Vid courtesy of The DSP Project
Showing posts with label Tutorials. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tutorials. Show all posts
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Friday, February 24, 2012
Friday, February 10, 2012
Friday, January 20, 2012
Optimize Your PC For Music Production
Optimize Your PC For Music Production
Here is a small guide to optimize your pc for best performance for music production.
New Windows 7 Optimization Guide here
First some notes on ACPI
ACPI Could cause some computer problems related to IRQ sharing, so if all else fails, reinstall your windows xp, and when it starts loading and asking you to press F6 to install SCSI/RAID drivers, Press F5, eventhough its not displayed. Here you can choose that you want to install a "Standard PC" and not ACPI. ACPI is mostly for laptops, for power management and stuff, and is known to cause issues with audioworkstations.
1.Processor Scheduling – Set to Prioritise Background Services This is an essential tweak for musicians, but not for the general Windows user. As most musicians will be using ASIO, it is vital to prioritise this in your system. To do this, right-click on ‘My Computer’, then select ‘Properties’. In the ‘Advanced’ tab, go to Performance>Settings, click on the ‘Advanced’ tab here, and change the processor scheduling from ‘Programs' to ‘Background Services’ using the radio button.
2.Set Page File Size
In the same tab as the ‘Processor Scheduling’ tweak above, you will find a section entitled ‘Virtual Memory’. Click the ‘Change’ button to modify your page file size.The Page File is used by Windows to simulate RAM when actual physical RAM is running low – hence the term ‘virtual memory’. It is also commonly referred to as a paging file or swap file. For best performance, you should set the initial size and the maximum size to the same value – if you have enough hard drive space, the ideal would be 4095MB.
However, I would recommend that you do not set it lower than 2GB – running out of virtual memory is definitely a bad thing, whereas most modern PCs have multi-gigabyte hard drives which can comfortably devote a couple of gigs to the page file. Of course, you should have as much physical RAM in your PC as possible – it is one of the components of your machine that has an immense impact on performance and can be easily upgraded. At least 1GB is recommended for music applications.If you have more than one physical hard drive, you can achieve better page file performance by putting it on the drive that Windows isn’t booting from – that is, you should have your page file and your Windows installation on completely separate physical hard drives.
3.Disable Visual Effects
Staying in the ‘Performance Options’ menu, click on the ‘Visual Effects’ tab. Here you should select the radio button which says ‘Adjust for Best Performance’. This will ensure that Windows doesn’t waste any of your precious PC resources just to make the interface look ‘prettier’.
4.Disable Error Reporting
If you close the ‘Performance Options’ menu, you will be in the ‘System Properties/Advanced’ tab again. Here you can click on ‘Error Reporting’ and use the radio button to disable error reporting. This will not boost performance as such, but it will stop Windows from asking you to send an error report any time something goes wrong with a program you’ve been running. You can leave the ‘But notify me when critical errors occur’ checkbox ticked.
5.Disable Automatic Restart
In the ‘System Properties/Advanced’ tab, click on the ‘Settings’ button in the ‘Startup and Recovery’ section.In the ‘System Failure’ section, uncheck the box marked ‘Automatically Restart’.
6.Disable Remote Access
In the ‘System Properties’ menu, click on the ‘Remote’ tab. Here you can uncheck the Remote Assistance and Remote Desktop boxes. Unless you specifically need to access your PC from another computer, you should disable this capability.
7.Remove Screensaver and Wallpaper Another unnecessary visual effect is desktop wallpaper – to help keep Windows nice and brisk, don’t use any wallpaper. Right-click on the desktop, select ‘Properties’ and in the ‘Desktop’ tab, select ‘None’ as your background.While we’re here, you should also disable your screensaver. Go to the ‘Screen Saver’ tab, and select ‘None’.Also, you should keep the number of icons (shortcuts, folders etc.) on your desktop to a minimum – preferably none – as these also need to be loaded by Windows. Any shortcuts you need can be stored in your quick launch menu (just to the right of the big ‘Start’ button).
8.Disable Power Management and Hibernation
Still on the ‘Screen Saver’ tab, click on the ‘Power’ button to access the monitor power menu. Here you can set your power scheme to ‘Home/Office Desk’. Now make sure that the drop-down menus for ‘Turn off monitor’, ‘Turn off hard disks’ and ‘System Standby’ are all set to ‘Never’.Now go to the ‘Hibernate’ tab and ensure that the ‘Enable Hibernation’ checkbox is not ticked.
9.Turn Off Drive Indexing
By default, Windows indexes all hard drives to enable you to find files more quickly – in practice, however, this is only beneficial for extremely complex searches and will not benefit most users. Disabling this feature will increase your system’s overall performance.To do this, simply open Windows Explorer (right-click on Start and select Explore). Then right-click on each hard drive in your system and select ‘Properties’. Here you should uncheck the box marked ‘Allow indexing service to index this disk for fast file searching’.Also, never use compression on your drives, as this entails a significant performance hit. Make sure the ‘Compress drive to save disk space’ box is left unticked.
10.Hard Drive Write Caching
Windows XP normally uses write caching on all drives – this means that a small area of system memory (cache) is set aside for data to be stored in before being written to the disk itself. For most users, this results in optimal hard disk performance. However, if you are recording (for example) a particularly long piece of audio, then the cache may be filled before the recording is finished - at which point the contents of the cache are suddenly dumped onto the hard drive, possibly resulting in dropouts and glitches in the sound file. Depending on how you use your drive, you may find that write caching either improves or reduces performance. You can experiment for yourself to find out which suits you best.To enable write caching, go to the ‘Hardware’ tab in the hard drive properties menu (see previous point), select your hard drive from the list and click ‘Properties’. Now click on the ‘Policies’ tab and select ‘Optimise for performance’.To disable write caching, select ‘Optimise for quick removal’. It is always a good idea to disable write caching for removable flash drives, and also for external USB/FireWire hard drives if you plan on plugging them in and out a lot.
