LWMR Wiki

Studio Design and Setup

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Studio Design and Setup

Overview

Abstract

A comprehensive guide to designing, building, and optimizing production environments — from bedroom setups to purpose-built studios. Drawn primarily from the show-your-setup channel, where 260 community members share photos, build progress, and hard-won lessons about creating functional workspaces. This page covers room layout, speaker placement, acoustic treatment integration, furniture choices, ergonomics, lighting, and cable management as a unified discipline.

Community Consensus

  • Smaller desk = better sound — The community has strongly converged on minimizing desk size to reduce reflections and improve monitor imaging. Multiple members (Josh Bowman, masteredbyjack, nachomaquieira) report dramatic REW measurement improvements after downsizing.
  • Treatment before gear — Spending on acoustic treatment before upgrading monitors or outboard is the community’s #1 recommendation for improving mix quality.
  • Accessibility drives usage — “I only use the stuff that I can access quickly” (P.K. Stephan) is a widely shared philosophy. Gear that requires setup time tends to collect dust.
  • The studio is never “done” — A running joke and truth. LAPhill: “I’m going to run out of reasons not to call this studio ‘done’ soon.”

Room Layout and Speaker Placement

The Mix Position

The mix position is the single most important design decision. Community guidelines:

  • 38% rule — Place the listening position at approximately 38% of the room’s length from the front wall to minimize modal interference
  • Symmetry is non-negotiable — Left/right symmetry for speakers and treatment is critical for stereo imaging
  • Speaker height — Tweeters at ear height when seated, angled slightly down if on stands
  • Equilateral triangle — Speaker-to-speaker distance should equal speaker-to-listener distance

Discord Source

“Then you move the desk and it’s insanely better looking on the REW graph. Then you realize you have some old wood and a closet shelf that was gonna get tossed so you make a tiny desk.” — Josh Bowman, show-your-setup, 2022-06-11

The Tiny Desk Movement

A defining trend in the community. Members consistently report that oversized studio furniture creates acoustic problems:

  • bobby k built a $100 DIY desk after selling his Output Platform — “noticeably better, plus feels good to get that money back”
  • masteredbyjack had to have his custom desk cut down during his Unf*ck build after Nomograph Mastering (Ruairi) flagged it as too large
  • nachomaquieira moved from a big desk to a side rack with PMC 6s — “No more big desk, moved to side rack”
  • thegreatcarsoni converted to a tiny desk setup for better acoustic performance

Discord Source

“I love this trend towards people minimizing their cockpit layout and putting time into real, meaningful bass trapping.” — cian riordan, show-your-setup, 2022-06-11

Screen Placement

Screens between speakers create reflections. Community strategies:

  • Side-saddle — Rollmottle moved screen behind and to the right, working in the sweet spot
  • Below speaker line — Keep screens below the acoustic axis between speakers
  • Monitor arms — Allow repositioning screens out of the acoustic path when mixing critically

Studio Builds

The community has documented several major studio construction projects in real-time:

Eric Martin’s Commercial Studio Build

  • Purchased a commercial building (2023-07) and documented the full journey from concrete block to finished studio
  • 6 months in bureaucratic limbo before construction approval
  • Built from exterior concrete block with proper treatment — “nearing the finish line of the very difficult part of building a studio from exterior concrete block and a roof into a finished space”
  • Passed all department of safety inspections (2024-06-21) with Gerhard Westphalen design treatment still to come

peterlabberton’s Studio House

  • Building a combined studio/small house from the ground up
  • Broke ground (2025-02-12) with tielines to the living room and a full Gerhard Westphalen acoustic build
  • “Permits and construction take a long ass time!” (2026-02-06) — still finishing rockwool installation

Zack Hames’ Trident/SSL Studio

  • Bought a house (2023-03) and enlisted the Discord community to help plan a basement build-out
  • Installed a Trident 24 console during construction
  • Later acquired an SSL 6040 E (2025-10-15, 52 reactions — the most-reacted gear post in the channel)
  • Completed Gerhard Westphalen room design with diaphragmatic membrane absorbers — “I don’t understand how these diaphragmatic membrane absorbers work… but damn do they work!”
  • “And we are live!!!! She’s a beaut. Thanks everyone for going on this ride with me.” (2026-01-06)

masteredbyjack’s Basement Mastering Room

  • Built in basement: 13ft long x 30ft wide x 8ft tall
  • Designed by Nomograph Mastering (Ruairi): entire ceiling stuffed with 9” pink fluffy, rockwool in walls, tuned mass loaded vinyl, 6” Safe’n’Sound back wall with friction-fit frame
  • Wall finishes are acoustic felt board — absorptive with no reflections
  • Hard front wall proved “far superior” to soft felt front wall — room was too dead with absorption everywhere

denimes’ Home Studio

  • Multilayer absorption: 1ft thick side walls, 2.5ft thick rear, 6in ceiling
  • Custom 3-way mains with Hypex amps
  • Detailed construction photos and REW measurements shared with community

Gerhard Westphalen as Community Acoustician

Gerhard Westphalen has emerged as the community’s go-to acoustic designer, with multiple members commissioning room designs:

