Best studio chairs 2024: Are you sitting comfortably in your home studio?

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Chair sat in front of a music studio desk

(Image credit: Future)

1. Product guide
2. Buying advice
3. How we choose products

Have you ever thought about how crucial your studio chair is for your creative workflow? Perhaps a better question would be asking, “Does your back ache after long mixing sessions?” If so, fear not, we’re here to help. This guide is your no-nonsense exploration of the best studio chairs for musicians and producers, breaking down the jargon to ensure your creative space is equipped for optimal performance.

A quality studio chair is more than just a piece of furniture. The best studio chairs are a reliable companion, ensuring comfort during those extended studio sessions. To help, we’ve rounded up a selection of top-notch chairs tailored for music studios, where practicality meets creative efficiency. Our choices are based on real-world experience and endless hours working in a range of studio situations. 

We've included some in-depth buying advice at the end of this guide, so if you'd like to read more about the best studio chairs, then click the link. If you'd rather get to the products, then keep scrolling.

Product guide

Buying advice

An empty recording studio with a chair pulls away from the desk

(Image credit: Future)

How to choose the best studio chair for you

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.

When you’re looking for a studio chair, your goal is to discover a perfect blend of comfort and practicality. The significance of comfort is obvious, however this doesn't mean choosing the most reclinable or abundantly cushioned option. Why? Because much of your studio endeavours involve maintaining an upright posture before a computer monitor or laptop screen. Although the allure of reclining for extended periods is tempting, it may not be the most beneficial decision for your spinal health. Trust us, we’ve learned that the hard way.

Instead, comfort translates into a chair that provides a spectrum of options to fine-tune the seat according to the specific ways you intend to use it. This means features like lumbar support, headrests, armrests and diverse seating positions. The trick is to see your ideal studio chair not as an indifferent piece of furniture, but as a versatile tool that collaborates with your needs.

What will you be using the chair for?

Considering practicality, think about how you will engage with the chair. While a significant portion of your time may be spent in a relatively static posture, there are instances when you might need to pivot to connect or disconnect cables, support a guitar on your legs, or engage in other activities requiring a certain level of freedom from the chair. Think about your feet as well; your natural inclination involves numerous subtle movements, often without conscious awareness. Do you prefer having your feet planted on the ground or elevated on a platform connected to the chair? Before making a purchase, try and mentally be aware of your movements and interactions with your current chair during a session. This will help in guiding you toward the most fitting option for your requirements.

Look, we 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.

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.

Chris Corfield

Chris Corfield is a journalist with over 12 years of experience writing for some of the music world's biggest brands including Orange Amplification, MusicRadar, Guitar World, Total Guitar and Dawsons Music. Chris loves getting nerdy about everything from guitar and bass gear, to synths, microphones, DJ gear and music production hardware.