu.be/k13qO0_1FXs

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[mikf]

Joe - you really have done a nice job with your set up, a lot of equipment but very compact and everything within reach. I like it and you are clearly a very organized guy.
I was a bit spoiled for space, but abused it a bit - had three keyboards and stands, three pedals, three mic stands, monitor speakers on stands, a big desk and large computer  screen, a recording desk, couple of mixers, a mountain of music and wires running every direction. The wiring had become so complicated that when I had to dismantle it to get the room decorated, I was unable after about three weeks to get it all working properly again!
So one day my lovely wife 'suggested' that I could maybe review things and  come up with something a bit more aesthetic. I piled everything except my best mic into the back of my SUV and dropped it all at the local charity shop. They couldn't believe their eyes, thousands of dollars of equipment in pristine condition. And then I bought the CVP which really does everything I need and it's in a package my wife can live with as well oh happy days
Mike

[Joe H]

Thanks Mike,

There is a lot to be said for SIMPLE. 

I down-sized my studio last year.  I think if I upgrade to at least one more arranger that has more expansion memory, I'll be able to part with more gear... most likely the Korg sound module will go and maybe the E-MU sound module, but I will keep the Yamaha MU128 with the VL (Virtual Acoustic), FM (DX7) and AN (AN1x) plugin cards. (three very distinct synthesizers), and also keep the Motif Rack XS.

Joe H

[keynote]

Keynote,
this most be what hey call 'Garage Band'.   

Ha! Very funny Gunnar Jonny!    By the way, many famous bands of the last few decades started out in their garage or basement. And then there is Apple with its GarageBand software. Don't knock it till you try it.  It works for me especially since I crank up the volume from time to time and it isolates the sound to that area.   

Mike

[Gunnar Jonny]

Ha! Very funny Gunnar Jonny! ......

Mike,
I just love what I see, not least the white beauty at the second picture. If drive around in that car or similiar in this area, it would be lots of people who would 'turning their heads around it's own neck' .. 
When we still did gig years ago, we actually practiced in a garage as well as the lower floor (basement) at my house. Worked out pretty well ...   

[keynote]

When we still did gig years ago, we actually practiced in a garage as well as the lower floor (basement) at my house. Worked out pretty well ...   

Glad to hear it. My setup works out pretty well too. It's nice to know I'm not the only one Gunnar.

Mike

[anandmaloo]

Most of the setup here are very techy kind of settings.  I guess almost all of these are for creating some music. One thing which strikes me is almost all of them are facing the wall while playing.

I cannot play like that - facing the wall. I play purely for my own consumption, purely amateur. And many a times I play and sing with friends and family joining - home gigs. I have put my Genos in the corner of my drawing room, facing the room. And just a simple connection to my Yamaha Home Theatre. And I love the sound !

Regards



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