Comfort in the studio

Today, you no longer need millions of dollars of studio equipment to make music. All you need is a computer, software, headphones or speakers. Obviously, if you want to do this professionally, you will later need an external sound card, a good studio monitor (speaker) and some professional software. When composing on a computer, the most important thing is to enjoy what you are doing. The enjoyment is greatly reduced by a few external factors that many people only consider in hindsight.

The computer

A couple of years ago, an Intel i3 processor with at least 4 GB RAM was sufficient. This shows that performance does not seem to be a decisive factor, but as machines have evolved, developers have written more and more complex programs. This process has led to the need for more powerful machines again. It is worth looking at computers from around the seventh generation Intel processor family, but what should not be skimped on is RAM! It should be at least 16 GB. Sampler-based software eats up a lot of RAM.

Operating system

Forget Windows XP! Windows 7 is a much better choice, but 8.1 is slightly faster than 7. After some post-optimisation you get a more stable machine. The European version of Windows 10 is fine. Unfortunately, Windows 10 in the US is full of factory "spyware" which can reduce performance, so rather than aiming for stability, choose this operating system only if you know for sure that you won't have any problems! Whatever Windows you install, run it on a 64-bit operating system, because 64-bit will run 32-bit applications, but not vice versa. I'm a bit mixed on OSX, it's a completely useless choice for music composition for a start. Also, after every OSX system update, some music programs refuse to run on the machine. The plug-in developer community is pretty pissed off that every time a new OSX version comes out, their software becomes unusable. This phenomenon does not occur under Windows. There the problem is different. Basically, both operating systems have their idiocies, so it could be whatever system you want to work on. For my part, Windows is the winner because I use the features of the operating system in a way that I can't on a Mac. Mac machines are smoother and more user-friendly, but Windows has the edge in the area of software written for it.

Monitor

I'm not talking about the studio speaker, but the display. With LCD monitors, size is very important. When you use a small monitor, in the long run, your neck gets numb because you automatically want to see the small details up close. The resolution is also important. An FHD display can fit more elements, but at 4k the details to read will be too small. Many plugins today are not optimised to be readable at 4K resolution. The monitor is not just a tool, it is the world of our eyes, and if you are starting a career in music, you are guaranteed to spend sleepless nights at the computer. Use a large display size, depending on the distance, with a resolution optimised for you. By the way, the screens on desktop Macs are great if you're not too far away, there's no need to lean in too close. A laptop on a desktop is unfortunately not ideal because it nods its head downwards.

Position

Don't use a desk that is too high, because you will be handling the mouse very often, and in the long run you will get wrist strain. For a chair, a bare-bones seat or even a version without backrest is the worst choice. Unfortunately I can't advise you individually on what's right for you, you'll have to experiment, but there are some basic principles. Sit comfortably, without slouching, with your hands supported by an armrest that is almost in line with the desk. Your feet should touch the ground off the chair so that your thighs are not pressed against the seat and your wrists don't curl when you hold the mouse. And when looking at the monitor, your head shouldn't tilt down.

Listening system

Use open headphones so that your ears can ventilate, but if you can, avoid using them when you can and work with speakers! What matters for headphones is the frequency range coverage, but this is almost only normally provided by studio headphones, so forget DJ headphones.

I've already covered the speaker specifications in my book on mastering, so I won't go into that in detail, but choose a studio monitor that is linear, i.e. that delivers all frequency ranges linearly at a constant volume. This is not possible with a standard Hi-Fi speaker. Why does this matter for comfort? Mostly because of time. You can save a lot of time if you can actually hear what you're doing coming out of the speaker.

For people working in a home environment, it may be important to use room correction on the sound wall. If the sound wall is not placed in an ideal environment, you may experience overflowing bass. If the sound coming into your ears is not right, this can ultimately lead to incorrect mixing. And importantly for comfort, our ears get tired sooner, or more precisely, our concentration decreases. If you can, improve the acoustics of the room or work with a sound wall that has room compensation in both the low and high range. A lot of high frequencies also makes you tired.