  • bobby k, Adam Thein, Eric Martin, Zack Hames, Jasper Boogaard, jonmatteson all credit Gerhard for designs
  • Specializes in membrane absorbers, ceiling clouds, and comprehensive room treatment plans

Discord Source

“I’m so tired but the final panel went up today! Thank you to @Gerhard Westphalen for the design help. And more broadly I wouldn’t have ever found my way to this result without being on this server.” — Adam Thein, show-your-setup, 2023-08-10 (27 reactions)

Rental vs. Owned Studio Trade-offs

For Renters: Portable Treatment

  • Attack walls and tube traps — Portable, no permanent modification required
  • jantrit’s DIY attack wall — “Changed my mixing life absolutely. Came to be when I was looking for a portable solution, working in this rented space. I didn’t want to invest in a proper build out and lose the space so everything here can be packed up and moved.”
  • Wheeled bass traps — EliHeathMusic designed rolling panels on wheels for closet access: “huge improvement sonically and still gives me access to the closet”
  • GIK panels — Free-standing acoustic panels that don’t require wall mounting

For Owners: Permanent Treatment

  • Built-in treatment — masteredbyjack’s ceiling stuffed with 9” insulation, rockwool in walls
  • Floated floors and double walls — For serious isolation
  • Custom-built frames — bobby k’s back wall bass trap frame, peterlabberton’s rockwool studio build

Ergonomics and Workflow

Desk Depth and Reach

  • Keep frequently used gear within arm’s reach
  • Side racks keep outboard accessible without adding desk surface area between you and speakers
  • Patchbays should be reachable from the seated position

Cable Management and Workflow Design

LAPhill’s studio wiring overhaul (by Tim O’Sullivan) exemplifies thoughtful workflow:

  • All pedals, synths, and preamps wired to patchbays for flexible routing
  • MIDI-over-Ethernet (Mio units) for reliable clock distribution
  • Headphone connections routed to convenient positions (right side of desk, by piano)
  • Ready-to-go cables pre-plugged at instrument positions

Machine Room Isolation

  • Separate noisy computers from the listening environment
  • P.K. Stephan’s approach: MADI and AES/EBU conversion with everything always connected and mic’d up

DIY Furniture and Budget Solutions

  • bobby k’s $100 desk — Built from scrap wood after selling an Output Platform, acoustically superior
  • Josh Bowman’s closet-shelf desk — Repurposed old wood and a closet shelf during a weekend renovation
  • EliHeathMusic’s wheeled bass traps — DIY rolling panels for rental-friendly treatment with closet access
  • AYOSHADOW’s handmade panels — Acoustic treatment built with his father as a family project

Discord Source

“New mixing desk I built after selling my output platform. Noticeably better, plus feels good to get that money back (this cost me under $100).” — bobby k, show-your-setup, 2021-10-20

Studio Lighting and Aesthetics

Lighting is the most discussed non-acoustic element of studio design. The community balances vibe with function:

  • Indirect/ambient lighting preferred over harsh overhead fluorescents
  • LED strips and RGB — Popular for mood setting during sessions
  • Curtains — herbie’s curtain installation dramatically opened up the room feel
  • Vibe as a session tool — “I don’t feel like any of these pictures fully capture the vibe yet” (popaganda.) reflects the community’s view that studio aesthetics affect creative energy

Practical Lighting Tips

  • Avoid lights that create screen glare at the mix position
  • Dimmable options for tracking sessions vs. mixing
  • Consider color temperature — warm lighting for creative sessions, neutral for critical listening

Hybrid Studio Integration

The community extensively documents hybrid setups that bridge analog and digital:

  • P.K. Stephan’s hybrid rig — XLR patchbay for recording paths, Dangerous Liaison for mixbus/mastering gear, MADI/AES conversion, everything always connected
  • LAPhill’s pedal/synth integration — Patchbay routing for flexible analog signal flow with DAW clock sync
  • Side rack philosophy — Move outboard to side racks instead of desk-mounted units for better acoustics

Discord Source

“I like having everything connected and mic’ed up because I notice that I only use the stuff that I can access quickly while producing/mixing.” — P.K. Stephan, show-your-setup, 2022-09-06

Mobile and Unconventional Setups

  • Eric Martin’s checked-bag studio — Mac Studio, Apollo x4, Genelec 8020s, multiple mics, headphones and cabling all in a Pelican Air 1615
  • kylem’s truck-powered studio — Electric company cut power, ran entire studio rig off truck battery for 6 estimated days
  • noahc’s Hawaii mixing room — “Plz hit me up when y’all need a getaway!”
  • kidcutler’s barn studio — Neighbor’s barn repurposed as a tracking space

Common Mistakes

  • Starting with gear instead of room — Buying expensive monitors before treating the room
  • Oversized furniture — Large desks between speakers and listener destroy imaging
  • Ignoring the back wall — Front-of-room treatment without rear bass trapping leaves low-end problems
  • Skipping measurements — Not using REW before and after treatment changes
  • Over-deadening — masteredbyjack’s experience: soft front wall made the room “too dead, uncomfortable” — hard front wall restored depth and energy
  • Aesthetics over acoustics — Making treatment decisions based on looks rather than measurements

See Also

Sources: show-your-setup (7,761 substantive messages from 259 authors, Feb 2021 – Feb 2026)

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