Changes

== Channels ==

Each input and its associated controls are referred to as a <u>channel</u> or <u>channel strip</u>. The term also sometimes covers outputs when they have a similar appearance. The channels are typically arranged in single row, with the inputs on the left and outputs on the right, although larger mixers may place the outputs in the middle. This is why they are called channel strips - each channel looks like a vertical strip of tape.

== Buses ==

The term <u>bus</u> is very generic and can refer to any sort of connection to transfer audio in the mixer. However, it generally refers to groups of channels. For example, the master output is often called the master or main bus, as all the other channels are routed through it before being sent out of the mixer. There may also be one or several auxiliary (or "aux") buses that carry the signal from a subset of the available channels.

== Volume Faders ==

The most obvious and common element of each channel is a <u>volume fader</u>. This is the thing you slide up and down, consuming most of the space for the strip, and it adjusts the volume of the channel. The reason such large space is devoted to the volume faders is because the most instrumental part of the mixing board is to ensure all the instruments are mixed at the correct relative volumes. Sliding faders give the user instant visual feedback on the mixer's volume setting for each channel and allow fine adjustments. That said, some mixers are designed to be smaller and may forego faders in place of simple knobs.

== Trim/Gain ==

Since mixing boards are typically working with microphones and a wide range of instruments, incoming volumes can be radically different from channel to channel. A <u>trim</u> or <u>gain</u> pot/control is used to attenuate the inbound signal before it hits the pre-amp or fader. This helps avoid clipping as well as maintaining good [[Tone#Gain_Staging|gain staging]]. It can be used to roughly level or normalize all the channels, while the faders are used to make some instruments more prominent or otherwise create a pleasing mix.

== Mute ==

Most channels feature a <u>mute</u> button that does exactly that - it mutes the channel, preventing it from being output to any buses. In other words, you will no longer hear it in the mix. This can be useful if an instrument starts feeding back, or a guitar amp malfunctions, or something similarly-awful happens that starts causing the channel to fill the mix with unwanted noise. It can also be used to compare a mix with and without a certain instrument to determine if the instrument is helping or hurting the mix.

== Solo ==

A <u>solo</u> (or cue) button on the channel mutes all other channels, unless they also have their solo button pushed. This allows you to quickly monitor a particular channel (or several) apart from the full mix. It saves you the trouble of having to push the mute button on every other channel.

== Balance/Pan ==

Mono channels typically have pan controls, while stereo have balance controls. A mono channel is typically defaulted to the center of the stereo mix, so that it is equally loud on each side of the stereo spectrum. However, you can use <u>pan</u> to move it off-center, so it is stronger on the left or right side. This has numerous applications - you may want each of the drums to be a bit off-center, resembling their placement in the actual drum kit, giving the drums a wider or more 3-dimensional sound. Or when multi-tracking guitars, you may want to pan one track to the left and the other to the right. If the tracks were performed in-time with each other, this gives the illusion that there is one guitar but it sounds wider and bigger than a single guitar track panned to center.

== Aux Send/Receive ==

A channel may feature the ability to route to one or more <u>aux buses</u>. These can be used in various ways, possibly exporting an alternative mix of all the instruments, such as to stage monitors. Or they can be routed into a single channel, creating a channel bus, as described above for drums or other instrument types.

== EQ ==

A channel may feature relatively simple EQ controls, typically Bass, Mids, Treble, or a low-pass and/or high-pass. See the [[EQ]] page for more about EQ.

== Compression/Limiting ==

Channels often feature rudimentary compression/limiting to prevent strong transients from clipping the mix. This is typically a single knob or button. See [[Compression]] for more info.

== Level Meters ==

Channels often have <u>level meters</u> to view the current volume of that channel's output. These are typically measured in decibels and consist of a series of colored LED's. The number of LED's lit up indicates the volume, with lower volumes only lighting up the lowest LED's and high volumes lighting up all of them. Most of them are colored green, indicating that the signal has no danger of clipping. Towards the top, the LED's change to yellow, with the topmost LED being red. Red indicates clipping, requiring compression/limiting or lowering the volume fader. Yellow indicates that there is a danger of clipping on a strong transient.