Building A Studio Monitor

Since I built my recording booth, I’ve wanted to have a monitor in there with me. The problem: the expense.

I’ve been putting my setup together piecemeal, adding and evolving when I could. In 2019 I built my desktop (my first computer build) and put together the studio (mic, pre-amp, website, etc). There just wasn’t room in the budget.

Enter my friend, technomancer Yvan Martino. He put the idea in my head that I could re-purpose a laptop monitor for this very purpose. And it just so happened that I had an old laptop sitting in my office that I hadn’t touched in years.

Thus began the process of cannibalizing the parts I needed, gathering my materials, and building a monitor.

1) Removing the monitor

This was fun. Yvan jumped onto a video call with me and talked me through the “surgery”, telling me how to get to the internal parts and remove what I needed. It was a quick process, and the important component was acquired.

2) Getting the correct board

This was a bit of an ordeal (though, I use that term loosely or comically, because in the vast scheme of things, it was just me waiting for it to arrive in the mail and I wasn’t that put out by it).

Once we had the monitor out, we could get to the individual model number on the part and find the correct video board to power it and allow it to interface with my computer.

Finding what we needed was easy…just a couple of clicks on eBay. And it was $26, so definitely not breaking the bank.

I ordered it on May 11th. It was originating in Flushing, NY. I did not receive it until May 26th. I live in Philadelphia. I could have walked there and back in less time. I lame pigeon could have flown it here faster.

As a point of reference, my wife sent a package of PopTarts to her friend in Scotland on the same day I ordered the board, and he received his package almost a week before I received mine.

But anyway, the part arrived.

3) Does it work?

Yes, thank all of the various gods. I was legitimately concerned that either the monitor was shot or that it wouldn’t have been the correct board, further delaying the project; my worries were quickly assuaged, it worked right away.

4) Building the box

This was a challenging step, and one that I was looking forward to.

A: The Table Saw

My workshop is about half of the basement, so I’ve tried to have an economy of space with all of the work areas. I already built one workbench on wheels, but decided to build a second one, this one specifically made to fit my table saw.

It wasn’t the prettiest of projects, but it got done, and it works as intended. The table saw nests in it, I can take it out to store underneath and put a leaf in to increase my workspace. And it, too, is on wheels, so I can stow it along the wall and out of the way if I need more space.

B: The Table Saw Jig

I knew I was going to have to make some precision cuts on thin pieces of wood for this, and of the tools I have at my disposal the table saw is the best one for this task.

It’s an older one, though, one that isn’t even made any more. (I got it from a friend when we were cleaning out his parents’ basement; it was going to go in the dumpster, but I was able to rescue it.) The ripping fence doesn’t sit square, and there was no way to properly secure it. The angle guide is small and doesn’t allow for great control.

And what’s more, none of the current table saw accessories would work, as the standard pieces won’t fit. So I had to make something custom for this.

This was actually fun putting the jig together and getting it to work. And now I would be able to get the precision cuts I would need to make the monitor box.

C: The frame

I began by taking a page out of Adam Savage’s book and I created a template out of foam core. This would allow me to check the measurements and fit whenever I needed to without having the monitor in the workshop with me, potentially getting it gummed up with dust or scratching the screen.

Once I had that, I was able to cut the pieces I needed to box out the monitor. The jig I built was enormously helpful in this.

The back is held on by screws so that I can easily remove the back for cleaning or internal repairs. I also installed small hinges on the top to that it was more secure and I wouldn’t have to worry about things flailing about if I needed to open it up.

D: The Ports

This was much more difficult. I needed to cut away a section of the frame to accommodate the HDMI and power supply ports, as well as the IR sensor so that the remote control would work.

I marked it off as best I could, and used a combination of a multitool and a chisel to cut the holes where they needed to be. (A dremmel or something like that would have been much better for this. Another option that I’m only just now realizing would have been to do this step prior to assembly. Alas, next time…)

There was a lot of back and forth on this step, as I was discovering that things weren’t lining up properly, or that the ports required me to shave more wood out of the thickness of the frame. It was, by far and away, the most time-consuming step of the project.

Again, the end result wasn’t pretty. I would have preferred a much more snug fit, but ultimately, function beat out form. I was behind on some recording projects, and this monitor was a key element to moving forward on them.

E: Mounting

The next step was to figure out how to mount this thing in my recording booth.

This was a bit of a challenge; I didn’t want to add too much more into the booth in fear of changing the sound. I also don’t have a lot of room in there, so this needed to be as unobtrusive a setup as possible.

I already had an articulated cell phone mount in there, so I repurposed the main piece by screwing holes in it and mounting it to the back of the monitor.

5) Wiring

Now that the monitor was in the booth, I needed to get power and signal to it. I used a plumbers snake to pull the HDMI cable under the rug of my office from the computer to the booth, and then pulled the cable behind my sound treatment.

The fun part here is that one of the previous home owners, in their infinite wisdom, glued the carpet in the closet down to the hardwood floors. So, of course, it took longer than expected.

The end result: a fully-functioning monitor in my booth. I have a wireless mouse and a wireless 10-key in there with me so that I can control my DAW (digital audio workstation), Audacity without having to go back to my desk. I set up new macros and keyboard shortcuts tied to the 10-key so that I can easily do things like play, stop, record, and most importantly, punch-and-roll.

That, in and of itself, is going to dramatically speed up my audiobook production. It takes a little longer to record than before, but the editing process is much quicker.

As I said before, this was a really challenging project in terms of pushing me to get better at carpentry and woodworking.

Are there things I wish I had done differently or better? Absolutely. The aforementioned port cuts. The measurements and placement of the face pieces. But ultimately, I am happy with how this turned out, and I’m looking forward to my next project, which will involve customizing my desk space some.