Studio Recording & Engineering

Studio recording and engineering

DI boxes.

What does a DI box do?

It takes unbalanced inputs, and converts them to a balanced output.

Many DI boxes offer the ability to take an instrument level input and match the impedance to an XLR mic input, so that it can be easily plugged into a mixing desk

We use a DI box for a guitar and maybe a few other things. It picks up frequencies that maybe otherwise a microphone wouldn't and make the guitar sound crisp during recoding (at least that’s what I've used it for) DI stands for direct injection. This stands for a way of connecting an instrument to a PA system or recording device. It requires the instruments to have some form of mechanical it electrical pick-up systems.

For example I used a condenser microphone to pick up more bass sounds or low frequencies of the electro acoustic and then I use the DI box to make the higher ones crisp and stand out more. This also enables for a more balanced recording. Another words audio perfection. You connect these by using a jack to jack to the guitar output into the input of the DI box and then. An XLR to XLR for the audio interface.

There can be two or more inputs and outputs. They also do not need a power cable for it to work. The quality of the outcome of the DI box will depend on the pickups in a guitar. If the guitar is good quality the better the quality of sound. You can have electromagnetic or piezo type of pickups. Higher the bit depth the lower the noise floor. Passive di do not boost the signal at all!!

They are also not overpriced. They are relatively cheap for good quality sound from a DI BOX Really a DI box will change a unbalanced signal to a balanced signal. This means less interference.

Advantages of a DI box

Simplicity,

excellent electrical isolation between input and output,

and lack of dependence on a power supply.

Disadvantages of a passive DI

loading effect

DI box usually comprises a single transformer with a centre-tapped secondary winding

Active DI box

These are similar to a passive speaker. However these can contain buffering amplifier which isolates the signal from the rest of the chain. This prevents a high impedance to the pickup. This will result in a much cleaner sound then a low impedance often found with passive DI boxes.

This will improve quality to the audio but it is important to remember that these do not convert signal into line level.

Ground loop

What is ground loop??This is an electrical hum when an audio signal passes from the instrument to the mains and back into the amplifier.

Some musicians will prevent this by removing the ground cable from their amplifier which is incredibly dangerous. Using a di box with a ground lift will effectively stop this from happening. It does this by bypassing the screen to art of the audio cable.