DJ Mixers

Searching through all the available DJ options can be scary. You may not even know what you’re looking for. It’s called a DJ Mixer Board, right? Close, but they are more commonly referred to as DJ mixers. They are the primary tool of the DJ, just like what a guitar is to a guitarist. The DJ mixer is the DJ’s “axe” and American Musical Supply will help you find the right one for you!

DJ Mixer Anatomy

There are many styles of DJ mixer. When choosing one, decide how many channels you need. They typically have either 2 or 4 inputs. An input controls one separate source of audio, from a physical device (such as a turntable) or a virtual device (DJ software). You should ask yourself if you want to perform traditional back-and-forth mixes with two inputs or if you want to add even more voices on top of that. Each of these inputs has a channel strip. The strip consists of a gain knob, equalizer band controls, and a vertical fader for volume. The equalizer may be 2, 3, or 4 band, allowing for control of various levels of low, mid, and high frequencies. Some are rack-mountable whereas others are built for the tabletop.

All DJ mixers have one common trait - the crossfader. It doesn’t matter if it’s a Pioneer or Numark mixer. The crossfader allows DJs to seamlessly mix, blend, or cut two or more sources of music. The crossfader is horizontal. Hear both channels when the fader is in the middle. Raise the channel's vertical fader to turn up the volume.

Regardless of the brand, all analog mixers accept analog audio sources. DJ Turntables, DJ CD players/digital media players, or computers can be used with DJ mixers. Some are built for blending complex mixes whereas others are built for battling.