House of Drumming.com

Hello folks!

Just wanted to ask you, telling from experience, which hihat would u recommend for recording rock/metal. I know that 'good' is relative so I hurry to explain. The main problem is that there is a lot of leakage from the hihat to the SM57 on the snare. We're just in the process of recording our debut CD and this is the problem we've encountered. Also what I like personally is something rather smooth, with a good, soft "chick'.

Our guitarist who at the same time is the guy responsible for technical side read that Zildjian A New Beats are good for the job for their relative quietness. Would you corroborate that? But when I watched this to me it sounds pretty loud and trashy:

Thanks for any advice!
Przemek

New Beats are excellent all-purpose hi-hats. As for the leakage into the snare mic, the only way to minimize that is with positioning the snare mic so that the hi-hat is as off-axis as possible (directly behind the snare mic). If your hi-hats are set fairly high relative to the snare, it will be much easier, but if you set your hi-hats lower, no so much.

Personally, I don't worry about the leakage and I don't even use a dedicated hi-hat mic anymore. But if you're using a lot of processing or ambiance/reverb/delay on the snare, you will definitely want to avoid hi-hat leakage. I only use a bit of reverb, so it's not an issue really.

What type of hi-hats are you currently using? I'm currently using 14" Paiste Signature Dark Energy Mark One hi-hats with great results.

My uncle, who is an audio engineer, swears by Zildjian and new beats in particular... He claims that a lot of Sabians have a very high pitch frequency that can be annoying. Do yourself a favor and get the traditional finish ones. I had the brilliant new beats and they sounded a little harsh like those...

DSOP wrote:the only way to minimize that is with positioning the snare mic so that the hi-hat is as off-axis as possible (directly behind the snare mic). If your hi-hats are set fairly high relative to the snare, it will be much easier, but if you set your hi-hats lower, no so much.

Thanks for reply guys! The problem is that in my kit the hihat is just behind the mic Maybe I'll try to experiment with that before I spend money.

The hats Im using now are Sabian Stage Hats 13'' which sound like that

Love my 14 inch new beats. They are around 16 years old. Don't use them all the time cause I want them to last. They are great for so many styles of music. Dont get the brilliant finish. You want grooves in the cymbal.

Kurtis wrote:You want grooves in the cymbal.

This could also be read metaphorically Thank for reply!

love me some Avedis Rock hats myself. upside down for more fun. i tend to do that to a lot of my hihats actually for heavier gigs.

Kurtis wrote:Love my 14 inch new beats. They are around 16 years old. Don't use them all the time cause I want them to last. They are great for so many styles of music. Dont get the brilliant finish. You want grooves in the cymbal.

That's what I now have as well. They sound great.

I'm looking at getting some new hi hats for doing rock in the studio. I've been using 14" A Mastersounds for years but I've been thinking lately that they just sound too bright. There's some annoying high-end frequencies somewhere in there that are bothering me.

I'm considering K Custom Darks...any thoughts? New Beats are cool, but I think I'm going to be happier with a darker sounding pair.

scrowdrlrr wrote:I'm looking at getting some new hi hats for doing rock in the studio. I've been using 14" A Mastersounds for years but I've been thinking lately that they just sound too bright. There's some annoying high-end frequencies somewhere in there that are bothering me.

I'm considering K Custom Darks...any thoughts? New Beats are cool, but I think I'm going to be happier with a darker sounding pair.

Am I getting your handle right? Scrowd paradiddle? lol!!!