How to Sound Like John Otto — Drum Gear & Setup Guide | MetalForge
Replicate John Otto's Limp Bizkit drum sound. Gear list, settings, and technique tips to get that signature tone.
Frequently Asked Questions
What makes John Otto's drumming style unique in nu-metal?
Otto studied jazz drumming at the Douglas Anderson School of the Arts before co-founding Limp Bizkit, and that formal training shows up as groove sophistication rather than raw power. Where most nu-metal drummers lean on aggression, Otto builds fat, hip-hop-informed backbeats and layers double-pedal accents underneath — a pocket-first approach that Modern Drummer described as "grounded in metal, jazz, and hip-hop."
What gear should I use to sound like John Otto?
Otto plays an OCDP Custom Type 5 Acrylic kit with a 14" x 6.5" 40-ply vented OCDP snare, Zildjian A Custom cymbals (13" Mastersound hi-hats, 16"/17" Projection Crashes, 20" EFX, 20" Oriental Crash of Doom), a single Gibraltar G Class bass drum pedal, Zildjian Artist Series sticks, and Remo heads. A Pearl Export kit with Zildjian ZBT cymbals approximates the punchy, groove-forward character on a budget.
Does John Otto use a double bass pedal?
Otto plays a single-pedal setup rather than the double-kick configuration common among his nu-metal peers, and adds double-pedal bursts sparingly and musically under specific riff accents rather than as a continuous pattern — restraint is part of his sound.
What songs best showcase John Otto's technique?
"Break Stuff" and "Nookie" showcase his deep, deliberate backbeat and pocket-driven fill vocabulary, while "Rollin' (Air Raid Vehicle)" demonstrates his musical use of double-pedal accents under a hip-hop-informed groove.
What should I practice first to sound like John Otto?
Start with the Behind-the-Beat Backbeat Drill — clicking a metronome on beats 2 and 4 only and landing the snare a fraction behind the click. Otto's entire sound is built on pocket and feel, not speed, so that deliberate backbeat has to come first.