We are only a couple of hours away from the closing of the Drum Your Way to Hollywood contest video submissions to the Dixon Drums YouTube group. That also means there are only a couple more hours for the videos to receive votes. We have received a lot of submission in the last 24 hours, so, check out the videos and vote for the best drummer using the star rating buttons seen below each video. The higher rated videos will get a better chance at being picked as one of the 6 finalists by our judges. See the Official Rules and the Terms and Conditions. Good luck to everyone!

It has been a bad week for drummers. The Guardian reports that Martin Bulloch was rushed to a New Your hospital due to complications with his pacemaker after his performance at All Tomorrow’s Parties. Mogwai has canceled the rest of their North American tour.

You probably already know that drummer Travis Barker and DJ AM were involved in a plane crash late in the evening on September 19th after a performance in South Carolina. While the two survived with bad burns, 4 other people, including Barker’s business partner and assistant, Chris Baker were killed. Perry Farrell and Gavin DeGraw were at first rumored to be on the plane as well, but this turned out to not be true. Our thoughts go out to the victims of the crash and their families.

More coverage by fellow drum bloggers Robonzo, Drumtom, Karma Drums, and BigDrumthump.

Here is a cool interview with Peter Katis from Mix Magazine about his unique mixing technique for drum track. He has co-produced and mixed for bands like Interpol, The National, The Grates, Tokyo Police Club and Mates of State.

Peter likes to use the distortion he can get from overdriving a Neumann EQ and an API 2500 compressor, as well as mixing compressed and non compressed tracks together. He also likes to bus drum tracks together and distort that mix slightly.

Compression is one of the most important aspect of achieving a great drum sound in both live sound systems and studio recordings. Check out this video on compression.
(Flickr photo by eyeliam.)

Today is the birthday of possibly the worlds best drummer, Neil Peart of the band Rush.

Music Radar (via Drumtom) has an interview with Ulrich regarding the band’s production process with Rick Rubin for the new album Death Magnetic.

“Rick Rubin is a big fan of keeping things organic. We found out along the way that he’s not much for samples or triggers or anything artificial. He’s a pretty straight-ahead kind of guy - he doesn’t like reverb, he doesn’t like anything on the drums.”

Former Blink 182 drummer Travis Barker and DJ AM’s project, titled TRV$DJAM, have made a free mixtape called “Fix Your Face” available for download at trvsdjam.com. They have been touring together with Barker drumming while AM mixed and scratches. Check out this interview with Q101.1 as the pair talk about the project and the shows. They appear tonight on the MTV’s Video Music Awards, aka, the VMAs.

Check out this video our friend Damian sent us. He’s the VP in Operations for Drummer Connection. He talks about the contest and the kit. Can you guess which songs he’s playing?

The video is shot at Seminole Music and Sound in Florida. So if you’re in the area be sure to scope it out. They’ve got the Demon Kit all set up so you can swing by and have at it!

Be sure to check out Drummer Connection too. They’ve got some sweet resources like an event calender, reviews and drummer definitions for those of you who are new to the drum scene.

Thanks Damian!

The BBC reports (via Valleywag) the new Metallica album, Death Magnetic, has leaked to the internet a full week before its intended release. The band has given up the stance that made them infamous at the dawn of Napster in 2000 when he took an adversarial position against innovators and fans. They did not make their catalog available on iTunes until 2006. Ulrich spoke on San Francisco radio station Live 105 saying, “If this thing leaks all over the world today or tomorrow, happy days. It’s 2008 and it’s part of how it is these days.” (photo by izaeus|argazk.)

Pitchfork reports that the new Smashing Pumpkins single will include a track available exclusively for Guitar Hero World Tour. The track “G.L.O.W.” along with tracks “1979″ and “Today” will be available on the release in the GH format. It also includes a computerized Billy Corgan character. Earlier this year, Activision released Guitar Hero: Aerosmith featuring the band’s likeness and music, while Metallica usually holds out on embracing new formats until the bitter end.