Hi-hats are one of the essential groove elements in House music
The “Thsshh… Thsshh… Thsshh… Thsshh…” offbeat hi-hat sound is an essential part of almost every modern House song. And with good reason!
Often described as the pulse of the track, hi-hats provide the driving beat that keeps the energy of a house song moving forward. They add texture and complexity to the rhythms and can help define the overall feel and style of a track.
But programming sample-based hi-hats can make them sound a bit tame and generic. Especially, if they are not programmed with variation and nuance. Hi-hats are often played with subtle variations in dynamics, timing, and articulation, which can give them a more human-like feel. If these variations are not programmed into the digital hi-hats, they may sound overly predictable and lifeless.
In this blog post, I will provide some tips and tricks on how you can program “organic” and “live” sounding hi-hats in your DAW.
1. Sculpting your Hi-hats
The first tip is to sculpt your House hi-hats. Here you have the option to make your hi-hats sound unique and give them character.
Use an EQ
EQing the hi-hats usually involves balancing clarity and sheen in the top end while making sure, that it doesn’t take up any unwanted space in the mix. This is usually in the low-mid end area and surprisingly takes up a lot of bass energy. We definitely want to remove that and make room for our bassline and kick drum.
TIP: Use a spectrum analyzer to see if your hi-hats occupy any unwanted frequency areas that will conflict with other elements. The SPAN Spectrum Analyzer from Voxengo is a great and FREE option.
I use a 24 dB/oct Highpass filter at around 250-300hz to remove unwanted low end. frequencies. I then listen to the top end and decide if the 6-7khz area needs to be reduced a bit to tame any harsh high-end frequencies.
NOTE: If you have a lot of instruments and other percussion elements playing in this area, you might need to reduce the frequency area for some of them, so that they don’t mask each other in the mix.
Now, I look and listen for any resonating frequencies with a little help from the Spectral Analyzer. These resonances can make your hi-hats sound harsh and unpleasant to listen to. Use a bell-curved EQ. Set the “Q” to a narrow setting. Boost the gain and “sweep” along the frequency range to find the resonance frequencies in the hi-hat. When you find the spot with the resonances, just simply reduce the gain until the resonance disappears or is not audible.
I like to use the EQ module in Neutron by iZotope - but any parametric EQ plugin will work.
Always use your ears when EQing!
Use a Transient designer
A transient designer is a useful tool for achieving a polished, professional sound for your hi-hats.
One way a transient designer can help improve the sound of your hi-hats is by adjusting the attack and sustain of the sound. Hi-hats are typically made up of a series of rapid, percussive hits, and the attack of each hit is what gives the hi-hats their crisp, sharp sound. By using a transient designer to increase the attack of the hi-hats, you can make them sound more punchy and defined, helping them cut through the mix.
However, if the hi-hat has a too-prominent transient attack, then use the transient designer to decrease the attack and smooth out transients of the hi-hat. This will tuck the hi-hat back into the mix of your House track.
On the other hand, if the sustain of the hi-hats is too long, they can start to sound muddy and cluttered, especially when used in conjunction with other percussive elements. By using a transient designer to decrease the sustain of the hi-hats, you can create a more open and defined sound, allowing the other elements of the track to shine through.
To get more “organic” sounding House hi-hats, you can automate the attack and sustain of your transient designer in certain sections of the loop or pattern. But only a small amount. If automated too much, you end up making your hi-hats sound either too sharp or too dull.
Automate it to your own taste and liking!
I like to use the Transient Master from Native Instruments. The “Smooth” function on the attack is so good!
Use the Sampler’s Amplitude envelope
This tip is amazing for changing your House hi-hats over time. For example, by automating the attack and decay of your hi-hat you can create an awesome build-up to your drop by increasing the decay of the open hihat. And just before the drop, you can decrease the decay for a more short and “snappy” hi-hat groove in the drop. Really neat for House tracks!
In some samplers, you also have the opportunity to add an LFO to the decay or attack envelope. Adding an LFO to for example the decay of the hi-hat will make it change a little bit every time it hits. Set the LFO rate to slow and unsynced so the chances will happen at unexpected hits for a natural and organic sound.
In FL Studio, you can set up the decay envelope and assign the know to a Fruity Peak Controller. Adjust the LFO Speed and volume to get the right amount of changes to the decay of the hi-hat.
Right-click the Decay knob and then choose the “Peak ctrl - LFO” option under the Internal controller. Remember to add an instance of Fruity Peak Controller to the mixer track.
Adjust the Volume and Speed knob in Fruity Peak Controller to control how the sampler decay envelope of the hi-hat is modulated.
It takes a little bit of time to set up, but it adds some really cool character and movement to your hi-hats.
Use an Exciter
Adding an exciter to a House hi-hat can give character to the sound by adding additional harmonics and overtones.
When applied to a hi-hat, an exciter can add clarity and definition to the sound, making it stand out in the mix. It can also add a sense of excitement or energy to the hi-hat, making it more lively and punchy.
