alot of photoshop work. I've never been enthused using the channel mixer for black and white. From lots of experimentation I've come to believe the channel mixer is good if you don't know what look you want in your black and white conversion: so much variation possible, but only if original has subtle tone gradation otherwise tends to band. If you do know the black and white look you desire: desaturation, blend modes and photo filters!
Example:
1. channel mixer, duotone, + a lot of work to hide banding at lower right.
2. desaturation, blend modes, levels, photofilters.
For me, trying to achieve a look, #2 has depth and subtlety, I could not achieve this look using channel mixer. I tried my #2 method after failing with channel mixer, returning to more 'traditional' black and white methods.