11.Reduce Recycle Bin Size
In Windows Explorer, right-click on the recycling bin and select ‘Properties’. By default, Windows allows the recycle bin to use 10% of your drive space. This can lead to a huge waste of space on large hard drives – 2% should be perfectly adequate for most users. On the ‘Global’ tab, use the slider to set the recycle bin size to a suitable value – you will need to select ‘Use one setting for all drives’ first. Another thing I find really useful is not having Windows ask for confirmation every time I want to delete something. To achieve this blissful condition, simply uncheck the ‘Display delete confirmation dialog’ box.
12.Turn Off Network Folders
Staying in Windows Explorer, click on the ‘Tools’ tab and select ‘Folder Options’. In the ‘View’ tab, you can uncheck the box beside ‘Automatically search for network folders and printers’. If your computer is not on a network, there is no need to have this option enabled, and turning it off should slightly speed up your browsing.I also recommend that you select the radio button to ‘Show hidden files and folders’. This is not a performance tweak, but enables you to see all the files that are present on your machine, which can be useful when seeking out spyware or engaging in other troubleshooting activities.Also, it may be useful to uncheck the box which says ‘Hide extensions for known file types’. This will allow you to view and modify file extensions (such as .wav, .avi and so on).
13.Disable Offline Files
If you are not on a network, or if you don’t need to access offline files, then you should also disable this feature. In Control Panel, select ‘Folder Options’, go to the ‘Offline Files’ tab and uncheck the ‘Enable offline files’ box.
14.Disable or Modify System Restore
Windows XP has a built-in recovery system whereby it creates ‘restore points’ to which you can revert if something goes wrong with a driver/program installation. While this is a good safety net to have for most people, it does consume a lot of system resources and experienced Windows users may want to turn it off.To do this, click on ‘Start>Control Panel>System’ and go to the ‘System Restore’ tab.System Restore can also be found at ‘Start>All Programs>Accessories>System Tools’.Here you can choose to disable system restore entirely, or you can simply reduce the maximum amount of hard disk space allocated to the service. To do this, go to ‘Settings’ and adjust the slider for ‘Drive Space Usage’ to about 5% - you can set this according to the size of your drive, but don’t go below 1GB.
15.Disable System Sounds
An important tweak for musicians, but is beneficial to all Windows users. System sounds are the Windows bleeps that play when a specific event occurs, such as when a warning dialog box appears. These use up resources, can ruin a perfectly good recording by bleeping in the middle of a take, and may even reset the sample rate on your sound card. To disable system sounds, click on ‘Sounds and Audio Devices’ in ‘Control Panel’ and select the ‘Sounds’ tab. In the drop-down menu for sound schemes, make sure ‘No Sounds’ is selected.In the ‘Volume’ tab, you may want to tick the box which says ‘Place volume icon in the taskbar’. This will place a shortcut to the Windows volume control in the taskbar for quick access to the system volume controls, which can be useful to some users.
16.Do Not Map Through Soundcard
To prevent non-music applications from trying to play sounds through your professional or semi-pro soundcard, you should enable this feature. If you do not use your system for music production, you can ignore this tweak.Go to ‘Control Panel>Sounds and Audio Devices>Hardware Tab>(select your soundcard from the list)>Properties>Audio Devices>(select your soundcard from the list)>Properties’, and check the ‘Do not map through this device’ checkbox.
17.Disable Automatic Updates
By default, Windows XP will periodically check on the Internet for the latest Windows updates. However, it is not necessary to have this service constantly running in the background – you can disable it, and still check for updates manually when it suits you.In Control Panel, select ‘Automatic Updates’ and select ‘Turn off automatic updates’.
18.Disable Fast User Switching
This feature basically allows one or more users to log in without a previous user having to log out first. This means that several users can be logged into one machine at the same time, and all programs in use by these users will be open concurrently – which causes a significant drain on the processor.Unless you specifically require this facility, you should disable it. Still in Control Panel, click on ‘User Accounts’, then select ‘Change the way users log on or off’. Now you can disable ‘Fast user switching’ and apply changes.
19.Disable Internet Time Synchronisation
Another feature that you could do without is Windows’ obsession with always having the correct time. To do away with this, click on ‘Date and Time’ in Control Panel and in ‘Internet Time’, uncheck the box which says ‘Automatically synchronize with an internet time server’.
20.Disable Desktop Cleanup Wizard Windows XP will try to clean up your desktop for you every couple of months – you can disable this feature as it is fairly useless.In Control Panel, select ‘Display’, go to the ‘Desktop’ tab and click the ‘Customise Desktop’ button. Here you can deselect the ‘Run desktop cleanup wizard every 60 days’ checkbox
21.Remove Unnecessary Windows Components
Many components that are installed automatically with Windows are of little or no use to many users and may be removed.Before you can remove these components, you will need to edit the ‘sysoc.inf’ file which can be found in your Windows/inf folder (typically C:\Windows\inf). If you can’t see this file, make sure the ‘Show hidden files and folders’ option is enabled (see tweak number 11).Open ‘sysoc.inf’ using a text editor such as Notepad. Perform a ‘find and replace’ for the word “hide” and replace “hide” with nothing. Save the file and exit Notepad. In Control Panel, click on ‘Add or remove programs’ and select ‘Add or remove windows components’. You will now be able to select all the components you wish to get rid of – this all depends on what your requirements are.
Here are a few components you might want to uninstall:
Accessibility options
Indexing service
Update root certificates
Windows automatic updates
Windows messenger
Games
22.Disable NTFS Access Date Logging
This tweak requires that you manually edit your registry, and as such is only recommended for advanced Windows users. If your hard disk is formatted using the NTFS system, then widows constantly keeps a log of dates that files and folders are accessed on. Disabling this logging can improve hard disk performance. However, some third-party disk defragmenters use these logs to prioritise their defragmentation routines, so if you are running such a program do not disable this feature. If not, you may proceed with this tweak.The registry is a database of core program and operating system settings, and should only be altered with the utmost caution and forethought. To access the registry editor, click on ‘Start>Run’ and type “regedit” (without quotes) in the text entry box.In the editor, go to [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem]and set the DWORD below as shown:NTFSDisableLastAccessUpdate=1If this DWORD does not exist already, you can create it by right-clicking and selecting ‘New>DWORD value’.
