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Finished setting up my new creative space/office

5K views 23 replies 9 participants last post by  63Blazer 
#1 · (Edited)
updated: June 2014



....

Convinced my fiance to swap rooms with me. I needed/wanted more space, and she was just using this room for storage only. Took a lot of work, but I'm finally done.

It's much nicer having space around me. No more being extra careful with the headstocks of my guitars, and so easy to set up the camera for my youtube vids now.

(obligatory fancy lit shot)




The stuff that was stored on the floor across the room is now all in these wardrobes. So I guess she still shares a part of this room with me.


Still need to put up some acoustic foam, especially behind and beside that right monitor.

...the cable management. Love this desk, no cables on the floor, except for a single power cable that I've run up one of the legs.





...and what this room was like before:


Hadn't touched this room since we moved in many years ago. I'd renovated every other room already. But had decided to let my significant other lead the way with this room. She didn't, but let me swap rooms. So I'm happy.

I've also learnt that I absolutely hate old wallpaper. 3 days of steaming and scraping to get that upper wallpaper crap off.
 
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#8 ·
I live in a paperless world! nah, I wish. I have a stack of folders in my old room's closet still (that will remain in there). Our printer is setup on the network in the garage. So, no chance of papers being here.

Eventually I'd like to get the Ikea Galant desk drawer (that's part of this desk). But don't need it at the moment. Though, I could get my picks, usb key for the kemper, DVD coaster, and headphones that are on top of things into the drawers if I had them....bah. Next time. Oh, that Galant drawer is on wheels too, so will be able to fulfill my need for easy cleaning. :lol:

one more pic, crappy phone panorama

 
#9 ·
That's a great creative room!

There are no guitars littering walls or on stands or clutter taking up space.

I also find for a clean slate for thinking it's good to have fewer distractions. One computer on a desk like in picture is good and not 5 screens all at once like in some workspaces. Too many novices in creative spaces want everything to be so easily accessible that they put everything in reach and the resulting mess often clutters the mind.

With too much stuff set up a person is half thinking about organizing gear and not writing songs. I keep all gear out of the line of sight so I could focus on computer. The screen is small too so I don't have to move my head around to see everything and I don't get neck fatigue as easily. I can't see out the window which is just out of line of sight. I am facing a wall so I am not looking into other rooms so the wall draws attention back to computer screen. All photos are also just out of the line of sight. All these little touches cumulatively makes the best thinking space.

Your space looks conducive to creating.
 
#15 ·
That's a great creative room!

There are no guitars littering walls or on stands or clutter taking up space.

I also find for a clean slate for thinking it's good to have fewer distractions. One computer on a desk like in picture is good and not 5 screens all at once like in some workspaces. Too many novices in creative spaces want everything to be so easily accessible that they put everything in reach and the resulting mess often clutters the mind.

With too much stuff set up a person is half thinking about organizing gear and not writing songs. I keep all gear out of the line of sight so I could focus on computer. The screen is small too so I don't have to move my head around to see everything and I don't get neck fatigue as easily. I can't see out the window which is just out of line of sight. I am facing a wall so I am not looking into other rooms so the wall draws attention back to computer screen. All photos are also just out of the line of sight. All these little touches cumulatively makes the best thinking space.
Do you sit in an uncomfortable chair, too? :lol:



Someone should tell George to put away all those distracting guitars in the background so that he can down to the business of busting out some sweet Hammett-esque chops.

:lol:
 
#10 ·
Thanks man!

I'm of a similar opinion. The rest of our house is much the same. When things are clean, open, and there's no clutter I feel much less stress.

I've found that my fiance and I don't tend to go on vacation as much as others, and when we do, we feel relieved when we're back home...less stressed. less stress = easier to create, imo.

I did make a small change today though. I added some acoustic foam. I found that the bass frequencies were much louder in here than my old room. It's better now.



I also thought I'd have a bit of fun:
 
#11 ·
Thanks man!

I'm of a similar opinion. The rest of our house is much the same. When things are clean, open, and there's no clutter I feel much less stress.

