How’s your posture? 99% of you are probably in the middle of a good old-fashioned ‘uncomfortable squirm’ while thinking about your answer – because truthfully, as creatives, practically none of us have good posture. Whether we’re hovering prawn-style over a MIDI keyboard or crouched over modular synths, we studio folk aren’t best-known for our physiological smarts.
It's for this reason that I dare to make a controversial statement: the most important item in your creative setup is your studio chair. So many of us make do with basic sitting paraphernalia, and so many of us suffer from backache, cranial tension, painful joints and pins and needles for our art, as a result. How many times have you been distracted from a track or mix because your leg has gone dead, or your back has twinged, or you’ve been battling some placeless physical discomfort for hours?
The best studio chairs are ergonomically designed to put you in the best possible sitting position, relative to your creative work. These are chairs with the right back support, with adjustable height for matching your desk height perfectly, and with perfect cushioning that keeps you comfy and keen for as long as you wish. The best studio chairs are not, conversely, that one folding chair you found in a skip – or any dining room chair, for that matter. Ad the best one in my opinion right now? The Corsair TC500 Luxe.
Here, I’ve collecting some of the best studio chairs I’ve tried, from cost-effective options to top-flight studio furniture. If you want to know more about exactly why a good studio chair is so important, I suggest you check out my FAQ section for the deets; otherwise, please take a seat.
The Quick List
If you're looking for a chair that you're going to be using on an everyday basis in the studio or at home gaming, then my top pick goes to the excellent Corsair TC500 Luxe Chair. It's affordable, comfortable and can be adjusted in just about every way possible.
When it comes to getting a great studio chair on a budget, I think you'll struggle to find better value than the Modul Studio Chair. It's well-padded with high-density foam, it's fully adjustable and while the nylon base feels a little cheap, it's still a great option.
If space is at a premium in the studio or your home office, then the Hinomi H1 Pro V2 is a great choice. It has an extendable footrest which can be tucked away, and the chair can also fold down and be placed under a desk. It's comfortable and sturdy, but it is expensive.
The Ergolab Stealth Chair with Standard Seat is a nice option if you like to whizz around the studio without having to stand up. It's pricey, sure, but it's extremely supportive thanks to its mesh design and comfortable for those long studio sessions. it's a nice option for the home too.
If you have a tendency to tuck your feet under the chair while in the studio, the adjustable footrest in the Office Star Deluxe Mesh drafting chair will stop you from doing it. It also raises the legs so you can comfortably perch an acoustic on your lap. A comfortable and practical option.
While not labeled as a studio chair, the Ikea Jarvfjallet certainly works in the studio thanks to its versatile features. The arms can be removed to give you a bit more freedom and there's plenty of adjustability options to keep you comfortable for long sessions. A real winner.
Best overall
Build quality: ★★★★★
Comfort: ★★★★★
Value: ★★★★★
Overall: ★★★★★
Surprisingly enough for some, there’s some considerable crossover between the needs of the music studio denizen and the dedicated gamer. This is why you’ll often see cream-of-the-crop producers and engineers using gamer chairs as their primary choice of seat – and why the Corsair TC500 Luxe Chair has made it to the top of my list.
This affordably-priced full-back studio chair may not be a studio chair by name, but it most certainly is in practice – with supportive cushioning clad in breathable fabric, and every manner of adjustability you could ask for.
The arm rests aren’t just swing-down, but also can be height and depth adjusted, while adjustable lumbar support guarantees a fit with the curve of your spine. The design is also distinctly more ‘pro’ than most gamer chairs – so you get all the benefits with none of the cringe. Well-priced and well-apportioned, this is a stand-out chair for the studio for sure.
Best budget
Build quality: ★★★★
Comfort: ★★★★★
Value: ★★★★★
Overall: ★★★★★
As far as budget studio chairs go, you can’t expect to get much better than this racing-seat-style offering from Modul.
The Modul Studio Chair is an exceedingly well-padded desk chair, with gas-lift height adjustability, lift-up armrests and seat-tilt adjustment – which, together, meet practically all your needs on the ergonomics front.
The high-density foam that constitutes the padding is stiff and springy enough not to swallow you up; the nylon castors, meanwhile, are free enough that you can skate around with unburdened ease.
The whole base is nylon, which feels a little cheap – but the seat itself is great with back and neck support, presenting a great studio chair prospect for the smaller budget.
Best for customisation
Build quality: ★★★★★
Comfort: ★★★★½
Value: ★★★★
Overall: ★★★★½
If you're on the hunt for a dependable, rugged and comfortable studio chair that's fully customisable, I think the Hinomi H1 Pro V2 will be just what you're looking for, no matter your physical proportions.
The amount of customisation on offer here really is mind-blowing. Pretty much everything can be tweaked to your heart’s content, while the strong mesh material used both on the seat and the back ensures plenty of ventilation so you don’t get too hot while using it.
