*if* you were designing your own editing desk, what would you do? [Archive] - DVXuser.com -- The online community for filmmaking

PDX_DVX

06-04-2005, 01:42 PM

I am starting to design a new desk for my new room, I want enough room for 2 19'' CRT monitors, a 17" color production monitor, and a pair of KRK rokit rp-5's (or similar). It's going to have a top shelf for the speakers and monitors, and a main desk area (no keyboard tray) for everything else, with the computer tower(s) being located to the bottom right. I think a 6 foot wide desk will accomodate this, but what I am wondering is what works and what doesnt work as far as ergonomics are concerned.

I am going to make the top shelf about 7'' off the main deck so that when you're looking at the monitors they are about eye level (for me). I am also considering putting a slight curve on the top shelf, from about 20'' at the center, to around 25'' on both ends, so that I can arrange the speakers and monitors in a sort of semi circle around me. I think the entire thing is going to be about 3.5-4 feet deep, so that will leave about 28'' of open desk in the middle, and about 23 on the edges. Do you think I am allowing myself enough room?

Would a corner desk be better?

Any suggestions would help, because its hard for me to visualize whats going to work best.

stevesnj

06-04-2005, 07:23 PM

I like this desk design...might be expensive but made for editing/post

http://www.anthro.com/_FS_ConsoleUnit.asp

Sirius_Doggy

06-04-2005, 07:46 PM

Bought this one at Organized Living about a year ago. Think we paid about $500. The Horizontal box of the same material was mounted under the desk vertically for the CPU but as you can see I have the CPU on top of the desk because it would not fit inside that compartment. It's a Koolance case that was way too big. Anyway, I took it and mounted a lazy-susan to the bottom of it and now use it for my monitor. Makes it easy to spin so clients can see it when they sit behind me and to the right from the bottom image.
http://www.pbase.com/siriusdoggy/image/41227214.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/siriusdoggy/image/41227212.jpg

imgentertainment@mac

06-04-2005, 10:40 PM

I would build in a full size mini rack in one side you you can utilze rack mounts for proffestion decks and converters.

PDX_DVX

06-05-2005, 09:46 AM

good idea, since I might soon acquire a waveform scope. I will also be using a DSR-11, which I think can be rackmounted vertically? There's just something about a corner desk that doesn't appeal to me...Maybe thats just me though....What kind of LCD's are those sirius? Are they wall mounted? how big are they?

Sirius_Doggy

06-05-2005, 09:27 PM

There's just something about a corner desk that doesn't appeal to me
I love the corner desk. I'm left-handed and what you can't see in the photo is that the desk extends as far to the left as it does to the right. The entire left side I leave open to lay out scripts/paperwork/food:beer:/etc...
What kind of LCD's are those sirius? Are they wall mounted? how big are they?
Samsung 19" 915V's
http://images10.newegg.com/productimage/24-001-176-09.JPG
Yes they are wall mounted on an articulating arm (http://mcergo.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=MC&Category_Code=5) that can extend from 8" to 18" from the wall. My best investment as it clears up the space below the monitors for stuff like the camera, Wacom pad, X-Keys controller.

scharky

06-05-2005, 11:24 PM

sirius, nice desk.
It looks like your sirius doggy has grown up.

Sirius_Doggy

06-05-2005, 11:34 PM

Yep - The logo shot was taken when he was about 4 months old. He's gonna be 5 years old in a few weeks.
That's my baby. Life revolves around him (and my wife) as anyone that knows me knows..

BLUESPIDER

06-05-2005, 11:39 PM

Sirius Doggy, man, thats a pretty cool setup. It looks comfortable.. I like how your dog poses for the camera. Cool stuff!

Sirius_Doggy

06-06-2005, 12:01 AM

Very comfy - There's a couch behind my chair for clients and a little mini fridge next to it. Sometimes I hardly ever leave the room when I'm editing by myself.
Yeh - he's a ham....

recon007jf

07-26-2005, 09:54 AM

I love the idea of building my own edit desk. The desks and consoles that are for sale are way too expensive.

I would love to see some of the design ideas from you guys, let's see who can come up with a cool design that dosen't cost too much to produce.

