It’s becoming more and more popular for musicians to retreat into their home studios. Modern artists are taking control throughout their creative process and overseeing everything from tracking, mixing and mastering; whole albums transpiring from a converted office or bedroom. Yet, there is still no disputing the benefits of professional studio time, and it’s not just expensive hardware and sound engineers that do all the work.
Let’s take a moment to glance behind the scenes and discover how some items we often overlook can greatly improve the overall workflow and quality of sound of a studio – providing you with new legs to stand on, if you will.
Formed in 2006 by Italian music shop owner and piano builder, Michele Zullo, ZAOR specialises in creating ergonomic studio desks, rack units and monitor stands for a wide range of studio setups.
Their ethos is one of infinite possibility – priding themselves on custom projects to suit the exact needs of any collective or individual. What’s more they have completely banned one word from their vocabulary: Impossible. If they don’t have an item to suit you, their outstanding staff are more than capable of designing and manufacturing custom built desks and racks to fit your exact studio needs.
Zaor have joined forces with top shelf brands IsoAcoustics, Slate, Fatar and Human Scale to improve their line of products. Their short tenure has already seen them collaborating with the likes of Snoop Dogg, Steve Aoki and David Guetta.
All products are crafted in their lone factory out of Romania putting cutting edge technology to the test; most desks are constructed using melamine faced chipboard and solid wood applications – it goes without saying they are sturdy pieces of equipment.
It’s worth noting that all products are available for flat pack shipping, making accessible delivery and assembly possible across the globe. This is a relatively newfound phenomenon we are starting to see across the musical world and an important aspect of ZAOR’s recent success.
In addition to this their website features a highly accessible ‘product finder’ whereby you search via your specific keyboards, mixers or monitors and in return are pointed to the appropriate desks, racks and stands that will suit. By the same token there is also a ‘configurator’ feature that lets you arrange their existing products into a virtual studio to map out your desires.
Obvious features on desks include rack spaces, retractable trays for keyboards and hardware, and separate tiers for monitors and screens. Not so obvious features include absorptive panels and dual cable paths that eliminate hum. To see ZAOR’s ‘more air than desk’ design check out the Maestro 36+18 crafted for the user to put final touches on mixes and masters – built with an AERstop working surface that minimises reflections and doubles as a mouse pad.
Above all ZAOR strives to improve spatial depth, clarity and acoustic isolation no matter where your studio resides. Take their monitor stands for example. The MIZA D-Stands are desktop monitor stands that feature adjustable height and inclination, and are made from industry grade rubber that minimises transmission up to 95%. Alternatively, MIZA V-Stands are at a freestanding 36” or 42” fixed height and feature zero resonance.
For Australian specific enquiries Koala Audio are our local distributors based out of Sydney and their website features the range of available ZAOR products. So get on, discover the range and start planning your new studio.
ZAOR Desks are distributed in Australia through Koala Audio. We’re giving away a Zaor Vision W Workstation this month – find out more here.
