Ben Haslegrave

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University of Nottingham > Engineering > Departments > Mechanical, Materials and Manufacturing Engineering > PDM Exhibitions > 2023 > BEng students > Benedict Haslegrave

A music production workstation aimed at both upcoming and professional music producers.

My name is Ben and I am a 22 year old Product design and manufacture student studying at the University of Nottingham. I grew up in South London where I studied at Emanuel School for secondary and Sixth form. Here I achieved ABC in my A level choices of Maths, Physics & Economics.

I am currently in my final year of university and I am planning on travelling at the end of a year out in South East Asia as well as hopefully doing charity work abroad. After this I hope to find work in the marketing sector which I will be seeking during my year out.

Whilst I enjoy design, my passion for creativity does not stop there and I have an even greater interest in music. I discovered this love for music during my upbringing and started taking it more seriously during my second year at university.

This led me to learn to DJ during the “Lockdown Year” as there was a lot of time and little to do. At the end of that year I applied and became the Social Secretary of UON’s Underground Music Society (UMS). I stayed on for my final year at university becoming the president of the society. These two years went really well and the society grew over 5x the size it was previously and we were also nomiated for the best collaboration in the UON society awards. This was for the best collaboration for our 24 hour charity livestream for Emmanuel House, in which we got over 15 brands from across nottingham to help with this.

Here I was able to share my passion to other students through providing Socials, Events with Major Artist bookings (Some of which are playing at glastonbury this year), running free DJ lessons for all levels of experience and plenty more.

I also played many DJ sets during my time at University in clubs such as Unit 13, Hidden Warehouse, Percy Picklebackers & more. Here I also got the chance to support artists such as Chase & Status, Sub Focus, DJ SS, Micky Finn & many more. I am also currently booked to support two of my favourite artists Coco Bryce & Tim Reaper via my Dj Residency with Nottingham based brand Jangala. I have also been learning to produce music for two years now and I aim to release some music soon.

Ben Haslegrave, BEng Product Design and Manufacture

Rooted - A Music Production Workstation

Rooted is a Music Production Workstation targeted at both upcoming and professional Music Producers. It has a variety of features that benefit both workflow and user experience. Some of these include 19-inch hardware racks for music equipment storage, an interface containing a control and USB hub, studio monitor stands with built-in isolation pads as well as a variety of cable management features.

One of the main aims of the design of this desk was to allow a variety of users to benefit from its key features. This idea of setup flexibility allows users with different setup and studio space requirements to decide whether they would like both the additional side compartments or alternatively if they would prefer just one or none.

The design features mirrored side compartments provide extra storage space and larger 18U 19-inch racks for hardware enthusiasts. For users who are mainly working on software and only require little to no hardware space, the base desk provides more than enough features to keep them satisfied and even provides a screw-in shelf for when the rack is not in use.

The centre workstation has an extendable concealed draw for storage of Keyboards, Synths & more. The desk’s right hub has some convenient tech features such as an adjustable volume dial and a gain monitoring display that can be linked to your DAW. Furthermore, there are two Built-in QI Wireless charging coils that will charge most modern phones when they’re put on the shelf.

On the left side of the desktop, there is a USB Hub with 16 different ports that include USB – A , USB – C, and ¼ and 1/8-inch headphone jacks. These are designed to allow for flexibility as all of your devices can be connected to the hub at once.

When dealing with a setup that contains many different connected devices, cable management is key for ensuring that setting up and making changes to the workstation is stress-free. This desk has a variety of conveniently placed cable grommet cut-outs that align with a concealed storage platform and easy fastening cable clips to help with this. Furthermore, the desk and its cable management system are built around an Aluminium support beam. This is connected to the desk at twelve different fastening positions and has aligned cable cut-outs to support the desk whilst putting an end to messy cables.

The optional storage racks have plenty of room for hardware units and allow for even more space to store spare equipment and peripherals. The back of the rack surface contains screw hooks to attach extender plugs and cable clips to aid with organisation. The rack also contains four caster wheels that allow you to easily bring the rack closer when needed. This allows users to bring the rack closer when they are working with their hardware and then move it out of the way when they have finished. Within the side compartments the cupboard section contains shelving which has two wraparound patch cable hangers and a headphone hanger as well.