I’ve been to many large-scale EDM shows in the last few years with L-Acoustics or D&B systems that are too top end-heavy.
Dance music doesn’t need to be as sizzly and bright especially when punters are in front of a PA for 6-8 hours. So many get fatigued and it’s unnecessary. Please help me make sense of this.
I quite enjoy the tinkering of squeezing out every ounce of performance from a PC. Through trial and error and research I have put together this list of settings. I'm sure it's by no means exhaustive but it might be helpful for people struggling with performance and hopefully people can share more settings that I have missed
Windows OS & System Settings
AtlasOS Playbook Deployment (ONLY DO IF YOU KNOW WHAT YOUR DOING)
Fresh Windows Install > AME Wizard > Atlas Playbook
Removes Windows telemetry, Defender, and numerous background services to achieve minimal DPC latency. This ensures hardware resources are entirely committed to the video engine, eliminating OS interference and overhead.
General tweak
OR
Chris Titus Tech Windows Utility (Much “Safer”)
PowerShell (Admin) > irm christitus.com/win | iex > Tweaks
Automates the removal of Telemetry, Feedback Hub, and Location services. Disabling these background trackers prevents periodic hardware polling, which often results in micro-stutters during high-bitrate video encoding sessions.
General tweak
Restrict Background Application Activity
Windows Settings > Apps > Installed apps > [App] > Advanced options
Adjusting permissions to "Never" for non-critical utilities ensures that background processes don't unexpectedly consume system resources or trigger CPU spikes during a broadcast.
General tweak
Ultimate Performance Power Plan
Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Power Options
Prevents the CPU from downclocking or parking cores during idle moments, ensuring immediate processing power when video load spikes.
General tweak
USB Selective Suspend
Control Panel > Power Options > Change plan settings > Change advanced power settings > USB settings
Prevents Windows from cutting power to capture cards, audio interfaces, or control surfaces that the OS incorrectly assumes are idle.
General tweak
Core Isolation / Memory Integrity (VBS)
Windows Security > Device Security > Core isolation details
Virtualization-based security introduces severe DPC latency, which directly causes audio crackling, dropouts, and micro-stutters in real-time AV processing.
General tweak
Hardware-Accelerated GPU Scheduling (HAGS)
Windows Settings > System > Display > Graphics > Default graphics settings
Changes how VRAM is managed. For Windows 11 with modern NVIDIA cards (RTX 30/40 series), having this ON is recommended to improve capture card and NDI performance.
VMIX specific
Game Mode
Windows Settings > Gaming > Game Mode
Tells Windows to prioritize the foreground application and pause background updates/installations.
General tweak
Fast Startup
Control Panel > Power Options > Choose what the power buttons do
Fast Startup behaves like a partial hibernation, which can cause driver states (especially audio and network drivers) to load incorrectly upon booting up.
General tweak
Disable System Sounds
Control Panel > Sound > Sounds tab
Prevents Windows notification chimes (dings, errors) from accidentally bleeding into the production audio mix over the default playback device.
General tweak
Graphics Performance Preference
Windows Settings > System > Display > Graphics
Forces the OS to assign vMix64.exe to the dedicated NVIDIA GPU rather than defaulting to integrated CPU graphics to save power.
VMIX specific
Network & Interface Settings
Interrupt Moderation
Device Manager > Network Adapters > [Your NIC] > Properties > Advanced
Prevents the network card from batching packets together to save CPU cycles. Batching creates jitter, which is fatal for real-time video protocols like NDI or SRT.
VMIX specific
Energy Efficient Ethernet (Green Ethernet)
Device Manager > Network Adapters > [Your NIC] > Properties > Advanced
Stops the network switch and NIC from dropping link speeds during low-traffic moments, preventing network dropouts when bandwidth suddenly spikes.
General tweak
Flow Control
Device Manager > Network Adapters > [Your NIC] > Properties > Advanced
Setting Rx & Tx Enabled prevents packet loss by allowing the network switch and the PC to coordinate transmission speeds, crucial for NDI multi-camera setups.
