Personally I lay in the main elements of my rhythm (i.e. kick, clap / snare and main hi-hat) then more or less randomly try other patterns with other sounds. It can take some time to find something I'm happy with like this

Layering loads of different hat loops u make (some using a bit of shuffle), putting effects on some like eq, pan, small amounts of delay etc then putting a compressor, eq and (sometimes) sonic maximizer over the lot can sound really professional if done right. I try to use the delay and eq to get a richer sound and the compressor to give it all the same swing/groove/rhythm, whatever u wanna call it.

have some open, closed and othe types of random hihats running in the background through a reverb effect. The reverb should damped the hihat into the background... don't cheat with volume. Also... randomly change the left/right balance of various precussion elements to give an atmospheric feel.

I once narrowed down an atmospheric feeling from precussio and bass all randomized...I brohght it all back into full play like an explosion...it was a very emotional track segement.....sadly enough....I lost that flp file in my last C:\ format

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