When setting up my office/recording area, I needed a shelf of some sort to hold my outboard units and the Mac Mini and the stereo and store my bits and bobs. Always with the and. I wound up with one of those Ikea HEJNE (the older version that was 50cm deep), plain pine storage shelves. Sure it held everything but it was chaotic. And ugly. I mean, they look fine in storage rooms and garages, but in a home office?
Another problem with big shelves: Not only do they take up excess room, they give you an excuse to keep everything.
I mean, just look at this monstrosity:
Last week I walked into the room, took one look at that giant eyesore and decided that it had to go.
What to do though?
First up, Kijiji. However no one was selling outboard audio racks or shelves that could double as an audio rack/stereo shelf. There were tons of giant wall units and glass curio cabinets but nothing even remotely close to what I had in mind. To be honest, I don’t know what I was expecting.
I did look for actual studio racks but they’re too specialized and expensive for my needs.
I was ready to give up and stick with what I had when I noticed that there were two LACK end tables hiding in a corner of the basement and that they were being used for … nothing.
A friend had mentioned something called LACK Racks to me a while ago. A quick search found that people were doing all kinds of weird and wonderful shit with LACK tables.
Why not?
The basics: I only have two outboard units, a small stereo, and the Mac Mini. The Tascam and the Behringer fit so perfectly it’s almost like Ikea designed the LACK end tables this size on purpose.
I will say that this granted me the opportunity to clean off that shelf. When all was said and done, 75% of what was on it was junk. It made me wonder why we feel the need to hold on to every damn little thing? Why was I hanging onto small, empty boxes? Do I need stacks of manuals for appliances we don’t even have anymore?
Now, the junk and clutter is gone, the big shelf has been moved to the storage room where it belongs, and I have a tidy little audio rack.
Now if I can only find an old milk crate to store my records in …