Audio Mixers

Audio mixers are important if you are running or planning on building a recording studio.

They tie your studio together. They will make you able to handle all the inputs and outputs, and mix them all together (wow, big surprise;)).

What kind of mixers to buy depends on how advanced you plan on building your recording studio and how much and what kind of equipment you have.

If you have a computer, a pair of speakers and a microphone you would need a lot less out of a mixer than if your studio has several mics and/or other instruments.

The best way to explain this is to take an example from my own recording studio setup.

 I used to have a computer, 2 reference speakers, a guitar + guitarport and a microphone + preamp. I got by using the Behringer UB1002 Eurorack Mixer , a very good and stable mixer, but I got tired of switching the cables all the time. This mixer is not available in stores anymore unless you can find something used. It's got about the same features as the one in the link below.

The Behringer XENYX 1002 Mixer at zZounds.com

I searched for audio Mixers
 with groups, then you can route the sound from one or several channels to certain groups, and I found the Yamaha MG 12/4 music mixer. I have the same as this one, just the previous version of it.

See the Yamaha MG124C Stereo Mixer at zZounds.com

That was goodbye to my cable switching. Now I can have all my equipment connected all the time and I can route the sound as I please.

Keep in mind that your needs may be different than mine on this point though.

I don't have the need to route to more than one group in my recording studio, that's why the Yamaha MG 12/4 is enough for me.

This Yamaha mixer was one of the cheapest I could find featuring groups (When the audio mixers have channel groups the price usually jumps up a notch or three).

Looking for a different kind of mixer? Click here to browse a variety of audio mixers.