MIXING CONSOLES
Heart of the professional audio system
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Mixing consoles are the heart of every professional sound system setup. Used in recording studios, radio and television broadcasting studios, Post production studios, public address and sound reinforcement systems. |
Mixing consoles are also known as audio mixers and sound boards. Mixing consoles are electronic devices that is used for processing, routing and combining or “MIXING” audio signals coming from source devices like microphones and audio media players.
Mixing console can change the dynamics of audio signals using the on-board signal processors usually equalizers and sometimes limiters and compressors. Mixing consoles can also change the volume level and stereo imaging or panorama of individual audio signals using it's knobs, sliding faders and Pan controllers.
A typical Mixing console has 3 sections:
1.Patch Bay or Input / Output section
2.Channel strips section
3.Master Section
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| Wikimedia Commons ( Public Domain ) Mackie Mixer ( modified ) Original image by Davepape |
Mixing Consoles size ranges from as small as a pocket sized 4 channel mixer up to a full blown 128 channels professional recording and broadcasting Mixing boards. Mixing Console prices starts from as low as $30 (us dollar) to more than $100,000 (us dollar).
In the past, professional mixing consoles can only be found in big studios. With the advancement of micro electronic technology, mixing consoles can now be made with low cost but reliable electronic components making them very affordable, virtually anyone can own one.
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Example of a 4-Channel Mini Mixer
from NADY |
Mixing consoles has several types and these are :