The audio mixer as creative tool in musical composition and performance

The development of the audio mixer dates back into the late 1920's. Due to its basic functionality to mix different sound sources while manipulating their dynamics as well as controlling their spatial and spectral properties, the mixer has been an essential device whenever working with recorded or electronically produced sound. In the following paper I try to investigate how composers and musicians have utilized these elementary characteristics for artistic reasons and in what kind of creative ways they exploited the potentials of mixing technology. The observations will range from the first musical experiments in the newly founded electronic studios in the late 1940's, over the elaborate mixing techniques coming up with the advent of multi-track recording in the early 1960's, to the present-day situation, where audio mixers are often realized completely in software. Beside the audio mixer's significance regarding to the performance of electroacoustic music, I will consider the creative use of mixing equipment in dub and electronic dance music as well as the development of DJ-mixing. The aim of this paper is to investigate and illustrate the wide diversity of approaches utilizing the audio mixer as a creative tool in musical composition and performance.

As starting point of the second part serves the fact that the majority of today's mixing applications are implemented in software entirely. For this reason we are no longer restricted to the traditional mixer interface that was mainly determined by its electro-mechanical components which force, due to their technical properties, a certain layout of the user-interface. Since in digital mixing systems the functional core is fully separated from the user-interface, we gain unrestrained freedom for its design. With reference to the creative use of mixing technology, I claim that there are several alternatives to the traditional mixer layout supporting particular artistic objectives like for example live-spatialization, collaborative performance or experimental sound exploration. As a practical work I will choose a certain artistic focus and develop an alternative mixing interface which supports the creative potential relating to its intended use. In this process I will consider relevant findings from the first part of my work as well as take advantage of entirely new interaction possibilities due to the realization as a Multi-Touch or Tangible User Interface. The application will be carried out as a Proof-of-Concept Prototype.