Why DI bass on 'Meddle' gave Pink Floyd a cleaner, punchier low-end

On earlier Pink Floyd albums—think Piper at the Gates of Dawn through Atom Heart Mother—bass was typically captured by miking an amp. This gave a warm, often woolly sound that blended into the wall of psychedelia. For Meddle, engineer John Leckie and the band switched to a direct injection (DI) box for Roger Waters’ bass, sending the signal straight into the console without an amp in the room.

That DI approach killed the natural compression and cabinet coloration, letting the low-end hit with more clarity and definition. The result is immediate: listen to “One of These Days” and feel that open, thudding bass line that cuts through the mix instead of sitting in a fog. It was a turning point—cleaner, more percussive low frequencies that would become a hallmark of Pink Floyd’s sound through Dark Side of the Moon and beyond.