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Mixer - Buyers Guide
So you are looking for a mixer or you want to upgrade. These are my express opinions and if money is no object to you a lot of this may be this may be a little pointless. However, whoever you are and whatever you needs or level of experience I hope this helps you in some way. More details on individual functions are available on the separate guide.
What should I know before buying a mixer?
With such a variety of DJing genres each DJ will want different functions and tools (some as mentioned on the previous page) to compliment the tunes they are mixing and the techniques and skills they have in their arsenal. Different music styles warrant different techniques to physically mixing them so you need to be clear on what you want your mixer to do. The mixer is as crucial as the choice you make when selecting your decks/CDJs. You will use the mixer when you alter ANY sound the listener hears, complete ANY mix or scratch on ANY input channel. It is the hub of the system and should be carefully selected - its like the engine of the car in the DJing world to accompany your Wheels of Steel I suppose. Your driving speed and your level of performance is only determined by your driving skill in getting the best from it - you still need to be there to "drive" it. A Grandma in an Impreza is still going to drive like a Grandma no matter what size the engine.
So, you need to decide (with conviction!) two things. Your budget and your key requirements.
Set your Budget
This will affect the quality and brands available to you, which will directly affect the quality of componentry within the unit and thus the lastability and rigidity and sound quality of your mixer. Quite simply the more you spend the better it gets. You get more features of a higher quality, better componentry, a better quality of manufacture, the more versatile the mixer will be and it won't keel over with a heart attack after two months of buying it. As with buying a car the more you spend the better the overall product and the more you get for your money. You wouldn't want to drive a 1982 Fiat Panda from England to the south of France - all your gonna be is disappointed when it breaks down a hundred limes into the journey and you are stood at the side of the road waiting patiently for the RAC to attend to your blown head gasket. A mixer is no different. Reliability features and comfort when in use all have to be paid for. A cheap mixer with loads of novelty gadgets may seem like a good idea when the salesman tells you. And on first impressions you may be impressed. until you get it home and realise what a total waste of time they are, how they destroy the sound you are trying to make and leave a nasty taste in your mixing ears. You will never use them and with this, I speak from experience.
If money is tight, especially if you are learning you don't need umpteen channels and a five hundred pound mixer (Fat in UK or "Phat" if you're American or if you're Mum's from the UK and your Dads from the US that might work as avery weak joke - feel free to email your findings).
When starting out all you need is gain controls, a sound level display which is simply a graphic equaliser-looking bar to show how loud your output signal. This is so you can prevent it going into the red - also known as clipping - which results in a distorted outputted sound signal to the sound/recording equipment. You'll also need volume controls for each channel in the form of upfaders or a volume knob and a reliable crossfade. You might think you need other functions but others are actually optional until you have grasped the concepts of beatmixing, dance music structure and where and when not to put a record live into the mix. And that doesn't come on your first day with your decks. It can take months. EQ's and other fluff are quite frankly optional and are nice to have but not essential in my opinion. And you will need to learn to walk before you can run.
Your Key Requirements
These are functions you cannot (and will not) live without. Once you have three or four functions (you can pick more but you need to realistic depending on your assigned budget) do not under any circumstances compromise on them . If you do you may end up with a mixer you outgrow too quickly or are disappointed with as it doesn't do what you thought it would.
An realistic and informed choice here will mean the mixer you finally do buy falls within your budget and makes all your routine mixing techniques almost effortless. A good mixer means you will, in time, take all its functions totally for granted. But that means its suits you perfectly and will compliment you as a DJ allowing you only to be limited by your imagination and how much you are willing to practice.
A good mixer will last you a good few years no matter what your standard of mixing, hopefully with enough room for a little expansion to your skill range before the need to think again about replacing or upgrade.
A poor selection here can mean a mixer that can actually hinder your enjoyment and even your success at mixing. You could end up as previously stated with gimmicks and functions you won't use, yet the most basic of functions will fail to help you in the simplest of tasks. I've said this elsewhere on this site but learning to DJ or improving your skills is hard work and frustrating enough without fighting faulty or sub standard equipment as well. However when selecting your key requirements you need to be aware that you aren't going to get a sampler as a function on a mixer that costs 50 quid. And if you do it will be rubbish and not worth the plastic its made out of.
Lastly should you wish, select a few optional extras that you'd like to have but could live without. If you get your choice down to two or so mixers, this could be the deciding factor to you making your final decision on picking your purchase.
