Macrawn
Senior Member
I've spent a lot of $ on gear, instruments and so forth but this past year I've been working on ergonomics.
I never really thought about it too much until I started getting some aches in certain parts of my body, like for example my arm, back even my neck.
I never really researched ergonomics but I wish I'd planned things better from the start.
Improvements I've made. Sounds stupid and obvious but my mouse is at the same level as my arm rest to the right of me and requires no reach at all. I've got a chair (Aeron) that actually kicks the armrest outward at a 45 degree angle and it just keeps my elbow in a nice spot if I'm using my mouse. It's reduced some of the aches in my wrist and elbow. I found that I was reaching and leaning at times which was causing issues in my arm which impacted my back too.
I used to have 3 monitors. One for the mixer, edit screen and main track window. I reduced it to 2 monitors. I found that I just need the track and mix screen. The edit screen can just be pulled up when I want onto the main screen. I was turning my head too much. I found that I want everything directly in front of me whenever possible so I don't have to turn my head a lot. Just turning my head causes my whole body to kinda go with it and doing that over and over again every day was putting things out of balance. I'm thinking I should move my second screen and mount it above my primary screen instead of having it more to the left. Would cause me to look up a little more but that might be better than turning my head. Not sure on that yet.
I built a custom desk that is an L shape. Now I have everything within a distance I don't have to reach for. I put my keyboard on a retractable track that I can pull out when I need it and my keyboard is also on rails. My typing keyboard sits under my midi controller keyboard at a comfortable level for typing perfectly lined up with my arm rests. The midi keyboard can be out at the same time and is higher and a little less ideal but I've found that I use the typing keyboard more than the midi keyboard so I prioritized that.
I'm working on this but my work area is almost like a horseshoe. I've got basically a cooler on a box right now until I build something out of wood. I'd got some cupholders built in for my coffee and that's where my mouse pad sits to the right. The desk I made covers the front and left side.
And of course the chair. I got a used Aeron chair for pretty cheap that is just like new, or certainly looks it. The value of a good chair goes without saying. The chair swivels so if I need to turn left or right I can just swivel instead of leaning.
Some of this stuff sounds stupid I know, but I'm not a young chicken anymore and the repetitive movements, and leaning and reaching too much was causing actual real problems in my back. Of course standing up, moving, stretching and drinking waster often is important.
What kinds of things have you done to improve the ergonomics of your set up?
I never really thought about it too much until I started getting some aches in certain parts of my body, like for example my arm, back even my neck.
I never really researched ergonomics but I wish I'd planned things better from the start.
Improvements I've made. Sounds stupid and obvious but my mouse is at the same level as my arm rest to the right of me and requires no reach at all. I've got a chair (Aeron) that actually kicks the armrest outward at a 45 degree angle and it just keeps my elbow in a nice spot if I'm using my mouse. It's reduced some of the aches in my wrist and elbow. I found that I was reaching and leaning at times which was causing issues in my arm which impacted my back too.
I used to have 3 monitors. One for the mixer, edit screen and main track window. I reduced it to 2 monitors. I found that I just need the track and mix screen. The edit screen can just be pulled up when I want onto the main screen. I was turning my head too much. I found that I want everything directly in front of me whenever possible so I don't have to turn my head a lot. Just turning my head causes my whole body to kinda go with it and doing that over and over again every day was putting things out of balance. I'm thinking I should move my second screen and mount it above my primary screen instead of having it more to the left. Would cause me to look up a little more but that might be better than turning my head. Not sure on that yet.
I built a custom desk that is an L shape. Now I have everything within a distance I don't have to reach for. I put my keyboard on a retractable track that I can pull out when I need it and my keyboard is also on rails. My typing keyboard sits under my midi controller keyboard at a comfortable level for typing perfectly lined up with my arm rests. The midi keyboard can be out at the same time and is higher and a little less ideal but I've found that I use the typing keyboard more than the midi keyboard so I prioritized that.
I'm working on this but my work area is almost like a horseshoe. I've got basically a cooler on a box right now until I build something out of wood. I'd got some cupholders built in for my coffee and that's where my mouse pad sits to the right. The desk I made covers the front and left side.
And of course the chair. I got a used Aeron chair for pretty cheap that is just like new, or certainly looks it. The value of a good chair goes without saying. The chair swivels so if I need to turn left or right I can just swivel instead of leaning.
Some of this stuff sounds stupid I know, but I'm not a young chicken anymore and the repetitive movements, and leaning and reaching too much was causing actual real problems in my back. Of course standing up, moving, stretching and drinking waster often is important.
What kinds of things have you done to improve the ergonomics of your set up?