Manipulating NES channels

[MidOrFeed2015]

Something has been bothering me, and that is with my Famicom when I am playing Ninja Gaiden, Akumajou Densetsu, Madara, Contra, etc... the "Bass" part sounds very low, and using FCEUX and filtering each channel I found it was the PCM or DPCM channel that was lacking volume. I'm just wondering because I would really like for the PCM channel to be louder since the drums for instance in Akumajou Densetsu sound amazing, is there a way to manipulate the channels of an Famicom/NES individually using a huge Audio Channel Mixer device? Can it be that simple? A mixer for instance like the picture below, or any other device that I don't know about? Boosting the PCM would play a huge role in the enjoyment of my games. Madara is a game that does not sound natural with the PCM being so quiet. Either that or maybe my speakers are bad? I'm mainly curious about the Audio Mixer though if it works or not, thanks! This is for hardware of course by the way, and I used FCEUX only to filter and find the channel I was looking for.

[Xan]

I'd say it would be a lot more practical to try and hack these ROMs and play them on a flashcard instead... triangle and noise are on the same pin as PCM on the 2A03 so any mods to that would affect the other two channels as well.

[MidOrFeed2015]

I'd say it would be a lot more practical to try and hack these ROMs and play them on a flashcard instead... triangle and noise are on the same pin as PCM on the 2A03 so any mods to that would affect the other two channels as well.

That's fine, actually. Filtering those 3 channels (triangle, noise and PCM) is the same as what I was requesting actually. They all seem to be bass-like channels. So would a mixer work in that case?

[darcagn]

That's fine, actually. Filtering those 3 channels (triangle, noise and PCM) is the same as what I was requesting actually.

Do the NES "stereo mod," that will get you the two pulse waves together on one output and the triangle/noise/PCM together on another output, and then you can use potentiometers on each output to adjust the individual volumes, then mix back together into mono.

[MidOrFeed2015]

That's fine, actually. Filtering those 3 channels (triangle, noise and PCM) is the same as what I was requesting actually.

Do the NES "stereo mod," that will get you the two pulse waves together on one output and the triangle/noise/PCM together on another output, and then you can use potentiometers on each output to adjust the individual volumes, then mix back together into mono.

Hey I just realized that plugging white only plays the bass-ish stuff, while red does the other stuff. I'm guessing triangle/noise/PCM is assigned to my white cable (it's already been stereo modded), so I guess I can buy some kind of device to adjust the volumes of white and red separately maybe? I wouldn't know which device to use though. I don't want to do any more modding since I can't do it myself. One problem though is that I guess expanded audio is channeled into white and red together. That's what I noticed with Akumajou at least.

Can you explain to me what is happening in this video? I think he's controller the 2 main "consolidated" channels like you mentioned before and the expansion channel all individually as 3 channels.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pj0ofU0CBjE

[darcagn]

it's already been stereo modded

Well this is probably why you think your NES/Famicom games sound wrong, then. The NES/Famicom is a mono console. The CPU happens to output some sound channels on pin 1 and other sound channels on pin 2 and then mixes those internally before outputting mono sound. This gives modders the opportunity to split the channels up and advertise it as a "stereo sound" mod, but the reality is it sounds like shit because the games weren't intended to be presented this way. You're splitting the bass to one side and the treble to the other.

And you're correct about what is happening in the video. He's got the console set up to have three outputs:
1. Two pulse waves
2. Triangle wave, noise, PCM
3. Famicom cartridge/FDS expansion audio

These are being fed into a mixing board so the individual volumes can be adjusted.

You could get a mixing board and do the same thing, but that seems like way overkill.

[MidOrFeed2015]

it's already been stereo modded

Well this is probably why you think your NES/Famicom games sound wrong, then. The NES/Famicom is a mono console. The CPU happens to output some sound channels on pin 1 and other sound channels on pin 2 and then mixes those internally before outputting mono sound. This gives modders the opportunity to split the channels up and advertise it as a "stereo sound" mod, but the reality is it sounds like shit because the games weren't intended to be presented this way. You're splitting the bass to one side and the treble to the other.

And you're correct about what is happening in the video. He's got the console set up to have three outputs:
1. Two pulse waves
2. Triangle wave, noise, PCM
3. Famicom cartridge/FDS expansion audio

These are being fed into a mixing board so the individual volumes can be adjusted.

