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drummers! how do I get this hihat sound??

Posted: Sun Mar 29, 2009 10:51 pm
by Smellhound
http://www.divshare.com/download/6957926-87d

Looking for some nice, tight chunky hihat sounds. Listen to that example. I'm guessing thick hats with a small diameter?

(I know this forum isn't the most appropriate, but I already posted on gearslutz and nobody is even viewing the thread.)

Re: drummers! how do I get this hihat sound??

Posted: Sun Mar 29, 2009 11:21 pm
by djsynchro
Thin Zildjian hats 67% copper-nickel alloy 15" diameter played with nylon-tipped Canadian hickory heavy sticks. Recorded with a Neuman U84 into a Neve 1073 PreAmp into a Helios desk, compressed with a UREI 1176 revision F in all-buttons mode onto a Studer 16-track with Ampex tape 19 Ips.

Re: drummers! how do I get this hihat sound??

Posted: Sun Mar 29, 2009 11:33 pm
by djsynchro
only kiddin :D

Re: drummers! how do I get this hihat sound??

Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2009 1:18 am
by Smellhound
ha...ummm, is that a valid guess on the hihats? or is it just complete BS?

Re: drummers! how do I get this hihat sound??

Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2009 1:36 am
by djsynchro
complete bs!

Re: drummers! how do I get this hihat sound??

Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2009 1:41 am
by djsynchro
On the sunny side: Any sound that exists already is somewhere in a sample library, so go invesigate at the breakbeat/oldschool/vinyl sample libraries, lots of them have seperate loops of instruments in isolation etc/

Re: drummers! how do I get this hihat sound??

Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2009 1:59 am
by Smellhound
djsynchro wrote:On the sunny side: Any sound that exists already is somewhere in a sample library, so go invesigate at the breakbeat/oldschool/vinyl sample libraries, lots of them have seperate loops of instruments in isolation etc/
i beg to differ. i have spent many hours looking for good, clean hihat loops. they're pretty nonexistent as far as i can tell. so i've started recording my own...however of all the hihats i've recorded, i'm still left looking for a really tight disco sound like this.

Re: drummers! how do I get this hihat sound??

Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2009 3:56 am
by mike_o
I would use 2 or more different but very similar hi hat samples, maybe 2 open and 2 closed on impulse/drum rack, create your rhythm, then play with the velocities to adjust which hi hat sample is the dominant one at any given moment, also adjust the midi note start times so they are not "perfect" with one another, use a little randomization, this will get you in the right direction, the final results are up to your playing/editing skills.

have fun :D

Re: drummers! how do I get this hihat sound??

Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2009 4:02 am
by Smellhound
mike_o wrote:I would use 2 or more different but very similar hi hat samples
haha, this is totally the wrong forum to be asking about this. thanks for the help, but i'm not trying to program hihats...i have been doing that for about 10 years and i've found that getting a real/live hihat recording is only possible by actually recording them. i'm just looking for a drummer who might be able to pinpoint a good brand & model to look into.

Re: drummers! how do I get this hihat sound??

Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2009 4:07 am
by tricil
Smellhound wrote:http://www.divshare.com/download/6957926-87d

Looking for some nice, tight chunky hihat sounds. Listen to that example. I'm guessing thick hats with a small diameter?

(I know this forum isn't the most appropriate, but I already posted on gearslutz and nobody is even viewing the thread.)
sample it, chop it, load it in to a drum rack, get some triggers and a hat pedal and play it?

Re: drummers! how do I get this hihat sound??

Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2009 4:33 am
by Stan_T
It sounds like a combination of top hits and edge hits. The chunky sounds are the edge hits. They sound like standard, medium or medium-thin hats to me.

Re: drummers! how do I get this hihat sound??

Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2009 4:43 am
by starving student
maybe try the drummersworld forum

Re: drummers! how do I get this hihat sound??

Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2009 5:19 am
by channelite
You could probably program a 2 bar 16th note loop. Adjust the velocity maybe add a little swing.

Re: drummers! how do I get this hihat sound??

Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2009 1:23 pm
by Stan_T
It's not the pattern, right? It's the sounds and how they're made. I'm sure it's a combination of edge and top hits on a closed hat. Maybe I should mention I've been paid to play hi-hat's? :D

Re: drummers! how do I get this hihat sound??

Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2009 1:58 pm
by djsynchro
OK no BS now...
I don't think it's in the hihats, it's in the processing.
I think you want compression, and tape saturation, the peculiar thing about tape is that
1: It saturates so the waveform gets distorted towards a square wave, and this generates uneven harmonics
2: The high frequencies saturate first, so when you hit tape loud, there is a kind of (very complex and non-linear) dynamic low-pass filtering effect.
Remember, in the 70's everything was recorded to tape, this accounts for the warm creamy high end (or lack of it!) of that era.

A reasonable freewareplug is Ferox get it from
http://www.jeroenbreebaart.com/
If that comes close to what you're looking for you could get a more expensive saturation plug-in (I hear good things about URS haven't tried it myself) or get a second hand Porta Studio with DBX or Dolby and record stuff to tape and then back.

Would you be willing to share some of your loops? I am always looking for good acoustic drum loops!!!!
If you do I'd be willing to run one of your loops through my UAD plug-ins, see if I can get closer to what you're looking for... :!: