What's Keeping YOUR Hihats From Sounding Great? 5 Tips for a Better Hihat Sound
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- Опубліковано 5 тра 2024
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How to improve your HIHAT sound in 5 STEPS. Here I try to answer a common question of “Why do my hihats not sound right?”- or “Why do they sound clumsy?”. There are so many variables that contribute to the sound of this instrument that we play with our left foot AND hands, and many of these we can improve right off the bat with a few simple adjustments. I cover hihat setup and how to put together a hihat clutch, the best ways to adjust and fine-tune the cymbals, and a few different playing techniques for different styles of music. Comment and let me know what you think, and tell me how YOU adjust YOUR hihat cymbals. SUBSCRIBE for a new video every week!
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The tilter screw for the bottom hat is also to keep the cymbals from hitting together completely flat. When they hit directly on top of each other you can actually squeeze out the air between them & create a vacuum that won't allow the cymbals to come apart again or, at least slow the foot action down a lot. That "air lock" is why Zildjian created the "Quick Beat" hats.
The hihat is such an amazing instrument.
Oh man! I followed your advice on this video...and.....my hi hats sound tremendously better!!! I am very thrilled by this. Its amazing how a better sound really boosts one's confidence that what you're playing can just sound so much better. thanks man!
Damn dude.....you explain so well.....ive been drumming all my life, but never could figure out set. I learned how to play by just having the phones on doing the air drumming.
Thanks so much for this vid. I just bought a hihat and had the guy at the store set it up for me because I have no experience using this thing. This video really helped me begin to understand it. I play djembe and adding the hi hat really gives more options to playing percussion in a soft music setting.
Your info definitely helped me understand what the hi-hats are capable of in terms of sound.
This is great nobody talks about this and it really helped me out a lot I couldn't figure out why I wasn't getting a good open hi-hat washed sound and now it sounds perfect so thank you very much
ive never touched one of these things until like 5 minutes ago.. your instructions made putting it together and adjusting it so much easier..
Been playing all my life & there is always something to learn & improve. Tilted bottom a tad more and closing has a better sound as you described. Thanks!!
Awesome! Glad that helped 👍
Yeah you also get a much louder and distinct "chick" sound with more tilt. I found that especially beneficial playing jazz in college, when HH 2 and 4 is ultra important.
Perfectly done video. Thank you!
Thanks! This video helps a lot. Your videos are really very useful, subscribed. ☺
Superb….I’m just getting back in to drums at 56 and had problems with sound…huge help
i’ve been “borrowing” my friend’s electric kit for close to 4 years now, and another’s cheap hi hat (pedal for electric HH is broken). the combo makes for some bizarre sounds, but i’ve made do. the hi hat came without a clutch, so that’s a luxury i still haven’t sought to add. i didn’t even know you can tilt the bottom hat. like you said, it’s one of the most difficult parts of the set to get a hang of but man is it fun to play around with. so many sounds can come from just the one piece.
I have been playing since I was 9 years old... and I'm very happy ypu upload this bc sometimes e ignore the SIMPLE THINGS.... and those details helps a lot.... I WILL SUBSCRIBE BRO!
Thanks, man! Yeah it's those quick and simple adjustments that really can make a world of difference. Glad this helped you out 👍
Awesome vids dude. Just found your channel recently. Keep it up
really helpful ! and thanx for the link, Paul Mabury is very inspiring, with a great sound !!
Thanks man! You helped me alot!
Thanks for your insight! Appreciate your vids. Please keep them coming!!
Thanks!! Will do 👍
This was so helpful, thank you! :)
I like it how you reply to every comment !
Not a lot of people have that much respect to their viewers
Keep it up man !!
☺️
Thanks for the encouragement! It's cool being able to interact with people here, so I do my best to stay on top of all the comments. I appreciate it when someone watches a video and then takes the time to leave a comment :)
Followed your advice, hi-hat sounds better. Thanks.
thanks brother! been drumming for a bit now never considered all these things!
a lot of good information...thanks !!!!
