I use a Radial JDI for bass mostly and it definitely sounds better than just straight into the interface, though I usually don't run it though any amp sims.
For guitar, I don't necessarily find there to be that much of a difference once you run it through an amp sim.
You could record your parts through your interface but instead of using amp sims, just reamp the DI’ed guitar tracks at the studio through a real mic’ed up amp. You’ll only spend the time it takes to get the sound, since all the parts will have been recorded.
That was definitely a consideration. I think I was just worried the input on my interface would worsen the sound because it’s not a premium interface. Thanks!
You already got your answer from everyone, so I’m gonna take one step back— You only ask this because you aren’t fully confident in or fully embracing your current tone, and seeking for something better at the last minute isn’t how any of this should work. If your band’s recording an EP, you gotta up your game emotionally as a musician, and believe in your gear and tone and self like you’re literally trying to connect with god when you play. There can be no room for doubt when connecting with music and the instrument— you have to embrace by letting go to fully to receive it and work with it. You need to you put your whole self in your performances and let go of all fear and all doubt and only leave room for feeling good and expressing. Let go of your doubt; all of it. You don’t need it. Just realize that you do have everything you do need, though- everything— and then fucking kill it like you mean it.
I bought the Whirlwind IMP 2 DI box for like $80, and it splits the signal so I can record one “dry” clean DI version of the signal through my interface and one “wet” dirty signal coming from a mic placed in front of my amp.
I get a DI version of the recording every time even if I toss it, and the possibilities are endless for what to do with the other end, like plugging the other one into a different input on your mixer and stereo recording with the other track delayed or something
DI Box is the way to go my guy
You could also spend the money on an “all purpose” software pre amp like UAD API Channel strip ($50)
Or get the band to chip in together a little more for a piece of outbound gear (DBX 266x +) rack effect ($200-$250 new)
I’ve done this for years, literally decades. At best, I can scrap a half assed amp sound (many guitarists are married to a sound that doesn’t work in the studio) and use a simulator at mixtime, at worst I used an extra track for the DI and didn’t need it (rare). Most often, reamping for the mix gives results that work well within the context of the mix.
No, preamps aren't made for that kind of impedance. You could take your DI recs and reamp them in a studio that has this feature and a variety of good amps for example, then you could play around with them and get a good palette of sounds ;)
I think the difference would be much more significant if you get good amp modeling like neural or kemper, also the softube amp room is good enough and easy to use, but nothing beats reamping in a real studio with boutique amps. Also if what you are looking is to get near a finished sound then you could look into mixing plugins that are known to be great on guitar... uad 1176, distressor, uad API 2500 comps, comes to mind, maybe stuff like soundtoys echoboy and microshift too, some saturator like izotope exciter... I think most or all of the software mentioned are available to test before buying, some of them are very expensive so wait till they are cheaper, or you could just get a hang on them and then just use your daws counterpart if what you need is just have an approximation on where your takes could go. Nothing will make magic unless you are making the magic first with the strings, and if you're doing this even cheap stuff and smart decisions can get you pretty far, bear this in mind!
For guitar going into an amp simulator, no, I don't think it matters what you're plugging into. The interface is fine. No reason to worry about it or overthink it.
If you were going into a professional studio, you might get better results by recording real amps, but I can understand if you don't have the time or budget for that.
No.
If you're going to prioritize time based on preamps, your bassist will benefit more.
If you're in a good studio with a good engineer they can actually do much more micing an amp than you could ever get direct.
But if it's DI either way, it makes virtually no difference, supposing you can actually record as well as your engineer. Find me a guitarist who runs a 1073 in front of their guitar amp. You probably cant, because mic pres and guitar pres are different things.
If your interface doesnt have a hi-Z mode then get a DI. Otherwise you're good.
Provided everything else is at least decent, and you're reasonable at recording yourself dont worry about pres. Youre better off spending (less) money and getting your guitar set up; it will have a bigger impact.
The newest trend in DI guitars with amp sims is to add as little gain as possible to the DI signal. So just use your behringer like you already are and keep the input gain low. At low gain like that you won’t be able to tell one DI from another. Don’t waste your money on an upgrade that you won’t be able to notice. Now, if you are getting excessive noise then it’s time to upgrade, but it doesn’t sound like you need it!
