diff --git a/libs/backends/alsa/alsa_audiobackend.cc b/libs/backends/alsa/alsa_audiobackend.cc
index 9f6c1f7c4c..67794bef9d 100644
--- a/libs/backends/alsa/alsa_audiobackend.cc
+++ b/libs/backends/alsa/alsa_audiobackend.cc
@@ -1385,7 +1385,7 @@ AlsaAudioBackend::midi_device_thread ()
 bool
 AlsaAudioBackend::listen_for_midi_device_changes ()
 {
-	if (pthread_create (&_midi_device_thread_id, NULL, _midi_device_thread, this)) {
+	if (pbd_pthread_create (PBD_RT_STACKSIZE_HELP, &_midi_device_thread_id, _midi_device_thread, this)) {
 		return false;
 	}
 	return true;
diff --git a/libs/backends/coreaudio/coreaudio_backend.cc b/libs/backends/coreaudio/coreaudio_backend.cc
index bed80696b3..a81b7d82d6 100644
--- a/libs/backends/coreaudio/coreaudio_backend.cc
+++ b/libs/backends/coreaudio/coreaudio_backend.cc
@@ -605,7 +605,7 @@ CoreAudioBackend::_start (bool for_latency_measurement)
 		return PortReconnectError;
 	}
 
-	if (pthread_create (&_freeewheel_thread, NULL, pthread_freewheel, this))
+	if (pbd_pthread_create (PBD_RT_STACKSIZE_PROC, &_freeewheel_thread, pthread_freewheel, this))
 	{
 		PBD::error << _("CoreAudioBackend: failed to create process thread.") << endmsg;
 		delete _pcmio; _pcmio = 0;
diff --git a/libs/backends/portaudio/portaudio_backend.cc b/libs/backends/portaudio/portaudio_backend.cc
index 3295bb0e79..c8268a5045 100644
--- a/libs/backends/portaudio/portaudio_backend.cc
+++ b/libs/backends/portaudio/portaudio_backend.cc
@@ -856,7 +856,7 @@ static void* freewheel_thread(void* arg)
 bool
 PortAudioBackend::start_freewheel_process_thread ()
 {
-	if (pthread_create(&_pthread_freewheel, NULL, freewheel_thread, this)) {
+	if (pbd_pthread_create (PBD_RT_STACKSIZE_PROC, &_pthread_freewheel, freewheel_thread, this)) {
 		DEBUG_AUDIO("Failed to create main audio thread\n");
 		return false;
 	}