Best Music Production Desk For Beginners in 2023

When setting up a home studio, it is always a good idea to have a dedicated spot to produce music. That’s why a home studio desk is a must.

It not only puts you in the zone but it also helps you create something on a regular basis. It literally separates successful musicians from the ‘day dreamers’.

Having a dedicated spot creates the habit of creating regular music. The more music you make, the better you will get at it. Bottom line, you need at least need a small studio desk for music production.

It’s really that simple.

After all, reputation its first law of learning so having a dedicated place to practice music production is essential to your success. So you can create music and rap or sing, whatever you need to do.

Now the question of the day is what kind of music production desk is right for you? How you do you determine that? Rule of thumb is it actually depends on your own music level.

Most beginners (Myself included) get very intimidated on the idea of investing in a studio. Even if it’s just a simple desk. We think that we have to get everything at once. Studio monitors, midi controller, audio interface heck maybe even a guitar or two but that’s now how it works. One thing I will add is for studio monitors, get studio monitor stands as well.

The more complex your music gets, the more plugins / gear (Example: Getting a synthesizer) you will need. That’s a given.

So the more ideal your work desk is for that, the better results you’ll get.

Since it’s not like getting a drum throne which is mostly standard for everyone, when trying to pick up a music production desk, you need to really consider the size of your room and all.

Keep reading and you’ll find some good desks for music production.

Anatomy of a Recording Studio Desk

This is the ideal setup for any beginners in the music production game.

You basically want your desk to hold the following 5 elements.

1. Monitor (Computer screen)
2. Computer itself. It can be a desktop or a laptop which is common. (You can hide it under the desk as well).
3. A place for your keyboard / mouse.
4. A place for your MIDI keyboard.
5. Enough room to hold your studio monitors. If that’s not possible, get studio monitor stands.

Similar to this simple desk by a company called Need.

As you can see, everything is in one place and if you’re starting out, this kind of flat desk is all you need. In my humble opinion, this is the best desk for music production (Especially for beginners).

Don’t listen to the nerds on music production forums that you need the best equipment ra ra . . . They get off on “nerding” stuff up and wasting time.

Most of them don’t even produce any music and the ones that do, let’s just say it’s not something that’s going mainstream anytime soon.

A desk like this is not only affordable but will help you get started immediately.

It has lots of space too (As you can see).

Need Desks on Amazon:
47 Inches – If you don’t have any existing music equipment (Good size table).
55 Inches – If you already have some equipment.

I love how easily you can place these in a small room and have a full on music studio in no time.

Homcom's 47 inch table (Amazon Link) is also a great alternative if your budget is tight. Most people consider 47″ as a small music studio desk but I think it’s just the perfect size. Definitely one of the best music production desks for small spaces.

Check out the full review below:

HomCom 47″ Music Production Workstation Desk – Best Music Production Desk For Beginners

This is the basic music desk. Four legs. a top surface. adjustable feet with wire bracing so it doesn’t wobble. If all you need is a horizontal surface to put your music gear on, than this is for you. This music desk is sturdy, portable and as far as ergonomic needs go, you just can’t beat a simple table like this.

It measures in at just under four feet wide by 2 feet deep, and is a standard 30” high. Perfect studio desk for small rooms in apartments.

The legs are metal and the desktop is medium density fibreboard (MDF) covered with wood-print vinyl. There are little plastic feet that pop into the metal legs, which should protect your flooring from getting all chewed up.

The feet aren’t adjustable so if your floor isn’t level you’ll need shims to keep the desk from wobbling.

This table is easy to transport (unassembled) as it weighs less than 40 pounds. It’s easy and fast to assemble budget ten minutes if you’re not wasted. The vinyl surface will survive many coffee or beer spills when you spending those late nights in your studio aka bedroom.

What it won’t survive is cuts or burns. The official rated capacity is about 100 pounds. That’s plenty of music gear holding capacity (Including heavy studio monitors), but if you have a loved one that enjoys parking his/her butt on your desk-side while you work. than you may be in for a rude awakening. Protect your music production desk and treat it like the holy grail.

Do you need this table?

You can most likely find something basic like this at a garage sale but my thinking is if you’re going to put thousands of dollars worth of equipment on something, you might as well get a new one.

The other big plus is a desk like this will assemble in ten minutes or less. When it comes time to move, you can take it apart quickly.

