macOS 27 Golden Gate Audio Optimization Guide
Apple’s Mac platform has long been the choice of many audio engineers, musicians, and content creators. While a Mac running macOS 27 Golden Gate is a powerful system, recording and editing audio and video place unique demands on any computer. Here are steps you can take to optimize your Mac. We’ll detail specific settings you can configure to reduce problems and glitches and to gain a modest boost in performance. Sweetwater has compiled these suggestions from best practices reported by music and pro audio manufacturers and software developers across the industry. Let’s get started.
- Software: Apple silicon Native vs. Intel-based
- Turn Off Backup Apps: Time Machine, Cloud-based Storage & iCloud Drive
- Quit Unneeded Apps & Restart Your Mac
- Connect Your Audio Interface Directly to Your Mac
- Using a MacBook? Plug It In
- Turn Off Bluetooth If You Don’t Need It
- Network & Internet Connections: Ethernet & Wi-Fi
- Optimizing to Reduce Network Activity
- System Settings
- Activity Monitor: CPU Load & Memory Pressure
Software: Apple silicon Native vs. Intel-based
The most important thing you can do to get maximum performance on macOS 27 is to make sure all your third-party software is Apple silicon native.
The Intel-based Mac era is over, and if you’re running macOS 27, then you’re on a Mac with Apple silicon. However, there are still older versions of software, both apps and plugins, that are Intel-based. Most Intel-based software will run on macOS 27 acceptably well using the Rosetta emulation environment, but this won’t take advantage of all the processing power available. You’ll see a significant boost in performance when you replace an Intel-based app or plugin with the manufacturer’s newest Apple silicon native or universal binary version.
The Intel-based Apps list in macOS 27 System Settings.
macOS 27 has a feature that reveals a list of Intel-based apps on your system, those that load at startup and those that you have launched recently. To access this list, go to System Settings > General > About > macOS > Intel-based Apps, and click “Details.”
You can also find a more detailed table by generating a System Information report.
Hold down the Ctrl key while clicking on the Apple menu in the upper left of your screen and select “System Information.” In the report, navigate to Software > Applications, and click on the “Kind” column. Look for “Intel.”
However, neither report will alert you that you have Intel-based plugins installed. For that, you’re better off visiting the support website for the manufacturer of each plugin to confirm whether they have a new version you can install that is Apple silicon native.
Sweetwater provides up-to-date information from over 200 manufacturers and developers, with links to their support websites, at our macOS 27 Golden Gate Compatibility Guide.
Updating to Apple silicon native software has another imperative: macOS 27 is the final version of macOS that will run Intel-based software. Any remaining Intel-based software on your system will not run at all when you upgrade to macOS 28 next year.
Learn more in our SweetCare guide Mac with Apple silicon vs. Intel-based Mac: What You Need to Know.
Turn Off Backup Apps: Time Machine, Cloud-based Storage & iCloud Drive
Making backups of your work, locally or in the cloud, is essential. However, when backup apps are running, they can cause glitches in recording, editing, and rendering audio and video. While you’re tracking, your system is writing large amounts of data to your drive continuously. When backup apps are running, they constantly search your hard drive for new data, which they then read off the hard drive and copy elsewhere. That’s where glitches arise.
Before you begin each session, disable all backup apps. When your session is finished, remember to turn on the backup apps again so they can secure your work with another incremental backup.
Turn Off Time Machine
Sweetwater recommends that you keep an external hard drive connected to your Mac and configure it for backups using Apple’s Time Machine. Here’s how to pause Time Machine during a session.
- Go to System Settings > General > Time Machine.
- Select your Time Machine backup disk. Click “Options.”
- Under “Backup frequency,” select “Manually.” This will pause the process.
When your session is done, change the backup frequency to “Automatically Every Hour,” and it will resume.
Learn more in our SweetCare macOS Time Machine Backup Guide.
Turn Off Dropbox, Microsoft OneDrive, Google Drive & Other Services
If you use another cloud-based file-syncing service, then you must turn it off during a session. Consult the service’s instructions.
To be on the safe side, it’s best not to save your working audio and video project files to a folder that is synced by one of these services as glitches may result.
Turn Off Cloud-based Backup Services
Likewise, if you use a third-party cloud-based backup service such as Carbonite, IDrive, or Backblaze, then you must turn it off during a session. Consult the service’s instructions. Remember to turn it back on when your session is done.
iCloud Drive
iCloud Drive, a component of Apple’s iCloud file synchronization service, requires special consideration for content creators.
Apple encourages users to subscribe to iCloud and to use it to sync and share data across multiple devices. It’s useful for your Photos, Messages, Mail, Passwords and other kinds of data.
However, if you use your Mac to record and edit audio and video, don’t enable iCloud Drive’s “Desktop & Documents Folders” feature, which constantly backs up everything written to your startup disk in those home directories.
As we’ve explained, it’s important not to record data to project folders that are being backed up to cloud storage, as this can lead to data loss while tracking, recording, and editing. As there’s no effective means of pausing iCloud once it’s configured, any data thus recorded may encounter such loss.
