For my home studio (which I also have to use for normal work) I nicked the layout of monitors partly from some Dutch radio studios (for instance here is Ferry Maat at Veronica)

and also from the Norfolk Constabulary rave monitoring unit!

the Veronica studio is of course way better (and their emergency services get even better quality kit as the coastguard film showed), the policeman actually has too many bright flourescent lamps above his head and will have glare on the monitors – it looks like he is actually squnting at them to see, and its not his eyes, there is a minimum eyesight requirement to join the constabulary. Having worked in public service myself I found all British public service buildings are plagued like this (British Telecom research, who probably designed the control room have the same problem). I saw a even worse newsroom/edit suite that ITV had, with full blazing light everywhere, if I had to work in it I would put those lamps off at the distribution panel if there was no other way of extinguishing them.

No wonder British telly colour quality is all to shit. just as you should not turn up sound to loud to keep your ears from fatigue, the same applies to light and eyes..

it turns out the practice of putting monitors in a curve isn’t so much for security but its easier to see them and helps you look better at multiple screens.

but my studio is laid out differently. The PC and keyboard are the main bit, my studio mixer is to the left and “grams” (the midi controller) to the right, below monitor two on the PC.

for the two 1080p LG’s I shelled out for the proper stand (they aren’t cheap, was about £40!) but there is a second PC (a laptop) dual headed between its original display (on a stand above the studio mixer)

That shows a software generated version of the LED clock in the top of that studio (such clocks are €400 without even the receiver for your national time standard!!) and a PPM audio meter (now a new eurometer, -60dBFS to 0dBFS, )and a SD philips monitor next to the second HD monitor which displays carts playout and another audio meter.

the third monitor was hard to fit into that space, originially it was perched on the desk and a old vinyl record case, this was weighted down with a half used cable reel.

Today I put it on a VESA mount on a mic stand (both are cheaper than a proper desk stand and also make better use of the limited space in this room). But what a mission to get it to keep an even keel (monitors like mics are top heavy). I had to fasten the nuts on the mic stand with tools from the big toolbox usually kept for plumbing work, and had to sweat and grunt like a lawn tennis player!

Eventually when its tidy enough for public viewing I’ll put up more photos , but really wasn’t expecting to have to do that amount of grunt work for a LCD monitor…