You could get a mixing board and do the same thing, but that seems like way overkill.

If he's feeding two pulse waves using red, and the basslines using white, how is he feeding expansion audio? I hope he's not wiring from the cart itself. Do you think he's doing that?

[darcagn]

If he's feeding two pulse waves using red, and the basslines using white, how is he feeding expansion audio? I hope he's not wiring from the cart itself. Do you think he's doing that?

He explains it in the video description. He's not using red or white RCA jacks (his mod is not a "stereo mod" intended on left-right separation); he is using three 1/4" TS jacks installed into his NES, each one feeding a different channel into his mixing board.

[MidOrFeed2015]

If he's feeding two pulse waves using red, and the basslines using white, how is he feeding expansion audio? I hope he's not wiring from the cart itself. Do you think he's doing that?

He explains it in the video description. He's not using red or white RCA jacks (his mod is not a "stereo mod" intended on left-right separation); he is using three 1/4" TS jacks installed into his NES, each one feeding a different channel into his mixing board.

Oh my apologies, I see. Are these 3 1/4 TS Jacks in his nes installed, or 2 of them while a third one is inside his akumajou densetsu? I would be interested in doing this, but I hope I wouldn't have to mess with the carts. Do you have any idea?

[darcagn]

Oh my apologies, I see. Are these 3 1/4 TS Jacks in his nes installed, or 2 of them while a third one is inside his akumajou densetsu? I would be interested in doing this, but I hope I wouldn't have to mess with the carts. Do you have any idea?

They're all installed in the console. There would be no need to modify the cartridges at all.

So for example, with Akumajou Densetsu, you'd have three 1/4" TS jacks:
1. Two pulse waves
2. Triangle wave, noise, DPCM
3. Two pulse waves, sawtooth wave

You could then output them to a mixing board, or if you wanted, you could just install volume adjustment knobs on the NES itself.

[MidOrFeed2015]

Oh my apologies, I see. Are these 3 1/4 TS Jacks in his nes installed, or 2 of them while a third one is inside his akumajou densetsu? I would be interested in doing this, but I hope I wouldn't have to mess with the carts. Do you have any idea?

They're all installed in the console. There would be no need to modify the cartridges at all.

So for example, with Akumajou Densetsu, you'd have three 1/4" TS jacks:
1. Two pulse waves
2. Triangle wave, noise, DPCM
3. Two pulse waves, sawtooth wave

You could then output them to a mixing board, or if you wanted, you could just install volume adjustment knobs on the NES itself.

I've been looking at the 2803 and I can only seem to see 2 audio pins, for "1" and "2" that you listed, but not the two pulse waves and sawtooth wave pin.

But now I am wondering, would the pin for "3" that you mentioned be in the expansion port? Famicom has pin 2 called SOUND on its expansion port, while NES has an audio in and audio out pin on its expansion port (I'm not concerned with NES but that seems a bit more complicated).

So for the Famicom would the three 1/4" TS jacks be connected to:

1. -> Pin 1 from CPU (A01) [Audio out pin (both pulse waves)]
2. -> Pin 2 from CPU (A02) [Audio out pin (triangle, noise, and DPCM)]
3. -> Pin 2 from EXP (SOUND) [SOUND (before expansion audio is mixed in)]

Thanks!

[darcagn]

But now I am wondering, would the pin for "3" that you mentioned be in the expansion port? Famicom has pin 2 called SOUND on its expansion port, while NES has an audio in and audio out pin on its expansion port (I'm not concerned with NES but that seems a bit more complicated).

So for the Famicom would the three 1/4" TS jacks be connected to:

1. -> Pin 1 from CPU (A01) [Audio out pin (both pulse waves)]
2. -> Pin 2 from CPU (A02) [Audio out pin (triangle, noise, and DPCM)]
3. -> Pin 2 from EXP (SOUND) [SOUND (before expansion audio is mixed in)]

Thanks!

No, it's not the expansion port. It's through the cartridge port.

On the Famicom, cartridge pin 45 contains the full mixed audio from CPU pins 1+2 which is sent to the cartridge, in this example Akumajou Densetsu. The VRC6 inside the cartridge generates the 2 additional pulse waves and sawtooth waves and sends them to the DAC on the cartridge which creates the additional audio output. Inside the cartridge, this new audio is mixed with the CPU's audio and output back to the console over pin 46.

So the system audio is mixed with the expansion audio in the cartridge.

