Rane Mixer, used by Grandmaster Flash: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This Empath audio mixer was made by the Rane Corporation, Mukilteo, Washington. It is a Grandmaster Flash Gold Signature edition, serial number (21) 00425549, 3-channel, 10” format mixer. A mixer, also called a sound board, mixing desk, or audio production console, is an electronic device for combining or “mixing” audio from multiples sources such as turntables or cd players and equalizing, cross-fading, adjusting timbre, and changing dynamics of audio signals to an external source such as speakers or a recording device.

Grandmaster Flash (Joseph Saddler), was born in Barbados in 1958. Growing up in the Bronx, he was influenced by his father’s massive record collection. As a teenager, Grandmaster Flash first experimented with DJ equipment and became involved in the New York DJ scene while attending daytime technical school courses in electronics. The innovations and techniques developed by Grandmaster Flash established him as one of the pioneers of hip hop and deejaying.

Materials, dates and provenance

• maker: Rane Corporation
• Object Name: mixer
• Physical Description: metal (overall material)
• Physical Description: plastic (overall material)
• Measurements: overall: 33.5 cm x 25.5 cm x 10 cm; 13 3/16 in x 10 1/32 in x 3 15/16 in
• place made: United States: Washington, Mukilteo
• Subject: Hip-Hop
• ID Number: 2006.0060.04
• accession number: 2006.0060
• catalog number: 2006.0060.04
• Credit Line: Gift of Grandmaster Flash
• Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.