Joseph

PDX_DVX

07-26-2005, 10:33 AM

Hopefully mine will be done in the next few weeks. I am having a carpenter friend of mine build it for me. I am basing it off of a Winsted desk. It's going to be sort of a wrap around desk with a top monitor shelf. We'll see how it turns out. He usually builds trade show booths for shows like NAB and Interbike, so hopefully it will turn out good.

tomthemacman

07-26-2005, 10:38 AM

I personally just bought the "Jerker" desk from Ikea. It's pretty nice, and it cost about $200 in total with all my accessories (the wings, the top shelf, etc)

http://home.comcast.net/~tomthemacman/IM000790.jpg

MattC

07-26-2005, 12:31 PM

I hope I'm not the rain on the parade here, and bear in mind, what I'm about to say isn't feasible for everyone but....

None of the set-ups here are conducive to mixing audio. If you have any intention of doing sound design/recording/mixing and you are designing a room and desk, you REALLY owe it to yourself to read up a bit on room tuning and speaker placement before going further. Creating a workstation that is good for both video AND audio isn't hard (if you have the room, I for example, don't) and your productions would benefit greatly from it.

Matt

ARRIguy

07-26-2005, 09:34 PM

Some great layouts.

A feature I will definitely incoporate in my next edit set up is to make it easily and quickly (<this is the tricky part) adjustable to accommodate sitting or standing positions.

I think it's Walter Murch who favours standing while doing his magic. There's something to be said for adopting this position when a certain energy flow is needed.

Instead of changing the height of the desk set up another way would be to build it for standing and then choosing a higher chair for the sitting position or changing the floor height.

If anyone comes up with a good way to accommodate this feature, please share it.

fixitinpost

07-27-2005, 02:56 AM

Here is the one I designed and built. It's a bit different now, and I have a better chair, but you get the idea.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/etchantdigitalstudios/newedit.jpg

Sirius: That edit controller you have is already on my "Christmas List."

zigernot

07-27-2005, 03:44 PM

I just went to ikea and found the biggest desk they had.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v309/hoboskate123/EditingDesk.jpg

mcgeedigital

08-01-2005, 08:04 AM

http://www.forecast-consoles.com/broadcast/imagemaster/gc1_img/gc1_picture.jpg

Here's what I have at home, although I bought it rather than built it:

http://www.mcgeedigitalmedia.com/images/McgeeDesktopBig.jpg

MattG

Max Wilson

08-01-2005, 08:15 AM

Here is my setup... I also have 3 high-end web servers in my network closet set up for network rendering. I got over 1TB of disk space between all the computers.

I do all the video work at this station.
http://bin1.myphotoupload.com/P1010083.JPG
http://bin1.myphotoupload.com/P1010084.JPG

Digital Audio Studio, powered buy 4 networked computers can create a full symphony. This is my dad’s setup and he is the composer in the house...

And we do all the audio here.
http://bin1.myphotoupload.com/P1010088.JPG

Oh BTW, the desk in my video editing station i built from plumbing pipe and some nice wood work.

235 Studios

08-01-2005, 08:21 AM

http://www.forecast-consoles.com/broadcast/imagemaster/gc1_img/gc1_picture.jpg

Is it possible to get spec's on that? Or is there a website with the spec's? That setup looks great, and it does not look to difficult to build. Just need the measurements ....

PDX_DVX

08-01-2005, 08:33 AM

I met up with my carpenter friend and showed him the Winsted catalog. He said it would be cake to build something like that. Since he regularly does the whole trade show booth thing, I trust his word. Since he's not really charging for labor, all I have to pay for is material, so that will cut costs by alot. Now I just have to figure out exactly what I want. I was considering maybe trying to make some sort of rack space in between the monitor shelf and main desk area. I believe I'll have the CPU's on the lower right, and to the left I'll have a spot with drawers. I hate keyboard trays, so I'm just going to have my keyboard on the main desk area. Now its time to draw it!

Barry_S

08-01-2005, 09:19 AM

http://www.forecast-consoles.com/broadcast/imagemaster/gc1.html

Is it possible to get spec's on that? Or is there a website with the spec's? That setup looks great, and it does not look to difficult to build. Just need the measurements ....

blckhawk542

08-01-2005, 10:22 AM

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v707/blacksheep699/editstation.jpg

I guess its kinda convenient..everything is rite next to each other...

235 Studios

08-01-2005, 12:57 PM

http://www.forecast-consoles.com/broadcast/imagemaster/gc1.html

Thanks, just what I was looking for.

