Improved Remote Control System for Analog Audio Mixers Featuring Internet of Things Elements

Music is often found in people’s lives, as a form of relaxation and inspiration. Small or medium concert venues use analog audio mixers to process the audio signals produced by each instrument and by the singer to deliver a pleasant sound to the audience. The problem is that the position of the mixer is, in most cases, on the stage or in a corner of the hall. This way the sound that the sound engineer hears will not be the same as what the audience hears. His place should be in public for a qualitative assessment of sound. Analog mixers cannot be controlled remotely, and the current alternative involves the replacement with a new and expensive digital audio mixer. The paper presents a cost-effective system that can be attached to any analog audio mixer, allowing to remote control main parameters like the attenuation of each signal. The remote control is a smartphone application, allowing easy further development and connectivity. The system was implemented, tested and the results and performances are presented in the paper, along with the details about the developed custom remote-to-mixer synchronous communication.