And then there’s the extendable footrest, which tucks away under the seat when not in use, and is a nice bonus when listening back to our mixes.
The fact that you can also fold up the Hinomi H1 Pro V2 when you're not using it is another bonus that will help save valuable space either in the studio or at home. Just be warned that all these features do come at a cost, but this is a solid investement.
Best for movement
Build quality: ★★★★½
Comfort: ★★★★½
Value: ★★★★
Overall: ★★★★½
When I'm working in the studio, I tend to do a lot of leaning - and I'm sure I'm not alone in that regard: leaning over the studio desk to fiddle with faders; leaning to my amps to tweak the EQ settings; leaning to get to the coffee machine to collect my tenth double espresso of the morning. You get the picture!
So what would really help is a studio chair that actually leans with you as you go about your business. Say hello to the Ergolab Stealth Chair with Standard Seat - it just might be the perfect studio chair for those of us who love to lean.
It is certainly not a cheap studio chair, let’s address that straight away – but that cost pays for a solid, well-made chair, with clever seat-tilting and ‘Free-Float’ backrest tech that keeps you supported as you roll around your studio plugging things into other things. Some may prefer to have a lengthier back to their chair, but for the weary lean-er, this is an easy choice to make.
Best elevation
Build quality: ★★★★½
Comfort: ★★★★½
Value: ★★★★
Overall: ★★★★½
I've previously mentioned about the importance of having somewhere to put your feet while doing your thing in the studio.
Often, when I've been sitting in one place, I'm always tempted to to tuck my feet under the chair, which isn’t always good news for my back - especially if I've lost track of time and been sitting for longer than I should.
The Office Star Deluxe Mesh drafting chair solves this issue by including an adjustable footrest, which serves the dual purpose of raising my legs high enough to rest a guitar on it - a nice option to have if you find yourself tinkering with your acoustic in the studio.
This is a taller chair than many others on the list, and as such it won’t suit every studio arrangement, but for anyone with a raised or standing desk it is a great choice and it comes highly recommended.
Best for regular use
Build quality: ★★★★
Comfort: ★★★★
Value: ★★★★
Overall: ★★★★
As purveyors of affordable, stylish furniture, we’re all familiar with Ikea. Yet with the Ikea Jarvfjallet office chair, I believe I've stumbled upon the ideal studio chair that'll also have a broader appeal for most people.
The chair is equipped with or without arms, and offers the perfect blend of comfort and practicality. With individual control over height, incline, lumbar support and headrest height, the Jarvfjallet chair can easily be made to fit any user.
The choices of fabrics and materials are well considered to balance price and longevity, and after trying it out in the studio, I believe it’s a great choice for that particular environment.
And, if your studio set-up is in your home, you can easily cart this around to another office space.
How to choose the right studio chair for you
Where there are ideal attributes for every studio chair to have, every studio chair is nonetheless different – in some useful, aesthetic and otherwise fun ways. As such, the best studio chair for you is the one that ticks the most boxes for your own personal needs – practical, aesthetical and otherwise fun. For the most part, though, your goal should be to find your own perfect blend of practicality and comfort.
On the practicality front, start with thinking about how your average day in the studio looks. Are you spending the majority of it static, before your desk? Or are you a little more mobile, patching things in around the room and working at different stations? If the former, then wheels are not as much of a priority for you as for others!
It’s likely that much of your studio endeavours will involve maintaining an upright posture before a computer monitor or laptop screen. Even if they don’t, you might find yourself slouching with your guitar, or ‘prawning’ over your desktop synths and hardware controllers – instincts that only lead to back pain.
From a practical perspective, your chair needs to be ready to provide robust support in the posture you ought to hold – which means a solid build, and some fine-tuneable elements to meet your own proportions. This becomes especially important if you’re outside the 90% percentile of studio chair users, and need a chair to meet your needs where others tend not to be designed with you in mind.
Comfort, meanwhile, is the easy one – but not as easy as it looks. Selecting the best studio chair for comfort doesn’t mean picking out the plushest-looking or most reclinable lazy-boy armchair you can find; too much of a good thing can ultimately spell doom for your back! A comfortable studio chair isn’t one you sink into, but one you can easily forget you’re sat in; adjustability goes a long way here, as does a careful balance of plushness and firmness in the seat provided.
Beyond these thoughts, it’s the little things that might seal the deal on a studio chair for you. Little things like cup-rests, built-in storage, or even how the thing looks can be big enough to catch your notice – and to help you differentiate between what is actually quite a fertile market for the back-achey musician or producer.
I know picking a studio chair isn’t as exciting as choosing your next reverb pedal or Eurorack module. But if you have ever experienced the persistent, dull back pain resulting from slouching at a desk, you'll know that it is a discomfort worth evading.
Choose wisely; your neck, back and shoulders will thank you for it.
FAQ
Why do I need a studio chair?
