Small- Signal Audio Design

Chapter 12

Mixer Architectures

A large mixing console arguably represents the most demanding area of audio design. The steady advance of digital media demands that every part of the chain that takes music from performer to consumer must be near-perfect, as the comfortable certainty that everything will be squeezed through the quality bottleneck of either analog tape or vinyl disc now looks very old-fashioned.

The technical problems that must be overcome in a professional mixing console are many and varied, and often unique to console design. A large number of signals flow in a small space and they must be kept strictly apart until the operator chooses to mix them; crosstalk must be exceedingly low.

There may be 72 input channels or more, each ...