23.Disable Built-in CD Burning
If you use a third-party program such as Ahead Nero (http://www.nero.com) for burning CDs and DVDs, you can disable the built-in burning feature in Windows XP.In the registry editor, go to[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer] and set the DWORD below as shown:NoCDBurning=1
24.Disable Balloon Tips
When Windows wants to tell you something, an info balloon appears in the bottom-right of your screen. If you find these annoying, you can disable them with this tweak.In the registry editor, go to[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced]and set the DWORD below as shown:EnableBalloonTips=0
25.Turn Off System Beeps
Irrespective of your sound settings, or whether you have a sound card at all, Windows sometimes uses the PC’s internal speaker to make an annoying beeping noise. You can disable this action by editing the registry. [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ControlPanel\Sound]and set the DWORD below as shown:Beep=No
26.Disable Windows Shortcut Key
If you find that the Windows key (between Ctrl and Alt) is getting in the way, you can disable it by editing the registry.In the editor, go to [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Keyboard Layout]and create a new Binary value called ‘Scancode Map’. Then, double-click on this new binary value and enter the following in the value data box. Keep the exact order shown – spaces are not necessary, and all the 0s are zeroes.00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 03 00 00 00 00 00 5B E0 00 00 5C E0 00 00 00 00So now you should have a new key:Scancode Map=00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 03 00 00 00 00 00 5B E0 00 00 5C E0 00 00 00 00You will need to reboot for this change to take effect. To revert to your original configuration, simply delete this entry and reboot.
27.Disable Unnecessary Hardware Detection
This is a useful tip that can radically reduce your PC’s boot up time. Basically, when your computer is starting up, it looks around to see what hardware is present in the system. If you tell it not to look for things you know aren’t there, you’ll save some time. This excerpt from Sound On Sound magazine by Martin Walker explains it in more detail:
Back in April 2003 I described Microsoft's Bootvis tool for examining various aspects of XP's boot process, and at the time stated that after various optimisations my PC took just 37 seconds to reach the desktop. I timed it again this month and even my slimmed-down XP Music partition was taking a massive 100 seconds to boot up. Something had obviously changed, and fortunately it didn't take me long to track down the culprit, since I'd noticed that the boot process seemed to 'hang' at a few points, suggesting that it was searching for something that wasn't there. After changing any of my hard, CD, or DVD drives, I always go into the BIOS and, for each drive position (Primary Master, Slave, and so on) with nothing connected, I change the Type from its default 'Auto' (Automatic detection) to ''Not Installed', so that the BIOS doesn't waste time looking for hardware that isn't plugged in. However, I've discovered that Windows XP now ignores the BIOS settings and searches again anyway, which meant that it was wasting time looking for four devices that didn't exist. The answer was to go into Device Manager, expand the IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers section, and then open in turn each entry named Primary or Secondary IDE Channel, go to their Advanced pages and, for each instance where the Current Transfer Mode box contained the words 'Not Applicable' (ie. nothing detected), change this Device Type from Auto Detection to None (see screenshot). It's such a simple procedure when you know how, and my boot-up time immediately dropped nearly 60 percent, to just 42 seconds!
Article Source:
Optimize Your PC For Music Production
Here is a small guide to optimize your pc for best performance for music production.
New Windows 7 Optimization Guide here
First some notes on ACPI
ACPI Could cause some computer problems related to IRQ sharing, so if all else fails, reinstall your windows xp, and when it starts loading and asking you to press F6 to install SCSI/RAID drivers, Press F5, eventhough its not displayed. Here you can choose that you want to install a "Standard PC" and not ACPI. ACPI is mostly for laptops, for power management and stuff, and is known to cause issues with audioworkstations.
1.Processor Scheduling – Set to Prioritise Background Services This is an essential tweak for musicians, but not for the general Windows user. As most musicians will be using ASIO, it is vital to prioritise this in your system. To do this, right-click on ‘My Computer’, then select ‘Properties’. In the ‘Advanced’ tab, go to Performance>Settings, click on the ‘Advanced’ tab here, and change the processor scheduling from ‘Programs' to ‘Background Services’ using the radio button.
2.Set Page File Size
In the same tab as the ‘Processor Scheduling’ tweak above, you will find a section entitled ‘Virtual Memory’. Click the ‘Change’ button to modify your page file size.The Page File is used by Windows to simulate RAM when actual physical RAM is running low – hence the term ‘virtual memory’. It is also commonly referred to as a paging file or swap file. For best performance, you should set the initial size and the maximum size to the same value – if you have enough hard drive space, the ideal would be 4095MB.
However, I would recommend that you do not set it lower than 2GB – running out of virtual memory is definitely a bad thing, whereas most modern PCs have multi-gigabyte hard drives which can comfortably devote a couple of gigs to the page file. Of course, you should have as much physical RAM in your PC as possible – it is one of the components of your machine that has an immense impact on performance and can be easily upgraded. At least 1GB is recommended for music applications.If you have more than one physical hard drive, you can achieve better page file performance by putting it on the drive that Windows isn’t booting from – that is, you should have your page file and your Windows installation on completely separate physical hard drives.
3.Disable Visual Effects
Staying in the ‘Performance Options’ menu, click on the ‘Visual Effects’ tab. Here you should select the radio button which says ‘Adjust for Best Performance’. This will ensure that Windows doesn’t waste any of your precious PC resources just to make the interface look ‘prettier’.
4.Disable Error Reporting
If you close the ‘Performance Options’ menu, you will be in the ‘System Properties/Advanced’ tab again. Here you can click on ‘Error Reporting’ and use the radio button to disable error reporting. This will not boost performance as such, but it will stop Windows from asking you to send an error report any time something goes wrong with a program you’ve been running. You can leave the ‘But notify me when critical errors occur’ checkbox ticked.
5.Disable Automatic Restart
In the ‘System Properties/Advanced’ tab, click on the ‘Settings’ button in the ‘Startup and Recovery’ section.In the ‘System Failure’ section, uncheck the box marked ‘Automatically Restart’.
