JENS BOGREN - my new hero

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Metaltastic

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Feb 20, 2005
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Right, so I'm realizing more and more that this guy is my absolute favorite engineer/mixer/producer/WHATEVER-er. It all began with Ghost Reveries, the album that defined what I want in my guitar tone (as many people who have been on here for awhile have no doubt heard me say on many occasions :)), and as I've listened to more and more stuff that he's done ("The Great Cold Distance," "Watershed," the most recent Daylight Dies albums, which granted he only mixed, but still...), I'm realizing that the guy can just do no wrong. The final dealbreaker actually just occurred - I realized that I've really loved the organic crunch of the guitars on the last two Amon Amarth albums, and thought "wow, you know that sounds a lot like the tones Jens gets." A trip to wikipedia and a quick search, and FUCKING WHAMMO - produced by Jens Bogren!

For the love of god, please - if anyone has any details on how this guy gets my favorite guitar tones OF ALL TIME (sorry Andy, but his midrange crunch just makes me wet myself, I'll pass on the scoopage for my own stuff), not to mention a comprehensive list of everything he's worked on, I would be eternally grateful!
 
I've said this a couple of places over the years but he has told me he mixes a 121, 421 and 57 to a single track on tape (protools). When I've sent him our stuff he always gets a couple of mics for each guitar track that I let him mix. I always feel like his guitars have some 3d depth that I can't explain (or achieve) and I imagine that it has to do with how he handles mixing the guitar mics.
I'm not sure if he still mixes on his SSL or if he's gone totally PT as we haven't attended our mix sessions.
He loves his mesa heads. I know he used dual recs on "Nightmares made Flesh" and "TGCD."
I'll let you know if I can think of anything else.
 
Sweet dude, much obliged! I can't deny, I'm pretty surprised to hear a Dual Rec was used on "Distance," I had no idea they could get so smooth and crunchy (that tone actually has something I can't quite put my finger on that I don't like, but it still maintains the crunch that I love). There's no way I'll be able to afford a 121 in the near future, so that's out, but I wonder what kind of amps would give that kind of a sound - even with EL34's, I'm not sure if my JSX is up to challenge (I've only ever had KT77's in the power section of it), though now that I just got my Mesa Traditional cab, I think I'll really give it a good recording workout to see if it's the amp for me, and if not, what other amps do you guys think could pull that off?

I've never been a big fan of Marshall; I tried a JVM and it was too...squishy on palm mutes, I want something more modern than that, for reference. I've honestly recently been seized by the uncontrollable urge to get a Tiny Terror recently...

Oh yeah, and I did the unbelievable thing of actually looking at the Fascination Street website for a list of stuff he's done, imagine that! :rolleyes: :erk: Also, pretty ridonculous gear; he's the first (metal) producer I know of who's rocking the Barefoot MM27's, and since they're at the top and separated off from the rest, I'd imagine he likes 'em pretty well!
 
The Great Cold Distance is such an amazing sounding album. Everything on it is so clean and natural. I wish more of my favorite bands would go for that natural sort of drum tone.
 
The Barefoot MM27s are quite possibly the best nearfield monitors you can buy. With that level of detail and range they absolutely DON'T let you make mistakes, if you know what you're listening for.

I think Jens does some cool stuff. I do like the way his productions tend to differ from the rest of the 'tick tick tock' stuff in the metal scene. Having said that, he's a little hit and miss for me. For instance, in Ghost Reveries, I really didn't like the drums, whereas Watershed just sounds too muffled/raw on the whole. I like that he mixes it up though and gives every album a different sound. The Great Cold Distance is definitely a cool production job.
 
He is the best! I've really run out of words on how perfect his work is, especially on "Watershed". Clarity, punch, warmth, big dynamic range... and everything feels 100% natural. He gets it all without noticeable compromises. If I had the cash, he'd be my no. 1 choice to go to...
 
If you haven't already, I can't urge more strongly to get Opeth's remixed Still Life, by Jens Bogren. The stereo version is whats up on the site http://www.peaceville.com/opeth/stilllife/ (obviously) and it sounds 'good' but not great. The 5.1 mix tho..holy shit. Everything is SO awesome. Everything. Better than Watershed or Ghost Reveries or TGCD (I personally don't like the production of the latter two). And while the stereo version suffers from the loudness wars, the 5.1 mix doesn't, so there's no clipping, there's no limiting or compression. Its a lot quieter but it sounds so much better. The drums are absolutely perfect, the kick's mids are intact because there's no compression, you can hear the room sound and the snare is THE BEST I have ever heard. Think TGCD snare on steroids.
 
