I found some mixer plans on the internet and kind of combined two plans with help from my good friend Larry. I downloaded ExpressSCH which was free and entered everything as you see it here.

This is a free product called ExpressPCB. I did multiple redesigns to make it simpler with less connectors required. This product links to ExpressSCH as well and tells you what groups connect together. The numbers down the right represent the traces. These are solid lines of copper on the back, going from left to right with a short gap in the centre of the board.

This is a large drawing of the circuit board. I used it to place components on the board. Btw, I have never built anything like this before!

This was an early drawing of how I thought the volume knobs might be positioned. The yellow ones are the three input volumes and the red is the master output volume. Turns out, the potentiometer behind the knob took up too much room to squeeze them this close together.

These are all the components for one mixer. This project has eight identical mixers in one box. That's a dime there. I was surprised how small all this stuff was.

These components aren't soldered in place yet. I just wanted to see how everything looked together. The big blue thing is an electrolytic capacitor. The transistor, which I thought would be the biggest component is a tiny little black thing behind it.

Here is a picture of the board with the end unit populated with components. You can see I have marked where the resistors go using a red marker and capacitors with green. Three of the capacitors are black and quite small. The big blue one is an electrolytic and they have a positive and negative end.

Here is the board for four mixers, it's 8" long. You can see the tiny black transistor at the back which is on the left of this picture.

Here is my workspace where I have begun my soldering. I have a neat little circuit board holder and a too-small light/magnifying lens.

Here are the first set of components soldered. The red wire hanging down is the 9v power supply which then continues on to the next section and so on. The green wire is 1 of 8 that will go to ground.

Doesn't look like much but I'm very proud of it anyway. This is the business end of all my soldering work. You are looking at one 3>1 mixer minus the knobs and plugs. Only 7 more to go. (REAL electronics guys must be rolling their eyes right about now.)

This is the inside and the front of the case I built from a Sony CD player. I know, it looks pretty rough. I used the original back which screws on. Now I have to paint it and staighten it out a bit. Drilling the holes in exactly the right place was almost impossible. Should do the job anyway.

This shows all the panel-mount jacks and all the volume controls (pots). The pots and jacks are laid by the schematic showing how they attach. All the leads are soldered onto the controls but have no grounds yet (green wires) which I will solder to the bare copper wire and attach to the frame. Finally, solder all to the board (in the centre)

Well, my first effort didn't go so well. I put a transistor in backwards and then, had a successful test but the volume was terribly low. I decided to revise and move on. This new diagram has two outs, for the 2 vocal premixers only. Also, I'm using a 9v transformer instead of a battery.

This is very hard to read. However, I think everything's connected properly. Still, it looks like a mess. The electrolytic capacitor component image is huge but I couldn't find a small one in their library. I am trying to salvage my existing layout as much as possible. All my input components and the main transistor are ok as is.

Finally, here is everything soldered up. The orange things are electrolytic capacitors and are new additions. Also, the new transistor is the shiny metal thing up front of the picture. Btw, doesn't work! What now?!

This is the guts from an old cordless phone charger. It was 9 volts which is exactly what I needed. It's even got a neat little red LED. I will attach this to my circuit board instead of using a 9v battery. (The long springs will become the leads that attach to my board)

This is a partial outer view of the back. I have the locations of the holes marked for drilling. The 9v power supply is visible in a preexisting square hole from something in the original Sony CD case. It has been very slow going because the rest of my life keeps interferring!

Here is how I attached the power supply. The green wire is coming from my portable phone circuit board. I bent up the metal pieces from the back filler plate of a computer slot. I cut it down the middle with tin snips and bent it with pliers. I predrilled the holes and used little black screws salvaged from the Sony CD player.

These are the notes I made while planning my rack mount case. It will have doors, front and rear, and wheels on the bottom. Once I actually started cutting the pieces though, I used the amps themselves to make sure the dimensions were right. This box will also hold the NuVJ Video Mixer

Here are the materials all pre-cut. The dark wood is the main support shelves. The plywood behind is the front and rear doors. In the drawer are all the small pieces that the amps will bolt to. The wheels are in the plastic bag in front. The small plywood strips will be for the amps to slide on. No sides in this picture.

This is my future video computer which will be used to control the NuVJ Video Mixer. It will have a two drive RAID and two monitors. The white box is a UPS, Uninterruptable Power Supply. It has 4 12v batteries in it and will protect me from a power failure as well as power surges.

These are the amps that will go into the rack mount box. Still sitting in the cardboard packing are 3 Cirwin Vega amps, a Realistic amp and on top is the SM Pro Audio DI8 mixer. Not showing is my home built mixer which will be at the top of the rack.

This picture is of the early guts, still without the MAudio Firewire 410 interface. It will be going in the empty slot at the right just above the upper keyboard.

Early picture when I was building the internal structure. I had the larger keyboard on the bottom, aligned at the right. I changed that later to accomodate the Korg Nanopad.

This is an early picture showing the back of the guts. The big holes are for lightness and also to pass a few wires. I bought two CME UF midi keyboards and cut them up into the appropriate sized pieces.

