laptop recording, to DI or not to DI

[ashcat_lt]

I know this was a while back, but I don't think the ground lift question was ever answered.

Most of the time, in a studio situation, there are better ways to deal with ground loops.  You know, like plug everything into the same power strip.  I guess the ground lift could come in handy if all else fails.

The OP was talking about recording to a laptop, though.  The power supplies on these things are notoriously noisey and I think you'll find you get much better results running on battery power, at least while actually recording.  This conveniently eliminates the ground loop issue.

[wavley]

Since he's plugging the guitar directly in the di and then to the laptop I doubt that he'll have to bother with a ground lift, but you never know, it's nice to have a ground lift.  I wired my basement myself and everything shares the same ground and power and you would be surprised how often I have to use transformer isolation and ground lifts on all the old equipment I have.