No matter how you choose to use iCloud, as a general principle, it’s best to record project data to an external hard drive and not your startup disk, and to have a backup strategy for those external drives.
For an in-depth look at managing your projects on external hard drives, here’s our SweetCare File Management for Music Production article.
Learn how iCloud Drive works in this Apple support article.
Quit Unneeded Apps & Restart Your Mac
The Restart dialog
The simplest, most effective thing you can do to maximize your computer’s resources is to quit all the apps you are not using. Apps you leave running take up space in memory and take away from the computing power available to your music and audio work. Apps you leave open may also run background processes or download data from the internet, and this may also interfere with recording and rendering audio and video.
Before each session, restart your Mac. Pull down the Apple menu and choose “Restart.” You’ll see a dialog that asks, “Are you sure you want to restart your computer now?” Uncheck the box next to “Reopen windows when logging in,” and then click “Restart.”
When you log back in, don’t launch apps you don’t need for your session.
Connect Your Audio Interface Directly to Your Mac
USB audio interfaces require the highest bandwidth, so they function best when connected directly to a port on your Mac, not to a USB hub or a Thunderbolt dock. Connect your other peripherals through a powered hub.
Using a MacBook? Plug It In
A MacBook with Apple silicon provides excellent performance while on the battery, but you can still get higher performance when your MacBook is plugged in to power.
Turn Off Bluetooth If You Don’t Need It
Bluetooth constantly sends signals that take up a small part of your processor’s overhead. If you aren’t using Bluetooth while working with your audio software, then go to System Settings > Bluetooth and turn it off. You can also turn off Bluetooth from the menu bar in the Command Center.
Network & Internet Connections: Ethernet & Wi-Fi
If you don’t need to have your Mac connected to the internet when using your DAW and plugins, then you will get higher performance and reduce the risk of glitches by disconnecting from the internet altogether. However, many users need to remain connected for software authentication (for example, with products that use iLok Cloud) or other reasons.
When you need a local network or internet connection while recording, you will get better performance if you use an Ethernet cable connection to your router instead of Wi-Fi. This is because Wi-Fi not only has lower bandwidth but also generates network traffic that can interfere with recording and playback. When you use an Ethernet cable connection, turn your Wi-Fi off.
MacBook computers don’t have an Ethernet port, but you can use an Ethernet-to-USB-C or Thunderbolt adapter or connect to a USB or Thunderbolt dock that has a built-in Ethernet port.
To disable Wi-Fi on your Mac:
- Go to System Settings > Wi-Fi.
- Click the button to turn it off.
You can also turn off Wi-Fi in the Menu Bar using the Wi-Fi or Control Center icons.
Optimizing to Reduce Network Activity
When you are connected to the internet, many apps and background processes constantly create network traffic that can reduce performance. We’ll discuss tips for reducing this.
Quit Web Browsers
Leaving tabs open in your web browser takes up memory and processing power. Open webpages may constantly fetch data from the internet, creating more network traffic that can interfere with recording.
Quit Email
Quit the Mail app or any other email app. They continuously check for new emails and download them, creating more network traffic.
Quit Widgets
Quit all apps and widgets such as News or Weather.
System Settings
Within System Settings, there are many controls you can adjust. Some of these are suggestions you may wish to try if you encounter problems with recording. Other settings offer slight performance gains.
Disable macOS Automatic Updates
Disabling automatic updates in System Settings.
By default, macOS updates itself automatically. This often involves downloading gigabytes of software, running processor-intensive background processes, and causing your Mac to reboot.
Updating to newer point releases, such as from macOS 27.0 to macOS 27.2, is generally a good idea. However, experience has shown that, on rare occasion, these updates introduce incompatibilities with your DAW or other software.
macOS frequently installs small but important system data files and security updates in the background without notifying you. It’s possible that these updates can cause glitches if you’re recording while your system is installing a patch.
If you want control over this, then you can configure your Mac not to update automatically. Then, while you aren’t in the middle of a project, you can decide when it’s convenient to install updates.
To disable automatic updates:
- Go to System Settings > General > Software Update.
- Click the information icon next to “Automatic Updates.”
The options are:
- Download new updates when available
- Install macOS updates
- Install system data files and security updates
Click the buttons to turn off the options then click “Done.”
You can go back to Software Update anytime and click “Check for Update.” macOS will notify you what updates are available, and you can decide whether to install them at that time.
Sleep & Wake Settings
Macs are optimized to conserve battery life and energy usage by reducing processor power and putting disks to sleep when not in use. For audio and video, you can maximize performance by disabling these features.
For MacBook
- Go to System Settings > Battery > Options.
- Make sure Low Power Mode is off by setting to “Never.”
- Turn off “Prevent automatic sleeping on power adapter when the display is off.”
For Desktop Mac
Go to System Settings > Energy.
- Make sure Low Power Mode is off.
- Turn on “Prevent automatic sleeping when the display is off.”
- Turn off “Put hard disk to sleep when possible.”
Learn more in the Apple support article Set sleep and wake settings for your Mac.
