Mixing desks are often overlooked, frequently misunderstood, and rarely dreamt about by the average musician. But all that could be about to change with the Studiomaster 848R, as Dan Goldstein reveals.

IT'S A FACT. Musicians of all ages spend too much time thinking about machines that make a noise. And not enough about machines that can shape noise. It's always been a dangerous sense of priorities to adopt, but it's even more so today.

We all know Jason Donovan couldn't sing a note to save his Peugeot GTi. But by concentrating on what can be done to his voice, rather than on the voice itself, the people who produce Jason's records know that it is, in fact, possible to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. And all those pre-teen Jason Donovan fans who buy 'Sealed With a Kiss' need never know the difference.

Guitars may be the sexiest musical instrument known to rock. Drums may make the biggest, loudest, most objectionable noise. And hi-tech keyboards may create a range of other-worldly sounds that would make George Lucas and the Star Wars production team see red. But the fact is that few pop or rock records are made with a single instrument, and even if they are, that instrument is usually electronically treated and processed beyond all recognition before it is recorded.

It isn't enough to know a lot about outboard effects and signal processors, either. Because effects have a habit of "muddying" sounds if they're applied to more than a couple of instruments at a time. So regardless of whether your band (or your own collection of instruments if you're playing solo) is playing with or without effects, the key to making a convincing noise is, as Depeche Mode once said, to get the balance right. And for the last two-and-a-half decades, getting the balance right has been most easily achieved with the help of that mysterious and knob-covered machine, the mixing console.

As Paul White explained in our MixMastery feature (PHAZE 1 Issue 7), mixing consoles are commonly used in two kinds of situations: live performances and recording sessions. And in the past, it's been generally assumed that you needed different consoles to do different jobs. Mixers intended for live PA use were rugged and versatile but not "quiet" enough for studio work, while recording mixers were made of the best components but were deemed not tough enough for life "on the road". And since mixing consoles have never been cheap (they've always contained a lot of expensive hardware, the kind that doesn't get cheaper with advances in modern technology), acquiring two has been an impossibility for all but megastars and hire companies.

Recently, however, several people have attempted to combine the functions of PA mixers and recording consoles in a single machine, and the latest such attempt comes from the Bedfordshire firm of Studiomaster. Their new range of do-it-all mixers is called Pro Line, a selection of three consoles with broadly the same technical spec but different configurations. There's a 16-8-16 (that's 16 input channels, eight subgroups, and 16 outputs — more on that later), a 16-4-8, and an 8-4-8R. It's the last that forms this month's "Dream Machine".

First off, the "R" bit in the title stands for "rack", since this mixer can fit into a standard 19" rack, albeit a tall one; the 8-4-8R takes up a whopping 11 units of rack space. Well, all those knobs have got to live somewhere. Most mixers have a lot of knobs, but since the Studiomaster is trying to be two mixers in one, it has more than many.

These are high-quality knobs, though. In fact, all the controls on the 8-4-8R have a smooth, solid feel to them, which is important. The machine's front panel layout conforms to the usual small-console way of arranging things, and all the controls are colour-coded so that although Studiomaster have had to cram a lot into a small space, even a dimly lit gig venue should not threaten your ability to see what the hell it is you're adjusting.

The Pro Line manual, which covers all three models in the range, is also clear and well laid-out. Despite some unpromising typescript and dodgy graphics, it stands head and shoulders above many of its rivals by offering a carefully structured rundown of how the mixer should be set up for a PA installation, and how that setting-up procedure would be altered to suit a multitrack recording session. And that, of course, is in addition to the usual description of panel controls and their functions. Speaking of which...

The 8-4-8R's eight input channels are identical, as indeed they should be. Taking it from the top, we have inputs for mike, line, and tape; effects send/return and direct outputs; an input selection switch (labelled "Tape") and gain control; a three-band equalisation (EQ) section; four auxiliary send controls; a pan control; channel mute and solo buttons; routing buttons; and last but certainly not least, the fader.

At this point, I may as well refer you once again to the MixMastery feature, which did a much better job of deciphering mixer control functions than I could. If you missed that feature and your knowledge of mixing console practice is sketchy, then you'll probably find most of what you need to know in the Pro Line manual — though you really do need to know where to look, so complete novices are probably best off steering well clear until they've gained a bit of "hands-on" console experience. In fact, complete novices are best off postponing an engagement with a machine of this kind for quite some while.

A few points about the 8-4-8R's input channel controls need clarifying. First off, only the midrange part of the EQ section is what's known as "parametric" - in other words, you can decide at which frequency you want it to operate. The high and low frequency controls work in much the same way as treble and bass controls on a hi-fi amp or combo, except that they offer a more drastic range of cut and boost (16dB worth, in fact) than is common outside the mixer domain.