What you need to do is cut the trace for cartridge pin 45 on the Famicom so that the CPU audio never makes it to the cartridge to get mixed. Then take pin 46 which will now be only the expansion audio and connect it to the TRS jack that will contain your expansion audio output.

[MidOrFeed2015]

But now I am wondering, would the pin for "3" that you mentioned be in the expansion port? Famicom has pin 2 called SOUND on its expansion port, while NES has an audio in and audio out pin on its expansion port (I'm not concerned with NES but that seems a bit more complicated).

So for the Famicom would the three 1/4" TS jacks be connected to:

1. -> Pin 1 from CPU (A01) [Audio out pin (both pulse waves)]
2. -> Pin 2 from CPU (A02) [Audio out pin (triangle, noise, and DPCM)]
3. -> Pin 2 from EXP (SOUND) [SOUND (before expansion audio is mixed in)]

Thanks!

No, it's not the expansion port. It's through the cartridge port.

On the Famicom, cartridge pin 45 contains the full mixed audio from CPU pins 1+2 which is sent to the cartridge, in this example Akumajou Densetsu. The VRC6 inside the cartridge generates the 2 additional pulse waves and sawtooth waves and sends them to the DAC on the cartridge which creates the additional audio output. Inside the cartridge, this new audio is mixed with the CPU's audio and output back to the console over pin 46.

So the system audio is mixed with the expansion audio in the cartridge.

What you need to do is cut the trace for cartridge pin 45 on the Famicom so that the CPU audio never makes it to the cartridge to get mixed. Then take pin 46 which will now be only the expansion audio and connect it to the TRS jack that will contain your expansion audio output.

So would it be:

1 TRS Jack connected to Pin 1 (CPU), another connected to Pin 2 (CPU) and the final one connected to Pin 46 (Cartridge Connector)? And this is after I cut the trace on pin 45? Then I can plug in 3 mono jacks coming from my famicom into 3 different inputs on a mixer and control all 3 individually?

I drew it up on paint to illustrate what I may know about what you said. Is this how it would work? I have yellow lines representing the TRS jacks, a red line representing the cut I would assume would be made to kill any transmission from pin 45 to anything else, and a jack connected to Pin 46 of the cartridge connector.

[darcagn]

You're getting the right idea, just keep in mind:

1. I don't have a Famicom and I don't see any numbering on that board so I can't tell if those pins you circled are the correct ones.
2. You can't just connect those pins directly to the TS jacks. Those pins are just the source of the audio before the console mixes them together and sends them to the output circuit. You'll need to build new output circuits for the three channels.

[MidOrFeed2015]

You're getting the right idea, just keep in mind:

1. I don't have a Famicom and I don't see any numbering on that board so I can't tell if those pins you circled are the correct ones.
2. You can't just connect those pins directly to the TS jacks. Those pins are just the source of the audio before the console mixes them together and sends them to the output circuit. You'll need to build new output circuits for the three channels.

I have no soldering background so I wasn't sure, and I thought the ts jacks could be connected just like that. I apologize!

Would you mind elaborating on "new output circuits?" I am going to tackle this seriously. I had the numbering wrong on the pins as well so I'm sorry for that too. I believe pin 46 is to the left of 45, and not to the right since I did not consider it being mirrored when flipped over and the CPU was supposed to be the top 2 pins.

[darcagn]

I have no soldering background so I wasn't sure, and I thought the ts jacks could be connected just like that. I apologize!

Would you mind elaborating on "new output circuits?" I am going to tackle this seriously. I had the numbering wrong on the pins as well so I'm sorry for that too. I believe pin 46 is to the left of 45, and not to the right since I did not consider it being mirrored when flipped over and the CPU was supposed to be the top 2 pins.

No need to apologize. I'm still not sure you have the pinout correct, because the pin you have labelled as 45 appears to be leading to the ground plane, which means it would be a ground pin, but I'm not sure. Use a multimeter and compare to this pinout diagram to double-check.

However the pins you have on the CPU in that image are correct.

As for the output circuit, the CPU pins 1 and 2 are mixed together and then go to a circuit that has some low pass filtering and probably something for protection as well. I know the NES has a much more complicated circuit than the Famicom does, but I don't know exactly how necessary all of that circuit is as I'm not familiar with it. Hopefully someone who is more experienced with electronics design can chime in.

