Home Recording Studio Guide Part V: Getting to Know the Mixer

Just as a car needs all of it's parts to run, a home production studio or recording studio needs all of the essentials to function properly. One of the greatest tools a producer has at his/her disposal is the mixing board (or mixer). This can be Analog (that you can physically touch) or Digital (maintained in your recording software). Either way, they function exactly the same. In this article, we'll get down to business and learn the multiple parts of the mixer and how to use it properly.

One: Understanding the Mixer

The channel strip and busing (routing) are two things that every mixer has in common. In order to use a mixer properly you'll need to fully understand both of these concepts and when they're appropriate to use. I can't stress how important it is that you read all about a mixer and experiment to the fullest extent to the word before you actually start your serious recording process. It'll save you a lot of time and in the end, you'll be glad you took the extra step to actually fully understand this mechanism. If you don't, you'll be left flustered and disoriented by the vast number of controls the mixing board has to offer, right in the middle of the recording process (or at least this is a possibility). Not good.

Two: Channel Strip

The mixer itself is made up of various different sliders (or pots as they're sometimes called) that control the amplitude of a certain track. If this sounds complicated it's really not. The Channel strip acts as a volume control, an equalizer, and many other things. It's important to understand that the channel strip controls the level of the INPUT of the instrument, not the output. Confusing these two will result in feedback loops, unwanted distortion and more problems. the INPUT level is the level before the instrument or performance goes into the recording program, and you'll want to adjust this instead of the OUTPUT level whenever you can. This is the genuine sound in it's rawest form.

Three: Input Jack

The input jack is where you'll plug in your instrument or microphone. It's generally located on the back or the bottom front location of the mixing board. Many professional mixers are equipped with two jacks. One for instruments (the quarter inch jack). All common instrument cables are 1/4 inch jack cables. They're also equipped with an XLR jack. This is the jack with 3 small holes, for use with a professional microphone cable.

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