The Audio Expert, 2nd Edition

Chapter 5

Mixers, Buses, Routing, and Summing

Large mixers are exactly the same as small ones, but with more channels and buses, so at first they can seem complicated. Let’s start by examining a single channel from a hypothetical mixing console. Although they’re called mixing consoles, most also include mic preamps and signal routing appropriate for recording. Figure 5.1 shows the front panel layout of a typical channel, with its corresponding block diagram showing the signal flow presented in Figure 5.2.

A block diagram such as Figure 5.2 shows the general signal flow through an audio device. This is different from a schematic diagram that shows component-level detail including resistors and capacitors, though the switches and variable resistors ...