MattC

08-01-2005, 01:16 PM

Argosy makes some nice stuff...

http://www.argosyconsole.com/aura260.htm

I'm also a big fan of Omnirax

http://www.omnirax.com/site/show_category.asp?CategoryID=4

Matt

Angrius

08-02-2005, 04:15 PM

Here check these fools out. Their prices are ridiculous. You'll notice they had pdf files of all the desks..a semi-blue print of sorts. With a little brain work you could easily put one of these together for a lot less.

http://www.tbcconsoles.com/hotdog.htm

Angrius

08-02-2005, 04:34 PM

by the way..clean up your desks! lol

ggoerl

08-02-2005, 08:02 PM

what are those 12 inch monitors that they use for previews from the computer editing desk? I thought it was a called a studio monitor. I did a search up on ebay. but just head phones and regular computer monitors show up.

sink

08-02-2005, 08:15 PM

try production monitor

ggoerl

08-02-2005, 11:12 PM

thanks.

235 Studios

08-03-2005, 08:21 AM

you can also try Broadcast monitor or video monitor - that will bring up results as well. But you have to weed out the non professional monitors.

PDX_DVX

08-03-2005, 08:42 AM

Make sure any "production monitor" you buy has blue gun, chroma, phase, underscan. If it doesn't have this, you may as well get a regular TV. These features are essential to calibrating the monitor so that your picture is as accurate as possible. While they arent essential for simply viewing your footage, if you're spending some cash on a production monitor, you may as well get the right one. Some other things to look for are aspect ratio switchable, component inputs, and good resolution. By the way those TBC consoles look amazing! I would love to have something like that! But I am too poor, so I am still going to build mine. I am trying to decide wether I want to get traditional table legs for it, or wether I want the sides to be enclosed boxes, similar to the rack mounts you see on some consoles. I have 2 CPU's that will need to go under the desk, and I would rather keep them off of my carpeted floor. I guess I am just going to have to brainstorm various designs....

Frizzle Fry

08-03-2005, 08:46 AM

We're in the process of remodeling the house we bought. Early on I claimed a bedroom for my office and am planning to build my desk into the 8-foot closet (6-foot opening). For materials, I was considering using some of the doors we're going to replace. Don't know if I like that idea, though.

One thing I for sure want to do: Lazy susan for the mid-tower case, on the floor and to the right. I'm tired of crawling on my belly to access the rear connections when I want to upgrade and whatnot. One simple thing I want to do is use hooks to manage and hide cords.

Gotta have a monitor shelf. Hmmm, maybe I'll put some rope lights on the underside of the monitor shelf, that would look nice.

I'll try to find this thread when i finally build this thing. but building is for sure the way to go, if you have tools and know-how, or know someone who does.

PDX_DVX

08-03-2005, 08:53 AM

I agree, you can really keep the quality up if you build it yourself. Not to mention you get a custom tailored desk to fit you and your needs. And it keeps costs down. I like the rope light idea under the monitor shelf. It would give the desk area a nice light so that you can see what you're doing while editing in a dark room. I am deffinetly using a wrap around design on my desk. I want to have the monitor shelf relatively low, because I hate looking up at monitors. One of the biggest things I want though is the easily accessible yet clean looking cable setup. I was considering using some sort of angle aluminum with holes drilled in it to aid in zip tying cables onto it, or possible using peg board to route cables with zip ties. I think now I might also put the thing on casters to make the whole desk easier to move. The ideal thing for me would be to have most of the wires self contained on the desk, so that when you want to get behind it, the only thing attaching it to the wall is a power cord. While we're at it, what sort of chairs do you guys use? I know I need a new one, but I don't want to pay an arm and a leg. The one I have now absolutely sucks. It's basically a ridgid chair you would find in a hospital waiting room.

Frizzle Fry

08-03-2005, 09:05 AM

PDX, I like the idea of only having one thing plugged into the wall, and the rest is hidden from sight. I'm going to get something like this I think:

http://cableorganizer.com/wire-loom/

Should be able to pick it up at hardware or car parts stores, and I'm sure Radio Shack has 'em. That website has a nice variety of colors, though.

Frizzle Fry

08-03-2005, 09:23 AM

Come to think of it, I don't think those split wire looms would be very handy. How about cutting circular holes in the desk at strategic points and using these:

http://www.swivel-chair-parts.com/Grommets.html

then on the underside of the surface everything can be suspended with brackets or hooks.

PDX_DVX

08-03-2005, 09:25 AM

That looks like a pretty good solution. It would be easy enough to attatch to the desk. It would be awsome for wrangling all of those annoying small diameter cables.

MattC

08-03-2005, 09:51 AM

You might consider these, they really do work:

http://www.monstercable.com/power/

Under your monitor shelf I would put in some small racks for rackmount gear that you might like to have handy.

