A lot of updates have been happening to my music studio setup. Hardware’s been rearranged and devices have changed. One of the things I haven’t covered yet here is how I built my studio desk. So in this article, I’ll be talking about how I set the desk up, installed or removed music studio hardware and keep everything working together.
New audio interface, the FCA1616
I wrote before about replacing my M-Audio Oxygen49 with a Roland A-49. The original audio interface, the Tascam US-322, that used to sit to the right side of the keyboard.
Continue reading Customizing The Music Studio Furniture & Hardware →
I’ve been installing more music studio hardware into the rack lately. Because I’ve been pulling the rack in and out more, I ended up pulling the two “L” brackets holding the rack halves loose. So, while having the rack out when modifying and securing the X-Touch Mini into the rack, I took time to strengthen the rack and install additional rack rails.
What the rack itself is made of
The rack is made from two red, wooden “Lack” tables from IKEA. They perfectly match the internal width, more or less, of 19”. Most rack hardware devices do not take up the full width of 19” so the furniture works out perfectly. Best of all is the price, although red isn’t currently an option, at the time of writing this the price of the black table is an amazing $7.99.
Continue reading Securing The Music Studio Rack Furniture →
I use an X-Touch Mini in my music studio rack. I decided to do this by using metal rack spacers cut with the X-Touch Mini sitting in the center. By using screws screwed into the sides of the X-Touch Mini’s plastic housing (in front of the rack spacers), it will make it so that pressing the buttons or moving the fader will prevent the device from falling backwards.
Here’s how I modified the X-Touch Mini to mount into the rack.
Process
I started by taking two “1U” rack spacers and used a dremmel to cut the metal into a size that matches the X-Touch Mini. Cutting the rack spacers is the hardest part.
Continue reading Modifying An X-Touch Mini For Rack Mounting →
There’s a lot of audio interfaces out there on the used market. It can be really tempting to consider buying an interface that used to cost a lot of money ($500, $1,500, etc) for a cheap price ($150). Most of them work perfectly fine and are in great condition.
The problem? They either don’t have modern connection types (such as using obsolete FireWire) and / or there’s no drivers for them for current operating systems (macOS or Windows) and / or they’re not compatible with your current DAW.
The seller is selling for a reason
Ever wonder why some people with music studio hardware use old versions of operating systems and DAW’s? It’s likely because a piece of hardware only works with older software, likely their audio interface.
Continue reading Buying A Used Audio Interface? Buyer Beware →
I had a need to install a relay switch in the studio. I’ll discuss what is a relay is, why I’m installing it and how you can install one too.
What’s a relay?
A relay is a cool little box that has an electromagnetic switch in it. Relays have four to five wires. Ignore the fifth, red wire for now. Two wires you connect to a power (or ground) source you want to turn on / off. The other two wires you connect to a different powered source. When the other power source turns on, it turns on the relay switch.
Continue reading Installing A Relay Switch For Music Studio Hardware →
One thing I’ve never understood is the tendency for people who produce music to own all these music accessories, such as multiple MIDI keyboards, but not own a single mixer (control surface). It’s understandable if someone has limited hardware and doesn’t have a mixer, but that’s not the case for so many people.
Throwin’ money in all the wrong directions
Like take a look at this random person’s studio setup. They’ve clearly thrown money at all these music toys; they have three keyboards that appear to be very expensive. Just one of those keyboards probably costs three times as much as my one keyboard. And let’s not ignore the fact the main keyboard’s highest octave keys are inaccessible under the table.
Continue reading Producers Who Own Multiple Keyboards But No Mixer? →
In this post, I detail the physical hardware I use for my desktop studio setup. Rack, mixer, music devices, audio interfaces, audio analyzers, monitors, speakers, power supplies and desktop configuration.
Rack
The rack is custom-built from two red IKEA tables. I stacked them and keep them in place with two “L” brackets. I then installed rack rails, cutting the metal rack rails with a dremel tool.
Continue reading Studio Hardware Walkthrough →
Recording artist & producer.
