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Richie Castellano shows you how to use a DI to record killer-sounding guitar tracks

By Michael Astley-Brown
published 17 August 2020

IK Multimedia’s Z-Tone DI makes re-amping easy

Besides playing alongside Buck Dharma in Blue Öyster Cult for over a decade, Richie Castellano is also a hugely accomplished producer and engineer - after all, part of the reason his one-man cover of Bohemian Rhapsody went viral was because it sounded so damn good.

So you can trust Castellano to hand out good advice when it comes to guitar tone, and in the video above, the keen-eared guitarist guides you through how to use a DI to record guitar tracks using IK Multimedia’s Z-Tone DI.

Castellano starts by explaining the concept: a DI is essentially the raw, un-amped sound of a guitar, or the pickups running direct into the interface.

By capturing a DI, you have many more sonic options, including the ability to re-amp your guitar sound using a different physical amp or a modeler. So, if you nailed the perfect take but the tone doesn’t quite do it for you, you’ve got a back-up.

Castellano also demonstrates the useful tone-sculpting options of the Z-Tone DI, most crucially, the Z-Tone control itself, which adjusts the impedance of your guitar, going from brighter, sharper tones to darker, bolder sounds.

The Z-Tone DI offers a flexible array of other recording options, too, including a passive/active switch, switchable JFET channel and option of balanced and unbalanced outputs.

For more information on the Z-Tone DI, head on over to IK Multimedia.

GuitarWorld.com created this content as part of a paid partnership with IK Multimedia. The contents of this article are entirely independent and solely reflect the editorial opinion of Guitar World.

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Michael Astley-Brown
Michael Astley-Brown
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Mike is Editor-in-Chief of GuitarWorld.com, in addition to being an offset fiend and recovering pedal addict. He has a master's degree in journalism, and has spent the past decade writing and editing for guitar publications including MusicRadar, Total Guitar and Guitarist, as well as more than 20 years performing in bands of variable genre (and quality). In his free time, you'll find him making progressive instrumental rock under the nom de plume Maebe.

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