One thing is for certain — mixers have lots of buttons and knobs. This can scare people at first, but like all things, if you know what you're looking at, it all makes sense. FIGURE 10-1 shows an outboard mixer and FIGURE 10-2 shows a screen from Pro Tools computer software. You can see that the two versions, hardware and software, look very similar in their overall layout. A mixer comprises three main elements: input/output, channel strips, and master sections.

FIGURE 10-1

Mixing board hardware

FIGURE 10-2

Pro Tools mixer software Screenshot used by permission of Digidesign/Avid Technology, Inc.