Just to clarify a couple of things...
1. Eric Valentine recorded "Songs for the Deaf" (all but 2 of the songs)
2. He recorded all of Dave Grohl's drums to a tape machine (either Ampex MM1200 or Studer A800, I'm not sure which)
3. NONE of the drums Eric recorded were sound replaced or beat detectived or any of that stuff (I've worked with him and we've talked about it).
4. The most editing that was done was splicing a take or two together on some crazy drum fills, everything else was one take with some punches.
5. Songs for the Deaf is a kickass record, and you can attribute the drums sounds to great tuning, great mic'ing, and most importantly incredible playing by one of the greatest, most hardest hitting rock drummers out there.
Hope this helps clarify,
Matt