Here's some more tips i thought of:
Studio Setup:
1. Get seperate stands for your monitors. Having them too close together or sitting on your desk causes unwanted harmonics. try to keep them at least 6 feet apart and not to close. point them so that the "sweet spot" is pretty much at your head level.
2. roomsize permitting, put in a couch or bed on the opposite end of the studio as a basstrap. also, you can get the big cardboard rolls that carpet comes on and in combination with a sheet of well, carpet, wrapped around you can stick them in the corners to further reduce unwanted bass resonance.
3. eliminate clutter. a clean organized studio helps in the writing process and also keeps stuff from rattling (breaks and dnb producers know about rattling alright
)
4. keep your power cables and audio cables seperate to eliminate uneccessary humming or noise and make sure that all your power sockets are grounded. get a power conditioner (like a furman or rackrider), they're only 50quid and well worth the investment.
in case of a thunderstorm, ESPECIALLY HERE IN TEXAS, turn off your stuff and unplug everything....i've neglected this once and had a laptop that ended up picking up mexican radio stations instead of recording sound due to lightning.
5. try to keep food and drinks outta the studio and keep your gear clean. dust can get into your mixer faders and create unwanted crackling.
6. don't smoke in your studio, unless you absolutely can't do without. nicotine deposits on chipsockets and can detiorate electrical connections....plus smoking can give you a serious headache after a while
Writing/Producing/Mastering:
1. Save your ears. It's fun to turn it up, but you don't want to wear out your ears when you spend some time working on tunes.
2. When you work on a track you'll get to hear the same thing about a thousand times or more, so take a break, go for a walk or excercise. it really fuels the creative process to clear your head.
3. Mastering does not fix everything. it's the last thing you'll do before turning the track in for vinyl or else. don't spend more than 30 minutes mastering and don't blast the crap outta your system either. a well mastered track should be crystal clear at very low volumes.
These are just some suggestions. Everyone's got their own way of working on tracks, of course. These are just things that have really helped me over the years.
cheers