This is a basic, lightweight, easy-to-assemble, easy-to-knock-down table for the music producer (or beginner music producer) looking for their first music production table that is well below their budget.

Now . . .

Once you actually start producing some decent music and start getting some success (People start commenting or sharing your music),  you’ll also notice that you most likely have additional gear like an audio mixer, a preamp, perhaps a drum machine and all that.

Bottom line, when you start making professional or close to professional music, most likely your list of equipment will get longer as well.

This is a good problem to have.

It means your music is improving.

Once you reach this level, than it’s time to invest in a proper home music production desk. Let’s start with the cream of the crop and work our way down.

Z-Line Designs Cyrus Workstation

This is a very modern and fresh-looking music recording desk. I want to call it a musician’s workstation, but really it is just a great music computer desk / workstation that can be modified to any music producer’s needs.

It has a generous working surface, at 26” by 48”, is made of tempered glass. Most of the hardware is black and there are cherry accents, including the riser. Good room yet it can be easily labelled as a small music workstation desk.

This Z-Line weighs only 70-ish pounds, and it rolls on casters. So it’s easy to move around and mange cable / wires when setting up or installing new gear.

This sturdy music production desk comes with a full-width riser and room for two big monitors. Or you could choose to place your studio loudspeakers there with one monitor in the middle.

There’s a big base just above floor level which is perfect for one more tower desktop styel computers. I stacked up my sound processing equipment because there isn’t really any rack space. The base has a big cutout to tuck your chair underneath and I found myself using it as a footrest.

The desk surface is plenty big enough for most keyboards or mixing panels. The under-desk slide-out keyboard tray for your computer keyboard has room for a mouse too.

Assembly is very straightforward, with decent instructions. You can do it yourself in a pinch but really it’s a two-person job. The trickiest part for me was installing the glass table-top and removing all adhesive materials.

A bit about the company it self, the Z-line team is headquartered in San Ramon, CA and specialize in ready-to-assemble furniture for offices and home offices. I think it’s only recently they started creating music recording computer desks. Their manufacturing plant is located in China and Taiwan and most of their products (Including this Cyrys music recording home computer desk), comes with a one-year warranty.

Z-Line has produced an innovative-looking compact computer workstation that is easily adapted for a beginning music creator on a budget. One thing you should watch out for though, this music production desk has tempered glass surface.

If some crazy friend decides to sit on or you accidentally drop something heavy on it, you’ll have a big mess on your hands. So stay lucky by keeping this fact in mind when you bring people over, etc. In fact, there are a couple reviews online that document this exact same misfortune taking place in their home. Second thing that is kind of downer is there isn’t really a good built-in space for your rack-mount signal processing style equipment.

Overall, Cyrus did a great job and I think it’s one of the best desks for music production for people on a budget.

AZ-R Midi Controller Desk by AZ Studio Workstations

AZ Studio Workstations have produced a great little desk that fits the need of the starting / intermediate musician or producer.

It’s called a midi controller desk but you can put whatever music equipment you see fit on it. There are 6U of rack space for your rack-mount gear. Which means you can store 6 “units”. Unit as in a physical audio interface, compressor, etc.

Example: 6 of these.

The desk is about 65” wide by 30” deep and stands the standard 29.5” off the floor.

The cool thing about this desk is once you place your order the keyboard tray is custom-made to fit your current controller. So your midi keyboard sits at just the right height below the actual desk surface. Pretty neat feature eh?

The riser at the back is where you tuck your controllers etc.  This table provides a good size surface for a big computer monitor and loudspeakers. Decent width on this desk for sure.

A lot of studio desks come in glorious black, white and other colors, but AZ makes this desk in a beautiful maple melamine finish with aluminum legs. The tubular legs look a little spindly, but they do a fine job of holding the desk up all strong and sturdy. I did find the legs a little wobbly in the beginning but after tightening them, they were just fine.

The plus side of a custom-built music desk is that the ergonomics are just-right and your midi controller or keyboard will fit in perfectly. Especially when it’s all tucked in the desk and all. The downside is two years from now, you’ll probably end up going to buy a bigger and better keyboard and than this desk will be destined for craigslist.

So how would you avoid such a situation?

I would suggest your custom measurements should be for a 61 plus keyboard controller. That seems to be enough for most producers.