I've been struggling with the sound of my hihats. I have zildjian z custom dyno beats. The adjustment suggestions helped a ton. Thank you for the video.
Awesome! Glad to hear that 👍
I like to keep my hats tight, almost completely shut, but that's just because I use a lot of double bass. I've been toying with the idea of getting a second hi-hat so I can keep one (on the right) almost closed for when I am playing double bass stuff and having the other one (on the left) further open so I can do all kinds of fun stuff with it when not doing double bass things. Too bad I don't have any money :D:
Aleksi Salo its a good idea though. The dude from dream theater does that
Justin rensel Yeah except that he has 4 hi hats
Get a hihat drop clutch for your main hihat and put a closed hihat over the tom before the ride. There's also the cobra clutch to hold the pedal down. But don't get the Gibraltar clutch. The best are the old pearl or tama from around 1988 were available on ebay but I just checked and they're gone. I've got 3, my 30+ year old, a new pearl and a new Gibraltar, the new pearl is better than the Gibraltar, but sometimes it doesn't work right, it snaps back too quickly. So I still use the older one top piece lever and that screws to the rod, but with the new pearl threaded tube thing because it has a smooth section that won't keyhole the hat. The old ones are all threads and can damage the hat if they are too loose or put some heat shrink tubing on it.
2 leg hihat stands are wobbly regardless which model.
I got an attachment clamp to use my left bass to hold the hihat stand. Then you can close the legs or get them out of the way.
Tama MHA623 is the current model, mines 30 years old.
But, tama also has a 2 leg hihat stand with a little flat leg that slides out under the pedal.
Honestly, i never used my new 2 leg hihat stand because the first time I stepped on the pedal even before I put the hats on, i realized it leaned in while pushing down.
I haven't tried the tama with the little third leg, that might solve the problem. Of course, if you don't have two bass drums, you can't use the attachment clamp, but I have a stand the legs rotate and aren't in the way of my left bass pedal.
I just adjust the screw really high and lower the hars super low
Great tips! Thanks!
You have so many informative videos! I hope your subscriber count skyrockets soon; you deserve it!
Thanks so much, man! I appreciate that. I hope to keep things growing! 👍
Just what I needed!!
I go for the thick, sloshy, Ringo hi-hat feel. I generally like my top hat to be very loose. And when the cymbals are open, I like them about 1.5-2" apart. I generally play with the shoulder of the drumstick, unless I'm playing 16ths, or quiet music.
Put the tilt adjustment pointing towards the drummer not on the back side like pictures always show, even with sound edge hihats, you can get better responses with the more closed side towards you. About 1/2cm on the closed side and 1-2cm open side.
With the tilt on your side you have a more stable target and easier to get the swish.
I got a Trick direct drive hi hat stand. Unbelievable! I thought the Iron Cobra was sweet. But the Trick stand is unparalleled.
Very helpful.
One suggestion: Make sure the pull rod (the rod that comes up through the upper tube and moves the top cymbal) is NOT bent. I've sat in on other drummers' sets and could actually see how bent the rod was, either because they picked the stand up the wrong way at the end of the night or they may haul around or store their hardware without disassembling it...whatever. The pull rod is thin relative to the rest of a hi-hat stand and very susceptible to getting bent if you're not careful. If the pull rod is bent, you're going to have issues with "drag" (stiff feel) when you play the hi-hat with your foot, as well as obvious alignment problems between the top and bottom cymbal. Thanks for the great video.
Thanks for watching, and thanks for the comment! That's a great point. I can see how a bent rod would cause stiffness. I always try to keep my rod inside the upper tube, then I place that on top in my hardware bag so that it doesn't get crushed. So far it has stayed straight.
Thanks. Some helpful thoughts there. (MUCH better than an official V.Firth video I ran into first.)
One point I'm looking for that I haven't seen yet is the angle of tilt in relation to the strike (if that makes sense).