6.Disable Remote Access
In the ‘System Properties’ menu, click on the ‘Remote’ tab. Here you can uncheck the Remote Assistance and Remote Desktop boxes. Unless you specifically need to access your PC from another computer, you should disable this capability.
7.Remove Screensaver and Wallpaper Another unnecessary visual effect is desktop wallpaper – to help keep Windows nice and brisk, don’t use any wallpaper. Right-click on the desktop, select ‘Properties’ and in the ‘Desktop’ tab, select ‘None’ as your background.While we’re here, you should also disable your screensaver. Go to the ‘Screen Saver’ tab, and select ‘None’.Also, you should keep the number of icons (shortcuts, folders etc.) on your desktop to a minimum – preferably none – as these also need to be loaded by Windows. Any shortcuts you need can be stored in your quick launch menu (just to the right of the big ‘Start’ button).
8.Disable Power Management and Hibernation
Still on the ‘Screen Saver’ tab, click on the ‘Power’ button to access the monitor power menu. Here you can set your power scheme to ‘Home/Office Desk’. Now make sure that the drop-down menus for ‘Turn off monitor’, ‘Turn off hard disks’ and ‘System Standby’ are all set to ‘Never’.Now go to the ‘Hibernate’ tab and ensure that the ‘Enable Hibernation’ checkbox is not ticked.
9.Turn Off Drive Indexing
By default, Windows indexes all hard drives to enable you to find files more quickly – in practice, however, this is only beneficial for extremely complex searches and will not benefit most users. Disabling this feature will increase your system’s overall performance.To do this, simply open Windows Explorer (right-click on Start and select Explore). Then right-click on each hard drive in your system and select ‘Properties’. Here you should uncheck the box marked ‘Allow indexing service to index this disk for fast file searching’.Also, never use compression on your drives, as this entails a significant performance hit. Make sure the ‘Compress drive to save disk space’ box is left unticked.
10.Hard Drive Write Caching
Windows XP normally uses write caching on all drives – this means that a small area of system memory (cache) is set aside for data to be stored in before being written to the disk itself. For most users, this results in optimal hard disk performance. However, if you are recording (for example) a particularly long piece of audio, then the cache may be filled before the recording is finished - at which point the contents of the cache are suddenly dumped onto the hard drive, possibly resulting in dropouts and glitches in the sound file. Depending on how you use your drive, you may find that write caching either improves or reduces performance. You can experiment for yourself to find out which suits you best.To enable write caching, go to the ‘Hardware’ tab in the hard drive properties menu (see previous point), select your hard drive from the list and click ‘Properties’. Now click on the ‘Policies’ tab and select ‘Optimise for performance’.To disable write caching, select ‘Optimise for quick removal’. It is always a good idea to disable write caching for removable flash drives, and also for external USB/FireWire hard drives if you plan on plugging them in and out a lot.
11.Reduce Recycle Bin Size
In Windows Explorer, right-click on the recycling bin and select ‘Properties’. By default, Windows allows the recycle bin to use 10% of your drive space. This can lead to a huge waste of space on large hard drives – 2% should be perfectly adequate for most users. On the ‘Global’ tab, use the slider to set the recycle bin size to a suitable value – you will need to select ‘Use one setting for all drives’ first. Another thing I find really useful is not having Windows ask for confirmation every time I want to delete something. To achieve this blissful condition, simply uncheck the ‘Display delete confirmation dialog’ box.
12.Turn Off Network Folders
Staying in Windows Explorer, click on the ‘Tools’ tab and select ‘Folder Options’. In the ‘View’ tab, you can uncheck the box beside ‘Automatically search for network folders and printers’. If your computer is not on a network, there is no need to have this option enabled, and turning it off should slightly speed up your browsing.I also recommend that you select the radio button to ‘Show hidden files and folders’. This is not a performance tweak, but enables you to see all the files that are present on your machine, which can be useful when seeking out spyware or engaging in other troubleshooting activities.Also, it may be useful to uncheck the box which says ‘Hide extensions for known file types’. This will allow you to view and modify file extensions (such as .wav, .avi and so on).
13.Disable Offline Files
If you are not on a network, or if you don’t need to access offline files, then you should also disable this feature. In Control Panel, select ‘Folder Options’, go to the ‘Offline Files’ tab and uncheck the ‘Enable offline files’ box.
14.Disable or Modify System Restore
Windows XP has a built-in recovery system whereby it creates ‘restore points’ to which you can revert if something goes wrong with a driver/program installation. While this is a good safety net to have for most people, it does consume a lot of system resources and experienced Windows users may want to turn it off.To do this, click on ‘Start>Control Panel>System’ and go to the ‘System Restore’ tab.System Restore can also be found at ‘Start>All Programs>Accessories>System Tools’.Here you can choose to disable system restore entirely, or you can simply reduce the maximum amount of hard disk space allocated to the service. To do this, go to ‘Settings’ and adjust the slider for ‘Drive Space Usage’ to about 5% - you can set this according to the size of your drive, but don’t go below 1GB.
15.Disable System Sounds
An important tweak for musicians, but is beneficial to all Windows users. System sounds are the Windows bleeps that play when a specific event occurs, such as when a warning dialog box appears. These use up resources, can ruin a perfectly good recording by bleeping in the middle of a take, and may even reset the sample rate on your sound card. To disable system sounds, click on ‘Sounds and Audio Devices’ in ‘Control Panel’ and select the ‘Sounds’ tab. In the drop-down menu for sound schemes, make sure ‘No Sounds’ is selected.In the ‘Volume’ tab, you may want to tick the box which says ‘Place volume icon in the taskbar’. This will place a shortcut to the Windows volume control in the taskbar for quick access to the system volume controls, which can be useful to some users.
16.Do Not Map Through Soundcard
To prevent non-music applications from trying to play sounds through your professional or semi-pro soundcard, you should enable this feature. If you do not use your system for music production, you can ignore this tweak.Go to ‘Control Panel>Sounds and Audio Devices>Hardware Tab>(select your soundcard from the list)>Properties>Audio Devices>(select your soundcard from the list)>Properties’, and check the ‘Do not map through this device’ checkbox.
