Phono/line selector: on most mixers you can have two inputs on the same channel. You can have a line input like a tape deck or a cd player, and a phono input i.e. a technics turntable. You can choose which one you want with the phono/line selector switch. When doing trick mixing, this switch is commonly used for "transforming". Transforming is a repetitive interuption of the signal in a rythmic fashion.

Input fader: When you play a record this is the equivalent of the volume control on your home stereo. You use this to adjust the level of the sound source. Bring the level up and everyone can hear the source, as long as the main output level is up. In trick mixing you can use the fader to deconstruct beats or to do echo scratch effects.

Cue button: This is a very important part of the mixer to a DJ. The cue button allows you to listen to the sound source while the input fader is down or at 0. So if you had something playing on channel 1 you could cue something up on channel two in your headphones without having to "turn it up" (dj duke TM) in the mix.

Crossfader: If channel 1 is being output and you want to switch over two something on channel 2 you could bring input fader 1 down while bringing input fader 2 up. Or, if your mixer has one, use the crossfader since it does the same thing. when the fader is all the way to the left only the first input channel can be heard. When it is to the right, only the second input channel can be heard.Now you can use the input faders to adjust the individual levels of your sound sources and crossfade from one to the other. This is the part called mixing. Take a good look at it, it stands a good chance of being the first fader you break.

Headphone jack: In order to cue something you need headphones and this is where you plug them in.

Headphone level: This allows you adjust the level of the signal in your headphones. Watch your hearing. It is common to get used to a signal as your ears re-adjust to sound pressure. When the level gets too confortable we all get the desire to turn up the level. Try to avoid that.

Output level: You can adjust how loud the final signal gets going out of the mixer. A delicate balancing act often occurs here (when playing live) between the output level and the input levels. the trick is to get the loudest signal without distortion and still compensate for different record pressing levels. Headroom is life ! All faders up doesn't always work. Remember that.

LED levels: A very inconsistently useful feature. The output level indicators tell you how powerful the signal you are outputing is and how much headroom you have left before everything distorts. Sometimes you can split the 2 indicators. The left one then tells you how loud the cue is while the right tells you how loud the program output is. There is no standard layout.