Looks like the closest point between the hats is angled away from your strike, which is what I remembered, but I'm just getting back into drums after a long hiatus and feeling a bit confused. :)
Might want to add that point if you ever redo the vid. Also how much degree of tilt.
Nice job.
Thanks mate ... appreciate your help 🥁 🇦🇺
I like to wrap electrical tape around the center section threaded portion of the clutch to reduce the likelihood of key-holing the upper cymbal.
Just subscribed to your channel. Lots of great tips for beginners, which I am. I've played keyboards for over 30 years but have just started to get into the drums. I really got some great tips from your:
What Does a Beginner Drummer REALLY Need? video.
The biggest problem I've had in figuring out the setup that works best for me, is my hi-hat height. Not only against the snare cross sticking, but for my 1st tom. My music background has been mostly rock, but I've been leaning more towards traditional grip "jazz" setup and moving the 2nd rack tom on to a snare stand to use it as a floor tom, then moving my ride in where the 2nd rack tom usually lives, on a standard 5 piece kit.
My 1st tom to snare relationship is very close in height and I'm constantly adjusting the hi-hat height lower so I'm not bumping my hi-hat on my tom work with traditional grip. Then it starts getting too low in relation with the snare.
I suppose my question is also related to the kick and hi-hat foot distance. I generally just follow the idea of where do my feet naturally fall and that's where I set the hi-hat. Before it gets ridiculously uncomfortable, how far away should the hi-hat be from the snare and toms?
Great questions! You're definitely on the right track with your kick and hihat placement. That's the general guideline - place your feet naturally in front of you, then adjust the kit accordingly. I like to make sure I've got plenty of leg space for the kick (especially since I play heel down), but I pull the hihat in a bit closer since I play it heel up (with my toes all the way up the footboard). If you're looking down from directly above, I like the edge of my 14" hats to almost meet the edge of my snare (maybe an inch or so in between).
As for that rack tom...yeah that's tricky. I don't play traditional, so I don't have quite the struggle you might be having. I do like to get it close in height to the snare (no more than an inch or two higher, tilted a bit toward me). If I have my hats high enough, I can reach under to play the tom (although that's not something I'm having to do often). But this is easier for me since I'm playing matched. There may be some video out there of traditional guys working around this. The only true solution is a remote hihat, which solves the whole crossover issue entirely. I often think about buying one of those. OR...You could add an extra tom off to your left. That can make patterns like you're talking about much easier to execute. A lot of guys do that.
Thanks for the info. As a follow up, question, I've notice another UA-cam'r who has a series on Drum Ergonomics, Ryan Alexander Bloom if you want to look up his page. :-).
He has a multi-part series on individual pieces of the kit along with several examples of players and how they set up their kits. I noticed looking at these different players kits, was the "front-to-back" distance of the Hi Hat. The distance they keep their hats varies quite a bit, regardless of kit set up, it appears they place their hats, simply where they want them, not just where their foot falls.
If the toms are positioned and played in a sweeping arc, sometimes the hats are in line with the tom arc, sometimes the hats are in an arc with the snare, and sometimes it's in an arc somewhere in between. A remote Hi Hat pedal helps with location preferences but excluding that, my question would be:
How close and/or far away from you would you place the hats? Not worrying about a double bass kit or double bass pedal, do you find different styles of music benefit from pushing the hats farther away or bringing them in tighter?
Thank you so much! You just got a new sub!
Thanks so much for subbing!
Thanks for the video - gave me a few pointers & my hi-hats sound give a less 'grating' sound now 😀👍
Glad I was able to help! A "grating" sound definitely doesn't sound like a desirable hi hat sound - glad you were able to improve it :)
THANK YOU!!!
Wow!! I've been doing it all wrong!! Great video. Helped me a lot.
Glad this could help you out!! Thanks 👍
brilliant vid! this will help me a lot!
Thanks! So glad I could help!
Keep it up :)
Thanks, Joel. Will do 👍
I always use the locking screw on the bottom of the hi-hat clutch since the last thing you want in the middle of a gig is to have the clutch come apart.