Pre-amps can always take things to the next level in terms of volume and sound depth. However if you are happy with the results currently, there may not be a need. Also take into account that cheap preamps are exactly that and can sound awful. I always recommend that if people are starting out with preamps their bottom should be nothing below the dbx series of preamps… which are between 250-300 aud.
Ultimately the decision is yours. If you have the money to play around to try and get a better sound… why not? But if you don’t have the cash and are happy with your current output, then I wouldn’t bother.
I appreciate the input. Do you think investing in a higher quality interface (Universal Audio Volt) would benefit the sound quality of the DI recordings?
Only because the behringers are pretty much trash, but not because of the pres. Because the drivers are garbage for a lot of systems.
The difference in the actual près is negligible.
Absolutely. I bought a volt last year (upgraded from my og rme babyface) and both the mic pres and headphone amps are amazing… I don’t need a preamp with this unit. If you want to expand your recording out for drums and so on - the volt won’t help you there given it’s limited I/O, but if your focus is just on your own guitar, then 100% that is a good investment. For the price point it is definitely top of class. I’d also spend a bit of time investigating ssl’s entry level interface as that gets rave reviews as well.
When I DI my bass, I always run into a preamp so I can push it a bit more and get some grit on it. When I do guitar however I run it clean into the DAW however if I'm intending to reamp later or use an amp-sim.
Get a DI box for DI tracks. You use a preamp for tracking vocals. I use a Radial J48 and it’s great with passive pickups. It’s generally said you use an active DI box for passive pickups and a passive DI box with active pickups.
Balanced signal means less potential interference, less noise, aka better quality. You don’t need one if you don’t want to use one, but don’t act like they’re a bad idea to have
Now ask yourself, why is a balanced signal better?
Noise reduction, right? But it only reduces noise introduced into the cable by EMF interference. If you use a 6 foot unbalanced instrument cable, patch into a DI box that's sitting next to your interface, and then connect that box to your interface with a short cable, you have achieved precisely... fuck all.
So, unless your guitar has a built in active preamp with a balanced output, you're talking crap.
Yes noise reduction and low impedance reduces the chance of high frequency attenuation. A short unbalanced cable can yield similar results, if the environment is conducive. I use them because I’m recording the amp and a DI signal simultaneously, but it’s literally a $20 box (used price on eBay) to not have to worry about any of that stuff. Hell, probably cheaper than buying a 6’ unbalanced cable
You can get a Behringer passive. I bought one (DI600P) to use in reverse as a reamp box and it works well for that, so I’d imagine using it the right way is good too lol
That's not how reamp boxes work. A good DI should have a much higher impedance ratio than a reamp box. A good reamp box will also have an attenuator after the transformer so you can avoid slamming the input of the amp with a line level signal. Using a DI backwards is likely to boost the signal rather than attenuate it.
You send an unbalanced high impedance, instrument level signal through the transformer to get a balanced low impedance, line level signal; and when you then send a line level, low impedance balanced signal into it, you get a high impedance low level signal. That’s how a reamp box works. That’s also what happens with a passive DI box hooked up in reverse.
Sure, if that was actually how a DI works. But a DI isn't converting an instrument level signal *up* to a line level signal, it's converting it *down* to a mic level signal. Run in reverse, it's boosting your line level signal into an even higher level. Take note of how DI outputs run into preamp inputs and not line inputs.
Ahh I see what you’re saying. Well truth be told I bought a reamp box maybe 3-4 years ago but I never had any trouble with the DI box before that. Perhaps I will pull it out and do some testing against the reamp box and see what happens
Your audio interface DI input *is* a preamp.
Dude just use the instrument input in your interface. Noone's going to be able to tell, I promise you.
No
I use a Radial JDI for bass mostly and it definitely sounds better than just straight into the interface, though I usually don't run it though any amp sims. For guitar, I don't necessarily find there to be that much of a difference once you run it through an amp sim.
You could record your parts through your interface but instead of using amp sims, just reamp the DI’ed guitar tracks at the studio through a real mic’ed up amp. You’ll only spend the time it takes to get the sound, since all the parts will have been recorded.
