Goodbye HF reflections..Hello to my 703C desk

[dft3670]

After shooting my room and seeing how bad the HF reflections were coming off my desk, I built myself a 703C desk. I tried a number of different fabrics for the top until I found just the right one to flatten out the HF best. The top angles at about 20 degrees up which helped with a nasty 5k spike.The desk works great!

[Ben B]

Wow, cool idea!

-Ben B

[RedTuxedo]

I would at least put a firm mat with a mouse pad under the mouse. I can't imagine that a week of good mouse use won't cause a nice dip in that area.

[dft3670]

Yep. I have a nice pad. I pulled it out of the shot to make it a bit prettier. The desk has been in use for a couple of months now. I finally got around to posting about it.

[jaglesis]

gorgeous, but with the angle are you saying the desk angles down from you oe up, kinda got confused?

[dft3670]

Sorry, I am dyslexic. The desk angles like a conventional mixer.

[jaglesis]

thought so, other wise i could see alot of problems in your future, cups of tea rolling away from you haha

lovely job tho, must do it to mine sometime

[dft3670]

Thanks! I'm really happy with how it came out, though my wife thought I was using a different type of mushrooms in my salad when I told her what I was doing.I have a small room (12x9x7) so I have become well versed in trap building. Here is a shot of the rear wall. The black ceiling tiles are 703C squares. I would have liked to have angled the top rear trap 45 degrees from back wall to the ceiling for better absorbtion but my electrical service, water and gas main are behind the door. I need to be able to easily and quickly remove the traps. I could get some extra absorbtion by changing out the ceiling tiles closest to the wall but there are large steam pipes running the width of the room right above them.

[Suda Badri]

mac pros with dell monitors, I like your style...

[jaglesis]

lovely lil space, id say it sounds fab in there

[dft3670]

There are another 3 G5's on the other side of the room. The studio is used for Photoshop editing, Final Cut editing and audio production. There are a few PC's in the house. Those are for the wife.

[dft3670]

Here is the tiny door (24 inches wide) to get into the cave and the trap design I devised to help control the bottom end and still be functional. believe it or not we have put a full drum kit in this room. Kit was triggered. What a racket. Dogs were bouncing off the floor upstairs.

[jaglesis]

absolutly gorgeous, waht are the walls behind the wood? basic plaster with your timber pannels over em? floating walls? and also waht kinda wood is that?

[dft3670]

The wood is rough tounge and groove 6 inch pine. Glued and nailed over drywall on 2x4 studs.

Here is the kicker. It took about two months to build out the space. This little area in the basement was all I was allowed to have by the wife. As soon as it was completed, the basement flooded. First time in 15 years. Luckily nothing was damaged. We decided at that point to put in internal french drains. This meant I needed to tear the entire room apart as the contractors needed to jackhammer the concrete floor behind the walls.. All of the 45 degree angled T&G pine needed to be pulled down. Each piece needed to be lableled. It had been glued. what a pain in the rear. Then all the equipment and wood needed to be stored in our bedroom.

[jaglesis]

Originally Posted by dft3670

This little area in the basement was all I was allowed to have by the wife.

time for a new wife
and that sounds terrible, did she atleast let you make music in bed?

[dft3670]

I'm 49 years old with a nine month old, one in college and one engaged. I juggle work during the day as a daddy/commercial photographer. Then I audio tech it at a major casino in the evening.

The only music in that bedroom lately comes from the clock radio.

[nixoblivion]

wow. that desk is a masterpiece!!
ive thought of many things, but a desk made of rockwool is pretty genius!

can you put heavy things on it or will it dent in? i know the rockwool i have doesnt support TOO much.

Do you have measurements? before after even? i would love to see them!

[dft3670]

The design is very simple. I used a panel of faced 703C rigid fiberglass The rockwool just did not have enough strengh in the center of the desk. The the desk base is a run of the mill Ikea desk.

I started by just laying the raw panel on the table and shooting the room with various types of fabric laid on top of the panel until I found one with a tight enough weave to keep the fibers in, but also give me the flattest response. Then by lifting and lowering the panel and takng some more measurements, I determinded the best angle.

I then wrapped the entire panel in the fabric making it as tight as possible to add to the strength. The next thing was to wrap all the pine framing in foam and cover it with naugahyde. Next was the pine frame. Normally I build the frames to dimension and slide the panel into it. For the desk it was better to build the frame piece by piece around the panel, making it as tight as possible. I added 3-4 inch wide strips of wood width wise underneath the frame to add extra strength. You could use a piece of luan to cover the entire bottom as a base, but I wanted the added benefit of getting some bass trappig out of it by leaving the back open. The frame is then screwed to the base with L brackets bent to the proper angle.

The desk is pretty strong. By wrapping the frame with foam and nuagahyde you get a nice strong edge to lean all your weight on. I work like this because the flattest response in my room is 4 inches over the desk. That's where my head sits.

I did use the mouse directly on the base for awhile. It never dented it, but I stopped because it was grindning away at the fabric. I use a tablet on it occasionally and throw books on it all the time. I write on it. You can dent it, but you need to put a decent amount of pressure on it. My cat sleeps on it. As long as you remain aware of it's weight limitaions, it works great I have. Mine has been in use for awhile.

My best advice is that you tell your clients "no fist pounding on the desk. no matter fow crappy the mix sounds".

[RKrizman]

Why even have a desk at all? Will you put anything on it?

-R

[dft3670]

In a previous post I said the desk has plenty of stuff on it. Books, tablet, etc. The desk was cleaned off to show what it looks like

[slymo]

that's awesome

[dft3670]

Here is the desk with a bunch of crap on it.

[jaglesis]

Originally Posted by dft3670

Here is the desk with a bunch of crap on it.

well done

[Ibvee]

Originally Posted by dft3670

Here is the desk with a bunch of crap on it.

[RKrizman]

Originally Posted by dft3670

Here is the desk with a bunch of crap on it.

Then what's the point of the 703?

-R

[dft3670]

The mix position, angle of desk and fabric type were shot with only a mouse, mouse pad, tablet and keyboard on it. That is all that is on the desk during critical mixing.

The photo with things on it was to show that the desk can handle weight.

[mrhudson]

This beats what I had tried - I just piled three, 6" traps on the floor, just sitting on top of each other, to create a big floor trap that, yet still, functions kind of like a desk - 18" off the floor, 2X4 surface area. Really helped with some floor bounce nulls, etc. Like you, I'm in a basement studio where it needn't look pretty (yours looks nice, mine, not so much) - but the acoustics were certainly helped from a structure like this in my case - beyond reflections and desk functions. Nice job!

[RKrizman]

Originally Posted by dft3670

The mix position, angle of desk and fabric type were shot with only a mouse, mouse pad, tablet and keyboard on it. That is all that is on the desk during critical mixing.

The photo with things on it was to show that the desk can handle weight.

I get it. Sorry to seem so dense. I love the idea of monitors floating in free space as much as possible. I'm curious though, why you didn't use 705 instead of 703--much firmer. Is it too reflective for this application?

-R

[dft3670]

I'm curious though, why you didn't use 705

I had a couple pieces of 703 laying around after finishing some traps and didn't know what to do with them. That's where the whole desk idea came from.

I actually experimented with just sitting in a chair and working with a tablet. It worked and the room plots were great, but I reall just like the feeling of leaning on a desk.

[latestflavor]

sounds like you just need a desk on wheels, so when you critical mix you just roll it out the way and put either a keyboard/ trackball on your lap..... or a use a small rolling laptop cart.

i wouldn't want to work on top of a slab of 703, but different strokes...