Probably good to be safe there. I will say though, mine has never gotten loose and come off - even without having that extra screw on there. Maybe I crank it tight enough...I don't know. But hey you are doubly insured there 😃👍
Most hi hat clutches don't even have a locking screw and in fact the old school clutches don't even stop screwing at the base, they're basically just a nut on a screw and I imagine that was being used by most drummers throughout the big band and bebop era when the left foot was constant and central to the groove and momentum. If those hi-hat clutches were good enough for that era and could handle driving a big band, then they're good enough for any of us. I wouldn't choose it over a modern one but in my opinion the difference between your hi hat clutch with the extra screw and mine without it is purely aesthetic
You rock dude. Curious, do you have a video about setting up kick pedals correctly? Im mainly curious about setting it up for faster doubles and punk faster punk kinda stuff. I recently recorded/played drums on an album and it wasnt my own kit/setup, so I wasnt use to it and the pedal was the biggest factor to me struggling. It felt really unresponsive. I had only 8 hours set up and bang out 18 songs so I pushed through, though I should have stopped to try adjust it, but anyway it was the source of much trouble. It caused me to play inconsistently and even off time!
Ringo's "Buttering" is very efficient as far as speed and tonality. It takes a while to get it (especially back to front) but it sustains the HH "ring" and speeds up your beat since your lift from the HH is minimal.
You're talking about the way he swings the stick back and forth side to side, right? Almost like "dancing" on the hats. Yeah that actually does make a lot of sense from a technical standpoint. Though I've never really done that myself on the hats, I do play the ride or crashes (when washing on them) a lot like that because it keeps the cymbal from swinging as much and offers a more consistent sound.
What about spring tension? I keep mine as tight as they'll go. Sometimes I wonder why there's even an adjustment on it.
love the metal to cymbal sound just one more time pls do it to 600
What are the two screws on the bottom of the stand for?
I did most of these and cleaned my hi hats.
Definitely sounds better!
Cool! I've never experimented with cleaning my cymbals...just watched the rdavidr videos about it :)
Stephen Clark it doesn't do a lot, but it does make it sound a bit crisper, which Is nice
Thank you, thank you, thank you
Perfect. I never had a rattle lol. Tried the felt again, kind of dead for me. Oh well. Not a big deal, just preference. Sounds more harmonically complex without it. More bite.
That's pretty interesting!
Any tips on improving Zildjian L80 hi hat sound?
How do you get your top hat to slant when it's opened, but not the lower one?
My drum set didn’t come with the felt pad at the bottom of the two cymbals, is this common?
I would like to know how to make adjustments on the hi hat while playing in the middle of a song. I see club drummers do it all the time. Not only does it look really cool, but I think it's a testimony to how good these drummers are. I'm not a professional by any means, but it looks so cool to do that and not miss a beat and still have great timing. These guys are so good until if you didn't see it, just listening, you can't tell that he or she is making any adjustments. Now that's having skill. And maybe it's just hard for me. I mentioned this to a drummer once, and he had a look on his face like..what's the big deal. Which told me that maybe its something simple, just hard for me. Thank you.
I’ve been playing drums for years, and I really kind of ignored the hi hat until recently. I wish Id had focused on it more from the start.
The only problem with this distance and the tilter screw on the opposite side from where the hats are being struck is that you get a pretty significant “underbite” where the bottom hat protrudes out from the top hat which will gnaw your sticks into oblivion very fast.
Thanks you, for the handy tutorial here. I'm new to drumming - a friend of mine gave me his old drum set...yeah, OLD - dusty and dirty! The cymbals are really discolored, and the hi hats have some corrosion. You have any tips on cleaning cymbals? Thanks again for the handy info in this video - I learned a lot!
Thanks for watching, David! I personally have never done any cymbal cleaning. But this guy on UA-cam who does a bunch of DIY gear stuff does, and in this video he tests some cheap ways to clean cymbals! I'm not sure how easily you'd be able to get rid of corrosion or rust or anything like that, but you could definitely remove grime and finger grease.
ua-cam.com/video/wATn0is1pxk/v-deo.html
Stephen Clark awesome that you linked to rdavidr gg
barkeepers friend. walmart. cheap as hell.