17.Disable Automatic Updates
By default, Windows XP will periodically check on the Internet for the latest Windows updates. However, it is not necessary to have this service constantly running in the background – you can disable it, and still check for updates manually when it suits you.In Control Panel, select ‘Automatic Updates’ and select ‘Turn off automatic updates’.
18.Disable Fast User Switching
This feature basically allows one or more users to log in without a previous user having to log out first. This means that several users can be logged into one machine at the same time, and all programs in use by these users will be open concurrently – which causes a significant drain on the processor.Unless you specifically require this facility, you should disable it. Still in Control Panel, click on ‘User Accounts’, then select ‘Change the way users log on or off’. Now you can disable ‘Fast user switching’ and apply changes.
19.Disable Internet Time Synchronisation
Another feature that you could do without is Windows’ obsession with always having the correct time. To do away with this, click on ‘Date and Time’ in Control Panel and in ‘Internet Time’, uncheck the box which says ‘Automatically synchronize with an internet time server’.
20.Disable Desktop Cleanup Wizard Windows XP will try to clean up your desktop for you every couple of months – you can disable this feature as it is fairly useless.In Control Panel, select ‘Display’, go to the ‘Desktop’ tab and click the ‘Customise Desktop’ button. Here you can deselect the ‘Run desktop cleanup wizard every 60 days’ checkbox
21.Remove Unnecessary Windows Components
Many components that are installed automatically with Windows are of little or no use to many users and may be removed.Before you can remove these components, you will need to edit the ‘sysoc.inf’ file which can be found in your Windows/inf folder (typically C:\Windows\inf). If you can’t see this file, make sure the ‘Show hidden files and folders’ option is enabled (see tweak number 11).Open ‘sysoc.inf’ using a text editor such as Notepad. Perform a ‘find and replace’ for the word “hide” and replace “hide” with nothing. Save the file and exit Notepad. In Control Panel, click on ‘Add or remove programs’ and select ‘Add or remove windows components’. You will now be able to select all the components you wish to get rid of – this all depends on what your requirements are.
Here are a few components you might want to uninstall:
Accessibility options
Indexing service
Update root certificates
Windows automatic updates
Windows messenger
Games
22.Disable NTFS Access Date Logging
This tweak requires that you manually edit your registry, and as such is only recommended for advanced Windows users. If your hard disk is formatted using the NTFS system, then widows constantly keeps a log of dates that files and folders are accessed on. Disabling this logging can improve hard disk performance. However, some third-party disk defragmenters use these logs to prioritise their defragmentation routines, so if you are running such a program do not disable this feature. If not, you may proceed with this tweak.The registry is a database of core program and operating system settings, and should only be altered with the utmost caution and forethought. To access the registry editor, click on ‘Start>Run’ and type “regedit” (without quotes) in the text entry box.In the editor, go to [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem]and set the DWORD below as shown:NTFSDisableLastAccessUpdate=1If this DWORD does not exist already, you can create it by right-clicking and selecting ‘New>DWORD value’.
23.Disable Built-in CD Burning
If you use a third-party program such as Ahead Nero (http://www.nero.com) for burning CDs and DVDs, you can disable the built-in burning feature in Windows XP.In the registry editor, go to[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer] and set the DWORD below as shown:NoCDBurning=1
24.Disable Balloon Tips
When Windows wants to tell you something, an info balloon appears in the bottom-right of your screen. If you find these annoying, you can disable them with this tweak.In the registry editor, go to[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced]and set the DWORD below as shown:EnableBalloonTips=0
25.Turn Off System Beeps
Irrespective of your sound settings, or whether you have a sound card at all, Windows sometimes uses the PC’s internal speaker to make an annoying beeping noise. You can disable this action by editing the registry. [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ControlPanel\Sound]and set the DWORD below as shown:Beep=No
26.Disable Windows Shortcut Key
If you find that the Windows key (between Ctrl and Alt) is getting in the way, you can disable it by editing the registry.In the editor, go to [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Keyboard Layout]and create a new Binary value called ‘Scancode Map’. Then, double-click on this new binary value and enter the following in the value data box. Keep the exact order shown – spaces are not necessary, and all the 0s are zeroes.00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 03 00 00 00 00 00 5B E0 00 00 5C E0 00 00 00 00So now you should have a new key:Scancode Map=00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 03 00 00 00 00 00 5B E0 00 00 5C E0 00 00 00 00You will need to reboot for this change to take effect. To revert to your original configuration, simply delete this entry and reboot.
27.Disable Unnecessary Hardware Detection
This is a useful tip that can radically reduce your PC’s boot up time. Basically, when your computer is starting up, it looks around to see what hardware is present in the system. If you tell it not to look for things you know aren’t there, you’ll save some time. This excerpt from Sound On Sound magazine by Martin Walker explains it in more detail:
Back in April 2003 I described Microsoft's Bootvis tool for examining various aspects of XP's boot process, and at the time stated that after various optimisations my PC took just 37 seconds to reach the desktop. I timed it again this month and even my slimmed-down XP Music partition was taking a massive 100 seconds to boot up. Something had obviously changed, and fortunately it didn't take me long to track down the culprit, since I'd noticed that the boot process seemed to 'hang' at a few points, suggesting that it was searching for something that wasn't there. After changing any of my hard, CD, or DVD drives, I always go into the BIOS and, for each drive position (Primary Master, Slave, and so on) with nothing connected, I change the Type from its default 'Auto' (Automatic detection) to ''Not Installed', so that the BIOS doesn't waste time looking for hardware that isn't plugged in. However, I've discovered that Windows XP now ignores the BIOS settings and searches again anyway, which meant that it was wasting time looking for four devices that didn't exist. The answer was to go into Device Manager, expand the IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers section, and then open in turn each entry named Primary or Secondary IDE Channel, go to their Advanced pages and, for each instance where the Current Transfer Mode box contained the words 'Not Applicable' (ie. nothing detected), change this Device Type from Auto Detection to None (see screenshot). It's such a simple procedure when you know how, and my boot-up time immediately dropped nearly 60 percent, to just 42 seconds!