QUESTION 1: What music genre do you mix?
Firstly all DJs are individual and quite rightly this should be reflected in their style and technique when mixing. However for the sake of this tutorial and for the sake of clarity for any newbies, I'm going to categorise each musical type(s) in a very general manner. There are DJs who are exceptions to these rules but this will act as a rough guide to get you clued up.
Trance, House, Techno or basically anything with four audible thumps to a bar
Chances you are going to want a traditional DJ mixer. To blend these musical styles emphasis is normally placed upon subtle long mixes with smooth transitions. Heavy use of EQ's (more later) to achieve this is common so may be a priority for DJs in this area. On a general note scratching isn't much of an option on these types of music and isn't widely practiced so most emphasis is on smooth crossfaders and high level manipulation of the treble, mid range and bass. A lot of DJs in this area mix purely using the Upfaders and some don't use the crossfader at all.
Hip hop
Cutting and scratching can and will most likely play a dominant role in this music types. Intros on Hip Hop records can be very short to the point of virtually non existent before hitting the main part of the tune. Traditional beatmixing for long periods is sometimes not physically possible. Transitions between tunes are far shorter and "tricks" such as beat juggling for the more advanced is not uncommon, but more on that later. There are mixers designed purely for Hip Hop and Turntablists usually referred to in the commercial world as Battle mixers. You will find less emphasis is placed on EQ's and most importantly a mixer that has a great deal of open space around the crossfader (you'll notice no protruding screws to catch your hand on) and all volume controls in some cases are very minimalistic. However unlike some models of the traditional mixer, every battle mixer will come with an assignable cross fader (see Mixer in the Equipment section for a fuller explanation)
Drum and Bass or Breaks
You may want something that is a half way house between the two previously mentioned mixer types. Scratching and cutting is not uncommon but is certainly not essential. There is the possibility for scratching and cutting of beats whilst in the mix so generally speaking most DJs of these music types may want the best of both worlds. A loose fader to complete beat cutting and scratching as well as upfaders and EQ's to allow long blends to be completed.
None of the above
In an ideal world it would be possible to categorise all genres and sub-genres (and the ever evolving dance music scene) as above but from your own tastes and what you choose to listen to you will already be familiar with the musical structure and where your prerogatives and central skills will lie. But I hope that will bring to the front of your mind the importance of the music style when choosing your mixer.
QUESTION 2: How many Channels do I need?
Genre is not important here. Most DJs will find a two channel mixer adequate for their needs. This means two sounds (one from each source) can be mixed live through the main speakers to the audience. Using a two channel mixer however does not limit the DJ to only having two source inputs to the mixer - two decks or two CDJs or one of each. Nearly all mixers will allow two, three or four different inputs to be connected in any combination. Up to a maximum of two decks and/or up to two CDJs can be linked up to a two channel mixer although it is worthy of note that there is usually a limit on two of each type as more than two decks would require extra grounding facilities where most mixers only have two.
Which input the DJ decides to use for the next mix should there be more than two, is then selected using a line/phono switch as if all four inputs are used by the way you have to link up the mixer one CDJ and one deck will be assigned to each channel.
The number of channels only reflects the number of input sources that can be fed "live" to the listener. So on a two channel mixer you can play two inputs (one from each channel) live in the mix, a three channel you can play three and four is well, fairly self explanatory.
A three channel mixer may or may not have an extra grounding port to allow a third deck to be connected as it may be fitted with an extra grounding port - this is something to consider if you are going to be strictly using vinyl.
"But the fader only has two ends to it, so how do I access the third source and make it live?", I hear you cry. Two are assignable to the crossfader (usually by twisting a simple knob at each end of the fader numbered for the inputs the mixer can have) The third is used on an upfader in most cases. Some mixers allow you to pick and choose which inputs are assigned to which side of the cross face or upfader so you can mix and match from input to input from each mix to the next. Adding a third channel allows that extra layer of sound to be added to enhance a mix by adding samples etc. to allow a DJ to stand out from other DJs and allows more scope for creativity.
Applying your Answers.....
So now you have all the answers to the questions above, its now time to set these to your assigned budget. If you are a total newbie to mixing then you may be confused even by which manufacturer to go for if you haven't read the previous page - there are a lot to choose from with DJing becoming ever more popular. Just like cars, in the Mixer world, there an equal measure of personally dictated "quality", which are good and which aren't. Remember quality to one person isn't necessarily quality to someone else. Individual tastes and preferences should be taken into consideration. The manufacturer's page will help detail the main players in the market.
