Ableton Forum

Melodyne maybe..? Or maybe not... Couldnt tell you
I vote for EQ.

Multiband compression?

+1 for multiband compression. Just select the frequencies that the hats reside in (you can use a spectrum analyzer) and clamp down on them, you will notice the hi hats are now lower in volume but the drum loop doesn't sound "cut into"

I'm not sure I would jump straight to multiband compression, or eq'ing unless it is your last chance. Lowering the levels of certain frequencies is going to effect other sounds you don't want to effect, like the snap of a snare or even the high end of a kick drum. If the hats are somewhat isolated, I would use volume automation and manually duck the high hat volume whenever they hit, if they are isolated,great, if not, then at least only the hits that happen to hit at the same time as the hats will be effected. Granted, if this is some intricate drum piece where hats and cymbals are playing all over the place, then you might have to resort to other means. This might also take a while, but if you see a pattern, you can just duplicate the volume automation you are creating over the wav file.

Alternatively, you could slice to midi and then isolate the hits that way, then recreate the track by omitting the hits that also have a hat land on them. For Example, if every other snare has a cymbal over it, then nix that sample, and simply use the snare that is isolated throughout the track, Then you can add an isolated hi hat clip later, but at a lower volume. Does this make sense? it is hard to explain in words.

Slice it up and turn the volume down on hat regions.

If you've got a lot of overlap between the hi-hat hits and other drums subtractive EQ will be less noticeable (but also less effective) than volume changes. It's always a trade off.

If the snare is panned right up the middle and the hi-hat is panned off-center you might try M+S decoding and then selective EQing on the side channel before going back to stereo.

Either that or get hard-fucking-core with an automation envelop on the center frequency of the hi-hat.
A seriously laborious process to be sure, but it would let you smooth the EQ transitions around the hi-hat hits better than with slicing.

clip envelopes

manual p26

If EQing, multiband comp or envelopes can't get you the results you're after, can't you just re-program or re-record the drums?

you can also alter the EQ with clip envelopes

Rather than trying to tame just the hi hats, why not decrease the volume on the entire WAV then make up the
volume of the kick, snare etc. by adding new LOUDER tracks for those (sample the sounds from the original if need be).

Rebuild the loop with your own sounds. Either via slice to midi or even better with extract groove, insert groove into empty midi-channel, etc.


This will also help with any copyright issues

a tip from a friend which I use sometimes.

Put an eq8, group it and then duplicate the eq8 chain at least 3times for having 4 chains.

First isolates low, you just have to let one point and Hi pass frequencies above 90hz [or maybe 60hz, just try]

Second chain is for low-mid, there you'll pass both low and hi
Third one for mid-hi, same as above but a bit higher in frequencies.
Last one is for hi, the opposite as the first chain

There you can enhance or limit[remove] the specific frequency without touching the essential.

This tip sounds a bit basic like this but it is efficient, maybe better in this case than the multiband FX alone.

Hope it helps

You can also do this if you can isolate the hi hat via the way it looks in a "spectral editor" such as the one in Adobe Audition. You'd have to lasso each hat then bring the amplitude down.

I personally have no experience doing this, I just am aware of the technique.