Early work on the box. All the plywood I bought was warping. I had all the pieces cut at Home Depot and almost all of them were off square. What a nightmare. I had to recut and resize everything.

This pic shows how the legs fold up. There is a flap at the bottom of each. The keyboard would stand too tall without that hinge there.

This is a good pic of how the cover folds open and closed.

I designed the complete top so it would unfold to the back into this compact area. In my earlier design, I had metal clips to hold it from falling backwards. After I added wheels, the angle of the top pretty much took care of itself as far as falling backwards went.

Here I am test fitting one of the computers onto the inside of one of the legs. The legs fold up into each other. Everything was designed to close up all the equipment into one carrying case.

The console is on its back showing some of the early work on the underside. Lots more to go in though.

Good pic showing the tracks on the inside of the legs where the no 2 computer will be mounted.

I had to remove absolutely everything from the case several times. Here because I had to square off the internal structure so that when the sides were attached, the whole thing would be square like a box should be.

Closeup of the TC Helicon Voicemaster which produces probably the best vocal accompaniment in the business.

This pic shows the silver Firewire 410. It's an interface, a connection between the Gigastudio computer and the outside world.

Fitting the lower keyboard in the box.

Most of the pieces are coming together in this picture. Still no black stain though.

Squeezing the Korg Nanopad to the right of the lower keyboard. This is an awesome piece of hardware.

Here you see almost the finished product. Two mics are used, one to the Voicemaster and one to No 3 computer running Cubase software.

Here is the guts of the finished keyboard. It's too packed with wiring underneath to set it down. I have the case off for staining.

Here I have disassembled the case and done the black stain covered by Verathane. That's Izzy in the background by the gate.

Almost complete Black Box Band console showing cool folding bench but no computer screen yet in this picture.

Finally! Got my Yamaha VL70 installed in the console. Had to move the M-Audio interface over to the right. The two units are wider than a regular rack mount so I had to do some internal reconstruction.

Clearing the site with my Westie Whimsey watching.

Laying the boards around the outside to check the level. The corner stones are now set in the ground.

This is the old original 8x12 shed which had to be moved over quite a bit. I also rebuilt it with new plywood and a new roof.

Here is the floor being constructed.

You can see the bridging down the middle and the first piece of 5/8 t&g OSB being installed with glue.

This is the underside of the floor, now jacked up into the air so that I could install the 2" styrofoam panels underneath.

Here is the floor pretty much done with caulking in all the joints.

Here is the finished floor, now painted. The shed is 10x16 feet.

I built a template for the roof trusses which I built on top of the new floor. All joints were glued with PL400.

Here is how the roof was joined to the top of the walls. I had to do this to make sure everything was sized properly.

Here is the first wall going up. It contains the window and is all painted on the outside. That's because there is almost no room to work between the new shed and the fence in the background.

Here is the second wall. I laid a bead of black acoustic sealant on the floor first. I used a pry bar and a jack to get the wall lifted and just did the last part by hand. I screwed the 2x4 onto the wall first and screwed a piece at the floor so that I could prevent the wall from going right over the other way. Disaster potential!

Now the third wall goes up. These were 16 ft long and were all painted and completely finished, being only about a foot from the fence. The entire wall then has to be slid towards the end wall once up.

Here I am putting up the trusses. The board underneath is temporary and is used to secure the spacing and give me a chance to screw the trusses into the top of the wall with glue.

Here you can see the finished and painted walls. All the trusses are up and the ridge beam has been slid into place.

Standing on the roof beams is a new experience I recommend to everyone. :)

Plywood now on the roof. I have put pieces of board at the joints of the plywood. They look dark in this picture.

Starting the structure of the end wall. All my pieces were cut for both end walls at the same time.

Closing in the end wall. This was a big moment. Rain, snow, sleet and hail were no longer as much of a concern.

Here is the roof, done with tar paper underneath roll roofing.

Here is the finished door end, painted but with no moulding.

Full door and screen door installed with wood strips around the frame.

Starting on the insulation. Using R12 for the walls.

Here I have all the insulation done. The sound (when you talk) inside completely changes at this point.

Here is another shot of the insulation with a good view of how I insulated around the truss structures.

Here is a pic of the vapour barrier going up. You can see the red tape around the plug boxes to make a proper seal.

This is how I did the vapour barrier where the pot lights were to go. The heat from the lights has to have the vapour barrier on the cold side. It was a lot of extra trouble.

First sheet of drywall going up. The holes are for the pot lights. There will be six in all.

Drywall walls and ceiling done.

Here is a good shot of the drywall taping. The shallow angles around the ceiling were harder to get so they looked right.

Here is a shot of the walls with the drywall primer done.

Here is the inside, all painted. White ceiling and bargain paint walls. Looks good to me.

One more very important job. I built a ramp with very heavy commercial doors. It's even with the floor at the door. I will be rolling speakers and my heavy console in and out of here for every gig.

Here are the speakers moved in. Each set of speakers has its amp on top. Two pairs of these speakers will be on stands. The three in the left corner are self-powered PA speakers.