Mixers

We continue our insiders guide to remixing with some practical tips on the creative decisions that will underpin your remix.

Remixing is a modern phenomenon that has turned into a viable way for hi-tech musicians to make money from their skills. But how do you get heard, how do you land a job, and how much should you charge to do it? We get you started with the insiders guide.

This neat new hybrid product appears to be defining its own market niche, but can it really be all things to all people?

Last month we explained how to get a sense of front-to-back depth in your mix. Now we examine the left-right axis, as we suggest ways to get the best from stereo mixing.

I recently read Mike Senior's review of the Alesis Multimix 16, and he listed as one of the cons the lack of a high‑impedance instrument input. I agree with him, but have been searching for ages for a small mixer with this kind of input and can't find one anywhere. Is there one? The mixer isn't actually for me, but for a musician friend who still records to eight‑track cassette via an old PA and various pedals and outboard. He plays bass pedals and has an ancient drum machines, plus he sings and plays guitar and banjo. The outboard and the PA mixer are noisy, and as I transfer his tapes and mix them I spend far too much time on noise reduction and not enough on mixing and production. He is not technically savvy, and getting him to use several of the eight‑track inputs is not a option, so I am looking for a mixer he can plug his instruments into and get a clean relatively noise‑free signal from, to feed the eight‑track.

These compact, lightweight mixers are designed with live DJ-style performance in mind, but with an audio interface on board, there's plenty of flexibility when it comes to recording too.

I have a Core 2 Duo PC, Yamaha MW10 USB mixer, Alesis RA150 power amp and JBL speakers. I use high-quality cable from amp to speakers, a TRS-wired jack lead between the mixer output and amp, and a good-quality USB cable between my mixer and computer.

I'm looking for something to record my latest project with. I currently own an Apple iMac running OS X Tiger, and the main program I use for recording is Apple's own Soundtrack. I'm thinking of upgrading at some point to Logic Pro 8, but for the moment I'm with Soundtrack. I have eight Audio Technica mics for the drum kit and I'm really looking to record through a mixer into Soundtrack (Logic in the future). However, I still want to be in control of individual mic levels after I've recorded within Soundtrack or Logic, even having those individual mics on different tracks.

If you want to use both a high-quality analogue mixer and a DAW control surface, you'll probably want to put them both in the same place. Well, now you can — and you get a multi-channel audio interface to boot.

Can mixers this small really provide all the preamps and monitor control facilities you need?

Since experimenting with drum-kit miking (thanks for the useful articles in SOS), I have been aware of the limitations of...

The almost universal trend towards using computers and hardware controllers has made business tough for the big console manufacturers — but the clever ones are fighting back with some innovative thinking, to create products that offer the best of all worlds.

Under the hood of this affordable new Alesis compact mixer lurks an 18-in/two-out audio interface. Is it too good to be true?

Designed to integrate with Cubase, and featuring new preamps and compressors, Yamaha's N-series digital mixers have been causing quite a stir. Could the N12 be the centrepiece of your project studio?

Part preamp, part summing mixer, all tube: can the Fat Track provide all the 'analogue warmth' your studio needs?

Already boasting some famous users, this new console has caused a bit of a stir. Does it live up to the Toft heritage?

These modestly priced small mixers from Yamaha offer plenty of functionality and a good clean signal path.

We find out if the most competitively priced Allen & Heath mixer yet lives up to its heritage.

Phonic's well-established Helix range has made the jump to Firewire: we look at the 12-channel version, which is capable of sending 10 channels of audio at 24-bit/96kHz to your DAW.

This new USB-equipped mixer has a control surface and a separate I/O unit, but are two boxes better than one?

Mackie's VLZ Pro mixers gained a reputation for punching above their weight. Could this next generation do even better?