Behind the scenes of every piece of music is a troupe of producers, songwriters, musicians, mix engineers and mastering wizards who are the key ingredients in creating a truly great album. It takes a village. The artists on the following pages are dab hands at concocting some of the most thrilling records to come out in the past decade. They show us their desk setups where they’ve created their magic.
Ceebeaats, London – record producer
Worked on: Tyla’s self-titled album, Digga D’s Woi, Busta Rhymes’s Stand Up
Where did you buy your desk?
It was brought from Ikea around 2018 for about £150, and I believe it’s still available. It’s been perfect for my home studio.
Do you like a tidy desk or a messy one?
I really like keeping my desk tidy. It’s not always immaculate but, for the most part, it stays neat and organised, especially since it’s in my home studio where I do the majority of my music production.
What’s the most sentimental thing you have on it?
The desk is definitely the most sentimental thing. It represents the moment the front room became a studio. The day we purchased it, my mum told me we were turning the front room into a music studio and it’s been that way ever since. That was the day I knew we were stepping things up to the next level.
What’s the proudest thing you’ve created while sitting at your desk?
It’s hard to pick just one, because I feel proud of every release as a music producer. But one of my proudest moments was when Woi dropped, right around the time I was 16 turning 17. I’d been producing since I was nine and Woi was my first accomplishment. It had me in tears and it opened so many doors for me. Another big moment for me was co-producing Safer on Tyla’s album with Sammy SoSo. That really meant a lot to me too.
@ceebeaats
John Carroll Kirby, Tokyo and Los Angeles – record producer and composer
Worked on: Solange’s When I Get Home and A Seat at the Table, Miley Cyrus’s Plastic Hearts, Frank Ocean’s DHL
Where did you buy your desk?
[My original desk] I bought from Cost Plus World Market. It was just three pieces of wood – I like that it was simple and not too techy. [After the recent fires in Los Angeles, Kirby lost his home and studio and then moved to Tokyo; his new desk is pictured above left]. I got most of the things here from Hard Off in Tokyo, which is a great place to find cheap stuff. I love it!
Do you like a tidy desk or a messy one?
Somewhere in between I guess. Too messy is chaotic, too neat is uptight.
What’s the most sentimental thing you have on it?
On my original desk, there was a little sculpture of a frog playing piano with his beautiful frog girlfriend lounging on top of the piano. That was special for me and my girlfriend because one of the first pictures we took together, she was lounging on the piano. We lost most things of sentimental value in the Eaton fire but it actually feels nice to start fresh.
What’s the proudest thing you’ve created sitting at your desk?
I made an album with my girlfriend here. I’m very proud of that.
@johncarrollkirby
Mura Masa, London – musician, producer and songwriter
Worked on: his own Love$ick remix ft. A$AP Rocky, PinkPantheress and Ice Spice’s Boy’s a Liar, Stormzy’s First Things First
Where did you buy your desk?
From a music equipment website and built it when I first converted my garage into a home studio. I think it’s pretty utilitarian, not many frills or design prowess. It’s got just enough rack mount spaces for everything I want to use, and space for a nice big screen and a notepad. I like that I put it together myself over an afternoon and that it’s kind of a storied place in terms of the work that’s being made at it.
Do you like a tidy desk or a messy one?
I understand the merits of a tidy space and try to keep a reasonable level of organisation, but I also want to respect my own spontaneity in just plugging in random things and putting them in the nearest place I can use them. This is a long way of saying I’m messy.
What’s the most sentimental thing you have on it?
Nothing too sentimental here, but I do keep a small Metal Gear Solid action figure as a kind of studio mascot. Reminds me often of the lengths Kojima has gone to ensure his creative vision is his own and original. Or my Bob’s Big Boy mug. I take my coffee with it and it reminds me of [David] Lynch much for the same reasons. [The late, great film director visited the Burbank branch of the fast-food restaurant for many decades.]
What’s the proudest thing you’ve created while sitting at your desk?
I’ve made a lot of work I really love at this desk. Music with PinkPantheress, Shygirl, Daniela Lalita, Cosha [aka Cassia O’Reilly]. And my own records of course. The main thing I’m proud of in this space though is that it’s a safe, relaxed, domestic-adjacent place. I think that’s really integral to collaborating and sidesteps the often clinical environment of a professional studio. People working here with me are guests in my home and that feels really special.
@the_mura_masa
Koreless, Gwynedd, rural Wales – musician, producer and DJ
Worked on: FKA twigs’s Eusexua, Magdalene and Caprisongs
Where did you buy your desk?
It came from a hospital canteen clear-out, it had been there since the ’80s. I bought a few of them, they’re dotted around the house. I keep meaning to trim a few centimetres off the skirt because it’s slightly too low for my legs.
Do you like a tidy desk or a messy one?
I like a tidy desk, but it seems to work better for me when it’s messy.
What’s the most sentimental thing you have on it?
A pen that I’ve never managed to lose that my friend James gave to me a long time ago. I’ll drop it in airports and always manage to spot it before leaving. It follows me around. I’ve become very superstitious about my pen.
What’s the proudest thing you’ve created while sitting at your desk?
I’m mostly proud of the fact that I have a place I like to work every day.
@koreless
Marie Davidson, Italian Alps – musician and DJ
Where did you buy your desk?
