Every time your DAW boots up, it scans your plugin directory. Some DAWs do this more efficiently than others but the more bloated your plugin fold is, the longer your startup time.

Consolidate. Do you really need 14 different analog-modeled saturation plugins? The longer I produce, I have realized I don't need that many. Pick your top three and master them. 

I shouldn't have to say this, but cracked plugins are known to be buggy and create crashes. Reliability is a part of professionalism. Honesty is professionalism. Buy your plugins. 

Your DAW is a hungry beast, and to feed it properly, you need to starve the rest of your computer. External monitors take up processing power. Background processes eat up valuable RAM, GPU and CPU. 

Kill the Browser. Web browsers (especially those with dozens of tabs open) are notorious RAM hogs. Close as many as you can. I'm guilty of having 493083409 tabs open. 

Pause the Cloud. Cloud syncing services (Google Drive, Dropbox, iCloud, OneDrive) constantly scan your hard drive for changes. If your DAW is constantly auto-saving project files, your cloud sync is working in overdrive, eating up your CPU. Pause syncing while producing or schedule particular times for backups to occur so that you can work around them. Personally I have found that Google Drive destroys my processing power whereas DropBox has been much better. 

Where you store your files matters just as much as the processor you use. Drive read/write speeds directly impact how fast your samples load and how many audio tracks you can play back simultaneously.

Solid State Drives (SSDs) are mandatory for me for modern music production. Many are 10 to 20 times faster than hard drives. This allows you to store and run samples, loops, projects, sessions directly from the external drive. The advantage here is that the computer's built-in drive is then completely free of clutter and can run fast and efficiently. Only the OS and the DAW and Plugin Apps live on the computer itself. Nearly everything else is external. Make sure you check the specs of the speeds. (Anything over 1000Mb/s will be good enough but it can't hurt to go faster.) I currently use a 1050mb/s one for my samples and loops. I use 1800mb/s for my session files. 

As far as SSD recommendations, I suggest:

SANDISK - Tried and true, extra durable - 1050mb/s

Samsung - Industry standard, slightly cheaper but less durable case - 1050mb/s - (Faster version 2000mb/s)

Crucial - Fast, reliable - 2050mb/s

When an SSD and hard drive get too full, they slow down dramatically. Make it a habit to keep at least 15% to 20% of your space completely free. When an SSD and hard drives get too hot, they slow down dramatically. (More on this below.)

You can't fix a bottleneck if you don't know where it's happening. Learning to monitor your system’s resources helps you pinpoint exactly which instrument or effect is causing the overload.

Most major DAWs have a built-in CPU/Disk meter. Keep this visible in your toolbar. If you see the meter spiking into the red, it's time to "freeze" or "bounce" or “print” (all pretty much mean the same thing) tracks that have a lot of processing going on. 

The DAW meter only tells half the story. Use the Activity Monitor (Mac) or Task Manager (Windows) to see the big picture. High CPU usage? You are running too many complex plugins or virtual instruments at once. High Memory (RAM) usage? You are loading too many massive, multi-gigabyte sample libraries at once.

It’s easy to focus on specs like RAM and CPU cores, but there is a silent performance killer hiding in plain sight: heat. When your processor or your high-speed SSD gets too hot, your computer initiates a built-in survival mechanism known as thermal throttling.

To prevent physical hardware damage, the system intentionally dials back its own clock speeds (processing power) to lower the temperature and you may not even know it's happening. 

Get a laptop stand to allow fresh air to circulate underneath the chassis. If you have a desktop or Mac Mini, make sure it has great airflow. I have a super slow USB computer fan (so that it’s silent) blowing on my Mac Mini at all times. This is the fan I use. I got this to control the speed. It allows you to go even slower than low. That way it can truly be inaudible. 

For desktop users, a buildup of dust on your internal heat sinks and case fans acts like an insulating blanket, trapping hot air inside. A quick blast of air goes a long way. Here’s an Air Blaster Duster.

SSDs run incredibly hot. If your drive gets too hot, its read speeds will plummet. It also hurts the lifespan of your drive. Installing a cheap aftermarket heatsink on your SSD can prevent it from bottlenecking and it can prolong its life. I slap a few of these on the outside of all my drives.

Optimizing your system isn't the most glamorous part of making music, but it is the foundation of a frictionless workflow. Spend an hour this weekend tuning up your machine—your future self will thank you when inspiration strikes or when you have a client in the room. 

Want to collaborate with StudioBook on Instagram? Post a video of your studio session, add “Inspired by @StudioBook.io” in the caption and add us as a collaborator!