DJ Mixers

Mixer types

• Mini - generally have only a few inputs and a single output, sometimes even without any analogue connectors and only equipped with Bluetooth connectivity; often powered by a notebook or tablet battery and are suitable for mixing several signals from music players, microphones, or electronic instruments on the road and such
• DJ - mix two or more stereo signals, have many signal tweaking options and allow controlling external devices; you can find some with preamps integrated into audio output (for turntables) and microphone input with Talk Over function (suppresses other signals when speaking)
• Universal (music production) - more inputs with EQ and gain control for connecting various devices, such as microphones, musical instruments, players and other signal sources; typically feature a large number of outputs

Extra features

• Controls and customisation - jog wheels (mixing wheels) and adjustable pads
• Effects - Pitch Bend, loop creation, vinyl effects, etc.
• Equaliser (EQ) - - standard equipment of any mixer, available with two to five band parametric correction
• Phantom - a button for switching on phantom power for condenser microphones and other devices such as Di-Box; typical voltage +48 V
• Gain - serves to adjust the gain of the input amplifier; level can be displayed on the VU meter
• Filters - high-pass filter suppresses unwanted bass and subsonic noise (such as 50-150 Hz microphone noise), sometimes you can also encounter low-pass filter or several filters with different frequencies

Inputs

• Analogue input connectors (XLR, RCA, TRS/TS) - serve to connect signal sources, used for microphones, instruments, turntables, CD players, effect processors etc.
• Digital input connectors (Toslink, coaxial) - for connecting any digital audio source
• USB - necessary if you want to use supplied or separately purchased software to create and edit mixes; can also add MIDI controller functionality
• Bluetooth - primarily used to connect to smartphones, tablets, and laptops, and creating or tweaking mixes via the supplied software directly on the display

Outputs

• Master-out (XLR, RCA, TRS/TS) - the main output for connection to an amplifier or active speakers, almost always features two identical outputs for left and right channels
• Sub/Booth (XLR, RCA, TRS/TS) - secondary output used for wiretapping, for example
• Headphones - for listening and monitoring with headphones
• Rec-out - outputs analogue signal for recording directly from the main bus