3 Audio Recording Tips When Using Windows
Maybe this has happened to you. You get ready to start a major recording project and nothing is working right. Maybe you have trouble getting your hardware to work. Maybe the computer is running slow for some reason. You wind up spending most of your recording session troubleshooting issues and fixing problems. Nothing can be more frustrating and nothing can kill your creativity more than troubleshooting computer issues. The video above will show you three audio recording tips that will help you avoid this situation.
Mac computers are not immune to this problem either. As long as you deal with external hardware and as long as you are dealing with programs that have a massive amount of plugins, trouble can happen at any time. Usually at the most inconvenient times.
If you are using windows then there are three simple audio recording tips that you can use before you start your recording software. This approach will help you cut down on troubleshooting. These audio recording tips should, for the most part, eliminate any issues with your operating system outside of complete hardware failure. So here they are
Tip One, Disconnect From The Internet
This one is a no brainer. Before you start a major recording session disconnect from the internet. If you need a computer connected to the internet try to use a different machine. Many background system processes use the internet. If you are connected to the internet these processes will eat up valuable system resources. Ram, CPU cycles, and hard drive access will all be cut down simply by disconnecting.
It is frustrating to try to figure out why your recording platform is not working the way it should only to discover that Microsoft has been updating windows in the background, or maybe a third-party program is downloading an update and now it seeks your permission to install it. This can all be avoided by disconnecting.
Tip Two, Shut Down Apps That Are Running In The Background
Another thing you can do to avoid issues is shut down any app that you don’t need that may be running in the background. For example, You don’t need the google chrome crash handler running in the background. Simply shut these apps down. Don’t be surprised to find anywhere between 120 to 200 apps and services running in the background and eating up precious system resources. This can really slow down your computer.
Don’t worry, you are not uninstalling these apps and you are not ruining your computer. They will come back on simply by rebooting your computer. You can use task manager to shut these apps down. The video above will show you how to do this in more detail.
Tip Three, Make Sure Windows sees your Hardware
Maybe your DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) does not see your audio interface or other recording hardware. The first thing you want to do is to make sure that the Windows operating system sees your hardware. This is done through the device manager. Make sure you have the most current drivers for your hardware. The device manager will provide a list of hardware that the operating system sees. If it is not listed in there then your recording software won’t see it either. Simply look under audio in device manager to see if your hardware is listed.
Do these three steps before you start your DAW application and you will have a more stable recording environment. It only takes a minute to do this and it is pretty easy to take these steps and make them a habit. For more details on how to do this watch the video above. It is my that hope these audio recording tips are useful to you.
