Hi-Hat Drum Samples - Effective Use

There are so many different-sounding types of hi-hats (or just hats) available today, and the range of drum samples that go along with them is also ever-increasing. Many people, when thinking about their favorite songs of the year, could probably tap out the snare and kick drum samples without thinking, but the hats? That's another deal. You see, the hi-hat has resigned itself to be simply a supporting sound, backing up its big brothers, the snare and kick drums. This is not a bad thing, though.

The two mistakes often made by music producers regarding the hi-hat are not made exclusively by amateurs, but also by so-called music production veterans and beat making professionals.

The first mistake we will look at concerns the volume of hi-hats. There is definitely a battle of the loud out there, and we try to compress and tighten everything up, but the fact of the matter is we don't need to do this for hi-hats. Hats are plenty loud as it is. Many hundreds of thousands of years ago, humans were pray to aerial monsters that let out sounds that share similar frequencies with hi-hats. We have developed a tendency to pick these sounds out quickly, so drop those hi-hat drum samples down a few decibels - your audience will hear them.

You will never really 'mix out' hi-hat samples, just lower them a few decibels during the beat making process. So first mix them to where you think they should be and then drop them a few notches further down. This incongruity has let down a lot of budding mixers who must understand that what they hear is not what their audience will hear at all times.

The second mistake that we're going to look at is a pretty big one. Most of us are in the music production game to really make something that sounds good, but if you're trying to achieve authenticity with your drum samples, there are certain things you really need to avoid and be wary of. With hi-hats, certain physical limitations prevent rhythmic operations that are perceived in a lot of rap songs. For instance, having a consistent hi-hat pattern playing one hit every 16th is all good, as that can be achieved. But coupling it with a cymbal hit or open hi-hat once a bar and not stopping the hi-hat? Physically impossible for most drum-sets, especially if the snare and toms also hit at the same point. How many arms does your drummer have? If you want to have a believable drum track, you must really pay attention here. If you produce dance music or other music where it is understood that the sample track is not supposed to be realistic, you can do whatever sounds good.

You can learn a great deal using professional drum sequencing sample libraries and sets like EZ Drummer and BFD. These will show you the physical implications and deliver standard and advanced patterns that you can immediately digest and take in mentally, noting what works and what doesn't work. Then apply what you learn to your own songs.

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