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.

Home Studio - Basic Tips to Setup a Home Studio

Thanks to advance technology, including music production software more musicians could setup their own home studio.This article will provide the basic tips for you and your music, based on a low budget and needs.

What Equipment Do You Need For The First Start?

If you are going to setup your studio, keep in mind to choose a high-performance computer with a big RAM and a lot of memory space. Recording audio needs a huge memory space. For recording purposes, running other heavy applications could hamper the computer. I prefer to use a desktop Mac, but a Window PC is also good to make your recording a breeze.

Microphone

To get the best sound quality, never compromise with the quality of the microphone. You have to invest for a good quality microphone. Small diaphragm microphones are quite suitable for recording guitar/bass amps and snare drum/toms/hand percussion.Of course, it is much better to have a large-diaphragm condenser microphone. The better quality microphone you can afford, the better the quality of the sound you can capture for your music recording.

Speakers or headphones

A good pair of headphones or a set of studio monitor speakers is important to check out the quality of the music. Good quality speakers or headphones can pick up any disturbances and edit them out.

Audio Interface

An audio interface will provide you with input/output channels. To connect it to your acoustic instruments, microphone, speakers/headphones, you need to use one that is compatible with your computer operating system.

Mixers

For a better control over the wide range of sounds of variety of instruments such as drums and keyboard,a sound card or an audio interface is not enough.

To record more than eight tracks at once, you need a big eight-bus mixer that has a power to handle up to 24 signals going in and eight sub mixes going out to the eight inputs on the computer audio interface channels.

For recording less than eight channels at once, you can use a pre eight-channel microphone with direct outputs on eight channels.

If this too expensive, you can try a mixer with eight microphone inputs that have 'insert' in each of its microphone channels. You can use these inserts as an unbalanced "send" to the inputs of the recorder or audio interface.

Music Production Software

Wide ranges of packages that include Logic Pro, Cakewalk, and Cool Edit allow you to record, transfer and mix tracks.

Now, you are able to setup your home studio that will get you recording a professional breeze.

Grace is a graduated musician and music arranger. Her article she shares hopefully can help all aspiring musician to setup a home studio and successfully learn about the process of music production method. http://www.promusicproducer.com