Offbeat hi-hats - how??

  • Thread starter Thread starter Heretic Beats
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Heretic Beats

Heretic Beats

"Bringin' back boombap!"
Yo!

I'm starting to get tired of my hi-hats, they always sound the same, so I was wondering how does J Dilla (yes another JD question) make those offbeat hi-hats??

I've tried everything: different types of quantizing, moving the hi-hats a little to the left/right, playing 'em on my keyboard etc., but nothing gives me that J Dilla hi-hat effect.

Sorry I have no youtube link to show what I mean, but maybe I'll post it later if I find it.

How does one achieve it??

NB: I use FL Studio, so I need to have explained how it's programmed.
 
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No quantisation, none, nada. I think I read something about him recoding the drums all the way through for some tracks, like most producers would do a 4 bar (for example) sequence then loop it but he recorded for the whole track.

Dilla had a great sense of rhythm though.
 
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Thanx for the replies, guys.

Before I posted this I had done a search on FP, where I found a thread where people discussed it, but it seems no real solution to the problem. So my hopes are pretty low :(

Also the thing is, I need to know how to PROGRAM em :-) It must be possible to program them.... but hell even when I play them manually they don't have that special sound. Remember this is in FL, not on an MPC...
 
well then there is your problem, you cant get a soulful feel out of a computer program. This isnt to start up the silly HW v SW debate, but the soul of the individual is caputued with human feel. Hardware just does that better for obvious reasons.
 
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Sparrow said:
well then there is your problem, you cant get a soulful feel out of a computer program. This isnt to start up the silly HW v SW debate, but the soul of the individual is caputued with human feel. Hardware just does that better for obvious reasons.
Click to expand...

You really do say some stupid ****.
 
Throw a delay effect on the hats by setting it to somewhere between 17-35 ms. Make sure the feedback is off and the setting is on Wet, all the way.

Hope that helps. It works well when your snare is at 4-10 ms with the same delay.

ALL QUANTISED. -Nolij
 
changing the velocity is key.
 
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use different velocities...sample just a bit before the attack....on FL specifically go to the FUNC tab and add some offset...use automation

whatever you feel

in my opinion a lot of it is in the actual sound of the hat

and the pattern...

try to get a live feel by shuffling about and using open and closed sounds

try to program like a drummer
 
Sparrow said:
well then there is your problem, you cant get a soulful feel out of a computer program. This isnt to start up the silly HW v SW debate, but the soul of the individual is caputued with human feel. Hardware just does that better for obvious reasons.
Click to expand...
Not trying to argue, just making a factual statement. Tritons, MPCs, and Motifs function the same as software. Most likely due to the fact they are software OS in a "hardware" shell no different from FL Studio running inside of a "hardware" shell(your PC). The few MB of OS it takes to run "hardware instruments" is not only duplicated, but surpassed in most music software for computer. In the same sense, if by "hardware" you mean a real live drumset, I can agree with your statement.
 
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Obi Wonder Secret: Delay. Figure it out. I play my hats less often and set a tempo delay to play softer notes and my actual hi hat hits are like accents. It sounds more realistic. SHHHH Don't tell anybody my secrets.
 
wanna have some different hats? ready for a really good tip?

ok...

use delay, it can make some amazing hi hat patterns,

thank you, thank you (takes a bow)_

peace
Gutt(y)

lol, nevamind, obi hit it, i just posted

so..cosign with obi

obviously its not that big of a secret
 
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damn,.................smh


my attempts to be sarcastic failed. I figured someone would pick up my subtle attempt to bait.


people, I am a comedian at heart. You will know when to take seriously. There something I always do when Im being serious.

LOL

did anyone really think that "soul" could be captured in the first place?

I am bieng an idiot.
 
It's all good sparrow, sometimes it's hard to get sarcasm or jokes across the net, especially here, where cats got the claws out, ready to pounce.
as for the hi hats, what i like to do in Reason (and this applies to any sampler) is double or quadrouple the hi hat sample, then change something on each on, like the pan, cents, and/or vol on each one, then set them to alternate, so each time i play that one key, it triggers one of the 4 hats hits. Take that and turn off ur input quantize, and also turn off full velocity if it's on and bang out, may take a lil practice, but assure u that u'll get offbeat hats. So no quantization and no full velocity, those are the biggest factors in gettin a more realistic/offbeat hihat sound.
LevLove
 
mannnn , all u need to do is play it in live . . with some feeling & with no quantise or metronome . .


think of how a drummer plays a beat . . . every part of your drums should have its own rhythm in a sense . .

If your painting them in in FL its Eaasy in the pianoroll ( hold down "Ctrl" Left click & hold then drag your mouse over your hats so they r highlighted , then just click on them & move them around. Should move them all, good for gettin a general idea of how it can sound.) simple.

try the same with snares & kicks aswell . . no drummer hits his drums with the same exact velocity everytime. Using delay effects wont always get u a natural sound .. better for more electronic music.
 
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Lol sparrow, you can't be sarcastic on fp. . . People are too stupid
 
GumBaLL said:
Using delay effects wont always get u a natural sound .. better for more electronic music.
Click to expand...

I often use this when making a sorta Dub backbeat

though I havent experimented much with delay in a "normal" context

props for the tip!
 
Okay... I might be in a unique position here...

I was a drumemr fro years, way back when...

I ALSO compose in Fruity loops...

I dont know the song you mean, but... it sounds to me like you are describing "syncopation" in a hi-hat line where the drummer knows how to close and open the hihat to have that sh-oop!-tah... sound, eh?

a couple of things have to come together in Fruity Piano roll (FPC...) to approximate the intimate hi-hat beat on fruity...

I'm a real life drummer who was known fro his cool hi-hat lines live, and I have trouble "getting my own feeling" into fruity... LMAO. *How lame am I* ha ha...

start with a basic hi hat line, snare on the 3 in a 4/4. You slowly move a snare hit around the piano roll, on the OFF beats, untyil you feel the syncopation fit nicely. Use 2 measures idebntical at first... use the second for "testing" to se where to add the NEXT off beat snare hit.

Real live drummer pro tip for imitating a drummer on fruity??

its not just the hi-hat and snare notes that make ALL the syncopation... the bass drum hits are passing in and out of time and syncopation, too... and the hihat(s) sounds are occasionally hitting syncopation, too (read: an occasional added hi-hat)

oh yeah... and the guy who said to "stack" hi-hat sounds and learn how to use them all at once? Thats true, thats a good tip. Until I tried that, I couldnt come close. The whole IDEA of a drummer doing that (opening and closing the hat, under syncopation beats...) os so the hi hat notes each sound different... they no longer just "click along annoyingly", they then can rise and fall with teh melody of the song... or i liked to follow the bass player, personally.

so, you need several hi-hat sounds. I use FPC... and my tip is to open TWO fpc channels... you can "pull more hi hat sounds" from the other one. I personally like Gretsch and Tama on teh presets...



"syncopation" is best described as a normal drum line, "standard" if you will... but an extra beat "ripples" thru the drum line. It has to come and go, or else you end up sounding like speed-core, LMAO

but, thats not syncopation anymoree by definition... that 8/8 instead of 4/4, LMAO

Just remember that mainly added snare does it, but the bass drum is intimately involved too... as well as the occasional extra hat note off beat too...

hp[e this is clearer than mud. OR, I could send you a piano score file from fruity to see if THAT was what you were even describing as there wasnt a music link to hear.
 
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