Hi Hat Patterns

[Sparxy]

Yeah big point! Accents! Google it, It makes all the difference. Do it to your kick as well, put a little shadow kick just before the 1st beat and see how much pace it gives your pattern

Benga is a genius at this kind of stuff

IIRC I once saw Benga state in a tutorial video that he lays his hats down first when making beats. Kicks and snares come after. That's partly how he gets those shuffley beat patterns I imagine.

When i'm producing i'll lay a basic beat down first, kick and a snare then synth a bass or lead to go along with. When it's playing i'll fill in the blanks in my head and almost beatbox the beat and attempt to replicate that in a sequencer with samples. I like to modulate the hats sometimes as well, gives them movement. If I can i'll add in kick and snare shuffles at the end of bars etc afterwards. Everyone has their own little ways though to be honest. Sometimes the hats can be basic and you can shuffle things up with other percussion like triangle hits, toms and bongos

[Mortal]

2 steps after every kick/snare
and then a quieter more subtle hat which hits 2 steps after everyone of the first hats

[Ennayess]

A rather good read on hats here: http://futuregarageforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=98