Offbeat hi-hats - how??

  • Thread starter Thread starter Heretic Beats
  • Start date Start date
Im just trying to follow this

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
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snare on the 3?...and then move it towards a the 2 or keep it on the 3? with the hi-hats just playing straight 4/4?

Im trying to picture what you're describing...

could you post a screenshot by any chance?

this, syncopation, is that to do with creating the feel of an undercurrent or pulse? Could you explain any differently?

thanks
 
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I used to record drums straight into Reason and not quantize them....lately I've been using the regroove mixer in v4.0 and it is cool, very flexible.
 
Yo, Lost Profit...

I made a simple example, 7 short Mp3's made in Fruity, beat1 thru beat7

it starts with teh most basic beat, then slowly builds some syncopation. I slow the beat to 120 and add one at a time or a few, then back to 140 and i add the rest, you get the idea more...

A pulse rippling around isnt obviously a good verbal description. In beat1, the kick is on beat 1, the down beat. its 4 measures of 4 beats each. The snare is on the "up" beat in this case, the 3. The slow hat clicks on 1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4..... B-U-T, space exists between these 4 notes.

basic note lengths... the 4 beats in the measure are quarter notes. 4 quarters = one whole. A whole note (which takes up teh whole measure with one note...) would be like a guitarist doing a power chord, and letting it ring out for a whole measure... if he did it twice, they would be half-notes.

the hi hat does it 4 times per measure, so those are quarter notes. In sinple beat one, its all quarter notes. No syncopation.

if we want to play more notes sometimes, we use 1/8th notes. eigth notes can be played WITH the quarter notes, so you wouldnt notice them... but if you pick the 8th notes that exist inbetween the quarter note hi hat line... particularly with the snare and kick... you slowly create syncopation.

what is your email, i will send you the small folder with the 7 mp3s in it... me email is sedstar@comcast.net
 
yo just keep makin beats without quantize and eventually you will find your own feel.
 
sedstar said:
what is your email, i will send you the small folder with the 7 mp3s in it... me email is sedstar@comcast.net
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bro, my email is down at the moment for some reason

could you possibbly upload on z s h a r e and then PM the link?

that would be much appriciated

I think I se better what you mean now but im not sure about putting a kick inbetween quarter notes and how that would respond into a pattern...

thanks if you can do this
 
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I can answer this one!!!! im a JDILLa head.. the trick it 2 turn quantize off n mess with the velocity its not only a dilla thing but its a detoit thing for example BlackMilk also uses that technique .. search up black milk on youtube
 
yall actin like this is somethin thats hard to do,you dont have to mess with velocity or quantize at all,just record them off beat thats it.end of thread
 
Is the 'delay hi-hats trick' the secret to getting the 'LA Sound?' Think Sa-Ra, Madlib, Flying Lotus - it has that rolling bump to the kicks also - I've tried moving notes off beat slightly (w/ 32nd notes) & messing w/ velocity and that helps slightly, but doesn't quite do it.
Do I need to be using 1/8T or something?

Those guys I mentioned must be using some compression tricks in there too, using sidechain compression. Been trying to get that LA swing and I haven't quite got it..maybe because I'm in SF :p

Any tips?
 
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well yeah, i obviously added some swing to the hats, but it aint quite the same swing...tried in ableton & using the re-groove feature in reason 4, still not quite there..though it should be, since it's got the MPC presets. oh well, keep trying i guess.
 
what percentage of swing are you using ? and have u used swing on ALL drums parts ? kick clap & hh ?
 
thabest216 said:
yall actin like this is somethin thats hard to do,you dont have to mess with velocity or quantize at all,just record them off beat thats it.end of thread
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lol nice haha
 
No Quantization, or use groove templates on your hi hats
 
2 things I've picked up:

1) One problem with a lot of hi-hat tracks I hear is how the hat is constantly being cut off by it's next hit. But listen to a real hi hat. When it's hit twice, there is still resonance (often in the room you're in) from the first strike along with the strike and resonance from the second hit. You can beat this with a little delay but I have a more interesting fix: two hi hat tracks. Never have the same track cut itself off. If the hat is hit over and over, it should be switching between the two tracks, that way the cymbal is allowed to ring out. This gives you some more options in the way that you can apply different effects to each track. And this helps with the second point...

2) SP404 and 303 users have been trying to beat this problem forever. The best secret: have multiple copies of your hi hat (which you might already have if you followed my first point) and insert a little silence in front of one of the hi hat samples. For full effect, make several copies each with varying degrees of silence at the beginning, but leave just one with no silence. Then you simply play on beat, but the silence in the start of the hi hats will add a bit of swing to the beat.

Hope that sparks some ideas.
 
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