VMIX specific
Disable IPv6
Control Panel > Network and Internet > Network Connections > [Your NIC] > Properties
Prevents background discovery traffic and potential routing conflicts on local production networks strictly using IPv4 for NDI/Dante.
General tweak
NVIDIA Control Panel Settings
Power Management Mode
NVIDIA Control Panel > Manage 3D Settings > Global Settings
Setting to "Prefer maximum performance" forces the GPU clock to stay high at all times, preventing render time spikes when cutting from a simple graphic to a complex multi-view.
General tweak
Low Latency Mode
NVIDIA Control Panel > Manage 3D Settings > Program Settings (vMix64.exe)
Setting to "Ultra" minimizes the frame queue between the CPU and the GPU, directly lowering the render time (ms) in vMix.
VMIX specific
Threaded Optimization
NVIDIA Control Panel > Manage 3D Settings > Program Settings (vMix64.exe)
Set to "Off" or "Auto". Forcing it on can conflict with vMix’s own internal multi-threading engine, causing CPU bottlenecks.
VMIX specific
Vertical Sync
NVIDIA Control Panel > Manage 3D Settings > Program Settings (vMix64.exe)
Set to "Off" or "Use the 3D application setting" to ensure vMix controls the frame pacing rather than the NVIDIA driver attempting to sync with the physical monitor refresh rate.
VMIX specific
OpenGL GDI Compatibility
NVIDIA Control Panel > Manage 3D Settings > Program Settings (vMix64.exe)
Set to "Prefer Performance" to optimize how older plugins or specific capture hardware interact with the GPU rendering pipeline.
VMIX specific
BIOS / UEFI Settings
C-States & Intel SpeedStep / AMD Cool'n'Quiet
System BIOS > Advanced CPU Configuration
Disables power-saving states at the motherboard level, locking the CPU to its base or boost clock so it never sleeps during a show.
General tweak
Resizable BAR (Smart Access Memory)
System BIOS > Advanced / PCIe Settings
Allows the CPU to access the entire GPU VRAM pool at once rather than in small chunks, massively improving performance for high-resolution textures and multi-input vMix sessions.
VMIX specific
XMP / EXPO Memory Profiles
System BIOS > Memory Settings
Ensures your RAM is running at its advertised speed and timings rather than the slow default fallback speed, critical for overall system throughput.
General tweak
vMix Application Settings
High Input Performance Mode
vMix Settings > Display
Optimizes how inputs are drawn to the GPU memory. Essential when running dozens of inputs, high-resolution graphics, or multiple 4K sources.
VMIX spicific
Hardware Encoder (NVENC)
vMix Settings > Streaming / Recording
Offloads the heavy H.264/HEVC compression workloads directly to the dedicated silicon on the NVIDIA GPU, freeing up the CPU for system stability.
VMIX specific
Output Frame Rate and Resolution Matching
vMix Settings > Display > Master Frame Rate
Ensures the master session format matches the majority of your camera inputs and your final broadcast output, avoiding massive CPU/GPU strain from scaling and framerate conversion.
VMIX specific
Audio Sample Rate Matching
vMix Settings > Audio AND Windows Sound Control Panel
Setting all inputs, outputs, and the vMix master session to exactly 48000Hz (48kHz) 24-bit. Prevents the audio engine from doing real-time sample rate conversions, which causes audio drift and high CPU usage.
Genral tweak
Low Latency Capture
vMix Input Settings (Gear icon on camera input) > General
Bypasses internal buffer delays for hardware capture cards (Magewell, Blackmagic, AJA) to achieve the fastest glass-to-screen time possible.
VMIX spicific
External Output Low Latency
vMix Settings > External Output > External [Gear Icon]
Checking "Low Latency" strips the output buffer to the bare minimum for PCIe hardware outputs (like Blackmagic DeckLink or AJA cards). This is mandatory for IMAG routing to projectors or LED processors, keeping the glass-to-screen delay tight enough to avoid visual echo and lip-sync issues for the live in-room audience.
VMIX specific