Recording Studio Equipment - DI Boxes | Music Recording Center

Question: What sits on the music recording studio floor all night long, and doesn't even hum?

Answer: Joe's DI box !!

Y'all (I'm just back from Texas) know the basic recording studio equipment:

mics
recorders
mixers
monitors
compression
effects

But there's couple of unsung heroes tucked away (probably) that should be on top of every engineer's essentials list:

DI boxes
Cables

[tag]Recording Studio Equipment[/tag] - Direct Injection Boxes

No flashing LEDs, no mass of knobs. Plain-jane compared to most audio processors, the unassuming DI (Direct Injection) box just sits on the floor doing its job.

And what is it's job? Two jobs, really…

match impedances
change unbalanced inputs into mixer-friendly balanced outputs

And when will you need a DI box for these tasks? One of the most common DI box applications is to record bass guitars without amps or mics.

Also useful for synths, guitars, and other unbalanced, hi-impedance sources.

DI boxes range from simple, unpowered lo-Z in/hi-Z out, to powered DIs including effects, and multiple channels. Keep a two channel DI box available to connect a stereo keyboard, for example.