My trick is to use the cliche "poom-tss poom-tss poom-tss poom-tss" pattern where your hats are exactly between beats, and then I fill in between that. I usually try to have a basic sample playing this basic 4/4 pattern and then add filler with shorter and different sounding hats. Try to experiment with delay effects, they can add alot to a hat line.

example:

( o = kick, | = main hat, . = smaller hat)

typical kick/hat line:

O____|____O____|____O____|____O____|

filled in kick/hat line:

O_.__|.__.O_._.|_.__O__._|_.__O.._.|

(filled it at random, but you get the idea )

It helps to have different layers coming in at different times. The hat layers are vital to getting this feel of the track building up.

After it's been built up a bit, I like to add a sharp and short hat on the kick itself, like so;

O_.__|.__.O_._.|_.__O__._|_.__O.._.|
|________|________|________|___

and to fill in the empty sounding bits, you can try putting a hat on every 16th note, with a generally lower, pitched-down and/or lowpassed sample, like so;

O___|___O___|___O___|___O___|
._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._

Basicly, everything that's in the bassline thread can apply with hats. It's just a matter of playing around with it and figuring out what works and what doesn't.

Wow bro that's reaaaally useful, thanks a lot, I'm messing with this now

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There is only one good pattern for hats, and that is no pattern. If you can't build up at least a solid 8 bar line with a cadence at the end of the 2nd repetition (16th bar), it is going to sound incredibly repetitive.

You have to think like a drummer - real drummers do not play the same 4-second hat pattern for 6 minutes at a time. The absolute best thing you can do is turn on your quantize (set it to 32nd or 64th notes), play the note on your keyboard (either MIDI or computer), and record for a few minutes. Then cut out or rearrange whatever doesn't sound right.

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Open hats on either side of a closed hat can help get rid of the boom-tish sound. I also find shakers on every 8th note work pretty well.

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The Mekkem Rhythm Guide has about 100 hi hat patterns, unfortunately I can't find the website for it anymore

Whether you create your own patterns or not, definitely layer them (my latest tune has about 10 different hat patterns all up) ... and vary them too, especially as DigiNut suggested, after 8 bars or 16 bars etc.

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Lots of good advice here but I must say the advice DigiNut gives is most useful and true. Believe it or not, some of the best percussion patterns involving hi-hats have happened completely on accident by accidentally moving midi data around. Randomness and variety is the key...

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quote:

Originally posted by DigiNut There is only one good pattern for hats, and that is no pattern. If you can't build up at least a solid 8 bar line with a cadence at the end of the 2nd repetition (16th bar), it is going to sound incredibly repetitive. You have to think like a drummer - real drummers do not play the same 4-second hat pattern for 6 minutes at a time. The absolute best thing you can do is turn on your quantize (set it to 32nd or 64th notes), play the note on your keyboard (either MIDI or computer), and record for a few minutes. Then cut out or rearrange whatever doesn't sound right.

Your funny, shud be in comedy

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quote:

Originally posted by Aquarian My trick is to use the cliche "poom-tss poom-tss poom-tss poom-tss" pattern where your hats are exactly between beats, and then I fill in between that. I usually try to have a basic sample playing this basic 4/4 pattern and then add filler with shorter and different sounding hats. Try to experiment with delay effects, they can add alot to a hat line. example: ( o = kick, | = main hat, . = smaller hat) typical kick/hat line: O____|____O____|____O____|____O____| filled in kick/hat line: O_.__|.__.O_._.|_.__O__._|_.__O.._.| (filled it at random, but you get the idea ) It helps to have different layers coming in at different times. The hat layers are vital to getting this feel of the track building up. After it's been built up a bit, I like to add a sharp and short hat on the kick itself, like so; O_.__|.__.O_._.|_.__O__._|_.__O.._.| |________|________|________|___ and to fill in the empty sounding bits, you can try putting a hat on every 16th note, with a generally lower, pitched-down and/or lowpassed sample, like so; O___|___O___|___O___|___O___| ._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._ Basicly, everything that's in the bassline thread can apply with hats. It's just a matter of playing around with it and figuring out what works and what doesn't.

I didn't really understand the design there :P hehe...
jk...I mean I didn't understand your drawings so much...The spacing looks odd to me..

hey,

new to the board and production so been doing some searching through older threads. Stumbled across this one and was intrigued about "The Mekkem Rhythm Guide has about 100 hi hat patterns". I've tried the website but it doesn't work anymore - I'm assuming this knowledge just can't have been lost which would be a shame.

So has anyone any pointers regarding either patterns or this Mekkem Rhythm Guide?

From a beginner this would be helpful as a starting point, cheers.

It's all in the layers.

5-10 different hihat patterns all playing at the same time = the winner.

My hihats are often just something completely random, then I add a bit of delay and stereo echo and there we go...

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I found this tutorial a while back, it doesn't go into a lot of details, but I've found it quite useful.

It describes an interesting workflow, to avoid the '4-second hat pattern for 6 minutes at a time' problem.

Tweakheadz Drum Tutorial