I recently bought a lot of the essential gear like mic stands, cables, 2 pairs of headphones, one microphone, and all the adapters, mic clips and cable clips that are included. And of course, this all adds to the gear I already had (which is modest) and I'm having trouble finding a good way to organize it so that its easily accessible. My room is rather small and as a guitarist, hardshell cases take up more room then you would think.
I'm curious how you organize the equipment in your studio so that its out of the way but accessible when you need it. I'm also interested to hear about products that help you do this. For example, I found a camera case that I think will work perfectly for my Apogee Duet 2. I would love to hear any helpful tips you may have!

Utilize vertical space as well as furniture. I have some of my stringed instruments hanging on the wall(I keep a humidifier in the room as well) and I use those cubed bookshelf units to keep things like cables and such. Also, rack drawers.

I keep the mics in their boxes if they don't have a case. Better protection than just a bag, and the boxes already come labeled!

It's all about finding a way that works best for you. Personally, I don't mind wrapping up cables all the time but I hate putting things like picks and drum keys away, so I have lots of little random stuff plastic tubs(like ones you see in offices full of pens and business cards) laying around my room.

I have been working on this for a while.

I keep the essentials for what I get the most time to do, set up. This is usually mixing as I play the drums and the other people in the house do not appreciate me playing them at all hours. So in my bedroom I have a small two channel interface and my monitor setup (mains, grots and headphones) on my desk with my computer. Every thing else I have racked up and stored in a closet for easy acess. I keep all the cables wrapped up nicely and in plastic bins, one for mic/signal cable and another for for power/speaker cables and my snake (I do live sound as well). My mixer is also kept in a plastic bin, since it happens to be the right size and I can store all the cables needed for a basic recording setup in the bin with it (I have my big interface in a 4u portable rack with a reverb, compressor limiter and a 20wpc 1ru stereo amp I use to run the monitors.) This let's me pull out the box, rack and a table and set up in the garage for tracking.

My microphones I keep in a hard case, the kind with the pick and pluck foam (zebracase z17 is the one I picked). This let's me have all my usual microphones in one place (17 mics in one case), so add that to the bin and rack and I am set. I keep a few microphone stands in a bag (I used a camping chair bag, happened to be the right size). So overall, I can do mixing whenever, record a channel or two easilly (just get out a mic and stand and use my 2 channel interface) or, if I need more tracks, I can be set up in the garage (or anywhere else) in 30 minutes to record up to 14 tracks to my laptop.

For mics and other small stuff buy Pelican or cheaper Seahorse cases find a size that maximizes budget/space/usefulness store mics in cut foam in ziplock bags with silica packs replace silica every year!

Maybe a rack drawer?

i'm a big fan of the flip top plastic bins. great for cables, mic's, power cords, toys, pedals, spare parts, ect.

Well, I tuned in thinking this was a bit deeper question...answer is, I stand a couple mic stands in the corner...there's a over door hanger right next to it that is where all "free cables" hang...and I have a little end table with storage I keep the mics in.

Funny, though...my more panned back perspective was that I try to keep recording gear isolated from music instruments. diffferent parts of a musical life--playing, practicing, writing...and recording.

I use the ones with the snap on lids, but yes. I have about 6 of them to keep gear/bits and pieces in.

Thanks for the input! I just started hanging up my cables and definitely prefer it. I am looking into getting a Pelican case too.

popmann, please feel free to share how you keep things separate. One of the reason I want organize my equipment better is because practicing and recording have almost become the same thing and I feel its damaging to both skills. I would love a music rehearsal room and a recording studio but unfortunately I have to try and make one room satisfy both needs.

I bought a peg board at lowes and installed it in my closet. I also got some of those hangers for the peg board. This works great for all my cables and headphones. I love being able to separate and see all my cables so quickly. I can fit about 4-5 cables on each hanger.

I also have a bookcase in the closet for other stuff. Recently I got one of those zebra cases and they work great for mics.

I have to admit, I'm a little discouraged because i am doing most of what you guys are yet I still feel unorganized. I think it would be wise to get a a Pelican for my mics, interface, and other higher end electronic gear. I work the best when everything is within sight. File cabinets are my enemy. once I put something in there, I never look at it again. I like the idea of organizing vertically. I'm rather tall so mounted shelves for light weight items would be nice.
I also think one the reason this is bothering me is I need to separate what I do on guitar from recording and only bring them together when I'm ready. Its so easy to record a bunch of nonsense when you get a new mic or (insert piece of gear).

How much of a role do you think lighting plays in the area you practice or record? That may help me clearly see the gear I have to organize!

if you keep your stuff neat and put away, it's not hard to keep things separate. In order for me to play electric guitar, I have to pick it up off the wall, go get a strap, get a pick and tuner from the rack drawer, grab the amp and power cord, and then some instrument cables and whatever pedals I want. After all that, there's no way in hell I'm going to want to pick up a mic, stand, cables, and then power on my recording equipment.