AZ’s attention to detail is awesome and quality of their work truly shows in this desk. In addition to this music desk, AZ-R has a broad line of workstations to fit your budget. If you can’t find something, just talk to them and they’ll build it for you. They are located in Souther California by the way.

If you have the budget and want your music studio desk to look like a proper piece of quality furniture while serving your producing needs, in AZ-R’s direction is where you need to head.

OneSpace 50-100705 Regallo Expandable “L” Computer Desk

Have you ever wished you had a very compact desk, that expanded when you got more stuff? Wll Onespace has come up with this unique expandable computer music desk which just might fit the bill.

Considering this desk from the standpoint of a music producer, if you’re pinched for work space, this may be the ideal music workstation for you.

The main desk is about 41.5” by 23’ and has a 15.75” wide riser, that’s unique because it’s actually wider than the main level, at 47”.

So you have a nearly-four-foot-wider riser, which is enough for either two big monitors or one big monitor and a pair of loudspeakers. When you have serious work to do, you pivot out the main level into an “L” shape, and you have the full desk surface available.

In addition, there’s a computer shelf at the very bottom. Wait – there’s more! there’s a separate computer keyboard/mouse shelf that pulls out. When you finish working, just wheel the expansion level back into tucked-in position.

The main desk has plastic feet and the pivoting section rolls on casters. This is a practical approach but makes cable management a bit of a chore.

I kind of wish it was easier to get behind it to add and remove gear. For that matter i find myself wishing for a rack-mount area for a couple of my signal-processing modules. I also wish the computer shelf was deep enough that I could mount my tower so it faces forward.

If you have a USB hub on the desktop where you do all the plugging-in of data cards and peripherals, than this may not be a big deal, but I kind of like being able to reach my computer’s front panel.

From an industrial design standpoint this is a very sharp looking desk. space-age black and silver tubular steel with black MDF working surfaces. The curved edges make for a very airy design.

Assembly is a bit of a chore, but at 57 pounds it’s one of the few workstations light enough to be assembled by one person. Just don’t hurry. The instructions are adequate but you really need to take your time to do it right.

If your main keyboard or panel is less than 41” then this could be a great solution to your productivity problem.

As far as the manufacturer is concerned, Comfort Products is the creator behind this innovative music desk. They are based in Memphis, TN and have been around for almost 100 years (Yup that’s 100 years of manufacturing). They offer a respectable one-year warranty as well.

If you’re a strapped for cash music producer, this one is hard to beat. It may not be the most solidly music desk here, but it’ll do for your initial needs as a music producer. If you’re starting out in music creation and production and your budget plus space is limited,  it’s hard to go wrong with he Comfort Products OneSpace Regallo. I would only be concerned to put any heavy studio monitors on this bad boy.

On Stage WS7500 Wood Workstation

If you’re starting out in music making and production, you need an economical but flexible workstation with room for your keyboards, monitors, speakers and some additional gear like a multitrack recorder.

Ideally you have room for a computer and keyboard too. If these are your needs, check out the On Stage WS7500 Wood Workstation. Maybe “Wood” should be in quotation marks because this baby is made of some sort of fibreboard with premium laminate surfaces.

You can get it in basic black, rosewood or maple body and with a overall black tubular steel structure.

The On Stage offers three levels of adjustment on this desk as well.

The main desk surface is the usual 29” high, 43” wide and 30” deep. The keyboard tray is 27” wide by 15.25” deep and it slides out of the way when not in use. The riser is full-width and about a foot deep so it’s perfect for two monitors or one monitor and a pair of loudspeakers.

The whole package weights about 75 pounds so it’s suitable for a one-person assembly. I do recommend getting a friend to help would be a good idea. Overall, it comes together quite easily.

The ‘Z frame’ is a simple, elegant structure that makes the whole desk quite stable and pushes the upper riser back from the main desktop. Construction feels solid enough for all your music equipment but I don’t recommend putting something too heavy on this desk.

Once everything is put together, you will have a solid and stable music workstation with three levels of adjustment. One thing I don’t like about this music desk is it doesn’t come with casters (Plastic feet instead). I can’t really move it around to do re-cabling and reconfiguring of my drum machine, etc. Luckily though, it’s not too heavy and it’s robustly made so I can drag it forward and back.