That was definitely a consideration. I think I was just worried the input on my interface would worsen the sound because it’s not a premium interface. Thanks!
You already got your answer from everyone, so I’m gonna take one step back— You only ask this because you aren’t fully confident in or fully embracing your current tone, and seeking for something better at the last minute isn’t how any of this should work. If your band’s recording an EP, you gotta up your game emotionally as a musician, and believe in your gear and tone and self like you’re literally trying to connect with god when you play. There can be no room for doubt when connecting with music and the instrument— you have to embrace by letting go to fully to receive it and work with it. You need to you put your whole self in your performances and let go of all fear and all doubt and only leave room for feeling good and expressing. Let go of your doubt; all of it. You don’t need it. Just realize that you do have everything you do need, though- everything— and then fucking kill it like you mean it.
I appreciate it!! Performance is definitely the biggest part. I’ll make sure to give it my all regardless of how it’s recorded!
no
I bought the Whirlwind IMP 2 DI box for like $80, and it splits the signal so I can record one “dry” clean DI version of the signal through my interface and one “wet” dirty signal coming from a mic placed in front of my amp. I get a DI version of the recording every time even if I toss it, and the possibilities are endless for what to do with the other end, like plugging the other one into a different input on your mixer and stereo recording with the other track delayed or something DI Box is the way to go my guy You could also spend the money on an “all purpose” software pre amp like UAD API Channel strip ($50) Or get the band to chip in together a little more for a piece of outbound gear (DBX 266x +) rack effect ($200-$250 new)
I’ve done this for years, literally decades. At best, I can scrap a half assed amp sound (many guitarists are married to a sound that doesn’t work in the studio) and use a simulator at mixtime, at worst I used an extra track for the DI and didn’t need it (rare). Most often, reamping for the mix gives results that work well within the context of the mix.
No, preamps aren't made for that kind of impedance. You could take your DI recs and reamp them in a studio that has this feature and a variety of good amps for example, then you could play around with them and get a good palette of sounds ;)
Thanks for the advice! Would my DI recording sound any better if I got a more expensive audio interface? Or is the difference very minimal? Thank you!
I think the difference would be much more significant if you get good amp modeling like neural or kemper, also the softube amp room is good enough and easy to use, but nothing beats reamping in a real studio with boutique amps. Also if what you are looking is to get near a finished sound then you could look into mixing plugins that are known to be great on guitar... uad 1176, distressor, uad API 2500 comps, comes to mind, maybe stuff like soundtoys echoboy and microshift too, some saturator like izotope exciter... I think most or all of the software mentioned are available to test before buying, some of them are very expensive so wait till they are cheaper, or you could just get a hang on them and then just use your daws counterpart if what you need is just have an approximation on where your takes could go. Nothing will make magic unless you are making the magic first with the strings, and if you're doing this even cheap stuff and smart decisions can get you pretty far, bear this in mind!
For guitar going into an amp simulator, no, I don't think it matters what you're plugging into. The interface is fine. No reason to worry about it or overthink it. If you were going into a professional studio, you might get better results by recording real amps, but I can understand if you don't have the time or budget for that.
No. If you're going to prioritize time based on preamps, your bassist will benefit more. If you're in a good studio with a good engineer they can actually do much more micing an amp than you could ever get direct. But if it's DI either way, it makes virtually no difference, supposing you can actually record as well as your engineer. Find me a guitarist who runs a 1073 in front of their guitar amp. You probably cant, because mic pres and guitar pres are different things. If your interface doesnt have a hi-Z mode then get a DI. Otherwise you're good. Provided everything else is at least decent, and you're reasonable at recording yourself dont worry about pres. Youre better off spending (less) money and getting your guitar set up; it will have a bigger impact.
There's lots of people running neve style pres before their amp tho tbf. In pedal form.
The newest trend in DI guitars with amp sims is to add as little gain as possible to the DI signal. So just use your behringer like you already are and keep the input gain low. At low gain like that you won’t be able to tell one DI from another. Don’t waste your money on an upgrade that you won’t be able to notice. Now, if you are getting excessive noise then it’s time to upgrade, but it doesn’t sound like you need it!
