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aiiiight, im shit at programming hats. can never get them sounding right so i always give up on them. so my tunes always end up lacking energy cos theres no fast paced hat action goin on.

could someone point me in the right direction as to how to programme some shuffled hats. cheers

Read the production bible dude, nuff knowledge in there on drum programming.

Also, hats are absolutely fundamental to drum beats, you can't just 'give up' if something doesn't sound right! Keep practicing.

Again, read the production bible. Or use Search (I know the search function on here ain't much cop mind). Failure to do these things can end up getting you flamed.

16th triplets for that shuffle feel....trial and error you'll get it

Swing is def. the key. It's sort of a lightbulb moment when you stumble across it. You'll feel it lock into place, as it were

http://blackdownsoundboy.blogspot.com/2 ... -jazz.html


I think thats the right post...Blackdown spills the beans.

i don't know about other software, but in cubase you can add a midi quantizer and add shuffle to midi tracks easily.

I personally think the best way is to get yourself some pads or even keys, play the hats in themselves. Retake if you're happy, don't quantise.

yeah i either program my hats in as straight 16ths or i just play them in on the pads and i don't quantise. that blackdown link is gold tho.

use like 4 or 5 different hat samples, you get them swing much easier this way. You can glue them together with slight overdrive.

One of the best ways to learn (apart from reading the huge number of topics that already cover this) - is mimicing what you hear in other tracks. It gives you a good foundation to build on and construct your own ideas, as you learn what does and doesn't work through others' experiences. I actually found hats to be one of the easier things to get right in drum programming. I find the kick to be the real pain

stereotactic wrote:Also, hats are absolutely fundamental to drum beats

Hats can be crucial, but they don't have to be. Beats don't need hats at all.

Use bits of breaks and such.

Velocity is massively important

Emphasize some off the off beat hits more for that delicious syncopation

I do what MJ Cole talks about in that Blackdown link, or maybe its over on FG forum, can't remember. Started playing hats in at 80BPM using pads, then speeding up. Gives so much more feel, cause get natural swing and velocity differences. With a few different hat sounds can get some lines going on.

what works for me is combining shakers with 2 or 3 similar sounding metalic closed hats.have some of the shakers hit on the same beats as the hats or just fuck around with this for a while and usually get something dece. change up the velocity of the notes on both the shaker and closed hats, and another good way is to use 140 bpm break loops turn the volume off and on or lower it during different times, play with it till you find something you like . i like to highpass the break loops so i only get the highs and the kicks in the loop dont fuck with my bass, tho not always

I'm surprised it hasn't been mentioned in here yet, but the actual samples you choose for your hats makes more of a difference than anything else in my opinion. Just last night I was working on some drum patterns, they sounded a little strange, and the beats had a completely different feel/groove after messing with the envelopes on a few of the hats. It's definitely not easy, though; probably the biggest problem I find with the tracks a lot of people here post up are either poor high hat arrangement or poor high hat sample selection. Just keep at it; you'll know when you hit it!

Yes this is something i need help on and will need to practice up on as well. Any tips on using ableton live's built in groove machine to get a goood hi hat pattern shuffle? I tried using some of the built in MPC grooves and well it just didn't really sound all that great. Is it best to apply these grooves at a certain % range like between 40-60%? Also is it best to apply this groove to 16th note hi hats or 16T(triplet) hi hats?

I spent ages reading up on how to program swing/shuffle in my hats , then i realised, its much easier to play it in on a midi keyboard/pads!

All these people recommending "just play the hihats", i mean maybe they are all percussionists or something, but in reality it is really hard to play hihats, especially if you want synchopated off kilter beats. Apart from placement I think velocity is important, and if you are using more than one hihat/shaker/whatever sample, then the selection and tuning is also important. I often pitch up my percussion, and clip the tails off.

Another thing which can be useful is to make each hihat sound as if you were making it a seperate loop. eg. Mute all hihats exept for one. make a pattern, not too busy. Then mute it and make a different pattern, focusing on the off beats. Then play them together, hopefully there might be some synergy.

stereotactic wrote: Also, Percussion is absolutely fundamental to drum beats, you can't just 'give up' if something doesn't sound right! Keep practicing.

Fixed