Beagle

craigb
A lava lamp is mandatory I hear.

I gots two uf em. One's a bigun.

 
Wow, that IS a pretty good size one! 

I have one of those huge ceiling fan/light as the main source of light that I just hate - the worst is that the fan itself is merely moving air, so it's useless. I plan on getting rid of it as soon as we buy the place, and replace it with a simpler lighting device and put a vertical fan somewhere in the room instead.
 
I prefer the place to be as dark as possible when I'm working, so the ceiling light is off the minute I launch Logic. Meaning that I'm kind of stuck with the same problem as you were. I have a little lamp which used to be in the back of the studio that I brought closer to my desk, but it means things are a bit off balance. For someone w/ OCD tendencies like me, that's not good. 
 

 
Unfortunately, those lamps are only available in a store which my wife and I have boycotted, so there's no chance of me getting a new one. I guess I'll have to come up with a different solution.
 
I do have a lava lamp, but I tend to forget about it...
 
 

bapu

craigb
NagBap is in da house! 

Which does liddle gud whiff my mayte Jayes.

Warter off a duk's bak two mee mayte.

Track lighting rocks.

The lamp I got was one of those classic cheapo desk lamps with the bendy arm, only instead of a base it has a clip. I have it clipped to a shelf. It's done wonders for the room, not just my DAW area. I have a pink lightbulb in it. I've never used one before but the guy in the store said it was nice warm light. He was right. It's not pink, just a lovely warm yellow.

craigb

sharke
Weird. 

No!  Really?  
 

I agree. Nothing weird about this. Whatever floats your boat mate :)
 
 

I find for me what works the best is a series of small lamps on the end of movable arms that attach to various desks and things.These arms come right over the areas of interest. My main room is not that well lit but the various parts of my studio are though with these more spot type lamps.
 
It does make a big difference for sure. If you are straining anywhere to see anything in your studio then you have not lit your studio properly.
 
On another issue, I believe zen is also important to have a lot of order, neatness and tidyness in your whole setup. I find that for me is very important. For example I find that shawn from trust media TV has a very messy studio. I could never work in that environment. The zen in his situation is very poor. I know shawn still produces great music and for him it is obviously not an issue.
 
 

Jeff Evans
 
On another issue, I believe zen is also important to have a lot of order, neatness and tidyness in your whole setup. I find that for me is very important. For example I find that shawn from trust media TV has a very messy studio. I could never work in that environment. The zen in his situation is very poor. I know shawn still produces great music and for him it is obviously not an issue.
 

Same here. I remember seeing early pictures of Van Halen and wondering how they could work in such a mess.
 
Right now my set up bothers me because there's just too much behind the desk - I don't really see it, but I feel it. I plan on buying a pair of monitor stands and cleaning up that "mess" as soon as the more important stuff is taken care of.

dupe

I could play my guitar at the local garbage dump on the darkest night but if location and lighting
was a factor I think I would go for a big wall with a picture of a stadium crowd cheering and gel stage lights-
programmed light show and lasers would be a must...with a back wall mural of stacked Marshalls and pretty roadies.
I think I'd also consider a dance floor with all those lights that make patterns just in case the neighbors wanted to join in.
 
 
 
Maybe just after gigging and recording in just about any environment imaginable has benefits I didn't realize.