Jens Bogren Signature IR Pack - rhythm (Bogren Digital)

[Jens Bogren]

Hey guys, Jens here!

A while back, I was talked into making some impulse responses of guitar cabinets and recording chains, trying to recreate or beat a "real" recording (against better judgment...)

I'm a big advocate for real, sweaty amps and heavy cabs, but I was surprised or almost shocked to find how well the IR technology can work if done right.

Sooo... this has rendered into my first ever digital product, an "IR pack" that can replace the cab/mic part of a recording or live chain. I'll be d*mned if that doesn't sound just like something I would create in the studio on a cold winter night.

These IR's are EQ'd to match the commercial sessions I have worked on in the past, so they fit well in dense metal mixes! On my website, I have examples where I replaced the guitar tracks with an amp sim so you can hear it for yourself.

https://bogrendigital.com

I'd be thrilled if you check it out and let me know what you think!

Use code UMETAL

 

[Genius Gone Insane]

Jens, I am a huge fan of yours and I couldn't resist - just bought it. Looking forward to trying out. Thanks for posting here in the past and for all your contributions to the metal production world. Cheers bro

 

[Genius Gone Insane]

Toyed with these IRs for about an hour. Very pleased! Amazed at how well they cut through the mix.

 

[Jens Bogren]

Toyed with these IRs for about an hour. Very pleased! Amazed at how well they cut through the mix.

Cheers! That's was my goal with these, so it's great to hear it's working out well. Out of curiosity, do you use them primarily in a DAW, or a hardware loader of sorts?

 

[Mahdes]

Hey guys, Jens here!

A while back, I was talked into making some impulse responses of guitar cabinets and recording chains, trying to recreate or beat a "real" recording (against better judgment...)

I'm a big advocate for real, sweaty amps and heavy cabs, but I was surprised or almost shocked to find how well the IR technology can work if done right.

Sooo... this has rendered into my first ever digital product, an "IR pack" that can replace the cab/mic part of a recording or live chain. I'll be d*mned if that doesn't sound just like something I would create in the studio on a cold winter night.

These IR's are EQ'd to match the commercial sessions I have worked on in the past, so they fit well in dense metal mixes! On my website, I have examples where I replaced the guitar tracks with an amp sim so you can hear it for yourself.

https://bogrendigital.com

I'd be thrilled if you check it out and let me know what you think!

Use code UMETAL

This is GOLD
They sounds amazing. I always wondered how to get those guitars as "wide" as I can hear on your production and this helps a lot. I use it with Neural DSP stuff. Sounds great and real. Sometimes I think palm mutes still sounds different on a real amp but still Neural DSP + your IRs is the best ITB solution so far in my opinion. Now I only need Thermionic Culture Phoenix on my master bus hahaha

 

[Genius Gone Insane]

Cheers! That's was my goal with these, so it's great to hear it's working out well. Out of curiosity, do you use them primarily in a DAW, or a hardware loader of sorts?

I am using it with my kemper. What amazes me the most is that you can turn the gain down and the guitar still has crunch. Tight lower midrange. Really well done.

You did some eq on these correct?

 

[Jens Bogren]

I always wondered how to get those guitars as "wide" as I can hear on your production

I usually have a slightly different tone on the left and right side to make guitars wide. If you want to recreate in your mixes, I would recommend using a different IR for each side.

Sometimes I think palm mutes still sounds different on a real amp

That's a very accurate observation! I was surprised how accurate IR's can be once I took a deep dive, but by nature, they cannot recreate dynamics. It's not a huge difference, and a lot of people would put a multiband compressor on the palm mutes anyway, but as you noticed, you do lose a bit of that natural movement.

 

[Jens Bogren]

I am using it with my kemper

Nice! If you have some direct or merged profiles (a capture of just the amp head, not the whole rig), give it a try if you haven't already. These usually worked better with IR's for me.

You did some eq on these correct?

Yeah, that was the idea with the pack. I see tons of RAW speaker captures with every mic and angle combination, but I found that an IR does not actually take EQ as well as a real cab.

Instead, I captured the recording chain and dialed the tone in the context of an actual mix. So that pretty much reflects how I would create the rhythm guitar tone in a mix. The end result is that you can just load up a single IR with no fussing around and get a tone that sounds like something I'd engineer in my studio.