In addition to adding character, an exciter can also be used to add depth and dimension to a hi-hat sound, making it more complex and interesting. This can be especially useful in electronic music production, where the use of synthesizers and other digital audio tools can sometimes result in flat or one-dimensional sounds.
Overall, adding an exciter to a House hi-hat can be a great way to add personality and character to the sound, and can help to make it stand out in the mix.
The Exciter module in the Neutron plugin from iZotope is amazing at adding those lovely harmonics to the hi-hats.
2. Auto-pan your Hi-hats for movement
This one is fast and simple: Panning the hi-hats from the left to the right will add a sense of movement to your House track.
It can be done really quickly with an Auto-panner plugin. I have used the ShaperBox 2 Panning module.
Here, you should play around with the different patterns for an interesting vibe to your hi-hats. I have chosen a very rhythmic pattern and then unsynced it. It makes the hi-hat move from left to right in a more unexpected way - and I like all those small unexpected things. It’s what makes the hi-hats feel more organic and “lively”.
NOTE: Be careful not to add too much panning. It can make the hi-hats lose some punch and presence in the mix.
Watch the video tutorial
3. Automate the pitch of your Hi-hats
Another way to make your hi-hat samples sound more organic is to automate the pitch.
This example shows how to do it in FL Studio. However, the process is very similar in other DAWs.
Go to the envelope settings in the sampler and create an Automation clip for the Amplitude knob.
Then it's all about drawing shapes in the Automation clip, which makes the pitch changes to the hi-hat. You can snap it to the grid or draw it in freely. It’s all up to you.
By automating the pitch of your hi-hat sample, you can add dynamic and expressive elements to your drum patterns in FL Studio.
Experiment with different automation curves to find the sound that works best for your music.
4. Use mute groups for the Hi-hats
In the real world, drums are monophonic instruments. This means that on a real drum kit, the decay of the open hi-hat is cut off the moment the drummer presses down on the pedal to close it.
But in the digital realm, you can have two drum samples (one open and one closed hi-hat) playing at the same time and the decay tails will not be cut off. This can sound unnatural and even clutter up the mix with two decaying sounds.
This can be solved with mute groups or voice group cut-offs.
So if you want more natural-sounding hi-hats, you should try this.
Voice groups in Native Instruments’ Battery
Load up Battery in your DAW.
Add a closed hi-hat and an open hi-hat sample onto the pads A1 and A2. If you play the closed hi-hat while the open hi-hat’s tail is still playing, you'll hear both sounds at once.
Not ideal, because a real-world hi-hat is monophonic. It means that it can only have a closed or open position. It’s the same behaviour, that you will get from programming hi-hats on, for example, the classic 909 Drum machine.
We can model this behaviour in Battery. Here, we need to use its mute function (it’s called “Voice Groups” in Battery)
Click the Setup tab at the bottom of Battery’s interface.
Open the drop-down menu under “Voice Groups” and select “1 - <untitled>” for both the closed and open hi-hat.
Now when you play the closed hi-hat pad, the open hi-hat will be silenced.
This is perfect for getting a cool House drum machine rhythm to your hi-hats.
“Cut/Cut by” function in FL Studio
We can achieve the same effect in FL Studio with some settings in the sampler. Load up a closed hi-hat sample and an open hi-hat sample.
For the closed hi-hat go to settings. Under Group choose a random number for the “Cut” value. Here, I have chosen 10.
Good. Now we move on to the open hi-hat.
For the open hi-hat, we insert 10 under the “By” value.
This means that the tail of the open hihat will be cut out when the closed hihat is playing.
NOTE: Always make sure the “Cut” and “By” numbers are the same or then the effect will not work.
[Also read]: 5 tips for creative processing on House drums
5. Velocity is the key to “organic” Hi-Hats
The last tip is to play with the Velocity levels of your hi-hats to get that groovy and human feel.
When playing the hi-hats, a musician can vary their velocity to create different sounds and add expression to their playing.
For example, playing the hi-hats with a low velocity will produce a softer, more subtle sound, while playing with a higher velocity will create a louder, more emphasized sound. By setting velocity levels, a musician can create a more realistic and nuanced performance, as they would naturally vary the velocity of their hi-hat playing in a live performance.
In addition to creating a more organic sound, setting velocity levels can also allow for greater control over the overall mix and balance of the music.
For example, if the hi-hats are played with a consistently high velocity, they may dominate the mix and drown out other instruments. By setting different velocity levels and playing the hi-hats with a range of velocities, a musician can create a more dynamic and well-balanced mix.
Overall, setting velocity levels for hi-hats can help to create a more realistic and expressive performance, adding depth and complexity to the music.
You can also combine velocity levels with some MPC-styled swing to really create a perfect House groove.
Conclusion
I hope these tips will help inspire you to create more organic sounding House hi-hats.
You can combine the different tips and tricks in this blog post to get your own unique-sounding hi-hats.
There are no rules and correct way of doing it - it’s all about what you think sounds cool!
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