There is no real storage space. No drawers, no racks for my signal processing gear, so it’s all stacked up behind my keyboard. On the plus side, there’s great legroom, with no computer shelf and no cross-brace.

On Stage Stands has been around for about 35 years and manufacture a broad line of musical instruments and microphone stands for – you guessed it – on stage and studio use. They’re based in Berlin, CT. There’s a two-year warranty on this product so don’t feel insecure about it.

The On Stage WS7500 is a good-looking, reasonably priced, solid and durable workstation that can give you the beginning musician years of reliable duty before you are ready for an upgrade.

AZ- Vista Studio Music Workstation Desk

Roll on to the productivity party with the AZ-Vista Studio Workstation Desk. That’s right. Wheels give you the ability to move this workstation around. Yes you are no longer using a desk, you have moved up to a proper music workstation desk. Most likely, you’ll find these in major producer’s houses or studios.

Forget the challenge of squeezing in behind to plug in another USB device. You can pull the workstation away from the wall, do your reconfiguration, tidy your cables, and push the desk back against the wall.

This workstation (With the wheels included), is about forty inches high – normal for a desktop – and forty inches deep, and 101 inches wide. That’s almost 9ft wide. That basically means you can store some serious gear on top.

There are two pull-out shelves and a keyboard tray. Referring to computer’s keyboard not a MIDI controller or digital piano.

You’ll want your main keyboard on the desktop. The clearance between risers is 58.5 inches so you can squeeze in just about any electronic keyboard, for the full forty-inch depth.

Construction is solid, consisting of Black Melamine and Ash Wood molding. AZ-Vista loves music professionals and they’ve clearly thought about your needs. They’ll even customize it to suit your particular needs. Consider ordering special surfaces to suit your studio decor.

Here you have a big, solidly build workstation that’s especially designed to hold a LOT of gear and is likely to suit your needs. It rolls around for ease of configuration. What’s not easy is lifting it. This sucker is BIG and HEAVY, before you load it up with your gear. So hire a mover. This desk is not going to fall apart the first time you spill coffee. It’s built to last.

AZ-Vista has thought about ergonomics. Your gear is within convenient reach, with the rack space split up into a lower and upper section on either side. The main desk surface is at a comfortable height and the upper and lower drawers feel good. Cable management is a challenge when you have a lot of gear. AZ-Vista helps by providing many grommets so you can pass cables up and down without needing to drill holes.
AZ-Vista stands by their products.

They have a broad line of workstations to suit your budget and your studio needs. And if they don’t have what you need, talk to them and they’ll build it for you. They’re located in Southern California, and they build to suit. That means it’ll take a few days to build, and a few more days, up to a couple weeks, to reach your door. This is no Ikea knock-together. It’s seriously solid craftsmanship designed for the serious studio musician, engineer, producer.

Omnirax Force 24 Studio Desk

A music producing professional needs some space to work. The Omnirax Force 24 Studio Desk gives you almost eight feet of clear desk surface, with a clever rear-mounted overhead riser that’s designed to hold a bunch of monitors, and/or a pair of loudspeakers.

There are two shelves supporting the desk (Left and right), each of which has space for 12U rack units of equipment.

Third shelve is between the two shelves to keep your computer(s) off the floor, along with a keyboard-mouse tray. This studio desk is designed to give you plenty of leg room, but you may still be tempted to kick the computer shelf.

This music desk is massive. It’s a whopping 86” wide and 28” deep so there’s a lot of surface area. When sitting down, it will make you feel like you’re looking over an aircraft carrier. The riser (Omnirax calls it a bridge) is almost as wide as the desk at 78.6”, so you can load it with monitors and speakers. There’s about eight inches of clearance above the desk surface but that only impedes the back portion of the desk. Bottom line, you have lots of space to pile stuff up on this giant desk.

Considering the huge size, aesthetics are great. The curvy design makes it feel lighter and more airy rather than just massive and bulky. Plus the Omnirax 24 is available in different finishes, including black melamine laminate, and mahogany. Black is elegant and simple but mahogany looks fabulous and rich. It’s solidly built and it looks great.

The fit and finish are first-rate and the keyboard/mouse tray feels good. The other advantage of the curvy design is that more stuff is within reach when you’re seated.