Comfort might not be the first thing on your mind when you settle in for a session at your studio desk – but it’s more essential to your practice than you might think. We’ve all made do with the kitchen table before, or with pinching a dining room chair to serve as our primary seat in a newly-minted creative zone; while these are fine for simply sitting down, they certainly aren’t ideal – for the simple fact that, over time, they’re uncomfortable.
Dining room chairs, garden chairs, fold-up chairs: all are rigid and un-customisable seats, conducive to aching backs and needy joints after even a short period of sitting. In the short term, this makes for a distracting time in your studio. In the long term, it can make for progressively-worsening musculoskeletal conditions.
A studio chair, purpose-built for long sessions at a desk or music-making station, is an adjustable device designed to meet your body’s needs – and eliminate some key barriers to both your mental focus and physical wellness. From a creative standpoint, a studio chair means you can spend more time making or mixing music without being interrupted by muscle twinges, cramp or discomfort; from a health standpoint, a studio chair is vital for preventing joint and posture issues from developing over time.
What makes a studio chair important?
The key word that applies to the function of the studio chair is ‘ergonomics’. For the uninitiated, ergonomics describes the way we interact with our environment – and how the things we interact with can be adjusted to better fit our needs.
The best studio chairs are hugely beneficial to the desk-bound musician for their ergonomic design; when adjusted to fit your proportions, a studio chair will provide support in all the right places, and some solid comfort besides.
The result is an ideal posture for safely and comfortably getting lost in your DAW, and the ability to stay lost in your DAW for longer.
What’s the risk of not using a dedicated studio chair?
It’s all well and good knowing that you should have an ergonomic studio chair – but what about the why? Why should you spend your hard-earned on a new chair when you could buy some new gear instead? Well, it isn’t just about experiencing better comfort and extending the amount of time you can sit at your station; it’s also about preventing unnecessary injury, in the short and long term.
Without one of the best studio chairs to support you, your posture suffers. This can lead to chronic back and neck pain, as your muscles strain to support you in sub-optimal conditions. Poor posture can also restrict circulation and pinch nerves, with their own short- and long-term impacts. Spending hours on a mix might cause some acceptable harm to your social life, but it shouldn’t be causing harm to your body too!
What makes a good studio chair?
The ideal studio chair is, effectively, an adjustable office chair that offers a little more in the way of comfort. You want adjustable height, adjustable armrests and, ideally, an adjustable backrest for support that aligns with the shape of your spine. Wheels seal the deal in multi-station home studio rooms, so you can propel yourself between computer, synths and outboard gear with reckless abandon – and without having to stand.
How we choose products
Here at MusicRadar, we are experts in our field, with many years of playing, creating and product testing between us. We live and breathe everything music gear related, and we draw on this knowledge and experience of using products in live, recording and rehearsal scenarios when selecting the products for our guides.
When choosing what we believe to be the best studio chairs available right now, we combine our hands-on experience, user reviews and testimonies and engage in lengthy discussions with our editorial colleagues to reach a consensus about the top products in any given category.
First and foremost, we are musicians, and we want other players to find the right product for them. So we take into careful consideration everything from budget to feature set, ease of use and durability to come up with a list of what we can safely say are the best studio chairs on the market right now.
Find out more about how we test music gear and services at MusicRadar.
Why you can trust us
☑️ MusicRadar established 2007
☑️ Over 5,000 reviews on-site
MusicRadar first launched in 2007 and has been an authority on drum gear ever since, rigorously testing the majority of key launches since day one. The site is run by a diverse team of passionate musicians who live to gig, record and jam, alongside a core group of trusted specialist freelance writers. We understands what players need, because we’re players ourselves, and we test from this perspective.
Our team have been testing music gear for 18+ years, constantly refining our methodology, delving deeper into products and drawing on our experience of what has come before to understand today’s products better than anyone.
Meet the experts
James Grimshaw is a freelance writer and music obsessive with over a decade in music and audio writing. They’ve lent their audio-tech opinions (amongst others) to the likes of Guitar World, MusicRadar and the London Evening Standard – before which, they covered everything music and Leeds through their section-editorship of national e-magazine The State Of The Arts. When they aren’t blasting esoteric noise-rock around the house, they’re playing out with esoteric noise-rock bands in DIY venues across the country; James will evangelise to you about Tera Melos until the sun comes up.
Chris Corfield is the main author of our best earplugs for concerts guide and comes with a wealth of experience when it comes to writing about everything from guitar gear, synths and mics, to putting music production hardware through its paces. After 12 years covering all aspects of music, he knows how important it is to look after his hearing when testing products.
Latest updates
14/08/25: This guide has been completely redesigned from the ground up to include new products and expanded information on each studio chair. Each entry now has a star rating, while the entire FAQ section has been re-written to give you more practical information about buying a new studio chair. A section on why you can trust the team at MusicRadar now features, while we've also added a "meet the experts" section so you can get to know the faces behind the names.
Read more
MusicRadar's got your back Our team of expert musicians and producers spends hours testing products to help you choose the best music-making gear for you. Find out more about how we test.
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