Recording Studio Furniture

The control room – the location of your mixing console – is the most important room in the studio because it serves two purposes: impress the clients, and give you a critical listening post from which to mix.

So, it’s important you get the recording studio furniture perfect. You need furniture for the engineer(s) and high-end furniture for visitors, plus functional items and decorative items. Do plenty of browsing on the internet to look for the right styles and colours of furniture.

The couch – leather or fabric?

If you’ve got a small studio, settle for the biggest single couch you can fit in and try to place it centrally at the back. If you have a larger studio go for two or three two-seater couches. Chairs take up too much room, so unless you have a huge studio, or a small space to fill, avoid them.

Ideally you want your recording studio furniture to absorb sound rather than reflect it. In this sense, softer fabric is better than leather and wood. The only downside is that fabric is harder to clean, and (depending on the type of clientele you have), could start to show its age quickly. I had a fabric couch, and fortunately it never got spilled on.

If your studio is flash enough to serve clients lunch, then go for leather – it will accumulate stains – and get good quality or it will crack quickly.

Coffee tables and side tables

A coffee table works well in some spaces, but bear in mind that they can be easily tripped over, and things get dropped on them. Glass is not a good idea – it’s easy to break, and can quite often rattle if the music is loud. The other problem with a coffee table is that it presents a highly reflective surface in the middle of the floor. You can counter this with a diffuser or other absorptive feature behind the couch.

Side tables are perfect in a recording studio, and can be located next to the couch arms. This gives a writing surface for agency creatives, and a place to put phones.

A small moveable coffee table in conjunction with side tables also works.

The engineers’ chairs

You are going to be spending a lot of time in the engineer’s chair, so get an ergonomic chair with the most adjustments possible. You should ideally have two chairs so that a client can sit near the desk. You may occasionally get clients that don’t just want to look at the back of your head the whole time, or will want to direct talent in the studio (session musicians or voiceover artists) so they will need to be near the talkback mic in the desk.

Choosing your recording studio furniture

Make sure you look around online for your furniture. You can get great stuff even at budget furniture places, but seeing as it’s your business, some high-end furniture will give the best impression in your recording studio.