You think you work best when everything is within sight, but if it's in your mind(keeping stuff ORGANIZED and not just neat), then you won't have a problem.

Lighting is a personal thing. For the most part, I just use the 3 lights that were already on the ceiling. If I want "mood", I turn off the ceiling lights and only use a small desk lamp. Been thinking about picking up a standing lamp and putting in some colored bulbs, but I'm rarely ever in that mood. The soft desk lamp is enough for me.

Plastic tubs are great. I have a few sprawled out around the apartment. Mostly they just end up as storage units with a "table top"

We use shelving brackets mounted on the wall to hang all our mic stands on, and that works quite well.

Then for cables we use 2" waste pipe mounted to the wall to form a rack with hooks. In the control room we use large coat hooks for all the smaller cables.

I will post some pictures later

I am smiling because I am the exact opposite of everybody who has posted so far.

I also have a very small room. But I have no desire to keep everything separate as I am always playing, writing and recording all at the same time. I need to have my tools within reach at all times so my two favorite mics never leave their stands, my acoustic guitar lives an arm's reach away in a very secure stand and the old SG is in a case very close as well.

Extra cables hang on mic stands but everything is really ready to use at a moment's notice. My amps serve as end tables, my other guitars are stacked up on the wall from the back of the couch to help tune the room a bit and all the little doodads like capo, pen/paper and extra reading glasses are on a shelf under the keyboard.......an arm's reach away.

What are these odd plastic containers of which you all speak?

I think a lot depends on whether or not you own or rent. Not much you can do if you're renting, other than storing stuff best you can. If you own your space and you're stuck in a bedroom, there's not much you can do other than keep things in bins or dresser drawers, or maybe your closet. If you're in the basement, there are many more options. My studio is in the basement ( I own my house), and I have deliberately worked out ways to utilize the small space. My rack mount gear is mounted in the wall under the steps leading down to the basement - no more racks on the floor. There's an area under the steps where I access it, as well as storage for my microphones. I use wall hangers for guitars. Keep your guitars upstairs in a bedroom or closet and only bring down what you need to use. If you can, buy long cables for your gear so you can route around things instead of right under your feet. Buy a rack drawer to hold things like direct boxes or mic clips or whatever. Coil your cables the RIGHT way and use pegboard on a wall to avoid having to store them in a box or case which you'll have to store someplace anyway. Finding ways to eliminate boxes and cases is invaluable. I record guitars with amp heads in the control room. I built a stand on wheels and I can roll the heads away when they're not in use. Wheels are a wonderful invention - use them! Think out of the box and take advantage of the spaces in your house. And one last bit of advice, GET RID of all that old junk you've accumulated over the years that you never use anymore. I was amazed at the amount of junk I found and got rid of, and it freed up space to store the stuff I needed to keep. If you're starting from scratch, think before you set everything up.

I have shelves with mic cases, nice big square ikea wicker baskets for cables and keep stuff in cupboards. I have an ikea shelf with "capita" legs that I put rack stuff under on my desk.

Plastic boxes that are labeled along with velcro cable ties to wrap the cables. Boxes for cables, boxes for mics in their cases, etc. etc. I leave the stuff that I use constantly out and hooked up. The rest goes into boxes that store in a small cupboard behind my desk. Guitars hang on the wall and amps are stacked in a corner. Two main synths are left out and run through a MIDI box and the rackmount synths are wired up. Other synths.... well, I'm working on that.

So I reorganized a bit and my room looks like an insane asylum but I'm more comfortable with couple things:

1. My guitars, in their cases, are all in reach from my practice spot. I thought organizing them in a closet would work but I need them to be visible/instantly accessible in order to be played and at the moment all of them need to be played..a lot.

2. I made recording harder. I put my stands in a stand bag, moved my interface away from my listening/practicing position, and have my mics put away. This way when I record it will take more than hitting a few buttons and I'll likely take it more seriously.

What I need is something you guys suggested: one big case for my microphones and other stuff I use for recording so I have no doubt where it is and know its protected. I'm looking at a Pelican case with diced foam inserts.

look at seahorse cases at seahorsecases.com same quality lower prices.

These are quite good for storing cables.

Keep it LEAN. A place for everything and everything in its place.

You should be able to have everything at the point of use. So keep guitar cables near guitar amps. Keep mic cables near mics. It shouldn't take you more than 1 minute to change any single component (mic, mic position, preamp, guitar amp etc).

I've found pegboard to be useful for cables of all types. Headphones typically hang next to my desk.