friend wants to know: mixers: why?
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Posted on Jan 17, 2007 07:12 pm
fortymile
Member Since: Jan 18, 2003
i truly forget. i usually just babble something about how they contain preamps and that that's important. but my friend has an external soundcard and he doesn't believe he needs a mixer. he is asking me quite frequently now about how important they are and why it's so important to have one.
can someone explain this? i've asked the question before, years ago, when i was buying one. but i just take them for granted now.
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Jan 17, 2007 07:33 pm Many times it's just for convenience...somebody like Noize, who has a billion and a half synths, sound modules and other such external gear it simply makes it easier to record things without plugging and unplugging things all the time, just turn up the faders of the gear you need.
Myself, while now downsizing, will be working without one, since I always only record myself over a previous track of myself, I have no need for a mixer.
The preamps are handy, the routing options are handy, but in some situations, particularly small hobby studios, they are not always necessary.
Jan 17, 2007 08:15 pm ah yes routing. that's the big one.
i can't even get a straight answer out of him as to whether his soundcard has a preamp in it. i dont think any of them do, but i dont know if externals do. he says that since he goes line out from his guitar amp he doesnt need a preamp. or if he were going to use a POD, that functions as a preamp too. still, it seems like an outboard preamp is somehow a good idea. for some reason.
TadpuiI am not a crook's headMember
Since: Mar 14, 2003
Jan 17, 2007 08:18 pm For me, its the ability to get several good quality preamps in one box without the expense of purchasing separate preamps.
Also it comes in handy for monitoring since I can route the output of my sound card to one of the stereo channels on my mixer and monitor from there.
Like dB says if you have any outboard gear, a mixer makes it so much easier to integrate it into your signal chain. They tend to come with inserts and aux sends so you can either route 100% of your signal thru external gear or blend the dry and wet signals with the twist of a knob.
Plus all of the cool kids have mixers and I want to fit in. :)
BeerHunterwww.TheLondonProject.caMember
Since: Feb 07, 2005
Jan 17, 2007 08:53 pm I use a mixer to combine several output channels before it hits the PA. I have no use for it inbound. I use my audio app and the m-audio mixer for the rest.
RigsbyUltra MagnusMember
Since: Nov 13, 2004
Jan 18, 2007 05:58 am Yeah, mixers are necessary for when you have lots of outputs from your recording device and you mix to an external CD recorder etc.
The preamps are also handy of course.
Also, like dB said, they're handy for routing lots of different things to a small amount of inputs.
Obviously in analogue recording they're essential, but with computer recording you need them less.
I have three - one i use for live stuff, one i don't really use anymore as it was 16 channel, took up too much space and i only tend to use four or five inputs at once, which is covered by my audio interface (it has eight, four of them are mic ins). The other is a little mixer, which i use for routing a few things to my interface (MD, noise-radio, synths etc) and for DIing bass, which i really like it for.
Jan 18, 2007 08:22 am And to answer a small part of one of the questions asked, many professional soundcards come with preamps of some sort: I have a little two-input USB soundcard with phantom power! The quality of the preamps, however, is a completely different question :D
cooloFrisco's Most UnderratedMember
Since: Jan 28, 2003
Jan 18, 2007 01:09 pm I use my mixer when recording to mix the tracks that are already recorded and exist in my multitrack software with the track that is currently being recorded (usually vocals) in the headphones. Mic gets one input into the mixer, the main mix from the computer gets one input into the mixer, and I can easily change the levels so the person recording can hear their own voice at the proper level in their headphones.
Jan 18, 2007 04:31 pm wow coolo. how? i'd like to be able to run an in from the main mix into the mixer so i could artificially boost the backing track's levels. currently, i have it set up so that my behringer 4 track has the main mix coming into it through RCA cables, which is not the same thing as giving it separate tracks in the mixer. i don't have control over the backing track's volume independently of the mic input. nor do i know how to set that up: anything coming from the computer has the voice already mixed in, as its all coming from the soundcard.
HuePinnipedal Czar (: 3= Member
Since: Apr 11, 2004
Jan 18, 2007 04:52 pm It's done by routing the output of the card, back into a coupl'a mixer channels, then outputing those channels to a different bus for monitoring .
Y'a might need a bigger boat .
Sorry, if I stepped on any toes by answering forty .
TadpuiI am not a crook's headMember
Since: Mar 14, 2003
Jan 18, 2007 05:07 pm Yeah I do that same thing with my little MG 10/2. Its a single-bus mixer so you have to get a little creative. I plug a mic into channel 1, plug a cable to the first click in the insert for channel 1 so it acts as a direct out. Send that direct out to an input on my sound card. Now the main bus is still free since the direct out interrupted the signal before it got to the mixer's bus.
So I can route the outputs of my sound card back to channel 7/8 (a stereo line-level input) and monitor from the headphone out. Now I can use the level knobs for channel 1 to adjust how loud my dry mic'd signal is, and I can use the level for channel 7/8 to adjust how loud the mix is.
cooloFrisco's Most UnderratedMember
Since: Jan 28, 2003
Jan 18, 2007 07:15 pm Forty, I have a little berry eurorack mixer and a delta 66. I send the mic into a dedicated preamp and the preamp is then routed to in 1 on the delta. then outs 1 and 2 on the delta are the main output of the mutlitracker and this stereo pair go into one channel of the mixer. Out 3 is routed as in 1 from the delta software mixer, and is sent to another channel on the mixer. So i only have two things going into the mixer, the overall backing track, and the the track currently being recorded (usually vocals as I mentioned before). The output of the mixer goes into the headphones so you can adjust each channel to get a good mix of the vocals and the backing tracks.
I don't think it will work with my mixer if I had to use it for preamps too....
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
Jan 18, 2007 09:05 pm forty, I'll give you an example of how I might use my desk to its fullest. Mine is a 32 channel 8 buss desk with 8 channels of aux sends and 24 channels pre amped. So my routing capability is huge. I will generally use the aux sends to tailer the headphone mix when recording live musicians here as I can route them to just about any destination and back. The aux returns have 4 channels that can be routed back into the main mix or any of the busses. Every thing has insert points including the busses. When I am working alone I will use the Aux channels to route to an outboard FX processor or whatever and then back in and can do that without the audio leaving its assigned channels strip. Or I can do multiple routing by sending an aux out to one processor and routing those same channels out through a buss to another processor and then mix the two back in to route out another buss to be recorded. The biggest benefit is being able to have outboard synths playing, software synths playing and still send a guitars or whatever to the mix via the busses while still feeding back 8 channels of separate audio into the desk while recording new tracks.
My set up is probably bigger then most home recordist's would need unless they have the outboard gear like I use. Or need the huge routing options.
One other benefit I have with the bigger desk like that is using 2 computers to playback software synths and samplers. I will link the old one via midi just so it plays back software synths I don't have on the main PC and then I can route 4 channels out of the Delta, through the desk and into the mix on the main PC.
I can give ya more detail if you like forty. Just ask.