Disable Unused Network Adapters
Your Mac may be configured with software network interfaces on USB or Thunderbolt that you don’t use. They may interfere with data transmitted on those buses, so it’s best to disable them.
Don’t disable the interfaces that you are currently using for Ethernet and Wi-Fi.
- Go to System Settings > Network.
- Click on a network interface you don’t use (for example, Thunderbolt Bridge).
- In the next pane, click “Make Inactive” or “Delete Service.”
- Repeat for any additional interfaces.
Firewall
IMPORTANT! You may decide to disable the Firewall on your Mac when you are on your home network behind your router, but for security reasons, you should enable the Firewall when you travel with your Mac and connect to other networks.
Some audio interface manufacturers recommend that you disable the Firewall on your Mac because it can create network activity that may cause dropouts in audio recording and playback. Some users believe it’s better to configure your studio’s router to perform all firewall functions instead.
However, your Mac’s Firewall serves an important purpose, protecting your system from network intrusion. We recommend that you leave your Mac Firewall turned on.
If you encounter audio dropouts, then disabling your Mac Firewall is a troubleshooting step you can try.
With the Firewall enabled, you have many options for disabling or enabling specific kinds of network connections.
Learn more in the Apple support article Change Firewall settings on Mac.
Location Services
Certain apps continuously broadcast your location to services on the internet. Apart from privacy concerns, this additional network traffic may interfere with recording.
You can turn off Location Services altogether during a session to prevent this network traffic. You can also disable Location Services for individual apps.
Go to System Services > Privacy & Security > Location Services. Across from “Location Services,” click the large button to turn off the feature globally, for all apps.
If you don’t wish to disable the entire service, then you can disable Location Services for each app individually.
Under “System Services,” click “Details” to configure specific settings for the services that macOS uses.
Note that turning off Location Services will prevent your Mac from being tracked in the Find My app. For more information, see Apple support: Set up the Find My app to locate a missing Mac, device or item.
Learn more in the Apple support article Manage Location Services settings.
Analytics & Improvements
Apple collects diagnostic and usage data while you use your Mac. When you first use a service, you are prompted for permission for Apple to upload this data or send it to third parties.
For example, if you enable “Improve Siri & Apple Intelligence,” then you grant Apple the right to upload, collect, and use your text and audio interactions with Siri, Dictation, and Translate, submitted anonymously, to help improve the accuracy of their services.
If you experience a crash, then you may see a “Share with app developers” dialog asking permission to send a crash log to the developer.
As these create network traffic, you may wish to turn off each option.
- Go to System Settings > Privacy & Security > Analytics & Improvements.
- Turn off the individual options.
Login Items & Extensions
Software services that load automatically when you log in to your Mac run continuously in the background and perform various functions that involve creating network traffic while they take up small amounts of memory and processing power. You can disable items individually.
Go to System Settings > General > Login Items & Extensions.
You’ll see three sections.
Open at Login
You can add or delete any app.
Background App Activity
Many apps you install come with hidden background processes that run continuously and do things including sync data and download updates. Disable the ones you don’t need. You may wish to turn these back on when you are not working on a project.
Extensions
Extensions add extra functionality across your Mac in contextual menus and the like, but some also run in the background. Turn off the ones you don’t need during a project.
System Sounds & Notifications
While this has little to do with increasing performance, you don’t want to be distracted by your Mac while working in your DAW.
System Sounds
- Go to System Settings > Sound.
- Turn Alert Volume all the way down. Turn off “Play user interface sound effects” and “Play feedback when volume is changed.”
Application Notifications
macOS 27 has a vast system of notifications using badges, sounds, and banners on your desktop and in the Notification Center for all kinds of apps and events. You have a great deal of specificity in limiting them or turning them off for each app.
Go to System Settings > Notifications > Application Notifications.
You’ll see a list of apps. Click on each entry and turn off the notification that you don’t wish to see.
Learn more in the Apple Support article Change Notifications settings on Mac.
Activity Monitor: CPU Load & Memory Pressure
The macOS Activity Monitor.
Most DAWs have a “performance monitor” or “CPU overload indicator” to alert you when your session overwhelms your hardware, causing hang-ups, glitches, or noise. However, this only reports on resources within your DAW.
Apple provides the Activity Monitor app, which gives a real-time display of all running apps and processes across your entire Mac. Activity Monitor displays how much of your computer’s resources are being used in five categories: CPU, Memory, Energy, Disk, and Network.
It’s useful to check Activity Monitor while you are running your DAW to observe stresses on your system. You can use this to identify apps and processes that are taking up resources so you can quit or disable them.
Go to Applications > Utilities > Activity Monitor.
Under the CPU tab, click on the “% CPU” column. The list will sort according to the processes using the most CPU power. The CPU Load graph indicates the total amount of resources being used.
Under the Memory tab, click the “Memory” column to sort by processes that use the most memory. The Memory Pressure graph indicates how much memory is in use. If the apps you are running exceed the amount of memory you have, then a value appears in the Swap Used field, indicating that your system must write data to and from the startup disk to make up for the shortfall in memory. This indicates that your system is currently overburdened.
Learn more in the Apple support article Activity Monitor User Guide.
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