Hey Metaltastic, if you haven't, check out the latest Draconian release that Jens did ("Turning Season Within"). Huge sounding mix! They're very doomy and slow overall, which means the mixer can get away with a lot more depth and ambience than a "normal" faster metal band, and Jens did a great job with it.
 
He has mixed "Paradise Lost" (Symphony X), great sound and has produced Amon Amarth too, I love his job too !
And I've discovered his name with the second Daylight Dies album...
 
I love his work too. I've actually gotten really close the guitar tone on the new amon amarth album using curveeq and andy's rectifier setting on the PODxt.
 
I sent him an email asking about the production of "Watershed" to the Fascination Street email address. He hasn't sent me anything in reply, but I knew it was a long shot in the first place :p

But yeah, I absolutely he's work, "GR" and "Watershed" are so polished! :worship: :kickass:
 
Rolve said:
I sent him an email asking about the production of "Watershed" to the Fascination Street email address. He hasn't sent me anything in reply, but I knew it was a long shot in the first place :p

But yeah, I absolutely he's work, "GR" and "Watershed" are so polished! :worship: :kickass:
Click to expand...

Haha, perhaps you have to convince him that you aren't going to leak his tip-top secrets on teh interwebz...:)
 
He is a killer, and he still mixes on the SSL 4000.
I wrote an email to him to know what mics he used on the last Opeth album (Watershed).
Here is what he answered :

Kicks: Mik: Beta 52, SM-91, U47 FET. Pre: Millennia, Vintagedesign M73, SSL 4000E

Snare Top: Sm57 Pre: Amek CIB

Snare Side: KM84 Pre: API 512c

Snare Bot: Beta 57 Pre: SSL 4000E

Toms: AKG C535 Pre: Vintagedesign M73

Hat L: AKG 414 B-ULS Pre: API 512c

Hat R (kabel): MG UM70 Pre: API 512c

Ride: AKG 414 B-ULS Pre: API 512c

Splashar/Chinas: KM84 Pre: SSL 4000E

OH 1: 2x AKG 451 Pre: API 512c

OH 2: 2x Shure SM81 Pre: Tube Tech MP1A

”Grunge” Mic: Royer 121 Pre: SSL 4000E

Room close/stereo Grunge: Studio Projects Ribbon Pre: SSL 4000E

Room 1: AKG 414 EB Pre: Drawmer 1960

Room 2: Milab MP30 Pre: SSL 4000E


I always use a lot of parallell compression, and a little support triggering on kick and snare (not much on that album though).
 
Sly said:
He is a killer, and he still mixes on the SSL 4000.
I wrote an email to him to know what mics he used on the last Opeth album (Watershed).
Here is what he answered :

Kicks: Mik: Beta 52, SM-91, U47 FET. Pre: Millennia, Vintagedesign M73, SSL 4000E

Snare Top: Sm57 Pre: Amek CIB

Snare Side: KM84 Pre: API 512c

Snare Bot: Beta 57 Pre: SSL 4000E

Toms: AKG C535 Pre: Vintagedesign M73

Hat L: AKG 414 B-ULS Pre: API 512c

Hat R (kabel): MG UM70 Pre: API 512c

Ride: AKG 414 B-ULS Pre: API 512c

Splashar/Chinas: KM84 Pre: SSL 4000E

OH 1: 2x AKG 451 Pre: API 512c

OH 2: 2x Shure SM81 Pre: Tube Tech MP1A

”Grunge” Mic: Royer 121 Pre: SSL 4000E

Room close/stereo Grunge: Studio Projects Ribbon Pre: SSL 4000E

Room 1: AKG 414 EB Pre: Drawmer 1960

Room 2: Milab MP30 Pre: SSL 4000E


I always use a lot of parallell compression, and a little support triggering on kick and snare (not much on that album though).
Click to expand...


Any details regarding the amps/mics on that album?

-Joe
 
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