How to Setup a Mixer Based Studio

Write down the criteria you need for your mixer before you go shopping. Your budget will dictate how much you can spend on a mixer, but this will be the heart of your studio, so budget as much as you can. Select a mixer that has more channels than you think you will need (live drums alone can easily require a half-dozen channels). If you plan on operating your mixer for both input to a recording device and for mixing down from its multiple outputs, account for the need for these extra channels. You won't need a mixer that has built-in effects if you are recording to a computer-based DAW (digital audio workstation), but you might if you are recording directly to a tape recorder, unless you plan on using external hardware processors. Purchase your mixer.

Plug the mixer's stereo line level "Main Output" into the "Line In" jacks on a tape recorder, computer's sound card or DAW interface. A stereo audio cable with "RCA" male plugs on both ends commonly is plugged in to make line-level connections.

Connect a stereo cable from the "Line Out" jacks on the tape recorder, computer sound card or DAW interface to the "Line In" on two mixer channels (one for "Left" and one for "Right" audio signals).

Plug the mixer's stereo "Monitor" outputs into the inputs of a stereo amplifier or directly into powered-monitor speakers. This not only lets you monitor audio signals when playing back from a tape or computer source, but it also lets you (and other musicians) play through the mixer to practice without having to turn on a tape recorder or boot-up a computer.