Maybe Brasso (spelling?) would work.
ok and what about the spring tension?
Super helpful. I have hated my hi hat sound and now I know why :) looking forward to playing!
Hi . I just bought a Sabian B8 pro 16 inch . 41 cm to day . It sounds kinda doll and all of my use Sabian B8 and doll . I thought because maybe they were used for the new one sounds doll also do you have any comments or maybe could help me please
thanks Stephen, Ive just moved from an electric kit to acoustic, mainly because even the best kits have lousy hi hats, nothing like the real thing, just love my acoustic kt, Im sorry I wasted my money on high end Electric kits...
With the loose clutch would it keyhole the hihat?
How about the sticker left under the top hi-hat. Does that effect the sound?
No
Thank you! Just what I needed to see, too adjust my hi hats.
I really always have love the high-hat cymbals, and the unique sound they make! The ststststststst-tse=st-tse-st! If you are a drummer; good, average, rusty, or whatever, you know what I'm talkin' bout! I've learned since listening to the drums in all kinds of music, that different cymbals, have different sounds, or tones. Most of the difference, is the brands, type of materials their made of (brass), and cost. Cheap cymbals, sound, ugh!, like shit! I know! My first drum-set in the mid-80's was an 1970's eara Ludwig 5-piece set, with cambec 14' hihats, 1 zyljian 20' ride, (nice!), and 1, cheap, cracked 13' piece of crap crash cymbal, with no know name! I really miss that set, was given to me for free. Blue drum skins, and a beautiful chrome snare! Who knows what I could have got for that complete set today!!!
Solid info buddy. I made the the top hat a tiny bit looser in the clutch. I like it. SUBBED !
Thanks for subbing, Andrew! That's one of those tiny adjustments that makes a huge difference. I love stuff like that.
I'm extremely new at drumming. Now I know how to properly play a hihat.
I'm useing percussion plus hihat.
Awesome! It all starts with "optimizing" your setup, which was something I knew nothing about when I first started. I hope all this info has helped you out a bunch!
Is that an Zildjian Avedis Quckbeat 14 inch? I have a really old pair of those and they sound terrible...
here's a hihat cheap trick used by alotta pros:
use a cheap (B8) bottom hihat on top of another medium (Zildjian A) bottom quality hihat. you wil be amazed at the amount of super crispness, tightness, brightness, projection you get with this technique. you will never go back to "top" hihat cyms again, heck they crack anyway cuz they re thinner than bottoms. bottoms will outlast tops... just look on ebay at how many bottom cymbals are for sale - what do you think happened to all those top cyms (even topoftheline zildjian K's)?? i know what has happened to my previous tops (ZHT) theyre only good for trash cyms now
That's interesting! I do hear of a lot of guys just mixing and matching hihats so that their pair isn't necessarily even similar cymbals. I bet you can get unique results doing that. Kind of like creating cymbal stacks.
I always play my bottom hat on top because it pings more and it also has more oomph when it 'splashes' I do play a lot of metal so its more appropriate though. I wouldn't do that with jazz for example
YESS!
Really all a hi hat is is just 2 cymbals that can be pressed or separated using a foot pedal. You can use anything you want. The best hi hats I've ever heard were 2 completely different cymbals. So, go out and have fun. Experiment. After all, no one's gonna see what the bottom cymbal is anyways.
Is it possible to get rid of the ringing sound after you hit the hi-hat? I’ve been playing around with mine but with no results
I have that too, any solutions?
I don't have much choice on high I set my high-hat. Maxed out, as high as it will go. Everything on my kit is maxed out on height. My legs are so long, I use a bar stool for a seat. If I didn't have everything so high, I'd be whacking my knees with the mid-shaft of the stick, all of the time.
