It
can be uneasy when trying to buy a mixer. The important thing to remember is set
yourself a budget and then find the best mixer you can with the functions you
are after. There are many manufacturers out there to choose from each with their
own range of mixers.
A
typical rave, club, and battle deejay mixer will have two channels and be 10
inches in width. The inputs on the back of the mixer should include two phono
sockets for your turntables to plug into and a CD or AUX socket so that you can
add an alternative to the turntable. Outputs featured should include an AMP
socket to hook up your amplifier.
With
the channel faders, you need to know whether they run smooth or are too stiff;
if the sound is a gradual increase as you move the fader or does the volume
suddenly jump as you reach the top? This type of sound transition also applies
to the crossfader. A great feature on mixers regarding the crossfader is the
ability for it to be replaced. On some of the cheaper models after the
crossfader has been worn in sound may start to leak from the other channel. As
the fader is the most commonly used piece of equipment and takes quite a
hammering it is good to know a new one can be bought.
An
excellent feature found on mixers such as the Gemini KL10 and the KAM KFX are
kill switches and rotary kills. Essentially these allow you to control the bass,
mid, and treble individually for each channel. This kind of control is great for
mixing up old tracks or dropping in a phat base line at the right moment,
definitely a must for all DJ's.
Just
like the turntable section of BPM the following area is designed so that you can
find out what each part of the mixer does simply by clicking on the diagram. The
mixer used is the PMX25 from Gemini costing around ?9. This is by no means a
recommendation but has simply been used to demonstrate the basic set up of a
mixer. Once you have finished reading the description just click on the small
mixer to return to the main picture.
Try
for yourself below...
THE
MICROPHONE SOCKET
Most mixers have the facility to plug in a microphone. The mixer should also
have dials so that you can adjust the bass, treble and gain of the mic. If you
do not have a mic then don't worry. Just for a laugh you can plug you headphones
into the mic socket and talk into them having the same effect (but you do look a
bit stupid doing this).
THE
OUTPUT DISPLAY
The output meter is a simple light emitting diode (LED) display. It allows you
to visually see the output from the left and right channels. An average display
will range from -9dB to +3dB. Between -9dB and 0dB the LED colour is green which
represents the 'safe' sound region. As the levels rise above 0 the LED's change
to red indicating that the sound is reaching its maximum output level. The
further it increases into the red the sound becomes more and more distorted
reducing the quality of the music (known as clipping). If you want louder music
then the solution is to crank up the volume dial on your amplifier or hi-fi
which ever you are using.
EXTERNAL
LIGHT SOCKET
Found on professional mixers and sometimes on the middle of the range mixers is
the ability to plug in an external light. The most common light used is the
flexible style allowing you to manipulate the stand. Although it is not really
essential the light can be quite handy. In theory, as long as you get to know
your mixer well you will not need this function.
THE
POWER SWITCH
I think we'll give this one a miss as it's pretty self-explanatory. If you don't
know what a power switch is yet, then you really shouldn't be DJ'ing. :-)
THE
BALANCE DIAL
The balance dial is a feature that enables you to pan between the left and right
speakers, similar to what you might find on your hi-fi system.
THE
MASTER DIAL
The master dial situated normally on the right of a mixer gives you total
control of the volume of music that is being sent from your mixer to your
amplifier or hi-fi. This becomes essential when you have your system all wired
up and you are not within arms reach of the volume dial on your amp.
THE
CUE LEVEL DIAL
The cue level dial is used to control the volume of music being played through
your headphones. This is just a personal preference thing, I know people who
have it full blast busting their eardrums. It also depends on how loud the music
is playing through your speakers. I have been to places where the music has been
playing so loud that it was not possible to hear the music through my headphones
at full volume.
THE
CUE MIX DIAL
The cue mix dial, normally situated with the cue level dial allows you to pan
between input channel 1 and 2 (similar to the crossfader but this time through
your headphones). The point here being that you can hear both tunes at once
through your headphones to allow you to see if the beats are synchronised and
that the two tunes actually sound good when played together ready to play
through the main speakers.
THE
HEADPHONE SOCKET
The headphones are plugged in here using the large adapter. It is advisable to
use headphones of reasonable quality for clarity of sound and also to allow you
to hear the music over what is playing in the background.
THE
BEAT OFFSET INDICATOR
The beat offset indicator is a handy little gadget that enables you to see if
the beats are matched up. In principle the lights will peak or flash when there
is a main beat in the music. Obviously, if the lights are flashing at the same
time then you know that the beats are matched up. Beware though, if you rely on
this to mix or any other kind of beat counters you will be at a disadvantage in
the long run. Learning to beatmatch without these is essential. Use it only as a
guide.
THE
BPM COUNTER
Extremely simple idea, the beat counter is a display showing you the speed in
bpm (beats per minute) that the record is playing in a particular channel. The
idea is to match the bpm count on both displays so you know they are at the same
speed. You can then mix the two records together. Again though beware, if you
rely on this to mix or any other kind of beat counters you will be at a
disadvantage in the long run. Learning to beatmatch without these is essential.
Use it only as a guide.
THE
CHANNEL FADERS
The Channel faders are normally situated in the centre of the mixer and allow
you to control the volume of each channel. Each slider normally ranges from 0-10
but it is best to keep the level just below it's maximum, this way you still
have a little reserve just in case one of your records is a bit quieter than the
rest, this way you can give it a boost.
THE
TALKOVER BUTTON
When this button is pressed the music through the speakers is reduced to a
minimal level so that the DJ can talk over it using the microphone. (Used for
announcements and that kind of thing)
THE
CHANNEL SELECTORS
The Channel Selector allows you to choose between different input sources that
you have plugged into the back of the mixer, for example you may have a
turntable on channel 1 and plugged into channel 2 a CD player as well as a
turntable. The channel selector will allow you to switch between the CD player
and the turntable on channel 2. The amount of things you can have plugged in to
your mixer at one time obviously depends on the capabilities (i.e the number of
input sockets).
THE
KILL BUTTONS
The kill buttons allow you to cut out a frequency range from the mixer. This
could be the bass, mid or treble. Excellent for when chopping up tracks and
getting creative. Certain mixers are better than others when doing this and will
have greater control over the frequency they cut out.
list
list
THE
ROTARY KILLS
Either next to the channel slider or above it will be 3 dials allowing you to
control the level of bass, mid range and treble individually. There should be
one for each channel so that you can adjust the levels to match each other
creating that perfect mix. Similar to the kill buttons in function but with one
difference. The rotary kills allow you to adjust the levels in slight
increments. You can also use them to create great sweeping effects by turning
from min to max and then back again.
THE
GAIN CONTROLS
How much an electronic circuit amplifies a signal is called its
"gain". So what we're talking about here is a dial on your mixer that
enables to crank up the volume on a specific channel slightly without having to
change the master volume of your mixer.
THE
CROSSFADER
The crossfader is the main component of the mixer. It allows you to control what
channel you hear through the speakers. You can pan from input 1 to input 2 with
ease enabling everybody to hear the two tracks you are mixing. If you were to
move the cross fader to either extent you would play just channel 1 or channel
2. If you move it to the middle then you would be playing a mixture of both
channels at the same time, simple!