Article Source:
Optimize Your PC For Music Production
Thinking inside the Box: a complete EQ tutorial - dnbscene.com
Part One: Intro
To begin: an anecdote.
I started making music with Impulse Tracker. After a few years of gaining decidedly unprofessional results with that, I moved onto Buzz. Yippee! Effects! I happily threw my sounds into a ton of reverbs, filters, delays, distortions, phasers and so on. In some ways, of course, this was an improvement. My sounds at least had a bit of depth and character. But somehow the real fundamental problem, an "unprofessional" sound, was still there. My tracks sounded weak, thin, and simply a lot quieter than professional stuff; the mixes always sounded wonky, elements not really fitting with each other.
Slowly I came to realise the problem. I was not really using, or even being aware of, any EQ or compression. After all, they were both a bit scary, I didn't really understand them, and besides - they were boring, compared to my funky range of drastic FX processing. Silly me. I should have realised that...
EQ and compression are simply the two most important tools in music production.
Think of it this way. You are building a house. Exciting things like flangers and filter-delays are like the designer purple wallpaper or expensive thick-pile carpet. They make your house look welcoming, or fashionable, or comfortable to live in. EQ and compression on the other hand are making sure the bricks are mortared together and the walls are strong enough to support a roof. And at the end of the day, sure, your designer wallpaper may be lovely, but if the kitchen has collapsed into rubble and the bedroom door is only three inches wide, your house won't be much cop.
My mistake - and, I think, the mistake made by many learning producers - was to be tempted by the more exciting task of choosing the colour schemes and leather sofas, when my walls could be knocked down by a sneeze and my roof was made of paper. Get the fundamentals sorted first! Otherwise the frilly stuff actually just gets in your way and makes it harder to even work out what your problems are!
Hence this tutorial.
Now I could simply do a lightning quick tutorial on compression - I could say, for example, "for basslines it's best to compress at a ratio of 3:1, threshold -6db" or whatever (that's a totally fictional example by the way). But this is only so much use. Of course, I encountered a lot of advice and information about EQ and compression while I learned. But I know that I never began feeling truly confident in such engineering matters, never really felt I understood any of it, until I put all the pieces together, joined the dots, and worked out that these 2 subjects, and so much more, are all deeply inter-related. So, it is my ambitious aim to map out this whole territory. I present not a strictly practical tutorial, but rather a way of thinking, which I personally found led to a greater understanding, which in turn had many practical benefits.
My central concept is that producers in the digital domain are effectively working inside a box. In this tutorial I will define the box, explore a few fundamental concepts and highlight some of the limitations of digital audio.
A word of warning. I have no qualifications. I don't know the difference between dBu and dBv. I don't understand Fast Fourier Transforms. So if you want rock-solid theory and maths, you may be let down. I aim instead to explain the basic concepts, such as they are useful to the practical matter of producing dance music. Naturally, being dnbscene.com, this will relate to drum&bass, but it relates just as well to any form of dance music. In fact, it pretty much relates to any kind of music whatsoever, although you wouldn't want to treat a folk ensemble recording in the same savage fashion you can get away with in techstep.
Anyway - enough disclaimers... Let's discover our box (no sniggering at the back please)...
Full Post:
Thinking inside the Box: a complete EQ tutorial - dnbscene.com
To begin: an anecdote.
I started making music with Impulse Tracker. After a few years of gaining decidedly unprofessional results with that, I moved onto Buzz. Yippee! Effects! I happily threw my sounds into a ton of reverbs, filters, delays, distortions, phasers and so on. In some ways, of course, this was an improvement. My sounds at least had a bit of depth and character. But somehow the real fundamental problem, an "unprofessional" sound, was still there. My tracks sounded weak, thin, and simply a lot quieter than professional stuff; the mixes always sounded wonky, elements not really fitting with each other.
Slowly I came to realise the problem. I was not really using, or even being aware of, any EQ or compression. After all, they were both a bit scary, I didn't really understand them, and besides - they were boring, compared to my funky range of drastic FX processing. Silly me. I should have realised that...
EQ and compression are simply the two most important tools in music production.
Think of it this way. You are building a house. Exciting things like flangers and filter-delays are like the designer purple wallpaper or expensive thick-pile carpet. They make your house look welcoming, or fashionable, or comfortable to live in. EQ and compression on the other hand are making sure the bricks are mortared together and the walls are strong enough to support a roof. And at the end of the day, sure, your designer wallpaper may be lovely, but if the kitchen has collapsed into rubble and the bedroom door is only three inches wide, your house won't be much cop.
My mistake - and, I think, the mistake made by many learning producers - was to be tempted by the more exciting task of choosing the colour schemes and leather sofas, when my walls could be knocked down by a sneeze and my roof was made of paper. Get the fundamentals sorted first! Otherwise the frilly stuff actually just gets in your way and makes it harder to even work out what your problems are!
Hence this tutorial.
Now I could simply do a lightning quick tutorial on compression - I could say, for example, "for basslines it's best to compress at a ratio of 3:1, threshold -6db" or whatever (that's a totally fictional example by the way). But this is only so much use. Of course, I encountered a lot of advice and information about EQ and compression while I learned. But I know that I never began feeling truly confident in such engineering matters, never really felt I understood any of it, until I put all the pieces together, joined the dots, and worked out that these 2 subjects, and so much more, are all deeply inter-related. So, it is my ambitious aim to map out this whole territory. I present not a strictly practical tutorial, but rather a way of thinking, which I personally found led to a greater understanding, which in turn had many practical benefits.
My central concept is that producers in the digital domain are effectively working inside a box. In this tutorial I will define the box, explore a few fundamental concepts and highlight some of the limitations of digital audio.
