Good recording hihat for rock

[scrowdrlrr]

I'm looking at getting some new hi hats for doing rock in the studio. I've been using 14" A Mastersounds for years but I've been thinking lately that they just sound too bright. There's some annoying high-end frequencies somewhere in there that are bothering me.

I'm considering K Custom Darks...any thoughts? New Beats are cool, but I think I'm going to be happier with a darker sounding pair.

Am I getting your handle right? Scrowd paradiddle? lol!!!

you got it

[circh bustom]

I have K Custom Darks. Used em since '99. I use the bottom as a top with a Z Dyno Beat for heavy gigs or outdoor gigs and i really love em. The K custom darks by themselves, Ive used em for pop rock recording in a pretty decent studio and I was happy with the results.

[Rhythmatist]

I've been loving the 13" K/Z hats for about the last 4 years for everything...live, studio, Jazz, Blues, Rock, Acoustic...very versatile. The only thing they weren't well suited for were a very subdued Jazz guitar trio and an "ambient" Jazz piano trio...a lighter bottom would have served well in those situations.

[DeeP_FRieD]

I use a 14" New Beat Bottom and an A mastersound Top. I bought the new beats cause my mastersounds were really percussive when used with the foot and it wasn't sounding legit over a lot of the straight ahead gigs I do. I din an a/b with the different tops and I liked my mastersound top on it better, but I have to say new beats are very moderate and can be used in any musical situation really.

The K/Z thing waas really big in the 90's, and I played a few peoples set ups that had those and sound really good, especially for a rock type thing; also, don't forget the quick beats either.

I have also experienced the high pitched thing said previously with a pair of sabian HH 14". Hats sounded and felt incredible, but with a condenser on them some freaky E.Q.ing had to be done.

Hi Hats are a very personal thing and I would suggest checking out several models of the same hi hat to see if you can get an especially sweet pair.

[scrowdrlrr]

Thanks for the advice, guys. Will let you know what happens.

my mastersounds were really percussive when used with the foot and it wasn't sounding legit over a lot of the straight ahead gigs I do

I also ran into that with my Mastersounds too. Ended up getting 13" Hybrids 5-6 years ago to cover the lighter gigs, which have a nice crisp foot "chick".

[Jim Richman]

Play the hihats dynamically and close mic them.

[DSOP]

The problem is that in my kit the hihat is just behind the mic Maybe I'll try to experiment with that before I spend money.

I don't see a snare mic in that video, but your hi-hats are set fairly high, which should help. You should be able to minimize leakage into the snare mic pretty easily. Just position the snare mic so that the back end of it points to the hi-hats (the angle of most rejection). Your current hi-hats should work fine.

[Richie Jarvis]

I have a few sets of hats floating around and have been using 16" K Light hats to gig and record with. Wouldn't hit them to hard but to record with they are just amazing.

Also have a look at a set of 14" K Hats as well as 14" A Custom projection hats, both really versatile, I use the A customs from heavy rock to jazz gigs, absolutely lovem'.