"I've read all that but I've got a Behringer and its brilliant"
I appreciate that most people reading this will have little or no experience and some may not even own decks/mixer and are just researching. Just be aware that these are my opinions only and some are exaggerated for the sake of reading. You may or may not agree which is great. This is only a guide. I have had several sets of decks and mixers and played out on a good many ranging on most budgets from house parties to clubs. I have friends who own various sorts of mixers by manufacturers and some who swear by one brand for no other reason than that's what they've always bought and they've never been let down by it. From a new buyer's point of view, other users may have had nothing but problems. It's experience and everyone has a different one. You may think a Behringer is actually brilliant - not comparative to anything other than dog dirt BUT they ARE perfectly ok to learn on. But if you're already own a mixer and can consistently beatmix, that is all it will allow you to do in all honesty. The very basics. Only get one of these if the difference in cost means you can buy decent high end decks instead of getting budget direct drives. If you are a newbie, see the CD/decks sections of this site.
Read articles on the internet if you can find any. I found these very few and far between that weren't just shops selling them and saying they were great. What's worth remembering is that shops aren't going to list the faults with the products are they?!! When I did find them online the text was almost identical so again likely to be a sales pitch originating from the manufacturer.
The last few product choices....
When you are down to your final two or three (or one) use the internet to get some prices. Internet searches by price comparative websites may help you do the hard work here but this depends on the one you use. Some are for more general/generic things like DVD titles not high end specific mixers so you may get no results at all. Search engines are your best bet - just bung in the manufacturer and the model(s) and for added bonus and clarification of choice put "review" after it. Even if there aren't any reviews you may have missed in previous searches, most prices will be visible from the search engine's results page meaning you won't need to go to every shown matched page itself! Two birds with one stone. Don't just go straight to Amazon as a lot of people do as they aren't the best at everything, but are great at making everyone aware they exist. Our laziness to look elsewhere or brand loyalty will keep us going back over and over again.
You may be lucky enough to be able to buy locally in a DJ specific store but this may be a more expensive route. Remember they have overheads to pay and wages for staff etc. but if money isn't an issue then you'll get it in your hand that day to go home and play with. Unfortunately where I live there isn't one really near me that I'd say could offer any better advice to me than I could find out on my own. That is unfortunate and makes the process much more lengthy.
After setting my budget and my key requirements (max £300 scratch/battle mixer), I was down to the Vestax 05 Pro or surprisingly, the Stanton SA5. I've always used Vestax when playing out so I'd got experience of that and knew exactly what to expect. However I've never really noticed the Wow factor that everyone talks about or why it was so much more money than the Stanton. I had no experience on or with Stanton but research showed some questionable issues on the lower end mixers but the few owners of the SA5 I found were very pleased. I found absolutely nothing negative on three week's worth of searching.
Armed with this information I went to a shop in Birmingham where I tried it out. It was the underdog and had a lot to prove. After trying it I loved it. Most importantly it felt "right" when i used it Everything was clear and it became a part of me instantaneously.
I've always found the Vestax a little harder to work on and couldn't justify the higher spending - as a friend advised me "Buy a Vestax - or buy a better mixer for less money."
I wanted to try an Ecler but they didn't have one an I had no time to hunt one down - I'd read many a good thing but discounted this because I hadn't tried it.
I was given the hard sell at £304 in the shop for the Stanton and they tried to make me buy there and then - that is after all their job (and their living) so I can't blame them.
Any decent DJ shop will allow you to try the mixer - but I just said it was a lot of money, I needed to be sure and said to them that I'd sleep on it. A bit cheeky and not very supportive of local commerce (if you call a 55 mile trip "local") but it was simply a waste of my money to spend all that extra when I could but it much much cheaper on-line. I'd had a look already and had no intention of buying it then unless it was the same or cheaper and spend the saved money in the budget on something else like upgrading new shells and carts as well (for the same money). Bonus.
The deciding selling features for me were
- Stanton had 3 P&G faders while the Vestax are supposedly not as reliable and likely to require a replacement within six or so months (another £70 to pay out if i went for the Vestax). The Stanton boasts " almost Rane-level sound quality components".