Since I tour a lot around the world, I use risers more than a desk these days. The photo I’m sharing was taken in the Italian Alps during a soundcheck for my set at Nextones festival last summer. On the riser, I use music gear that consists of a mix or hardware and DJ equipment. I use a sampler called Electribe 2 from a company called Korg, with a ‘groove box’ type of synthesiser called Syntakt made by Elektron. I top this with a Behringer clone of Roland’s iconic TB-303 bass synthesiser. Those three pieces of hardware are plugged into a v10 mixer made by Pioneer and on each side of that mixer I have a device called a CDJ 3000, where DJs plug their USB sticks into so they can play music. I use two of them to play my music on that I use as backing tracks when I perform in front of the desk/riser. I sometimes like to jump on the riser to get people’s attention.
Do you like a tidy desk or a messy one?
I like my desk to be very clean. I always dispose of my equipment the same way and, to this day, I refuse people’s help to set it up or to take it down after a show. This way, I won’t have any surprises when I play live or forget anything after a performance.
What’s the most sentimental thing you have on it?
I’m very sentimental and protective of my gear in general. The most valuable piece I have at the moment must be my Syntakt, because it’s the one that holds the most sequences and drum patterns. I’m also very attached to my Electribe sampler because there are samples of my voice in it that could never be chopped and tweaked the exact same way again if I was to lose it.
@mariedavidson.official
John Key, Atlanta – musician and producer
Worked on: Solange’s When I Get Home, SZA’s Used, Don Toliver’s If I Had
Where did you buy your desk?
I got it from my parents about five years ago and it’s very special to me because it’s actually not a desk. It’s my childhood dining table where we ate all of our family holiday dinners. My parents upgraded and were gonna give it away and I was like, wait, I could use that for my workstation.
Do you like a tidy desk or a messy one?
I prefer a tidy desk even though it gets messy super fast.
What’s the most sentimental thing you have on it?
The vintage JVC SK-S11 speakers. I got them from my father. He’s a musician as well and would play music through them all the time. Even though they aren’t studio monitors I still use them because I’m intimately familiar with the way they sound.
What’s the proudest thing you’ve created while sitting at your desk?
The production on the song Pele by Luedji Luna feat. Mereba. A lot of times when making music from home you often have to replay some parts over at an official studio, but in this case all of the original ideas from the desk made it to the finish line, which is rare and cool.
@1johnkey
Catherine Marks, London – record producer and mix engineer
Worked on: St. Vincent’s Masseduction, Alanis Morissette’s Such Pretty Forks in the Road, Boygenius’s The Record
Where did you buy your desk?
I sort of inherited it. My studio used to be an office and when I took it over lots of furniture was being stored in here. One being this massive old kitchen table. It was difficult to move from the room so I used it as my main desk. I fully intended to replace it with a custom studio desk, with racks for gear and patch bays etc., but I grew to love the extensive real estate and so two and a half years later it’s become an integral part of the studio.
Do you like a tidy desk or a messy one?
I like a tidy desk but it never is. I shuffle hard drives, recall sheets and notebooks around the equipment occasionally to make it look tidy, but throughout the day it gets messy again. I could declutter but I’m pretty sure I absolutely need everything on it.
What’s the most sentimental thing you have on it?
They are not actually on it but I have these old discontinued M-Audio DSM2 monitors. I have mixed a lot of records using these speakers over the past 15 years. I also have a few little figurines that artists have given – there’s a panda and a Lego Uma Thurman from Kill Bill.
What’s the proudest thing you’ve created while sitting at your desk?
I’m mixing an album at the moment and I have the artists over here from NY. For some reason we all seem to congregate around this kitchen table and work through the mixes. It’s been a joy and I’m feeling proud of the result.
@cjmarks
Anthony Vilchis, Oakland, California – mix engineer
Worked on: Kendrick Lamar’s Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, Rosalía’s Motomami, Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet
Where did you buy your desk?
I found it on Etsy from a local vendor here in Los Angeles. What really makes it special is all the analogue gear I’ve collected over the years. Everything from my SSL bus compressor, Rupert Neve Design pieces [Neve was a pioneering audio equipment inventor], Grace M905 and the Lavry Savitr play an important part in making my small desk setup sound like a full-sized mixing console.
Do you like a tidy desk or a messy one?
I always aim to keep my desk as tidy as possible, but like most of the music I work on, it’s organised chaos.
What’s the most sentimental thing you have on it?
My Grammy participation certificate for working on Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers [in 2022]. Working on that album gave me the confidence to overcome any situation I find myself in when mixing a song. Having it on my desk is just a reminder that I can conquer any challenge.
What’s the proudest thing you’ve created while sitting at your desk?
Everything I get to work on, I’m really proud of, whether it gets a couple of hundred streams or millions. I mix everything with all I’ve got. Something I’m currently working on that I’m really proud of is my friend Sylvan LaCue’s upcoming project. He was recently diagnosed with lung cancer, so being able to work on this project with him makes it very special and a memory I won’t forget.
@anthonyvilchismix
Top image: photography courtesy of @ceebeaats. Taken from 10 Men Issue 61 – MUSIC, TALENT, CREATIVE – on newsstands now. Order your copy here.
