Distorting Hi-Hats? In my never-ending quest to find a way to a meaner and dirtier sound (especially with my new projects) I decided to trying distorting the hi-hats. And, as I expected, it sounded a bit meaner.
But I'm kind of on the fence about it. Is this just a cop-out way of getting a meaner sound? Have any of you ever done this?
(On an unrelated note, I thought of this while I was driving and not believeing about anything production related. I believe of a ton of ideas about producing on a accident while I'm driving. How weird is that?) |
Breanne Penge
28.09.2010 |
Originally Posted by jasonj
I tend to use Camel Crusher on my hi's quite a bit.
Then side chain them to taste.
+1, also bitcrushing is nasty |
Verona Fashbaugh
28.07.2010 |
Originally Posted by photojojo
Not weird at all. You should put a little digital recorder in your car or if you an an iphone use the recording app. I can't tell you how many times I've had save the world kind of ideas in my car, but forgot them later.
That's a great idea. I could just use the voice recorder on my phone. Seems to be happening a lot more lately for whatever reason.
Originally Posted by alien2k
I do process the hats a lot to try and make them sound a certain way. I never had distorted them cause I dont like to have the high freq of my tracks getting mushy. I do use a Highpass filter set very tight and with a positive Q so the shh sounds gets tighter... I love that. Also have combined white noise with hats and snare to make them sound meaner... as they were slapping you
I do also make breaks having each hat on a 8 or 4 bar loop having a bigger detune from the original. I use the transpose function in Ableton and apply a bigger on to each hat...
Just some ideas... you can do lots to the high frequencies affecting your track, and it shows BUt be very carefull that clipping the high freqs sounds awefull and ultimately your track can sound as a bad quality mp3 when all the high ends are mushy.
Have not done anything to try and make my tracks meaner, in fact mine are not mean but If I would be producing dubstep or hard techno , I would look onto how to make the bass and synths sound stronger. In my personal opinion tracks sound better when high frequencies as hats or bells sound crystal clear.
All very good ideas. Thanks man. I figured out that hi-hats can really make or break a song...
Originally Posted by jasonj
I tend to use Camel Crusher on my hi's quite a bit.
Then side chain them to taste.
Camel Crusher is by far my favorite (free!) distortion VST.
Originally Posted by Fatlimey
If you're using distortion, pushing the signal into clipping, try adding some gating to retain the envelope shape. That way you can really shape the sound.
That's not a bad idea. That would also help keep the rhythm and prevent it from sounding sloppy. |
Leeanna Ayla
27.07.2010 |
Originally Posted by Lambox
(On an unrelated note, I thought of this while I was driving and not believeing about anything production related. I believe of a ton of ideas about producing on a accident while I'm driving. How weird is that?)
Not weird at all. You should put a little digital recorder in your car or if you an an iphone use the recording app. I can't tell you how many times I've had save the world kind of ideas in my car, but forgot them later. |
Verona Fashbaugh
27.07.2010 | In my never-ending quest to find a way to a meaner and dirtier sound (especially with my new projects) I decided to trying distorting the hi-hats. And, as I expected, it sounded a bit meaner.
But I'm kind of on the fence about it. Is this just a cop-out way of getting a meaner sound? Have any of you ever done this?
(On an unrelated note, I thought of this while I was driving and not believeing about anything production related. I believe of a ton of ideas about producing on a accident while I'm driving. How weird is that?) |
Breanne Penge
28.09.2010 |
Originally Posted by jasonj
I tend to use Camel Crusher on my hi's quite a bit.
Then side chain them to taste.
+1, also bitcrushing is nasty |
Tressa Schemenauer
28.09.2010 | Distortion in high frequency = rapid hearing loss... not good.. find another way dude! I like overdrive or saturated tape fx in the lower frequencies... but always keep the highs pristine.. |
Many Atia
01.08.2010 | PSP MixTreble is my new best friend when it comes to finetuning high frequency content... I use it just as much (if not more) as I do the vintage warmer |
Verona Fashbaugh
28.07.2010 | ^^ Well put.
