Studio Mixers - Why You May Or May Not Need Them

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Most people who have seen those large square pieces of hardware with all the knobs on them have probably wondered what it is and what it does. Those things are called studio mixers. Studio mixers are like the hand of the potter that makes the vase. While instruments such as the guitars, drums, bass, etc. are the clay, the mixer is what puts them together and shapes them to become something beautiful. With it, you can add effects to certain sound channels, position the instruments where you want them in the mix and equalize the sound in a way that would be considered music.

There are three different kinds of studio mixers:

1. Analog mixer - this does not convert the music that it is recording into a digital file. This is the original type of studio mixers and is still considered by a lot of sound engineers to be of superior and authentic quality to that of the newer types. The sound comes in and out with no digital enhancement.

2. Digital mixer - this accepts both digital and analog, and can provide effects that the analog mixer does not have. The music comes in as analog data, and the sound engineer may edit it before it comes out again as an analog sound wave that has been digitally enhanced.

3. A new type of analog mixer with a USB and Firewire feature added - this is just like the original analog mixers in it that the signal path is still analog in nature, and it may still have an analog output. The only difference is because of the added USB and Firewire feature, one can choose to make a certain track, or even the master mix, into a digital file that may be stored in the computer.

But while studio mixers are certainly important when you have your own studio, it is in no way absolutely necessary. One can opt not to have any mixers if they already have a very fast computer and are planning to use a lot of virtual instruments in the first place. Also, if the studio owner will be using real instruments but they are small in number, they can also opt not to have any mixers in their studio.

For the studio owner with a budget, they may need some studio mixers to enhance basic sound cards that are limited in their input and output. Also, studios that use a lot of instruments, especially ones that are synth or MIDI in nature, may also really need to have a number of mixers

Feel free to read more about studio mixers and DJ Mixers at Music Mixer.