 

[Mahdes]

I usually have a slightly different tone on the left and right side to make guitars wide

Interesting! I had some success by using different amps/amp sims on each side but with the same Cabinet/IR. So you still get that "nice symmetry" but also width. I will try to use different IRs! Any advice about that? I guess it needs to be similar sounding IR, not completely different. Do you think your Phoenix or Drawmer is also part of those wide and deep mixes?

they cannot recreate dynamics

I wonder If St.Rock React IR can solve this issue. They claim it emulates amplifier-cabinet interaction curve and dynamic. Or maybe just adding some andy sneap C4 settings but to work in a opposite direction?

 

[Genius Gone Insane]

Nice! If you have some direct or merged profiles (a capture of just the amp head, not the whole rig), give it a try if you haven't already. These usually worked better with IR's for me.

What I do with the Kemper is just switch the cabinet from whatever cab I am using to your IR. Seems to work well but not sure if that is what you are saying above. Please let me know if there is something else I should try.

Yeah, that was the idea with the pack. I see tons of RAW speaker captures with every mic and angle combination, but I found that an IR does not actually take EQ as well as a real cab.

Instead, I captured the recording chain and dialed the tone in the context of an actual mix. So that pretty much reflects how I would create the rhythm guitar tone in a mix. The end result is that you can just load up a single IR with no fussing around and get a tone that sounds like something I'd engineer in my studio.

Very cool. So then we probably shouldn't eq these much aside from high and low pass.

 

[Jens Bogren]

I will try to use different IRs! Any advice about that? I guess it needs to be similar sounding IR, not completely different. Do you think your Phoenix or Drawmer is also part of those wide and deep mixes?

There are no rules for choosing IR's per side. But generally something that sounds fairly in the ball-park would be a starting point, but the more different they sound the more "wide" it will get. I've done albums with 2 different amps/cabs per side (like Millencolin), and many with just a mic blend and/or amp head difference between the sides.

We have a room without summing and analogue gear where my assistant sits. Sadly, there is a difference when he loads one of my ITB/hybrid mixes up on his system. Summing is probably the least difference. The rest may lay in the Phoenix that I use quite often, and my SSL comp, and my AD converters perhaps. The current summing I'm using is RND 5059.

What I do with the Kemper is just switch the cabinet from whatever cab I am using to your IR. Seems to work well but not sure if that is what you are saying above. Please let me know if there is something else I should try.

A regular Kemper profile is a capture of the whole rig - amp head, cab, microphone, etc. If you disable the cab section, then it's just what the Kemper is guessing a head would sound like because there's no reference. On the other hand, you can make a Kemper profile where the amp head was captured directly, without a cab and I found that works better with IR's because it's a more accurate representation of the amp head.

Very cool. So then we probably shouldn't eq these much aside from high and low pass.

In the end that's up to you and what works in your mix I think. The IR's I created represent the whole audio chain from mic to mix, so in the audio examples up on bogrendigital.com it's just a amp sim + IR (sometimes a tubescreemer before the amp) with no resonance, high pass, or lowpass added.

 

[Mahdes]

The rest may lay in the Phoenix that I use quite often

Thanks!
Do you use Phoenix only for the saturation and "analog dimension"? I wonder if there is any difference between Phoenix Mastering PLUS and Phoenix standard version - if you use it without compression. Phoenix Standard is cheaper choice.

 

[Genius Gone Insane]

A regular Kemper profile is a capture of the whole rig - amp head, cab, microphone, etc. If you disable the cab section, then it's just what the Kemper is guessing a head would sound like because there's no reference. On the other hand, you can make a Kemper profile where the amp head was captured directly, without a cab and I found that works better with IR's because it's a more accurate representation of the amp head.

Thanks Jens, I was not aware of that, will try it out.

 

[Turi Curello]

Hi Jens, I'm your long time fan
What resolution have the IRs?
Sample rate and bit depth?

 

[cyril_v]

Hi Jens, I'm your long time fan
What resolution have the IRs?
Sample rate and bit depth?

24-bit 44.1kHz
24-bit 48kHz
24-bit 88.2kHz
24-bit 96kHz

 

[Turi Curello]

24-bit 44.1kHz
24-bit 48kHz
24-bit 88.2kHz
24-bit 96kHz

Good!!!
I work on 24/44... Thank You!

 

[Genius Gone Insane]

There are no rules for choosing IR's per side. ...

Jens, got an email from you about the updated IR downloads, can you clarify what this means?

- Improved phase alignment for blending with 3rd party IR packs (MPT standard).
- Improved file naming for loaders with small displays.
- Improved compatibility with hardware loaders.

 

[CatharsisStudios]

jens you killed it man i love these