Musician's Phrasebook
DI (Direct Input)
A box that sends an instrument's signal straight into a mixer or interface, without a microphone or amp.
Why it matters
Common for bass and acoustic guitar in live and studio settings — it's a clean, direct signal path.
Used in a sentence
“Just run the bass through the DI.”
Digging deeper
Plug your bass or acoustic guitar straight into a DI box, then run one cable from the DI to the mixer — no amp, no microphone, no room noise, just a clean electrical signal.
Common questions
Do electric guitars ever use a DI?
Less often — most electric guitar tone comes from the amp itself, so guitarists usually mic the amp instead. DI is far more common for bass and acoustic guitar.
Why use a DI instead of plugging straight into the mixer?
A DI box matches your instrument's signal to what a mixer expects and isolates it from ground-loop hum — plugging in directly without one often sounds thin or noisy.
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