Hey folks, just took delivery today on an awesome new chair for my studio/music room. What better category to post in than The Producer’s Chair??
I have been struggling with ergonomics in my room when tracking guitars, bass, and mandolin because the office chair I have in there has arms on it and I always play sitting down-- they’re completely in the way. It’s a very comfortable chair for when I’m mixing, so no issue there, but I need armless for tracking instruments (or simply sitting and playing). All I’ve had is a cheap metal folding chair, and even with a butt pillow to sit on, it gets very uncomfortable very quickly. So I’ve been keeping an eye out for something that has arms that can either be easily removed or at least swung out of the way, so that I can use just the one chair for every task.
Stumbled across some info on these SoundSeat folks, who make seats specifically for musicians, studio folks, audio engineers. Everything is hand made from high quality materials – the seats are real leather, with very firm and high-density cushion material, with a plethora of options in size and features. The seats are like oversized bicycle saddles, and if you get one with arms, they mount into slots that have a lever that applies a very firm friction-fit that can be popped open and closed in a second.
So now I can pop the arms off while I’m tracking, and pop them back in when it’s time to do the computer work. Uber comfortable, and solves all my ergo issues. Check them out at http://www.soundseat.com/. They list some pretty big name folks who use their seats – Roger Waters from Floyd, Bill Payne, Richie Hayward and Sam Clayton from Little Feat, guys that play in Neil Diamond’s and George Thorogood’s bands, and even Les Paul himself before he passed.
They’re not cheap, probably about 50% more than a really good office chair, but as I get creakier with age, I am totally willing to make this kind of investment in comfort! Here are some pics. The red arrow points at one of the little levers that engages and disengages the arms.
How is it sitting in the chair with those leg cutouts? It looks strange, but I’m thinking that might even be more comfortable because I don’t like the standard ‘square’ chair seat at all, not ergonomic (though maybe better for posture?). I have to say that one looks ergonomic.
Cool chair!!!
Gosh, I used to do that for a job once, ergonomic assessments… and yeah, mostly they are better off armless… A good chair is a wonderful thing!
:beerbang:
It feels great! I’m sitting in it now. I also really don’t like that “edge across the back of my thighs” feeling, and this feels so much more natural. Totally loving it.
They don’t sell in stores, it is strictly shipping. The chair was US$365 and $55 shipping. Eminently reasonable IMO. For comparison, the office chair I replaced with this one was in the mid 200s (but that was out of a local store so no shipping charge).
They are built in North Carolina, so the further you are from there, the more the shipping is, but for the chair I got, it would be only $20 more to ship to the west coast.
I actually prefer having arms for computing, I can rest my elbows while I type and mouse. But for playing guitar, arms are a total dealbreaker. I can kick back in this with the arms off and the comfy seat for playing… have done that for only a short while thus far today, but will be doing plenty more soon.