[MidOrFeed2015]

I have no soldering background so I wasn't sure, and I thought the ts jacks could be connected just like that. I apologize!

Would you mind elaborating on "new output circuits?" I am going to tackle this seriously. I had the numbering wrong on the pins as well so I'm sorry for that too. I believe pin 46 is to the left of 45, and not to the right since I did not consider it being mirrored when flipped over and the CPU was supposed to be the top 2 pins.

No need to apologize. I'm still not sure you have the pinout correct, because the pin you have labelled as 45 appears to be leading to the ground plane, which means it would be a ground pin, but I'm not sure. Use a multimeter and compare to this pinout diagram to double-check.

However the pins you have on the CPU in that image are correct.

As for the output circuit, the CPU pins 1 and 2 are mixed together and then go to a circuit that has some low pass filtering and probably something for protection as well. I know the NES has a much more complicated circuit than the Famicom does, but I don't know exactly how necessary all of that circuit is as I'm not familiar with it. Hopefully someone who is more experienced with electronics design can chime in.

I hope I can get some more help, or figure this out. Thanks for everything you've said. Still trying to wrap my head around the whole low pass filter thing. I feel this is absolutely necessary. I even tested my Gimmick! cart and it feels like the Sunsoft 5B is just overpowering everything making it sound pretty bad. I've been adjusting channels through Nestopia to mirror what my famicom is producing to see what my problems were, and to definitely deduce that the expansion audio is definitely too overpowering.

[MidOrFeed2015]

I have no soldering background so I wasn't sure, and I thought the ts jacks could be connected just like that. I apologize!

Would you mind elaborating on "new output circuits?" I am going to tackle this seriously. I had the numbering wrong on the pins as well so I'm sorry for that too. I believe pin 46 is to the left of 45, and not to the right since I did not consider it being mirrored when flipped over and the CPU was supposed to be the top 2 pins.

No need to apologize. I'm still not sure you have the pinout correct, because the pin you have labelled as 45 appears to be leading to the ground plane, which means it would be a ground pin, but I'm not sure. Use a multimeter and compare to this pinout diagram to double-check.

However the pins you have on the CPU in that image are correct.

As for the output circuit, the CPU pins 1 and 2 are mixed together and then go to a circuit that has some low pass filtering and probably something for protection as well. I know the NES has a much more complicated circuit than the Famicom does, but I don't know exactly how necessary all of that circuit is as I'm not familiar with it. Hopefully someone who is more experienced with electronics design can chime in.

Excuse me!! Sorry for the double post, but everything you have said makes sense so far. I opened up my famicom, and looking at it I see this:

Pin 1 of 2803 going into AUXA_CPU2
Pin 2 of 2803 going into AUXA_CPU1

Cartridge Pin 45 has a white hole in its traced, so it's definitely been cut like you said, but Pin 45 is going into C_45
Cartridge Pin 46 is going into C_46

The only difference is I believe you said not to use Pin 45 at all. Simply cut the trace and leave it at that. My Famicom came to me NESRGB modded so I'm pretty puzzled to see the wiring 95% matches what you've been saying.

I was thinking, should I yank off the C_45 wire so that there's no connection at all? Here's another thing by the way:

I have been using just my SCART cable for audio, but there's also another 3.5mm audio jack. I decided to give that a try, and it pretty much does the same stuff as with Scart. I also tried connecting both, but the 3.5mm disables the scart audio's signal.

I was wondering, does CN_45 and CN_46 only affect the 3.5mm jack, while AUXA_CPU1 and AUXA_CPU2 affect the scart? Would I be able to individually listen to Pin 1 and 2 of the CPU using red/white as I've done and yank off CN_45 to produce only expansion with that other jack to finally acquire all 3 desired outputs?

I have not yanked it off yet as I wanted to confirm what I am saying is correct.

Thanks!

Image Below:

[darcagn]

Ah, I understand better what's going on right now. To be honest, I had not really looked into the Famicom NESRGB boards, and I had no idea that Tim designed them with the stereo audio option in mind.

Have you tried just messing with the stereo separation knob? If you adjust the knob to lesser stereo separation, you might get a volume level for the bass you are comfortable with.

Both the 3.5mm jack and the SCART jack are affected by all of the inputs.

