Right Way to use Drum Samples – Hi-Hats

The hi-hat drum samples available today are as varied as they are popular. With basically every kick drum and snare combination, you can find a hi-hat working away in the background, patient and contributing throughout a song. The effect of a hi-hat cannot really be measured, but suffice it to say that your favorite songs would sound a lot different without the hi-hat (or simply hat) patterns supporting the main acts.

The two mistakes made by producers are not just the domain of amateur producers who may not know better, but also of professional music producers and beat makers.

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.

If you can manage to get your hands on professional programs likle BFD (‘Big F’n Drums’) or Toontrack’s EZ Drummer, you can learn a great deal when it comes to organizing and sequencing drums properly for use in live settings, like those for rock and metal songs, for example. Then make note of what appeals to you and what you could implement.

Want to make your own beats? Check out our how to rap freestyle guide.