Again though, building a desk into a closet (just like any of these corner units or wall units) will not lead to good sound. I understand that compromises have to be made, my set up is like that now until I move in a month, but if you have the room, you might want to do some research on tuning a room for audio mixing and setting up speakers for audio mixing.

Best,

Matt

Frizzle Fry

08-03-2005, 10:00 AM

matt, any suggestions for where to look on this subject? yeah, i don't have much of a choice on the location of the desk.

MattC

08-03-2005, 10:21 AM

Start here, they have a tone of good resources (even though they are hoping you buy stuff):

http://www.auralex.com/

For a small room, it will be the cheapest best thing you can do for your audio. After that is good monitors placed on good isolating stands. These you can also make yourself. Simple wooden speaker stands that you can fill with sand work great. The heavier the better. Set the speakers on a set of Mopads (auralex) and you're good to go.

Matt

Frizzle Fry

08-03-2005, 10:26 AM

haha, gonna have to get a really nice sound card first, then some good speakers. all in good time.

gkumar

08-23-2005, 09:24 AM

it isn't much but im still woriking on it--Gonna add a few more speakers here and there, but i have a MASSIVE acoustic problem in my editing room, it just echos forever, like im in a huge f-ing cavern!
i need to get some plastic cover for my DVX to protect it from the bat guano--that stuff is a bitch

& you can see my DVX just barely in this pic its there off to the right in that part where it's hella dark, cant really make it out, but it's there. :thumbsup:

http://stoppschild.piranho.at/034.jpg

PDX_DVX

08-23-2005, 09:36 AM

I can't see the pic for some reason....

Sedonafilmer

11-28-2005, 04:00 PM

we gotta keep this puppy going :thumbsup:

I wanna see some more set ups! anyone?

Bumpity bump!

Steward

11-29-2005, 08:43 PM

Until I move... It's sitting in my dining room
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a238/Steward_/folder%20for%20hosting/MatroxPremiere.jpg

I just have my clients come for dinner, we edit while we eat...

Craig Ryan

11-30-2005, 12:26 AM

heh some of these setups look equal to what Ben Burt has going at Skywalker Ranch...im not even going to hint at what I have to edit with :cry:

tktk

11-30-2005, 01:24 AM

Pretty nice set ups. Will your systems be able to deal with HD footage? If so, can someone post some recomendations for a PC that can deal with the footage from the HVX. I realize the cams not out yet. Still, I think some of you know what kind of specs a comp would have to meet to deal with HD. Thanks.

MDKfilms

11-30-2005, 06:09 AM

Go for the corner desk.

N_Chaszeyka

11-30-2005, 02:02 PM

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d171/N_Chaszeyka/P8110011.jpg

I like having it setup as a long desk becuase it allows multiple users to be working on the separate computers if necessary. I also have a couch immediately behind the desk on the back wall for clients to view the work, regardless of which workstation it is on.

SilverWolf

11-30-2005, 02:41 PM

WOW somebody like the LCD's

SilverWolf

11-30-2005, 02:44 PM

I just noticed an airport extreme in the corner. That a rather expensive router you got there

MattC

11-30-2005, 04:50 PM

I have an airport extreme. I don't remember it costing THAT much???

Edweirdo

11-30-2005, 08:49 PM

SilverWolf

11-30-2005, 09:07 PM

The airport extreme cost $199 dollars. I used to do phone support for apple. I have an airport extreme and express setup for wds.

MattC

11-30-2005, 09:17 PM

Is that a lot for a router?

SilverWolf

11-30-2005, 09:26 PM

For basic network needs yeah it is. One of the main benefits of the Extreme IMO is the Dialup functionality. I think the interface is very easy to learn as well. I also noticed that there are a lot of people with airports that barely know how to plug them in.

MattC

12-01-2005, 12:24 AM

Yeah, that would be me....

SilverWolf

12-01-2005, 07:50 AM

But I still love that little spaceship. Streaming music over the Express is great. I have all my computer connected and they can all stream to my stereo.

N_Chaszeyka

12-03-2005, 10:12 PM

I got the airport extreme for free! It's a long story but basically a roommate left it behind. That thing is crazy useful, but a pain in the butt. Everytime Apple updates the software I spend an hour on the phone trying to figure how to get it back online.

The dell is hiding, unfortunately I still need a PC for some of my college classes, but that's an arguement for another thread.

EDIT: Girlfriend saw my reply and didn't like it. She is the main user and does a lot of photoshop and illustrative work on the Dell. Happy now honey? hahah