Hi stephen..i have a sonor 400series stand.. the wingnut bolt just above the legs is theaded..
think ive over tightened it..now it doesnt get any tighter lol. the locking nut is still fine so i can still use the stand.. what can u suggest? tap n die a new thread..or new stand..thanks
i use 16" crashs
What if mt hi-hat stand doesn't go low enough for me?
Dakota Edmonds, cut the top tube down with a hack saw, File it smooth afterwards.
Taller stool. Roc-n-soc makes a extended version.
thanks I just needed to ajust the nod on the top hi hat a bit more loose it sounds better now :)
Awesome! Glad that helped!
HEADS UP!!! I played my Zildjian K custom hats loose with the top clutch.. 4 months later my k custom top bell was keyholed 6-7 spots and rendered my $500 dollar hi hats useless... try to get some type of plastic hose over threads where top hat sits on the clutch! or new clutch with built in protection from keyholing your top hat.. save yourself some money and invest in a good clutch!! may have to spend over $50 on a good clutch.. protect your investments!! dont be me lol cheers
no lock screw on the bottom of the clutch?...i always use mine...
I understand why they're there, but I've honestly never had an issue not using one. That bottom "screw thing" has never gotten loose on me during a gig. If anything gets loose it's the nuts on top of the top hat. I think the reason my lock screw is missing is because it got loose itself and fell out, which made it useless anyway. But maybe I'll be proven wrong one day by that whole nut coming loose. We'll see haha 😉
that's cool....i've had the bottom come lose on me a couple times...that's why i always use it...tho i run a lot of open high hat...about a half inch with the bottom hat angled so it touches the top...make a nice wash....
I keep them just barely open to have a good sound when I am not stepping on the hh pedal while playing double pedal, I also have a drop clutch that I use when I want a closed sound while playing double pedal. Link to a drop clutch here:
www.amazon.com/ChromaCast-CC-HHC-Cymbal-Stand/dp/B01GGVP4QQ/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=3R13AWN5477DX&dchild=1&keywords=hi+hat+drop+clutch&qid=1590957954&sprefix=Hi+Hat+dro%2Caps%2C186&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExVlQ3V1RPSUlCVDBOJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwMzIwNDI1MzdDSzVLNVQ0WFdPVyZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwNTYxMzkxMkgxNEo4UVBUQjIwQiZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2F0ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=
Does the high hat always sound like a ride when it's open? I'm having a little bit of field day with it. Then again, I have an off brand set, so...
Hmmm...on old Beatles recordings I find it easy to mistake the ride for the open hats, because there are definitely some sonic similarities (plus it's an old recording). But if you're sitting at your kit playing, there should be a distinct difference between the two sounds.
Stephen Clark
Ringo sometimes used a sizzle, so the ride would sound a lot more similar to the Hihat
Ich Und Nicht Du - Makes sense. That would be a scenario where the ride and HH could sound super similar, especially on an old recording.
Maybe the two hats are too far away?
That pretty much covers all bases. Step on the foot pedal how far you want it to go and set it. Adjust lower cymbal angle enough to eliminate choking and same with upper cymbal tightness. Overall height, set low for tight intricate beats, and shoulder height for more open rock power beats.
Good guideline there on setting heights. Definitely makes sense to have them lower for lower volume or "tighter" playing and higher for heavier (more stick-shaft-heavy) grooves.
i love how everyone who plays drums and has a video camera of sorts, puts out all these demo videos and such..... too many chefs ! 😂😂😂😂😂🤣🤣
Setting depends on what you're playing. Something can work on some genres and suck on some others.
i keep my hats way tighter than that, usually around a quarter inch between the two tops, anybody else?
my symbols are bent and i dont know what to do.
What hi hats are these?
Those were my trusted Zildjian A New Beats :) Great cymbals! I've been using my K's more often lately though.
Nice syzzle my nyzzle
I personally don't like my hihats adjusted too far open like that! Just me! I like them, at, least 3/4, or 1in. max.
the fact that they're made of steel, not bronze, not even brass - STEEL
i keep mine really low for double kick...drummers hate that and always raise it up a few inches.