The main desk surface is so big and clear that a music producer doesn’t have to think twice about the size of their midi controller or keyboard. There is just so much room that it’s not an issue at all. A great place for any music producer to be.

Omnirax is a great company that builds well-designed products. They’re based in hippy-central, Sausalito, California, and they’ve been making furniture for musicians for decades. Besides helping musicians, they serve video studios and make office furniture as well. Omnirax is an environmentally conscious manufacturer.

When you receive this desk, there will be some assembly required. Be aware that you’re receiving several heavy boxes of stuff and you’ll be spending quite a bit of time putting it together. You may be less stressed if you have a good shipping bay and a forklift truck.

Do you need to set up four 24” monitors, several computers, about 24 units of rack mount equipment and a bunch of keyboards and panels? The Omnirax Force 24 is an excellent choice so add a good ergonomic swivel roller chair and you’ll feel like you’re on the bridge of an aircraft carrier. Who should get an Omnirax 24? The music producer who has arrived.

Visit Ominax Amazon Store

Omnirax Presto 4 Studio Desk

Are you a music production professional on a budget, but still concerned about ergonomics? You will be pleased by the price/performance that the Omnirax Presto 4 Studio Desk offers.

The desk surface is wide enough for large keyboard controllers, control surfaces or smaller mixers It’s about 56” wide, 31.4” deep and 34” off the floor and the riser goes the full width so there’s plenty of room for 2 24” monitors plus a pair of loudspeakers.

The height off the floor is a bit above the standard 30” so you may need to get an adjustable-height swivel chair and a footrest to match. I don’t recommend using your computer as a footrest.

There’s a shelf below the desk, designed for holding one or more computers.
there are 4U of space for rack-mount sized equipment.

You should consider buying the optional sliding computer keyboard shelf. You have a choice of surface finishes. choose between melamine laminates or melamine with Gray Slate, Mahogany or Maple Formica top surfaces. Black looks boss, but the glossy surface seems to magnify dust and stains.

Some assembly required! This is ideally a two-person job. Your skill level required is basically reading visual instructions and knowing which end of a phillips screwdriver to hold. There’s also an included allen key. Consider using an electric screwdriver to speed the job up.

It weighs in at over 100 pounds, so lifting it to your workplace will be a challenge. Once it’s installed and in place you’ll find that it’s a solid-looking and solid-feeling workstation destined to give you many happy hours.

Omnirax is an environmentally conscious company that builds well-designed products in their factory in Sausalito, California. They’ve been making furniture for musicians for decades and they also, they serve video studios and make office furniture.  They have a good warranty.

I would advise you to spend the big bucks on the optional computer keyboard shelf because it feels good, looks good and puts your computer keyboard at an effective ergonomic height. The wallet will only hurt for a few days and your wrists will thank me for years to come.

If you have a lot of rack-mount equipment you may want to upgrade to the Presto model which has 8U of storage, or go up to the Force line which seriously upgrades your rack space as well as desk surface.

Visit Ominax Amazon Store

Omnirax Force 36 Audio/Video Workstation Black

This is a desk. This is a serious desk for a serious music creation professional who needs a lot of space to work and a lot of space to stow gear.

The Omnirax Force 36 A/V workstation gives you plenty of desk surface, as well as a multi-level riser that’s designed to hold a bunch of monitors, and/or a pair of loudspeakers.

There are two pedestals supporting the desk, each of which has space for 12 1U rack units of equipment. In addition there are two four-space bays and two two-space bays above the desk surface.

All in all you have 36 rack units of space to mount your electronics The monitor shelf/riser is over a foot deep and about four feet wide so two 24” monitors will fit nicely side by side, and your speakers have plenty of room on the outside risers.

this desk weighs in at 350 pounds, which is reasonable for the size and the amount of gear it’s designed to handle. Casters are provided so you can roll the desk around to get at the back for cable and power management. The main desk surface is 26.8 inches above the floor, a bit lower than the 30” standard. The rear risers take away a fair amount of desk surface so your usable space ends up being about 18” deep by 72” wide. Six feet wide means room for a big keyboard or panel, with room to spare.

This desk is available in different finishes, including black melamine laminate, and mahogany. Black is elegant and simple but mahogany looks fabulous and rich. It’s solidly built and it looks great. The fit and finish are first-rate and the keyboard/mouse tray feels good.

