“WORKING WITH DREAM THEATER CHANGED EVERYTHING FOR ME”

The man who mixed Distance Over Time…

When Ben Grosse, the californian whose resume includes the likes of Marilyn Manson, Disturbed and the red hot chili Peppers, received an offer to mix Distance over Time, he didn’t hesitate.

“i became a fan of Dream Theater when they first cracked the universe back in the 1990s, but then they drifted off my radar,” he admits. “When John Petrucci reached out to me i knew there would never be another chance of working with musicians of their calibre.”

The guitarist and producer was very trusting of Grosse, an unusual development as until now Petrucci has been a very hands-on guy.

“yeah,” Grosse agrees. “i think it helped that when i sent John the first song, it was pretty much what he had been hearing in his head.”

having listened to The astonishing (“though only to get an overall feel”, he stresses) Grosse knew that this time Dream Theater sought a sound that was radically different.

“That’s why the band hired me,” he comments. “They wanted to make a more current-sounding heavy rock record that was based in progressive rock.”

Looking in from the outside, was there anything that Grosse had felt should change?

“John had mentioned the fans’ comments about the drums being louder and there were some other issues, but it was a very easy record to make. The record company had felt that James’ vocals had never been captured properly, which is why i tried some new ideas, but anything could have been vetoed by the band. Thankfully, they were very happy with most of what i put forward.

“The record came out extremely well, but working with Dream Theater changed everything for me,” he laughs. “My entire world used to be in 4/4 time, but their songs are in sixes, fives and there’s even one that’s in 13s! They’re crazy!”