DJ Mixers

Just as important to any DJ as the decks is the DJ Mixers. Like Decks the market is awash with every conceivable variety of mixers. Choosing the right one that will not only suit your budget but will also give you the consistency and quality that can be relied upon, will take more than just a lucky buy.
It is important that before we feature or review any type of mixer that you first understand some of the jargon that can be associated with DJ Mixers as this is an important step if you want to master your art.
Apologies for the DJ’s out there who already know their business but we all have to start somewhere and this is as good a place to start as any.
The DJ mixer will give the DJ the ability to have ultimate control over the input and output of their music. This will aid them when cutting in from one track to another, cueing the next song and mixing the next song with perfect timing and precision. It is quite popular for Mixers to control the lighting as well as the sound.
The typical Mixer will have:
• Two channels both left and right. These channels are used to source the sound from each of your two decks. Obviously the left channel controls the source from the left turntable and the right channel controls the source from the right turntable. This will give the DJ control over which source, left or right, they wish to cue music or sound from.
• Selector switch that allows you to cue your headphones. This will also give you the option on which source (turntable) you want to hear from. DJ’s will use this function to find the right place to cue the music from so that they are one step ahead of the crowd.
• Gain switch which controls the volume of sound coming into the mixer from the two decks.
• Equalizer which will give you low frequency, medium frequency and high frequency.
• Basic cross fader. Allows you to fade music in and out of your two sources.
We have to stress that buying the mixer doesn’t make the DJ and to our earlier point you will have to work long and hard at becoming a success in this profession. The great news is anything is possible and if you put the time and effort in you will and cannot fail.
In later articles we will be exploring the varying techniques that DJ’s use to get the most from their mixers and how they form a unique DJ Mix style that becomes a recognizable footprint of their work.
The mixers set out below are featured again with budget and practicality at the forefront of our research. We will aim to give you reviews on each of the featured products but this isn’t always possible.