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

I'm a freelance member of the MusicRadar team, specialising in drum news, interviews and reviews. I formerly edited Rhythm and Total Guitar here in the UK and have been playing drums for more than 25 years (my arms are very tired). When I'm not working on the site, I can be found on my electronic kit at home, or gigging and depping in function bands and the odd original project.