A word of warning. I have no qualifications. I don't know the difference between dBu and dBv. I don't understand Fast Fourier Transforms. So if you want rock-solid theory and maths, you may be let down. I aim instead to explain the basic concepts, such as they are useful to the practical matter of producing dance music. Naturally, being dnbscene.com, this will relate to drum&bass, but it relates just as well to any form of dance music. In fact, it pretty much relates to any kind of music whatsoever, although you wouldn't want to treat a folk ensemble recording in the same savage fashion you can get away with in techstep.
Anyway - enough disclaimers... Let's discover our box (no sniggering at the back please)...
Full Post:
Thinking inside the Box: a complete EQ tutorial - dnbscene.com
Saturday, January 14, 2012
6 Tips for Reigning in the Bass in Your Mix | Home Studio Corner
6 Tips for Reigning in the Bass in Your Mix
by Joe Gilder - Mixing, Recording
Source:Home Studio Corner
see link at end:
It’s been said that the low end of your mix is “what separates the men from the boys.” But it can be really hard to get right, right?
Every mix poses its own unique challenges, and I never mix two songs the same way. However, here are 6 tips for getting a handle on the low end in your mix. Some of these may seem odd or strange. Give ‘em a shot. They seem to work for me.
Here we go…
1. Mix Before You Record
Wait a second…mix before you record? That’s just silly. Well, hear me out.
Whenever somebody sends me a question about the low end in their mixes, their focus is almost 100% on mixing. There’s this subtle underlying assumption — that the source shouldn’t matter, that the real tone in a mix comes from mixing.
Bzzzzz!! Wrong!
For example, I’m working on a song right now that is sounding amazing. Drums, bass, acoustic guitar, electric guitars, percussion. All of it has been recorded and doesn’t have a single plugin on it…and yet it sounds incredible. What happened?
I mixed before I recorded.
It’s not simply “getting it right at the source.” It’s a bit more than that. It’s making the recorded signal sound like you want it to sound in the mix. Who cares if you can get a huge acoustic guitar sound if it really needs to be fairly thin and bright in the mix? Exactly.
Try mixing before you record. While you’re setting up mics and getting levels, focus on capturing the sound you want for that song. Every time I make an effort to make the recorded tracks sound really close to how I want them to sound in the mix, I have so much more fun mixing. Not only that, my mixes turn out better.
Yes, there are plenty of things to to in the mixing phase, but don’t assume that good mixes happen during mixes. They started long before that.
2. Use a HPF for More Bass
Okay, that one sounds a little stupid, too. I’m not talking about using a high-pass filter on all your non-bass tracks (although I highly recommend doing that). I’m talking about using a HPF on your bass and kick drum tracks.
Don’t you just love the sound of 40 Hz? Yeah, me neither. And chances are your mixes doesn’t need information THAT low. Some genres call for it, but most of us don’t need that much sub bass.
I’ve recently started putting a HPF on my bass and kick drum tracks, rolling off everything below 40 Hz or so. And? Suddenly the bass feels bigger and has more punch and thump. Hmm…Getting rid of the unnecessary bass seems to make the bass sound better. Very interesting.
3. Compression Attack Times are HUGE
Chances are you’re going to compress your kick drum and bass guitar. I do, almost every time. But how much compression you use is only a part of the equation. The attack time of that compressor makes an immense difference in the sound of the bass.
If you’re in the habit of always adjusting the threshold, ratio, and output gain knobs, but you never touch the attack knob, you’re hurting yourself. Raising the attack can allow that bass to really thump. Turning down the attack can really help emphasize the “click” on the kick drum.
Finding that sweet spot with attack will improve your low end by leaps and bounds.
4. Play With Faders Before EQ Knobs
Of course you need to use EQ on your bass and kick drum tracks. Carve out some low mids, let those bass frequencies shine through. But before you get all slap-happy with EQ, make sure you’ve spent some time with the faders.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve spent 10 minutes wrestling with a bass track, trying a bunch of different EQ and compression tricks, only to realize that turning it down in the mix by 3 dB fixed all the problems I was having.
Having the right balance between your kick and bass can get you much closer to the sound you want, long before your reach for that EQ.
5. Figure out Who’s the Man
There really can only be one boss down below 150 Hz. Who’s the man in the mix? Who’s holding down the low end? Is it kick? Is it the bass? Is it some other instrument?
Figure that out, then make the other one “work around” the man.
In other words, if the kick drum really has the bass sound that you want, then EQ the bass guitar to “sit” nicely alongside the kick. This may mean that you remove some more bass frequencies from the bass to make sure the kick sounds great. That’s okay.
It can work the other way, too. Sometimes the kick drum doesn’t sound super deep. It may be rocking around 120 Hz, but there’s not much information down below that. In that instance, maybe the bass guitar should be the man, holding down the low end, and you shape the kick drum around that.
It’s all about compromise.
6. Don’t Forget Good Ol’ Fletcher-Munson
Your monitoring level can make or break the low end in your mix. If you went to school for recording, you probably learned about the Fletcher-Munson Curves. It’s a pretty dorky topic, and it doesn’t really matter if you understand it. But what you need to know is this:
Bass frequencies behave differently at different volumes. The louder you listen to music, the more bass it seems to have. Think about it. When you crank up your studio monitors, you can hear a nice, big bass sound, right? What happens when you turn ‘em down really low? You only hear the high-frequency stuff. The bass frequencies mostly disappear.
I was listening to a CD the other day. It was really good music, but the bass was simply too loud, consistently loud throughout the entire CD. When I turned it down to a nice, low volume, the bass was STILL loud. The bass balance at low volumes was pretty good, but at normal listening volumes it was overwhelming.
The take-away point? If you’re mixing at lower volumes, don’t try to crank the bass up so you can hear it. When you listen at louder volumes it will be too loud. I’m not saying mix with really loud levels; just be careful. Bass does different things at different volumes. Make sure your mix works at different volumes.
You can do it.
You can get great-sounding recordings and mixing from a home studio. It just takes a lot of work, a lot of practice. Got any bass tips for the rest of us? Questions? Leave a comment below.
6 Tips for Reigning in the Bass in Your Mix | Home Studio Corner
by Joe Gilder - Mixing, Recording
Source:Home Studio Corner
see link at end:
It’s been said that the low end of your mix is “what separates the men from the boys.” But it can be really hard to get right, right?
