ORIGINAL: losguy

I tried this chair in a local boutique recording studio and I loved it:

Herman Miller Aeron

I would have bought one for myself, too, until I saw the price tag. I'm still waiting for some competition in this high-end arena to bring in some similar features at a lower price point.

We have those at work and they are really nice. If they ever decide to get rid of them, I would definately grab a few.

ORIGINAL: droddey
...but with some wear and tear it's loosened up a lot and has more creaks and groans (a lot like myself.)

I resemble that remark!

ORIGINAL: themidiroom
We have those at work and they are really nice. If they ever decide to get rid of them, I would definately grab a few.

If they do, I'll fly out and stand in line with you at the auction.

I have a couple of office chairs in my home studio that I bought from the big box office supply stores- one without arms for playing bass/guitar and one with arms that I use for pretty much everything that I do at the computer. I also have a keyboard bench that I sometimes use for bass/guitar - works great but not the most stable. The chair with arms has a high back and excellent support, but does get a little squeaky on occasion. A little WD40 usually takes care of that. But here's a simple and free solution: stand up when recording. I do this when I'm tracking my singers' vocals - it prevents any chair-related noise, gets me off my a$$ for a few minutes at a time, and makes long sessions much easier on my back. It's even easier if you have something like an AlphaTrack or a Tranzport.

Dean - is the floor in your studio carpeted?

Yeh, it is. It's my 'living room', which is kind of a really over-glorified term given the size. Here is a picture of it as it currently is, as my home theater. I'm selling all the home theater stuff and putting the money into the studio, and this room will become the studio:

http://www.charmedquark.com/Web/Gallery/CQCDemo1/FrontView.jpg

The curtain will remain, and there's one on the back wall also. The room is open in the back in both directions, one into the kitchen and the other into the bathroom/bedroom. I'll be putting foam behind the curtain and on the side walls, and getting some bass traps for the corners and maybe for the walls if needed. Since it's open on both sides, it actually has fairly good bass response. It doesn't build up in the room too bad, and the rooms it opens into act kind of like elaborate bass traps themselves.

The bass response in the home theater (much more bassy than music would be) is pretty good with correct sub placement. There are a few peaks and dips which hopefully the bass traps will help with, and also the studio requires less space, so I'll offset the position a little to the right, which will further help with that, since it's always better to be a little asymmetrical in the placement of the listening position.

If the studio is going in a living room, and if you're pretty good at dealing with wire runs (which you obviously are), allow me to suggest for consideration an idea I've been kicking around for awhile:

Forget about the typical "office-style" setup for a control room and consider the possibility of a "living room" style studio, where you sit on the couch and have a computer keyboard/control surface on the coffee-table or on your lap or whatever, and your rackmount gear like end-tables on casters or some such. The TV screen becomes your computer monitor.

Computer-based recording makes such a setup entirely possible, and may provide a better listening position than the traditional face-in-front-of-a-computer screen setup. It could also make the room more comfortable and more versatile, both for recording purposes and for general hanging out.

There are obviously a lot of peripheral considerations, for instance if you use a large-format mixing console it would probably be impractical. But if you're a home producer working mostly or entirely in the box, then all you really need in reach is a keyboard, mouse, a patchbay and maybe a few of pieces of rackmount gear. Instruments and such could be set up to create a comfortable jam room.

Not so much a recommendation, just an idea to consider.

Cheers.

These days though, you can't get anything that really sharp resolution at 1600x1200, much less at the 3200x1200 you'd get from a pair of 20" monitors. And I really need that much real estate to work productively myself (at least one 1600x1200 monitor, which is what I'll have, and two if I sell everything and have some left over.) Otherwise, it would be a nice idea and very comfy.

ORIGINAL: droddey

These days though, you can't get anything that really sharp resolution at 1600x1200, much less at the 3200x1200 you'd get from a pair of 20" monitors. And I really need that much real estate to work productively myself (at least one 1600x1200 monitor, which is what I'll have, and two if I sell everything and have some left over.) Otherwise, it would be a nice idea and very comfy.

Well, I'm certainly not trying to push the idea down your throat, but I can't for an instant believe that someone with a home theater the likes of yours is not creative and capable enough to figure out a solution to *that* dilemma...

Cheers.

So I lucked up on a chair today. I went to Office Despot and they had a $600 mesh type chair on the floor. The little extensible headrest thingie had been broken off, so they sold it to me for $100. I don't need the headrest for a studio chair really, so I picked itup. It's quite comfy. The riser thing though leaks and it slowly sinks back down, unless I'm just not using it right. But the lowest setting is about right for this table anyway. This mesh stuff definitely is very comfortable and it breaths well.

I like a high quality office swivelling chair with no arms. I can roll, spin, play guitar and keyboards and edit things. But I would always want something at least over $100 for comfort and good lumbar support.
Jim