Without distortion, what could you do, just detune everything? Yeah that would really sound great |
Meg Reinoehl
28.07.2010 | I don't believe using distortion is a cop-out, it's just the flat out solution in most cases to get a mean or dirty sound. What better way to make something sound f****d up than distorting it beyond belief? |
Verona Fashbaugh
28.07.2010 |
Originally Posted by photojojo
Not weird at all. You should put a little digital recorder in your car or if you an an iphone use the recording app. I can't tell you how many times I've had save the world kind of ideas in my car, but forgot them later.
That's a great idea. I could just use the voice recorder on my phone. Seems to be happening a lot more lately for whatever reason.
Originally Posted by alien2k
I do process the hats a lot to try and make them sound a certain way. I never had distorted them cause I dont like to have the high freq of my tracks getting mushy. I do use a Highpass filter set very tight and with a positive Q so the shh sounds gets tighter... I love that. Also have combined white noise with hats and snare to make them sound meaner... as they were slapping you
I do also make breaks having each hat on a 8 or 4 bar loop having a bigger detune from the original. I use the transpose function in Ableton and apply a bigger on to each hat...
Just some ideas... you can do lots to the high frequencies affecting your track, and it shows BUt be very carefull that clipping the high freqs sounds awefull and ultimately your track can sound as a bad quality mp3 when all the high ends are mushy.
Have not done anything to try and make my tracks meaner, in fact mine are not mean but If I would be producing dubstep or hard techno , I would look onto how to make the bass and synths sound stronger. In my personal opinion tracks sound better when high frequencies as hats or bells sound crystal clear.
All very good ideas. Thanks man. I figured out that hi-hats can really make or break a song...
Originally Posted by jasonj
I tend to use Camel Crusher on my hi's quite a bit.
Then side chain them to taste.
Camel Crusher is by far my favorite (free!) distortion VST.
Originally Posted by Fatlimey
If you're using distortion, pushing the signal into clipping, try adding some gating to retain the envelope shape. That way you can really shape the sound.
That's not a bad idea. That would also help keep the rhythm and prevent it from sounding sloppy. |
robert chanda
28.07.2010 | If you're using distortion, pushing the signal into clipping, try adding some gating to retain the envelope shape. That way you can really shape the sound. |
Ashirumatic DJ
27.07.2010 | I tend to use Camel Crusher on my hi's quite a bit.
Then side chain them to taste. |
Mechelle Duncil
27.07.2010 | I do process the hats a lot to try and make them sound a certain way. I never had distorted them cause I dont like to have the high freq of my tracks getting mushy. I do use a Highpass filter set very tight and with a positive Q so the shh sounds gets tighter... I love that. Also have combined white noise with hats and snare to make them sound meaner... as they were slapping you
I do also make breaks having each hat on a 8 or 4 bar loop having a bigger detune from the original. I use the transpose function in Ableton and apply a bigger on to each hat...
Just some ideas... you can do lots to the high frequencies affecting your track, and it shows BUt be very carefull that clipping the high freqs sounds awefull and ultimately your track can sound as a bad quality mp3 when all the high ends are mushy.
Have not done anything to try and make my tracks meaner, in fact mine are not mean but If I would be producing dubstep or hard techno , I would look onto how to make the bass and synths sound stronger. In my personal opinion tracks sound better when high frequencies as hats or bells sound crystal clear. |
Leeanna Ayla
27.07.2010 |
Originally Posted by Lambox
(On an unrelated note, I thought of this while I was driving and not believeing about anything production related. I believe of a ton of ideas about producing on a accident while I'm driving. How weird is that?)
Not weird at all. You should put a little digital recorder in your car or if you an an iphone use the recording app. I can't tell you how many times I've had save the world kind of ideas in my car, but forgot them later. |