Every mix poses its own unique challenges, and I never mix two songs the same way. However, here are 6 tips for getting a handle on the low end in your mix. Some of these may seem odd or strange. Give ‘em a shot. They seem to work for me.
Here we go…
1. Mix Before You Record
Wait a second…mix before you record? That’s just silly. Well, hear me out.
Whenever somebody sends me a question about the low end in their mixes, their focus is almost 100% on mixing. There’s this subtle underlying assumption — that the source shouldn’t matter, that the real tone in a mix comes from mixing.
Bzzzzz!! Wrong!
For example, I’m working on a song right now that is sounding amazing. Drums, bass, acoustic guitar, electric guitars, percussion. All of it has been recorded and doesn’t have a single plugin on it…and yet it sounds incredible. What happened?
I mixed before I recorded.
It’s not simply “getting it right at the source.” It’s a bit more than that. It’s making the recorded signal sound like you want it to sound in the mix. Who cares if you can get a huge acoustic guitar sound if it really needs to be fairly thin and bright in the mix? Exactly.
Try mixing before you record. While you’re setting up mics and getting levels, focus on capturing the sound you want for that song. Every time I make an effort to make the recorded tracks sound really close to how I want them to sound in the mix, I have so much more fun mixing. Not only that, my mixes turn out better.
Yes, there are plenty of things to to in the mixing phase, but don’t assume that good mixes happen during mixes. They started long before that.
2. Use a HPF for More Bass
Okay, that one sounds a little stupid, too. I’m not talking about using a high-pass filter on all your non-bass tracks (although I highly recommend doing that). I’m talking about using a HPF on your bass and kick drum tracks.
Don’t you just love the sound of 40 Hz? Yeah, me neither. And chances are your mixes doesn’t need information THAT low. Some genres call for it, but most of us don’t need that much sub bass.
I’ve recently started putting a HPF on my bass and kick drum tracks, rolling off everything below 40 Hz or so. And? Suddenly the bass feels bigger and has more punch and thump. Hmm…Getting rid of the unnecessary bass seems to make the bass sound better. Very interesting.
3. Compression Attack Times are HUGE
Chances are you’re going to compress your kick drum and bass guitar. I do, almost every time. But how much compression you use is only a part of the equation. The attack time of that compressor makes an immense difference in the sound of the bass.
If you’re in the habit of always adjusting the threshold, ratio, and output gain knobs, but you never touch the attack knob, you’re hurting yourself. Raising the attack can allow that bass to really thump. Turning down the attack can really help emphasize the “click” on the kick drum.
Finding that sweet spot with attack will improve your low end by leaps and bounds.
4. Play With Faders Before EQ Knobs
Of course you need to use EQ on your bass and kick drum tracks. Carve out some low mids, let those bass frequencies shine through. But before you get all slap-happy with EQ, make sure you’ve spent some time with the faders.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve spent 10 minutes wrestling with a bass track, trying a bunch of different EQ and compression tricks, only to realize that turning it down in the mix by 3 dB fixed all the problems I was having.
Having the right balance between your kick and bass can get you much closer to the sound you want, long before your reach for that EQ.
5. Figure out Who’s the Man
There really can only be one boss down below 150 Hz. Who’s the man in the mix? Who’s holding down the low end? Is it kick? Is it the bass? Is it some other instrument?
Figure that out, then make the other one “work around” the man.
In other words, if the kick drum really has the bass sound that you want, then EQ the bass guitar to “sit” nicely alongside the kick. This may mean that you remove some more bass frequencies from the bass to make sure the kick sounds great. That’s okay.
It can work the other way, too. Sometimes the kick drum doesn’t sound super deep. It may be rocking around 120 Hz, but there’s not much information down below that. In that instance, maybe the bass guitar should be the man, holding down the low end, and you shape the kick drum around that.
It’s all about compromise.
6. Don’t Forget Good Ol’ Fletcher-Munson
Your monitoring level can make or break the low end in your mix. If you went to school for recording, you probably learned about the Fletcher-Munson Curves. It’s a pretty dorky topic, and it doesn’t really matter if you understand it. But what you need to know is this:
Bass frequencies behave differently at different volumes. The louder you listen to music, the more bass it seems to have. Think about it. When you crank up your studio monitors, you can hear a nice, big bass sound, right? What happens when you turn ‘em down really low? You only hear the high-frequency stuff. The bass frequencies mostly disappear.
I was listening to a CD the other day. It was really good music, but the bass was simply too loud, consistently loud throughout the entire CD. When I turned it down to a nice, low volume, the bass was STILL loud. The bass balance at low volumes was pretty good, but at normal listening volumes it was overwhelming.
The take-away point? If you’re mixing at lower volumes, don’t try to crank the bass up so you can hear it. When you listen at louder volumes it will be too loud. I’m not saying mix with really loud levels; just be careful. Bass does different things at different volumes. Make sure your mix works at different volumes.
You can do it.
You can get great-sounding recordings and mixing from a home studio. It just takes a lot of work, a lot of practice. Got any bass tips for the rest of us? Questions? Leave a comment below.
6 Tips for Reigning in the Bass in Your Mix | Home Studio Corner
Friday, January 13, 2012
The Signal Flow in a Basic recording studio
The studio tweak lives in a world of electrons, and is able to follow them through thick and thin. From the big, fat juicy voltages that make up analog signals to the tiny, rapid-fire ones and zeros of digital audio and MIDI, you need to learn to follow the path of the flow. In the good ol' analog days this was easy as there was always a cable connecting things on the outside and a signal trace inside the gear. Now it gets a little more complicated as the sequencer has virtual pathways through software mixers, effects, synths and processors. But in the end, it once again goes analog and goes to the speakers. The charts below are the basic building blocks. Inside each block there may be hundreds, even thousands of switches, but you need to get the core basic flow down first.
Full Article:
The Signal Flow in a Basic recording studio
Full Article:
The Signal Flow in a Basic recording studio
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Monday, February 7, 2011
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Monday, January 31, 2011
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