Mixing Boards: A Basic Overview

Years ago, you know, back when life was simple, you’d attend a dance in your local town and see the band set up, each with their own amp which they would plug in, make a couple of adjustments to and were ready for the show. But as times and technology changed, that did to and now most bands have moved to a more sophisticated means for sound quality. Now instead of each musician controlling their own sound, it’s run through a central point, called a mixing board, sound board, or just plain mixer. This article is intended for those wanting to gain some understanding of what audio mixing boards are, and what they do.

In very basic terms, a mixing board is an electronic device that has a number of input channels that receive input from different sources. These channels operate independently of one another allowing for each to be controlled or adjusted differently. As such, the overall sound coming from the individual channels can then be 'mixed together' prior to output, and thus the term mixing board. So, if you had a 6 channel mixer, you could receive input from up to 6 instruments, microphones, or some combination of each, adjusting each to create a specific, desired sound.

Controls on the board enable the person running the board to alter the input. Aspects of the sound which can be altered include such things as volume, placement of the sound within the mix, (meaning if it's set left, right or centered, in efforts to create a complete surround-sound effect,) the brightness or clarity of the sound referred to as tonality, as well as other dynamics such as echo and reverb.

For example, if one of the channels was receiving its input from a bass guitar, in most cases you would want the sound coming out of that channel to have more low-end, deeper sounds than the channel carrying the lead or rhythm guitar. Or, you may want to have an echo effect on the lead vocalist’s microphone, but either non-existent or present but to a lesser degree for the backup vocalists. Because each channel is controlled independently, this is possible.

As noted above mixing boards are used in live performances, but they are also used in various other places such as recording studios, film post-production, broadcast studios, both radio and television, by DJs and in karaoke venues . Because the needs for each of these are so diverse, mixing boards come in a range of sizes, functionality and price to meet the need.

For amateur musicians, the great thing with the diversity is that it has opened the door for them to purchase their own mixing board to do their own recordings in their own homes or garages. Some mixing boards even have CD burners built right in so they can record, mix and burn the CD all on the one device. Others have USB ports allowing for easy transfer to computers to burn CDs there. For young high-school entrepreneurs, it has opened the door for them to venture into the DJ arena.

As stated earlier, this is just an overview of what mixing boards are. If you are really interested in learning more, you can go on to study how depending on the type of mixer, it can mix sounds in either analog (continuous) or digital (discrete unit) signals. How the channels can be stereo or monaural. The input format the channel is capable of receiving from (i.e., XLR, RCA, quarter-inch jack plug). From there you can learn about channel equalization (EQ), auxiliary-sends, panning control, faders, gains, metering, and on and on the list goes.

Whether learning any of that is of interest to you is for you to decide. However, after all is said and done, as one on the receiving side of the board, suffice it to say things sound a whole lot better when the one on the controlling side, knows how to work it.