The Ultimate Production Desk for Under $450

If you are a producer that works in a home studio setting, I can imagine you have had some trouble finding a solid desk that won't break the bank. I was on the hunt for the right desk for over a year but I could never find anything I liked. Everything was either way too expensive or the layout wasn't fit for my needs. With so many people producing and mixing mostly in the box now, a lot of us don't need massive workstations with a space for a control surface in the middle and tons of rack storage on the worktop and underneath the desk. Personally, I was on the hunt for a large worktop that could fit my 61 key MIDI controller, my computer monitor, and would have some leftover space so I didn't feel cluttered. I had a couple of rack pieces that I wanted a home for, and I had an 88 key keyboard that is my secondary keyboard / MIDI controller. It was impossible for me to find a desk that had the space on top that I wanted, the space for my 88 key keyboard, and some slots for the rack gear I do have. I finally figured out the solution.

The Massive Worktop: I ended up getting a large table from Ikea, the Ypperlig at $229, to be my main worktop. It's large enough to put exactly what I wanted on top and still have room left over. 📷

The Rack Space: But what about my rack gear? I decided to get a side car from Sweetwater, for $125, that has 12U spaces for rack gear and a table top. This is great for my rack units and gives me even MORE space to put anything I might need to on top. But I STILL needed somewhere to put my 88 key keyboard.

The Keyboard Stand: I decided to get a cube organizer, the Kallax 4x2 from Ikea for about $79, which fits my keyboard perfectly on top and has 8 shelfs to put decor in, store cables in, and provide any extra storage I might need.

I personally love the aesthetic and the function of all 3 pieces that I combined to make up my new studio setup. Each one serves a specific purpose, they fit nicely in my space, and they were all very affordable. I highly suggest considering a setup like this where you keep a large, clean worktop, have your rack storage in a secondary unit, and have some shelving that can hold large keyboards, synthesizers, guitar amps, and other equipment.