If I'm assuming correctly, this is what happens:

The AUXA_CPU1 goes to the NESRGB board which outputs it on the left channel, and the AUXA_CPU2 goes to the NESRGB board which outputs it to the right channel (I might have left/right mixed up here but bear with me). Then the NESRGB board also outputs AUXA_CPU1+AUXA_CPU2 to pin 45 on the motherboard, which sends the combination CPU audio to the cartridge. The cartridge then mixes the CPU1+CPU2audio+expansion audio together and sends it back to the NESRGB via pin 46. The NESRGB then adds this CPU1+CPU2+EXP audio combination to both the left and right speakers. And adjusting the stereo separation knob adjusts the volume level for how much difference you want to hear between the left and right audio.

I could be wrong with my assumption, but I'd need to have the Famicom in front of me and listen to a copy of Akumajou Densetsu while adjusting the potentiometer to determine 100% exactly what is happening.

[MidOrFeed2015]

Ah, I understand better what's going on right now. To be honest, I had not really looked into the Famicom NESRGB boards, and I had no idea that Tim designed them with the stereo audio option in mind.

Have you tried just messing with the stereo separation knob? If you adjust the knob to lesser stereo separation, you might get a volume level for the bass you are comfortable with.

Both the 3.5mm jack and the SCART jack are affected by all of the inputs.

If I'm assuming correctly, this is what happens:

The AUXA_CPU1 goes to the NESRGB board which outputs it on the left channel, and the AUXA_CPU2 goes to the NESRGB board which outputs it to the right channel (I might have left/right mixed up here but bear with me). Then the NESRGB board also outputs AUXA_CPU1+AUXA_CPU2 to pin 45 on the motherboard, which sends the combination CPU audio to the cartridge. The cartridge then mixes the CPU1+CPU2audio+expansion audio together and sends it back to the NESRGB via pin 46. The NESRGB then adds this CPU1+CPU2+EXP audio combination to both the left and right speakers. And adjusting the stereo separation knob adjusts the volume level for how much difference you want to hear between the left and right audio.

I could be wrong with my assumption, but I'd need to have the Famicom in front of me and listen to a copy of Akumajou Densetsu while adjusting the potentiometer to determine 100% exactly what is happening.

If I make Pin 45 do nothing, do you think there would be no mix and only expansion audio would travel?

Do you think it's worth trying to kill the Pin 45 connection? I also have a knob on my console that lets me adjust between mono and stereo only, and no values give me satisfactory bass. There's also the fact that some games have their expansion audio too amped up making games like Gimmick! sound not as great as it should (comparing it to playback from an emulator and youtube vid).

[darcagn]

If I make Pin 45 do nothing, do you think there would be no mix and only expansion audio would travel? If that were the case, I could probably yank off pin 46 as well and turn that into a TS jack, right? Then I could feed red, white and the TS jack into a mixer?

Do you think it's worth trying to kill the Pin 45 connection? I also have a knob on my console that lets me adjust between mono and stereo only, and no values give me satisfactory bass. There's also the fact that some games have their expansion audio too amped up making games like Gimmick! sound not as great as it should (comparing it to playback from an emulator and youtube vid).

If you kill the pin 45 connection, then the pin 46 should just be expansion audio. You could hook that up to a TS jack, yes, however, I'm still not sure if it's safe to directly connect that to the mixer. The red/white audio should be safe to do, however--just turn the knob to full stereo.

[MidOrFeed2015]

If I make Pin 45 do nothing, do you think there would be no mix and only expansion audio would travel? If that were the case, I could probably yank off pin 46 as well and turn that into a TS jack, right? Then I could feed red, white and the TS jack into a mixer?

Do you think it's worth trying to kill the Pin 45 connection? I also have a knob on my console that lets me adjust between mono and stereo only, and no values give me satisfactory bass. There's also the fact that some games have their expansion audio too amped up making games like Gimmick! sound not as great as it should (comparing it to playback from an emulator and youtube vid).

If you kill the pin 45 connection, then the pin 46 should just be expansion audio. You could hook that up to a TS jack, yes, however, I'm still not sure if it's safe to directly connect that to the mixer. The red/white audio should be safe to do, however--just turn the knob to full stereo.

Ok I guess I will for now CUT the pin 45 connection and report back the results sometime around tomorrow. Wish me luck friend.

[MidOrFeed2015]

If I make Pin 45 do nothing, do you think there would be no mix and only expansion audio would travel? If that were the case, I could probably yank off pin 46 as well and turn that into a TS jack, right? Then I could feed red, white and the TS jack into a mixer?