The hihats as a whole? - or the space between them?
I think he means the space between them. I do the same because you can't always have your foot on the hat when doing double bass stuff.
Makes sense. Seems like you'd have to have them pretty close together to actually get a clean open hat sound without your foot on it. If I were playing a lot of metal, I'd probably go the route of having multiple hihats setup for multiple "opennesses" haha.
I love Grombals! lol
Interesting! I had never heard of those. So I guess the idea is that you have less individual parts...sleeve and felt are now combined? That would be a great "backup" accessory item to keep in a stickbag.
Stephen Clark Grombals are excellent for quick set-up and teardown. Especially if playing on "house" kit.
JAZZ DRUMMERS DONT USUALLY HAVE IT UP THAT FAR. Jazz drummers are the most versatile players so usually it’s just at a normal distance so you can do a lot with it
triggered
you might find that when the drummer stands up, the hi hat clutch is actually often that high. It's just that left foot dynamics and phrasing are really important so a lot of players will prefer to set the hi-hat so that it's never fully open while playing and they can always feel it under the foot, this gives you much more dynamic range. Especially when playing right hand on the hats as it requires you to play heel down so the higher you set your top cymbal the lower the foot board is when closed, therefore the greater the angle between your foot and your shin, therefore less strain you're putting on your shin muscle which is good considering that's predominantly the muscle being used when playing hi hats heel down. If you're playing thinner hi hats, which a lot of jazz sub-genres call for, then you know that crashing them (not swishing or sizzling) is a really powerful expressive tool but you need them to open enough to where they're not touching. point is "normal distance" isn't a thing, it really does depend on what you're doing. hats that far apart might not seem logical or comfortable but if you slow it down and practise it, you will eventually become really comfortable doing it and you will and it will become just another postition from which you have better access you certain sounds than other positions. You can choose to play it or not depending on the context but just don't underestimate the power of a nice big gap between hats :)
Thanks, I'm playing much better now. (Drummer for 10 minutes)
my clutch came off only once took me less than yell to leader and wait and I was done less than they tune .
Get rid of bottom felt and use a better support. Try a rubber one with the 3 supports, and even better is put 3 little felt pad on the 3 rubber supports. Makes bottom hat sound considerably different. Better is subjective but I think most will find it an improvement.
That's interesting! I don't think i've ever played on a hihat stand that didn't have the usual felt on the cup. I'm guessing "better" in this scenario would as least be a longer sizzle? Or maybe even a brighter sound? This would make for an interesting comparison. Thanks for the tip!
Got one at GC, added three little felt pad's to the three little rubber supports. It seems to make the bottom hat a little brighter and clearer, also the tone changed slightly. It seems to have less dampening effect than the felt pad. It also makes the bottom hat more stable making the sound more consistent. If I don't explain things well I play guitar not drums but have a set so our drummer doesn't have to cart his to practice all the time. I repair guitars and amps and am having some fun learning more about drums.
MEINL ALL THE WAY!!!!
im a 12 year old and i play in my church so i like to put it at a middle so i can get that sizzle
Whatever setting works the best for what you play! I do a ton of sizzle stuff with my foot, but I do keep them an inch or two apart. I just have to control how loose they go in order to maintain the sizzle.
makes sense but how long does it sustain
As long as I want it to :) I'm achieving the same sizzle sound you're talking about...I just use my foot to keep the hats a certain distance apart, instead of relying on the stand adjustments. You can get a louder sizzle by keeping the hats farther apart, then using foot pressure to maintain a sizzle. Maybe this sounds over complicated explaining haha! I'll have to make a sequel video detailing left foot techniques on the hihat.
Stephen Clark j
None of these settings have anywhere near as much effect as changing the surface you're playing on. My carpet was causing a disgusting hollow tin noise. Even just a sheet of plastic makes it 80% better.
Cheap hihats only sound good almost shut, like heavy metal player's.