Can I improve the sound of my hi hat for recording?

I want to record live drums for DIY music projects. I have a typical beginners kit (I am not really a drummer) and the hi hat in particular sounds a bit pants. I was wondering if it can be fixed in post somehow? I am not sure if have enough mics for individual drums. I have 2 sm58's and 2 behringer B5 stick condensers.

I have a 4 track interface.

I would rather mic the kit with one left and one right, and two for the kick, one in front and one behind.

Anyway, to describe my actual problem.

My hit hat does not sound at all "Swishy" it does not make the "tschsshhh" sound you would expect, but more of a click click tap tap sound. All my other drums/cymbals are satisfactory.

Now is there a way to deal with this?

When you play your hihats, and you want that slosh sound, open them slightly. You can do a lot of stuff in post production, but you cannot change a chick into a tschhhh...

Sounds to me like you need to rerecord with slightly different playing technique. Ofc, I could entirely have the wrong end of the stick and have missed something.

In general, I find that you need to get your sounds a good as possible before going into post production. There's only so much you can do there, and I think it's better to improve the sound than cover up bad stuff.

I know what you mean by opening up the hat, but thats not my issue. My issue is that I have a horrible sounding hi hat. It is very clicky in sound and not at all swishy.

The only way I could improve that in real life is by upgrading. But I would really rather not! Is there anything I could do in terms of micing technique or EQ/COMP to sort it out?

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Originally Posted by MiloCroton

I know what you mean by opening up the hat, but thats not my issue. My issue is that I have a horrible sounding hi hat. It is very clicky in sound and not at all swishy.

The only way I could improve that in real life is by upgrading. But I would really rather not! Is there anything I could do in terms of micing technique or EQ/COMP to sort it out?

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Only thing you could do is mic it closer to the cymbal as far away from your contact point as possible so you get less of the attack and more of the decay. You could also comp it with a fast attack and slow release to even it out.

But realistically, if you record a shit instrument, you're gonna get a shit sound. Also those Behringer B5s are a bit crap, and SM58s are not ideal for cymbals as they have a bit of a high-mid peak (they're balanced for vocal-range sounds).

Look at it this way, you've got a budget kit and budget recording gear, there's only so much you'll be able to achieve in terms of sound quality. You're gonna have to use trial and error and a fair bit of recording talent to get anything useable.

Are you tracking with the 58's on the kick and snare and the Behringer condenser's as OH's?

You are always going to struggle to get great results with the mics you are using so any improvements are going to be relative.

When I track drums I do use a dedicated hi-hat mic but often it never makes the final mix.
A well placed set of stereo overheads can sound brilliant by itself.
(You need a great sounding kit, room, some nice mics and a drummer with great feel though.)

I have an OH bus setup with the SSL channel strapped across it with the following setting:

http://www.jamesrichmond.com/misc/ssl.jpg

This is very much a starting point for mixing OH's.
It won't fix a bad sounding set of hats, poor room, mic or preamp though.

Hope it helps.

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Originally Posted by MiloCroton

I have a horrible sounding hi hat.

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Get decent hi hats, you will not engineer your way around this.

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Originally Posted by octatonic

Are you tracking with the 58's on the kick and snare and the Behringer condenser's as OH's?
.

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Well I havent used the setup yet. I just got my 4 track interface. In the past I went straight into the 2 channels of onboard soundcard via a mixer. I used a stereo video mic for overhead and a sm58 for the kick. This was shared between both channels, so there was no room for post mixing. It sounded all right, I think my room sound is good. But the hi hat is clunky and the kick was lacking a bright attack, it sounded more thuddy.

I was thinking one sm58 on the back of the kick drum and one on the front. And then stereo overheads. I could potentially have just one kick mic on the kick side as it is an unported drum. This will leave me with a spare mic to place near hi hat.

I know there is only so much turn polishing one can do, but I am not looking to get pro results. I LIKE the rough DIY jamming sound. Some of my favourite music sounds like this, for example at the drive in's first album. Also loads of punk and not forgetting all music from before the 60's

Best of luck to you! :rolleyes:

Tell you something:

I went into a studio the other week to record some drums. They had every mic under the sun, amazing pre amps, and generally a great set up. For the thousands of pounds it was costing... it ought to have been!

My hi hats were cutting through too much and overpowering everything. And despite the equipment, there was nothing we could do, we HAD to swap the hi hats. I am now going to be buying a new set to work in the studio.

My advice - Get decent equipment, that is suited to the scenario. Simple as that. You said it yourself, you can't polish a turd.

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Originally Posted by Jazzy_Jefferson

You said it yourself, you can't polish a turd.

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Too late to say 'but you can roll it in glitter'?

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Originally Posted by octatonic

Too late to say 'but you can roll it in glitter'?

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:D

With new heads and tuned well you can get a really cheap kit to sound decent, but you can't do a damn thing with shitty cymbals.
Spend money on Hi-Hats and ride if you possibly can or get a lekkie kit and use BFD.