Do you think it's worth trying to kill the Pin 45 connection? I also have a knob on my console that lets me adjust between mono and stereo only, and no values give me satisfactory bass. There's also the fact that some games have their expansion audio too amped up making games like Gimmick! sound not as great as it should (comparing it to playback from an emulator and youtube vid).

If you kill the pin 45 connection, then the pin 46 should just be expansion audio. You could hook that up to a TS jack, yes, however, I'm still not sure if it's safe to directly connect that to the mixer. The red/white audio should be safe to do, however--just turn the knob to full stereo.

Ok I guess I will for now CUT the pin 45 connection and report back the results sometime around tomorrow. Wish me luck friend.

Hi,

I cut the wire off from both sides (C_45 and Pin 45) and I still hear everything. I guess if I wanted to hear the expansion only I would have to cut off AUX1 and AUX2, right? At the end of the day, I should be converting these 3 wires to jacks, correct?

Edit: Actually, now that I think about it, the expansion audio is very very amplified now. I can still hear some of the other 2 but the expansion is practically overpowering it now.

I've been reading up on this and I'm guessing the wiring would be like:



This is what I got from reading his video description. I have tried messaging the guy as well but still no response for several days.

[MidOrFeed2015]

If I make Pin 45 do nothing, do you think there would be no mix and only expansion audio would travel? If that were the case, I could probably yank off pin 46 as well and turn that into a TS jack, right? Then I could feed red, white and the TS jack into a mixer?

Do you think it's worth trying to kill the Pin 45 connection? I also have a knob on my console that lets me adjust between mono and stereo only, and no values give me satisfactory bass. There's also the fact that some games have their expansion audio too amped up making games like Gimmick! sound not as great as it should (comparing it to playback from an emulator and youtube vid).

If you kill the pin 45 connection, then the pin 46 should just be expansion audio. You could hook that up to a TS jack, yes, however, I'm still not sure if it's safe to directly connect that to the mixer. The red/white audio should be safe to do, however--just turn the knob to full stereo.

Hey there,

Flash forward to the present day and my parts have arrived. I went out to buy a 30 watt soldering iron and I got some 63/37 solder (or whatever) and started to work. I did it just as I drew it and just as you guided me:

Pin 1 CPU to 220uF -, 220uF + to RCA sleeve, RCA tip to ground
Pin 2 CPU to 220uF -, 220uF + to RCA sleeve, RCA tip to ground
Pin 46 CART to 220uF -, 220uF + to RCA sleeve, RCA tip to ground

Ground was a problem for me cause I didn't know where to put it. Maybe Pin 20 of the CPU? But then I found this giant blob called GND near the cartridge pins, and I wired all RCA tips to that gnd blob. All I need to do is drill 3 holes to put my rca jacks in. I believe they require 3/8" holes for mounting, so I'm gonna cut the connection, make the hole, insert the jack then resolder it. I just gonna find a good place to drill these holes.

Pin 2 CPU to 220uF -


Pin 46 CART to 220uF-


Pin 1 CPU to 220uF-


All + connections from 220uF going to respective RCA jacks. Didn't take a picture of the GND blob but the black wires represent gnd wires.


I wish I took more pictures to make a progression thing but I forgot. Oh well, thanks for the help dude! I'm also going to buy this to control each input, since it has 3 inputs and one output.



Once I have this, the tests shall begin.

[darcagn]

Yeah, it's fine to use pretty much any ground point. There should be ground points all over everything all over the board. Just use the most convenient place.

I would suggest snipping the leads on those capacitors a little closer. Having them that long risks them touching something and shorting something out.

Also, just a suggestion, wrapping the soldered joints in electrical tape will work fine as long as it doesn't come undone, but if you want it to look neat and professional use heatshrink tubing.

[MidOrFeed2015]

Yeah, it's fine to use pretty much any ground point. There should be ground points all over everything all over the board. Just use the most convenient place.

I would suggest snipping the leads on those capacitors a little closer. Having them that long risks them touching something and shorting something out.

Also, just a suggestion, wrapping the soldered joints in electrical tape will work fine as long as it doesn't come undone, but if you want it to look neat and professional use heatshrink tubing.

I'm not concerned too much with the aesthetics out of laziness but I'll strip those leads for sure. Thanks for the advice again. I'll report back the results with the mixer tomorrow since I'm getting it in the morning.