for direct conversion the am signal is mixed by the carrier so the results will be the info signal with some degradation in the amplitude due tothe phase error between the the am signal and the carrier
a pll circuit can be used to remove the phase error
if the output of the mixer is IF the next stage may be second IF or demodulation am or fm
if am demodulation you can use envelope or direct conversion system or any thing
if mixer's output is an IF , and next stage is a demodulator then what frequency should be the IF or its components in order to recover the information ?