Compression??

Please forgive me for my newb question. Seriously.. Please forgive me. lol this is a multi part question and it all relates. If someone out there can be kind enough to answer these questions, I will forever be in their debt.
 
I was recording guitar tracks Direct. Here is my path..... Guitar---1/4 inch cord----focusrite pro 40---.
I own pod farm, so, after guitars are recorded clean/direct, I then add pod farm as a plug in to shape the sound however I want. However, I noticed that when I recorded the song from beginning to end, The wave sizes are smaller during some parts and bigger during others. The picking parts are quieter and the strumming parts are louder. My first way to tackle this is to use parallel compression, But however much I compress the sound, I cant seem to even out the volume, to make it so the quieter and louder parts are equal volume.
It then dawned on me that maybe thats why people buy hard compressors and do all of this during pre production. But, there should still be a way to alleviate the problem im having.
 
What are some methods you guys use in your musical production to avoid these issues. Pre production? Post production/ In the box Methods?
 
I know that V-vocal has a dynamics option on it, so you can change the volume of individual parts to even everything out. I was also thinking of trying that, but I dont want to be adding v-vocal to everything. It just seems unnecessary.
 
Should I be using a D-I box to record guitars if im going to be doing it this way. I thought the purpose of a D-I box is to make the signal line level and to even out the fluidity of the guitars output. ????
 
The only thing about that is im getting some hissing in the recordings of the guitar tracks, Should a D/I box help, or make that worse??
 
I feel like a baby when it comes to this stuff and rely on you good people to hold my hand in the process. I really appreciate all the help everyone has given me. You guys are awesome.
 
Please help!!
 
Thanks Vokalzz!!

I thank both of you very much for your wisdom. Your answers are just confirming things ive been trying. I guess the hardest part is finding the appropriate step by step process within my workflow so im not back tracking and working on parts for hours to achieve a sound im trying to get.
 
The method dan mentioned would work optimal for me, however, I can not attach pod farm as a plug in on any bus tracks like you would with reverb or EQ and such. I found that when I attach pod farm on a bus track it processes differently, not in a good way. Its almost like it distorts any tones that pass through that bus, but when I attach pod farm on the individual track, well, it sound clean, clear, how its supposed to. So, my attempt was to not bombard every track with a pod farm plug in. for processing purposes obviously. However, I can work around that if need be. 
 
 
 
BITFLIPPER, you mentioned this in your last response:
 
"As a leveling technique, compression works best at the micro level, to keep short (e.g. < 1/2 second) bursts of volume under control. Set the compressor's threshold very low, so the compressor is working all the time, and keep the release time long (> 200ms). After that you can choose between two possible strategies: low compression ratios (e.g. 2:1) or parallel compression with very high ratios. 
 
For parallel compression, use high ratios. How high depends on the instrument and how dynamic it is. For electric guitar (and vocals) you can use very high compression ratios of 10:1 or more. The idea is that the loud parts get severely squashed while the unprocessed signal does not. The result is that quiet parts become louder and loud parts become quieter."
 
Can you go into more Layamons terminology for me about what your saying. Im getting the gist of it, but cant wrap my head around exactly what your saying.
Ive just started to try parallel compression and I think I may be doing it wrong.
 
This is what I will do for parallel compression,
 
I have all my clean guitar tracks, separated and ready to be compressed. So, I will send each track to a "Clean Track" Bus. Then on that bus I will use my pro channel and use the PC4K S-type Bus compressor and adjust the compression to how I see fit, then adjust the DRY/WET knob on that compressor until I find a good balance between the dry original sound and the wet compressed sound.
Is that right? Is that parallel compression? Wouldnt that also be considered Side chaining?
Im just so confused!! hahah
This girl really needs some help from you people. Sorry im such a burden.
 
If this is correct, then what are some methods you guys use that could be more conducive to achieving parallel compression.
 
Dan or Bitflipper, Can you recommend any good clean/ hiss controlled DI boxes for me. Money is not a issue.
What should I look for.
 
I know this is a lot and im sure I will have more questions but I really appreciate everything you awesome guys have been doing for me. Im trying to not get my panties in a bunch, so thank you again for everything.
 
Vokalzz-
 
 

Yes. Use your ears. We have all these wonderful tools, but don't over complicate it. Sometimes, just a simple adjustment to levels is all you need to do.

you guys are awesome, thank you very much for all the incite. I will use these methods you guys gave me annd try it out.
Do you guys have any other tips when recordinng guitars direct. Anything that you guys Found to be useful would be great.
Cactus, I did not see the input/mic input you speak of. where is that located?