My HiHat sticks out too much, needs to sound farther away, more hidden in the mix. It sounds too centered, can anyone recommend a Stereo Expander, Or any other tricks for fitting hats in the mix?

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https://soundcloud.com/ghostea stuff

maybe duplicate it and pan the two? it sounds good when it is nice and clean i think =)

thanks, ive done this, it cam sound good but it seems kind of sloppy, im still looking for a good stereo expander vst.

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https://soundcloud.com/ghostea stuff

try adding a reverb, or pick another sound..

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http://soundcloud.com/subtara

Delay the right channel by 5-20 ms. I use it on leads and hihats. It works well, and it's easy. Stereo delays and reverbs are good too. Proper EQ should also be used, obviously.
Also make sure the all the individual hihats sound good together. Adjust their pitches slightly, they will sound more homogenous if pitched right.

Just try some other samples

A phaser on hi-hats can sound cool...

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So many unfinished tunes to complete...

Latest track: Transformations

www.psyklolink.com

quote:

Originally posted by psyklolink A phaser on hi-hats can sound cool...

i've not tried this before... sure does ring a bell if it comes to coolness

@eldritch:

quote:

Delay the right channel by 5-20 ms.

You should really try to avoid this - or at least be careful. Remember that this is music aimed mostly at night clubs. A lot of night clubs actually play out music in mono (summed left and right) in order to avoid apparent problems with the stereo image on the dancefloor etc. If you delay one channel by 5 ms you could very well risk that the summed signal will cancel out the part you delayed.

In other words: If you do try to get "more stereo" by delaying one channel, look at potential phase problems and try listening to your mix in mono as well just to make sure everything works.

For a better fitting of hi-hats my experience is to change the sample. I can't tell you how many hours I've waisted trying to fit a certain hi-hat in a mix. Eq'ing, compressing, sidechaining-comp, etc, etc. And 3 minutes after I change the sample to another one very similar, everything just sits together perfectly.

Best regards
RiValMan

Right, I can see how 5 ms is a little low. I've actually never used such a low number, I used 15 ms delay on the lead in one of my tracks and it didn't cancel out more than usual when I listened to it in mono.

Whack an Antares Filterbank VST over the hats, and spread the hat out over the stereo field using 2 or 3 different filters (e.g. bandpass center pan, high-pass full-left pan and another high-pass full-right pan.) Then add a bit of lfo to the filters and you'll get some very nice sounding hats without the phase problems of a delay

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Monsoon - Astrosurf

quote:

Originally posted by RivalMan @eldritch: You should really try to avoid this - or at least be careful. Remember that this is music aimed mostly at night clubs. A lot of night clubs actually play out music in mono (summed left and right) in order to avoid apparent problems with the stereo image on the dancefloor etc. If you delay one channel by 5 ms you could very well risk that the summed signal will cancel out the part you delayed. In other words: If you do try to get "more stereo" by delaying one channel, look at potential phase problems and try listening to your mix in mono as well just to make sure everything works. For a better fitting of hi-hats my experience is to change the sample. I can't tell you how many hours I've waisted trying to fit a certain hi-hat in a mix. Eq'ing, compressing, sidechaining-comp, etc, etc. And 3 minutes after I change the sample to another one very similar, everything just sits together perfectly. Best regards RiValMan

Whilst you are correct that you need to be careful when summing comb filtered/phasing sounds to mono, soooooo many professional tunes have parts that are peaking in antiphase, its unreal. Also, if you look at the drum loops on the Techno Trance Essentials sample CD, *all* of them have some degree of destructive phasing occuring. Most of them have alot of it. This bears repeating - *all* of them.

Now, I know for a fact that Cosma has used at least 1 of the hihat loops on that CD in his tune 'People on Hold' and in addition to that, the ambient pad is widened massively in stereo. That track destroys clubs and I am not really aware of the phasing problems being a massive issue when I have heard it in mono at about 120 dB. Phasing on bass is worse because Bass is omni directional and is felt more than heard. Therefore if you lose parts of it when summing a stereo channel to mono, it can feel very weird. If theres alot of stuff going on in the top end of the mix - hihats, percs, leads, pads etc, The phasing isnt really noticeable if you keep it in check. Sometimes I have to invert the polarity of one of my instrument channel outputs to be able to tell the difference and its more subtle than I initially thought.

Most dance records I hear make judicious use of stereo widening and panning on pretty much every instrument that aint a kick drum or a bass.