- The Vestax only had a two way EQ covering just bass and treble - the Stanton had Treble, Mid's and Bass. I can kill the bass only when scratching on the Stanton whereas the Vestax took out a lot of the
main sample volume
- Vestax is the more established brand used by the Pro DJs - Mix Master Mike, QBert etc.. but remember Vestax also sponsor them so they don't have to buy their replacement faders etc. They get all that free. You won't. Reliable? Yes but they don't like being moved about if you're mobile DJ (told to me by a Vestax self confessed nut and is a promoter of a hip hop night), do the job well - yes very much so, no question.
- Talking to other scratch DJs on my "local" forums boards - posting threads AFTER researching all I could find. In the most case the answer will be there - you just need to find it. One user had sold his Vestax in favour of the SA5 and wouldn't go back. All people's opinions/experiences are valid but use theirs to make your own informed decision!! They won't fluff it up and tell you a products great if its not.
- I preferred the feel of the SA5. That was THE most important as its me that will be using it. All the time.
Back to the Internet as I'd made my final decision, so here's my advice.
- Find a shop that's advertising that they'll beat any on-line price. If you can find two play email tennis with them and that way you'll get a rock bottom price for the mixer you want. I did it for the Vestax and the Stanton. If you can't find two companies that offer this, just use your browser results will give you the lowest figure. If they can't beat your lowest price, can they give you a better deal - chuck in a cartridge or stylus for free? This will depend on how much you're spending obviously! Get anything emailed to you as a written quote - most are valid for 30 days but this varies company to company. If in doubt ask
- Ensure all sales tax etc (in the US) or VAT is added if you're in the UK.
- Make sure you know that the product is in stock. Ring them up - don't order over the web as stock figures on the net are not always accurate. You could pay online and get the best deal you could find - but an outdated stock figure might leaving you out of pocket and waiting six weeks for the next batch to arrive.
- Get them to confirm despatch to you over the phone when you buy so you know when it will arrive with you. You'll ned to be there to sign for it.
- Ensure the price is inclusive of delivery. When will you get it? Can you get it somewhere else for the same price but delivered sooner? Longer delivery may mean cheaper carriage cost if its not a priority.
- Use a credit card - ALWAYS. If you don't have one find someone that has and give them the money - buying on credit card offers the product insurance. If it gets dropped in transit or whatever its the credit card companies problem not yours - nice! You'll get your product unscathed.
- Buying on a credit card will mean that companies will only deliver to the address of the cardholder. Make sure someone's there to collect it!
Doing this I got mine delivered within 48hrs, all in for £219. Not £304 as I was quoted in the shop if I'd bought it initially over the counter. Yes a few hours work initially and some may say that this is all a bit anal. If money is no object to you, this process will be pointless but spending hundreds of pounds without at least considering some of the points. If you choose to ignore them it could be a costly mistake or paying for things you may never use.
You can say you have a Rane mixer - don't use it properly but you've got one. If that's worth an extra £300 to you then that's great.
As with the rest of this site, its about DJing to get the absolute best for what you can afford. I work hard for my money and a few hundred quid on my hobby is a very big expense and I'll spend it wisely! Having done so, I've got a mixer I wouldn't change and new carts and stylus as a result of the saving. And all on budget!
Summary
Research is key to getting the best deal - the better the research the more informed decision you can make and the happier you will be with your purchase. Please for the sake of your own sanity don't just buy one 'cause its the first one you see. You'll only be disappointed by finding out what you could have had.
If you are looking to buy a whole setup, forego an expensive mixer if that leaves your more funds for better decks. If you are learning, or not even started yet you will need the best decks you can buy and a simple mixer - one with a decent crossfade, volume knobs for each channel and an output to a stereo. Get a low end mixer and save some money each month.
Learn the basics of DJing on this and when it breaks on you, you will have had plenty of time to have saved and can then buy something that is catered to your style of DJing. Your style will naturally progress and takes time to develop. What you think is important today may not be important at all once you've been spinning for a year. When you have the skills you can buy a mixer that suits you that will help expand and compliment your currently developed skills.
This way you've got a decent setup that will not only last but will be better than your current skills (in the nicest way possible) allowing your skills to grow and develop without being hindered by the poor equipment and you outgrowing them/it before you should.
Most importantly if you take nothing else from this, when buying pretty much anything, especially ANY product with a plug on it, a good rule is this:
Buy Cheap, Buy twice.
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