I've found that my fiance and I don't tend to go on vacation as much as others, and when we do, we feel relieved when we're back home...less stressed. less stress = easier to create, imo.

I did make a small change today though. I added some acoustic foam. I found that the bass frequencies were much louder in here than my old room. It's better now.
I was able to visit a couple of studios where the Beach Boys worked long ago and another one where Metallica works. What made them similar was the stunning lack of clutter. The professional studios know that it's OK to have tons of equipment but the artists don't like that to get in the way of creating so they are all in back room or in cases.

It's the home amateur studios that you will see set up like a Guitar Center with toys strewn all over the place. That clutters the mind and for most a cluttered mind is not the best environment for creativity. In Metallica's studio I did not even see one of Bob Rock's 500 guitars on the floor or in the control room. Metallica themselves had a lot of gear too but Bob's collection was liberally used on the albums he produces of many artists and sometimes Bob himself as a studio musician.
 
#13 · (Edited)
99% percent of home studios actually become spare storage rooms for the house so don't feel bad. Right now my piano is just a place to store photos with frames, letters, and anything else that doesn't fit on table. It never gets played as a result. Most pianos are probably spare tables. :) Even with a perfectly arranged studio like the OP's setup, too many people find it's a tremendous amount of work to even put out 60 seconds of finely recorded material and that's usually all she wrote for most people. All the technical behind the scenes often kill the inspiration of the song and that's why there are still so many non-musician recording-only techies out there.

If there's no place to store guitars as I have seen with people with severe GAS, they lie in beds when people are not in them and are crammed into shower stalls as soon as the person takes a shower.
 
#14 ·
Major congrats. I just recently got to do the same thing, so I know what a great feeling it is.

I'm curious, are you planning any more acoustic treatment? With that hardwood floor and all, that room seems like it would need a bit more, but maybe it sounds great as-is.

I'm bummed that you removed that manly teddy-bear wallpaper though :D
 
#18 ·
I wondered about the acoustics in your music room too. Thought it might be a bit harsh with all the hard surfaces. Sounds like you have it sounding good though! Nice monitors too!! I'm using a small pair of Vestax powered monitors and my amp easily overpowers them. I have to use headphones when recording, if I mic the amp, so I can even hear the backing track... lol.

You have a very nice setup!!
 
#19 ·
I wondered about the acoustics in your music room too. Thought it might be a bit harsh with all the hard surfaces. Sounds like you have it sounding good though! Nice monitors too!! I'm using a small pair of Vestax powered monitors and my amp easily overpowers them. I have to use headphones when recording, if I mic the amp, so I can even hear the backing track... lol.

You have a very nice setup!!
Everything I saw in a professional studio (Metallica, Rod Stewart, U2, Beach Boys), and read about it before was completely ignored in this place which had arguably the worst room (which came with a pitbull who tore everything up and put his head right between your legs when you were trying to lay down a track). Sex, drugs, rock and roll, and sex, and drugs:

 
#22 ·
I watched that documentary. So sad that that place is closed down now. Shocked that it very much was like a local rehearsal/studio space that my band use to use back in the late 90's. Pics from the 90's of my band at Noisegate Studios:





We spent so many hours there. I went back to visit a few years ago, hoping to see it still there, and largely unchanged. It wasn't, it was gone. Oh well. It didn't "sound good" like Sound City though...nor was it famous. It just had 5 sound proof'd rooms with large PA's in them... But hell, it was so filthy!!!! lol. Still, good times.

...

Back to my room, added more acoustic foam after watching a video explaining how the wall between the speakers is a primary source of midrange phase cancelling waves.

The midrange came forward significantly after doing this. So I'm happy :).

 
#24 ·
There's something to be said for a stinky man cave with spray painted walls and carpet. It may not get the sound but sometimes a room which looks like the inside of a 70s van can bring out creative inspiration. These days, I would get bugged and try to clean it but when I was young, it had to be ratty or else it wasn't "creative" enough. :)
 
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