There’s a version of studio improvement that costs thousands of dollars and takes weeks to set up. And then there’s this, a collection of small, cheap, mostly unglamorous tweaks that quietly give you back hours of creative time over the course of a year.
Brian Funk, musician, producer, and Ableton Certified Trainer, put together a video (see below) walking through exactly that kind of setup.
No gear upgrades, no acoustic treatment overhaul, just practical friction-reducers that make it easier to get started and stay in the flow. Worth 10 minutes of your time: Studio Setup Tips to Save Time and Make More Music.
Here’s a rundown of what he covers.
Sort Out the Physical Space First
Before you even open your DAW, there are a handful of physical studio habits that pay dividends every single session.
Power — Brian uses Siri-enabled smart outlets connected to power strips so his entire studio turns on with a single voice command. It sounds minor until you realise how often the hassle of crawling around switching things on is enough to make you not bother. Removing that barrier matters more than it probably should.
Cables — Velcro cable ties, wall-mounted hooks (he uses bicycle hooks from a hardware store), and a cable organiser sleeve to keep floor runs tidy. All of it is cheap and available online or at any hardware store. The payoff is that you can find what you need when you need it, rather than untangling a mess every time.
Labels — A label maker is Brian’s pick for the nerdiest thing he’s genuinely excited about, and he’s not wrong to be. Labels on interface inputs, patch bay jacks, MIDI controller buttons, and cable ends mean you never waste time tracing wires or trying to remember what’s plugged where. If you have a patch bay and you’re not labelling it, you’re making life harder than it needs to be.
A headlamp — Unglamorous, completely useful. For anything behind a desk or under equipment, pointing your head at it beats squinting with a phone torch.
Quick release mic stand — Brian uses a stand that lets you pull a mic clip off and swap another on in seconds. The practical effect is that you’re more likely to try a different microphone if it doesn’t cost you two minutes of searching for the right clip. Friction determines behaviour more than intention does.
A studio map — He keeps a simple spreadsheet documenting every audio connection in the studio, plus a printed label on the patch bay showing what’s plugged into every jack. If you haven’t seen your patch bay in a month, you’ll thank yourself for having this. If you change anything, you just update the document.
Paintbrush — Ideal for dusting synth knobs, MIDI controller gaps, and anywhere a cloth can’t reach. Cheap and effective.
Plants and toys — Brian makes a light point here that’s worth taking seriously. A few plants and something playful in the room are small reminders that you’re there to play music, not grind through it.
Inside the DAW
Brian uses Ableton Live, but most of what he covers here translates directly to any modern DAW.
Name your inputs and outputs — In Ableton’s preferences, you can label every input and output on your interface. Brian names each one — which microphone is connected, where each output is routed. When you’re setting up a track, you know immediately what you’re working with instead of guessing.
Session templates — He has templates set up for recurring situations, including weekly band practice. Open the template and everything is already there — tracks armed, effects loaded, inputs labelled, rough mix in place. Hit record and go. If you have any kind of regular recording situation, a template is one of the highest-return things you can set up.
Hardware presets — External instruments and guitar pedals saved as presets and stored in a dedicated collection. Drop a preset on a track and you’re playing the hardware immediately. No routing, no setup, no time lost.
Default track devices — Brian saves a channel strip as the default for both audio and MIDI tracks — high and low pass filters, a compressor, some saturation, and a volume fader for automation. Every new track he creates already has it loaded. He estimates it saves 10 to 15 seconds per track, which adds up fast across a session.
To set this up in Ableton: get your track how you want it, then right-click the title bar and select “Save as Default Audio Track” or “Save as Default MIDI Track.” Done.
The Cumulative Effect
None of this is exciting in isolation. A label maker, a headlamp, a cable sleeve, hardly the stuff of studio dreams. But Brian’s point is a good one: save a few minutes per session, across a full year of making music, and you’ve quietly earned back hours of time that would otherwise go to small annoying tasks.
The goal isn’t a perfect studio. It’s a studio that gets out of your way so you can stay in the creative zone.
Watch the full video either above or go here: Studio Setup Tips to Save Time and Make More Music
