Considering that noise will be sent to the summing mixer the auxiliary buses and insert buses it can certainly add up particularly on older mixers.
Mixer channel inserts.
On some consoles there are switches that allow you to change the eq or at least the hi and low pass filters to come before the channel.
If nothing is set the default destination is the master mixer track.
If you re not using a channel keep it off so that any inherent noise is controlled.
Peak signal leds.
12 ch analog mixer with 4 onyx mic preamps 4 x stereo channels 2 x aux sends per channel and 4 x channel inserts 299 99 or 13 month for 24 months i.
Connected in this way you can equalize a single channel or two channels if you wish with an additional insert cable connected to the other channel of the equalizer.
For instance one could connect a gate a compressor and an equalizer in series through the same channel s insert.
On a digital mixer you may be able to route the insert point out digitally to other points in the mixer or through the network like dante avb s link or aes 50.
So any external gear you insert will come before the channel eq fader and pan.
Some digital mixers allow multiple effects to be inserted virtually still others allow multiple third party plugins to be used as virtual inserts.
Inserts might be found on monoaural mixer inputs monoaural and stereo subgroups.
Routing is set from the channel settings fx channel send control.
Whether you are using inserts as part of your normal setup every week or just to solve an occasional routing problem they add tremendously to the versatility of your audio mixing.
Eq the whole mix to equalize the whole mix everything is exactly the same as above except you should use the main insert sockets that are just to the left of the main outputs.