DJ Tips: The Key to Success for DJs and Producers – Optimise Your Workspace

Alongside skills and experience, your workspace is a hugely important factor that directly affects the music a producer turns out. Here are some tips to help producers optimise their workspace.

1. The feng shui of the room

Put simply, feng shui is the art of arranging a space in the best possible way for what you use it for. Start with what you'll use the space for (writing, recording, practising…) and what you need to make that happen.

2. Speaker placement

This has a direct effect on your output. Putting your speakers in the wrong place will lead you to make the wrong decisions when mixing and mastering. Keep the following in mind when setting up your speakers to get the best sound:

• Place your speakers at least 1 m from the wall. Pulling them away from the wall gives the sound more room to breathe, which helps you place the elements of a track more accurately.
• Form an isosceles triangle between the two speakers and yourself (the distances from each speaker to your ears are the two equal sides).
• Placing the speakers at ear height makes it easier and more accurate to hear the different layers of the sound.

3. Keep your cables neat and tidy

Setting up gear always takes a lot of time, so try to do it as neatly as you can. For equipment you don't take with you on the road, tie down its cables to save space and avoid a tangled mess.

4. A few other things in your workspace

Always keep your workspace neat and tidy. Clear away rubbish, broken gear, unused cables and anything that feels surplus or gets in the way of your work as soon as you can. And don't forget to maintain your equipment so it keeps running smoothly.

Decorate your workspace with objects and pictures that inspire you. If you have achievements or memorable gigs behind you, don't hesitate to display them in your room for extra motivation.

You'll spend many hours in front of a computer screen making music. So get yourself the most comfortable chair you can, put the screen at eye level and leave some room to get up and stretch after long, intense sessions.

We hope these handy tips help DJs and producers create the most comfortable workspace to make great music.

Source: VNSound