![]() Some drives need to be formatted twice to work properly. – Format your USBs & SDs for CDJs in Disk Utility w/ MS-DOS (FAT32), 1 partition, master boot record – instead of just erasing it. You’d be surprised how much this happens. – K eep all your Rekordbox music in one directory – don’t accidentally drag in files from your download directory. If you’re a Windows user, consider Windows Pro to avoid forced updates. Try to stay at least 2 major upgrade cycles *behind*. The benefits are usually marginal and consumer focused. Keep OS X auto install updates turned OFF. – Don’t upgrade your OS unless it’s absolutely essential. Uncheck any categories you don’t normally search in Spotlight. Super important especially if you have system clones on external drives. – Drag any external desks into the privacy section of Spotlight so they are excluded from search. ![]() – Turn off energy saving features – for stability. – Turn off “app nap” features on applications by selecting “get info – and checking “prevent app nap” – Make sure to collect samples and consolidate your sessions to avoid hard disk clipping/overloads ( thanks to Maarten Vorwerk for this tip!) Think of your busses as transporting data, just like mass transit carries people through a city – each bus has a limited capacity. Divide up your tracks into various busses so they spread the load evenly among the cores. – Allocate your cores and don’t crowd the bus! Every DAW works differently, but DAWS like Ableton Live assign one core per track, bus, or aux return. – Keep at least 20% of your drive space free, regardless of using SSDs or HDDs If you really want to micro manage the network traffic, check out Lil Snitch – Check Activity Monitor to see what background processes are slowing things down and research them before making any changes. – Run EtreCheck and see what programs and hardware might be causing issues. Optimizing your computer needs to be done carefully by hand, and not with a “magic” all-in-one app. These destroy proprietary audio plugins and wreak havoc on your computer. – Never use programs like MacKeeper or CleanMyMac. It’s bloated and vulnerable to security issues. They are both resource intensive, but more stable. – Stick to one Cloud app – I no longer recommend Crashplan because it’s a buggy CPU pig. Chances are you’ve got lots of stuff clogging up your limited size system SSD drive that can be stored in the cloud. I create a second “Archive” folder within a Dropbox sub directory. – Archive any items that don’t have to be on your system drive – try using Dropbox’s selective sync feature. – Turn off all notifications in system prefs Open terminal – type “defaults write mcx-disabled – boolean YES” then “killall Dock” The re-instate them when you’re done with a project. – Pause or quit cloud backups in the background while you’re working – these use a surprising amount of CPU power. – Remove any login items you don’t use (in system prefs) Let your computer work when you’re asleep. You can use apps like TimeMachine Editor to override the auto backup and schedule them properly set Time Machine or Carbon Copy cloner to 4am). – Set automated backups and system cloning for non-work hours, to free up resources during active hours (i.e. – Reset your system preferences: This can help if you are running into performance issues, but make sure to carefully document and screenshot your preferences before you do it! I put my preferences into a bulleted list in Evernote w/ screenshots attached. This is a bitch for plugin authorizations and installing software again, but can sometimes fix issues, as a good system scrub every few years is a good idea. – Do a clean OS install, making sure not to accidentally upgrade your OS. Also in System Prefs – right click in the preference pane and remove any 3rd party apps you don’t want. Manually uninstall, use the provided uninstaller, or try programs like AppZapper which will remove all the components. Simply dragging an app to the Trash isn’t a good method. – Properly uninstall any apps and plugins you don’t need. **Note that these are largely Mac based tips – feel free to tweet me or comment and send your PC suggestions** Lets take an extensive look at some ways to make your studio faster, more reliable, longer lasting, and prepared for potential problems and technology changes in the future. It’s become extremely important to be self-sufficient and know how to optimize your setup. In the past I’ve overlooked a lot of simple things that can make a huge difference to overall speed and workflow. ![]() DAWs and plugins are becoming more resource intensive, and the “internet of things” will start clogging the pipes of your streamlined setup. As technology continues to improve, evolve, and take over your studio and home, more situations will require new expertise and troubleshooting skills.
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