The four auxiliary sends are used (as usual) to vary the extent to which the input is being affected by external effects units, but it's worth mentioning that two of these are "pre-fade" (that is, they operate before the overall channel fader) while the other two are "post-fade". What this means in practice is that only the post-fade auxiliaries are really used to control the influence of effects units, while the pre-fade controls swing into action if you're setting-up a submix for stage foldback or studio cueing — or basically any mix that has to be adjusted independently of what is being heard at front-of-house or dedicated to tape, depending on the application.

There are three little warning LEDs next to each input channel's fader: one to warn against clipping (distortion), one to show that the channel is being muted, and one to show that the channel is "on". Finally, the pan control does the obvious job of swinging the signal from left to right across the stereo "soundstage", and is also used in conjunction with the routing buttons to determine which subgroup the input channel is assigned to.

The whole business of subgrouping can get hideously complicated, but in the case of the 8-4-8R, which has only four subgroups, things aren't too bad. Essentially, it's the job of a subgroup to present an output to a PA system or tape recorder. You plug your instruments into the input channels, fiddle about with them, assign each one to a subgroup, and the subgroups pass on to the punters or the oxide. But depending on what you're doing and how many bits of equipment you're doing it with, a subgroup can perform any number of different functions. To bring some semblance of order to this state of affairs, Studiomaster have divided each of the Pro Line subgroup channels into two halves, upper and lower. The upper sections let you decide whether to use a subgroup as a tape monitor (allowing you to hear exactly what's being recorded a split-second after it has been played) or as an additional input just in case eight aren't enough. The lower section in contrast, gives you a choice between tape monitor, auxiliary line input, and the conventional subgroup function described above.

Compared to the "ordinary" input channels, the 8-4-8R's subgroup sections have quite a limited range of controls: basically gain and pan. So if you are using any of these as additional inputs, you're advised to use them for "cleaner" signals like those from electronic instruments or outboard effects units, leaving troublesome "live" things like guitars, drums, and vocals to the main inputs with their many and varied sound-modifying controls.

Once all your initial connections have been made, your inputs are assigned to subgroups which, in turn, are reassigned back to inputs — enabling you to adjust the output from a multitrack tape machine at mixdown, and completing the "8-4-8" circuit. It's now time to turn to the Master Section, which is where you connect the whole shooting match up to your stereo PA amps and speakers, or your studio monitors, or (should the neighbours have returned home from Ibiza unexpectedly early) a pair of headphones.

And that's it! Well, not quite. There are the usual mixer-type things like phantom powering for microphones, a 1KHz tone (for aligning the mixer to tape machines and other ancillary bits), Technicolor LED meters, and so forth. They are all essential items, so even if they don't make fascinating reading, it's reassuring to know they're there.

Perhaps most significant of all, there's the option of Studiomaster's MIDI Controlled Muting (MCM for short). Unlike some rival systems, this one does not prevent the 8-4-8R from muting its channels separately — which is just as well, since the MIDI bit costs about 200 quid extra. What it does is enable hi-tech whizzes (and ordinary musicians like you and me) to pre-program a pattern of muting different input channels as a song or running-order progresses. This has two potential advantages: it minimises extraneous noise by switching on channels only when there is something playing into them, and it saves a lot of unseemly scrambling about at the mixdown stage if you're recording.

The MIDI mute commands (which tell the 8-4-8R which channels to switch on and off, and when) can be recorded into a MIDI sequencer in step time or real time. You'd use the latter while mixing-down in the studio, the former in the context of a PA installation. The whole thing is controlled by a handful of buttons on the 8-4-8R's front panel, and really couldn't be simpler to use. If there is a headache, it lies in the fact that the Studiomaster's MIDI channel (the "line of communication" it uses to talk to other MIDI instruments) is adjustable via a rotary switch on the back panel, and that this switch is calibrated 0-9 and A-F, whereas most MIDI instruments just use the numbers 1-16. So MIDI channel 0 on the Pro Line means MIDI channel 1 to every other instrument, and MIDI channel F means MIDI channel 16. Daft, really.

The fact the the 8-4-8R is this month's Dream Machine is no reflection on the competition. It is not really a typical Dream Machine at all, in the sense that few musicians (of whatever age) actually dream about having a great big mixing console to shape their sound with. Unglamorous and workmanlike, mixers just don't win many accolades, despite their plethora of switches and their often considerable pose value.

But as I said at the start, getting your sound balance right is crucial if you're going to do your music justice and stand a chance of getting your message across. If there are four or five of you in your band, splitting the cost of the Studiomaster 8-4-8R should make it quite easily affordable. And when you've bought it, you'll be safe in the knowledge that it can turn in a creditable performance in front of either two hundred sweating bikers, or a single, restless, fidgety girlfriend/producer.

This is not the sort of thing dreams are made of. But it's a dream to have, believe me.

STUDIOMASTER PRO LINE 8-4-8R MIXER: £975; MCM UNIT: £175; both excluding VAT

INFO: Studiomaster, (Contact Details)