With my MIDI controller keyboard at the center of a temporary recording studio in the basement and my Kawai synthesizer in the living room, I just wasn’t playing the piano as much as I would have liked. Linda and I talked about this on our trip to Jack Lake in Canada in the late summer, and we brainstormed on possible solutions. We decided that having both keyboards and all the recording equipment upstairs and in the same place would be ideal, but there was just no place we could think of that would accommodate that setup. It became apparent that my office would be the best place, but there just wasn’t room to add any more furniture.
I think Linda said, “You really don’t use your desk very much, do you?” And the light came on. I had recently updated my computer setup with a cool standing desk, and if I repurposed some of my old desk into a music studio, there would be plenty of room to have everything neatly in my office.
The most challenging part of this project then became designing a music studio desk to hold two full-sized keyboards, a laptop, a display screen, an audio interface and two monitor speakers and all the accompanying power and signal cabling … and still have everything organized and tidy. The 3D modeling in SketchUp started with full scale mockups of the two keyboards and I was off tho the virtual races. The photos below, along with their captions, will lead you through the execution of this project.
All good cabinet projects start with the breakdown of sheet goods
Grafting on a four-inch bump out on the top shelf saved having to buy a second sheet of birch plywood
Assembly of the basic upper case, the heart of the music studio design
The old desk pedestals received new cleats to hold the music studio components. Using these two pedestals also preserved most of the drawer storage space from the original form of the desk
A temporary fit check of the main components, to make sure the Kawai keyboard was going to fit
A full extension Accuride drawer slide would allow the upper MIDI controller keyboard to be tucked away when it was not in use
The upper keyboard drawer sides with slides mounted prior to final assembly
The completed upper keyboard drawer slideout
New tops for the old desk pedestals had to be a-1/2 inches thick to add just enough height for a keyboard cover for the lower Kawai keyboard, which had to be set at a particular height for proper playing position
Aluminum U-channel extrusion, sold as 3/4″ plywood edging, made perfect tracks for pullout shelves on either side of the central knee space
Am I going to have to add “and Metal” to Marietta Wood Works? Maybe.
Because of all the large surfaces that had to be finished, I decided to use oil-based polyurethane instead of the water-based oil-modified MinWax product that dries almost more quickly than one can apply it to large areas
Rolling on the polyurethane made quick work of coating all the surfaces
Final assembly and setup day in the office
The unique pullout on the right is for use with the computer mouse in this position, and came be flopped upside down and stowed to provide neat storage for the mouse when not in use
The completed setup with a removable vanity panel that hides all the wiring (from the cat)
A closer look at both keyboards, with the upper MIDI controller keyboard pulled out
I saved building the lower keyboard cover as a separate step, after everything else was assembled
Test fit of the lower keyboard cover
Wiring panel with the vanity panel removed. I added some wire racks to this back panel to better organize the wiring, even though it was going to be hidden from view.
Rob’s Music Studio is affording me a lot more playing time!
Rob’s Music Studio 3D SketchUp model for comparison to the final product
