Foo Fighters and Rush producer Nick Raskulinecz on how he records drums

With a CV that includes Rush, Foo Fighters, Alice in Chains Deftones, Korn, Mastodon and many more, producer/engineer/mixer Nick Raskulinecz has had a hand in capturing some of this century's greatest recorded rock drum sounds.

Nick recently sat down with Sabian for an in-depth conversation about some of his career highlights, cymbal selection his approach to recording drums.

As well as tuning and dampening techniques, Nick also talks about his approach to mic'ing the kit including close mics and alternative mic'ing techniques, specifically how recording drums and cymbals separately over two passes can make for a much more flexible end result. 

The technique, as Nick explains is an old studio trick (and was famously used on Queens Of The Stone Age's Songs For The Dead) involves the drummer playing the song twice: once on a kit with dummy cymbals, cymbal pads or no cymbals at all. The next take is played on muted drums or pads, while the cymbals are captured, allowing a bleed-less mix when the two are combined.

Watch the video in full above.

Stuart Williams
Drums

Stuart has been working for guitar publications since 2008, beginning his career as Reviews Editor for Total Guitar before becoming Editor for six years. During this time, he and the team brought the magazine into the modern age with digital editions, a Youtube channel and the Apple chart-bothering Total Guitar Podcast. Stuart has also served as a freelance writer for Guitar World, Guitarist and MusicRadar reviewing hundreds of products spanning everything from acoustic guitars to valve amps, modelers and plugins. When not spouting his opinions on the best new gear, Stuart has been reminded on many occasions that the 'never meet your heroes' rule is entirely wrong, clocking-up interviews with the likes of Eddie Van Halen, Foo Fighters, Green Day and many, many more.