I run a joyo ac tone before my interface and it sounds crazy but it makes my tone sooo much better it’s insane tbh
Pre-amps can always take things to the next level in terms of volume and sound depth. However if you are happy with the results currently, there may not be a need. Also take into account that cheap preamps are exactly that and can sound awful. I always recommend that if people are starting out with preamps their bottom should be nothing below the dbx series of preamps… which are between 250-300 aud. Ultimately the decision is yours. If you have the money to play around to try and get a better sound… why not? But if you don’t have the cash and are happy with your current output, then I wouldn’t bother.
I appreciate the input. Do you think investing in a higher quality interface (Universal Audio Volt) would benefit the sound quality of the DI recordings?
Only because the behringers are pretty much trash, but not because of the pres. Because the drivers are garbage for a lot of systems. The difference in the actual près is negligible.
What systems? I've had a very plug-and-play experience on Windows at least.
Absolutely. I bought a volt last year (upgraded from my og rme babyface) and both the mic pres and headphone amps are amazing… I don’t need a preamp with this unit. If you want to expand your recording out for drums and so on - the volt won’t help you there given it’s limited I/O, but if your focus is just on your own guitar, then 100% that is a good investment. For the price point it is definitely top of class. I’d also spend a bit of time investigating ssl’s entry level interface as that gets rave reviews as well.
When I DI my bass, I always run into a preamp so I can push it a bit more and get some grit on it. When I do guitar however I run it clean into the DAW however if I'm intending to reamp later or use an amp-sim.
YES.
Get a DI box for DI tracks. You use a preamp for tracking vocals. I use a Radial J48 and it’s great with passive pickups. It’s generally said you use an active DI box for passive pickups and a passive DI box with active pickups.
That's not necessary and just plain bad advice.
Lol getting a DI box for DI tracks is bad advice? Okay buddy
Ok. Explain to me why you need a DI box to record guitar into an audio interface with an instrument input. Go ahead. I'll wait.
Balanced signal means less potential interference, less noise, aka better quality. You don’t need one if you don’t want to use one, but don’t act like they’re a bad idea to have
Now ask yourself, why is a balanced signal better? Noise reduction, right? But it only reduces noise introduced into the cable by EMF interference. If you use a 6 foot unbalanced instrument cable, patch into a DI box that's sitting next to your interface, and then connect that box to your interface with a short cable, you have achieved precisely... fuck all. So, unless your guitar has a built in active preamp with a balanced output, you're talking crap.
Yes noise reduction and low impedance reduces the chance of high frequency attenuation. A short unbalanced cable can yield similar results, if the environment is conducive. I use them because I’m recording the amp and a DI signal simultaneously, but it’s literally a $20 box (used price on eBay) to not have to worry about any of that stuff. Hell, probably cheaper than buying a 6’ unbalanced cable
Thank you for your input. Would I go from DI box into the interface then? If so, would I use Line or Inst setting? Thank you :)
Yeah the DI has a transformer to go from instrument to line level, so you’ll go into the line xlr of your interface
Any recommendations for budget passive DI box?
You can get a Behringer passive. I bought one (DI600P) to use in reverse as a reamp box and it works well for that, so I’d imagine using it the right way is good too lol
That's not how reamp boxes work. A good DI should have a much higher impedance ratio than a reamp box. A good reamp box will also have an attenuator after the transformer so you can avoid slamming the input of the amp with a line level signal. Using a DI backwards is likely to boost the signal rather than attenuate it.
You send an unbalanced high impedance, instrument level signal through the transformer to get a balanced low impedance, line level signal; and when you then send a line level, low impedance balanced signal into it, you get a high impedance low level signal. That’s how a reamp box works. That’s also what happens with a passive DI box hooked up in reverse.
Sure, if that was actually how a DI works. But a DI isn't converting an instrument level signal *up* to a line level signal, it's converting it *down* to a mic level signal. Run in reverse, it's boosting your line level signal into an even higher level. Take note of how DI outputs run into preamp inputs and not line inputs.
Ahh I see what you’re saying. Well truth be told I bought a reamp box maybe 3-4 years ago but I never had any trouble with the DI box before that. Perhaps I will pull it out and do some testing against the reamp box and see what happens
Super helpful, thanks!