Mixer for the Home

["Tim Moyer" <wmharps@xxxxxxxxx>]

I recently bought myself a small, inexpensive mixer for my 
home "music room".  I chose a Berhinger Eurorack UB1202, which I got 
from Musician's Friend (in my own defense, I would have bought it 
from a local music shop if they could have figgin' GOTTEN one for 
me).  It has 4 mono inputs and 4 sterero inputs which can be used as 
8 mono inputs, making for a total of 12 inputs.  I connected a line 
out from my harp amp (mono), then added guitar (mono), electric 
keyboard (stereo), CD player (stereo), computer (stereo), and used 
the final stereo connection for the effects return from an Alesis 
Wedge (the mixer has an FX out).  I split the lines out between the 
stereo amplifer and a cassette deck.  Obviously, there are lots of 
ways to connect this thing.  

I'd been toying around with playing along with the keyboards, and 
playing guitar with the CD player, but the other day, the setup 
proved it's worth.  A friend called with an offer of a country gig 
with a guy named Granger Smith.  Talented kid with a Nashville-
produced CD.  I went out to www.grangersmith.com and downloaded a 
bunch of his recordings so I could get an idea what I was in for.  
Then it occurred to me that I could actually play along with the 
recordings through the mixer.  I had a chance to practice almost all 
the material I got to play, and it was great.  I walked into the gig 
knowing the tunes, knowing the riffs and the hooks and the changes, 
and it was great!  

If you have less toys you can buy a mixer with less inputs, and there 
are even some battery-powered models out there, but in my opinion, a 
mixer is a good investment.  

- -tim

Tim Moyer
Working Man's Harps
http://www.workingmansharps.com/