When you sit at this desk you feel like you’ve graduated to the big leagues. It is solid and good-looking and your gear is all close at hand and the thoughtfully designed rack spaces put all your controls within reach. Believe me, you’ll be grateful that the desk is on wheels when you have to install new gear or do re-cabling.

“Some assembly required” is an understatement here. Be aware that you’re receiving several heavy boxes of stuff and you’ll be spending quite a bit of time putting it together. You may be less stressed if you have a good shipping bay and a forklift truck. Don’t try assemble it by yourself. Assembly will go best if you and a friend have power screwdrivers. Once it’s all together you have a big beefy workstation that’s built to last.

Visit Ominax Amazon Store

Studio Trends 46 in. Studio Desk with Dual 4U Racks

If you’re are a musician who appreciates great modern style and excellent ergonomics.

You need to move your desk around from time to time to get at the rear for new equipment installation or recabling (or just to vacuum the dust bunnies). You should consider the Studio Trends 46” Studio Desk. 46” refers to the width.

Just under four feet of desk width and 36” of depth. The tabletop is 29.5” high – the standard desktop height.

There’s a spacious full-width riser behind to put a couple monitors on, or one monitor and a pair of loudspeakers.

It’s about 18” wide, and high enough to tuck your 8U of rack gear underneath. You’ll want to put the least-adjusted equipment at the bottom of the pile because it may be hard to reach behind your keyboard.

The height is good and my monitor is just the right height above. I don’t think I’d like that height if I used it as a computer workstation, but for a composing/editing layout it works great.

There’s a horizontal cross-brace just about ankle-height and i find myself using it as a foot rest.

Cable management is a challenge with any studio and Studio Trends has thoughtfully included a cable port to help keep things tidy. The four free-rolling casters make moving the desk a breeze when you need to plug in new gear, and the casters lock so the desk doesn’t roll away on you. (Yes this is a thing. Anyone else have an uneven studio floor?)

The four pages of assembly instructions are well-conceived. You receive absolutely free at no extra charge an allen key and a hex wrench. You’ll also need a phillips screwdriver. If you have an electric one that’ll speed things up. Don’t try build this alone – it’s easier, safer and faster to assemble with a friend, as it weighs about 100 pounds.

Finish is good and elegant-looking. choose between maple or cherry for the surfaces. Not real wood, of course! the structure is black metal and feels like it’s meant to last. There’s enough space for a home-studio to grow into.

Studio Trends has come up with an elegant, modern and efficient studio workstation at a very reasonable price point. They’re based in Thousand Oaks, CA and they give you a generous one-year warranty.

Music Production Desk Brands

It’s funny how many companies specifically make studio desks now. Thanks to technology, literally anyone can make professional music. At least, we all have access to demos of various daws online.

Once you start honing your craft and actually start to get serious, the first physical equipment you need to invest in is a music desk. Here you will find some of the quality brands (According to my research) that make great studio desks.

Need Desks

If you are just starting out or looking for a simple desk (That’s all you need at this stage anyways) than Need Desks presents some wonderful options.

There desk designs are super clean and I consider them the ‘young and hip’ desk making brand. They offer several models that come in various wooden finishes. Nice sleek desks.

Homcom Music Desks

One of the giants in the home furniture industry, Homcom now also makes desks for music producers worldwide. The have a fairly decent collection too that ranges from beginner tables to intermediate.

AZ Studio Workstations

These guys are specialize in studio furniture. From desks, studio workstations and full on rack cabinets (To hold your hardware like analog compressors, reverb, etc).

Professional musicians know them, love them and they are truly one of the industry leaders in this space.

Omnirax

Made in USA studio desks from another well established company in the music and professional furniture industry, Omnirax music desks are known worldwide.

Like AZ Studio, they also do custom workstations. Another leader in the recording studio furniture industry.

Studio Trends

Another company that specifically makes home recording furniture, Studio Trends is what you will find in home studios and professional music studios as well.

There construction is solid and have a nice finish as well. As far as I know, they only make two specific desks (Unless they are making custom furniture for people who can hire them),

FAQ

Sources:

• Home Studio Desk Workstation Furniture
• DIY Output Platform music studio desk
• Equipment that Every Beginning Music Producer Needs
• Spike-NR 88 Keys Music Studio Desk