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Okay so basically I am trying to improve my drum programming at the moment and I was wondering if people could explain hi hats, specifically syncopated rhythm, in more depth or point me to another topic, video, or some kind of tutorial to help me wrap my head around it.

Also any tips on drum programming in general are welcome, because I am basically trying to make my tracks more catchy and less boring/repetitive. Most of my songs just use a basic kick,hat,snare,hat type pattern.... and that gets really boring.

try somethinh new i guess, just mess around with different percussions/samples. put them in randome places/places where you wouldnt normaly put them. just explore really,

also youtube helps, can pretty much find anything on there. just search for it

syncopation just means playing on the off beat.

for example: kick (on 1 beat) hat (on 1st off beat) snare (on 2 beat) hat (on 2nd off beat) - this would be a syncopated hi hat rhythm.

i think you're talking about is "swing," which refers to the hi hats being played SLIGHTLY off the beat. so basically instead of having your hat hit EXACTLY on the grid line, have them start slightly in front or behind the beat/off beat.

bassinine wrote:syncopation just means playing on the off beat.

for example: kick (on 1 beat) hat (on 1st off beat) snare (on 2 beat) hat (on 2nd off beat) - this would be a syncopated hi hat rhythm.

i think you're talking about is "swing," which refers to the hi hats being played SLIGHTLY off the beat. so basically instead of having your hat hit EXACTLY on the grid line, have them start slightly in front or behind the beat/off beat.

Okay, that is good to know now, im off to find examples >.>

for me it always helped to think of some kind of movement between the hi hats. find hi hats that sound good together in a move dunno if thats syncopated too but gives a pretty damn good groove sometimes to let them fly like a sword back and forth maybe end with a open one with some reverb and try to get away from real drums now and then there are some real good binaural?! sample packs with household samples and stuff and try to check freesound.org for glassbreaking sounds and or breaking wood sounds! and play around with velocity and reverb to get more of a room feeling to your drums

Turn on 1/8 or 1/16 grid. Turn on triplet grid. Put closed hats on the first and last (third) triplet of each beat (4 beats in a bar usually). Mess around with other triplet combinations. Profit. Hats are something I feel benefit the most from triplet rhythms.

In the El-B masterclass he talks about only swinging the hi-hats and not the kick and snare. It's a good technique.

I will often quantize the hi-hat to 16 and then re-quantize again to 16T but not at 100%, more like 40 something %. Right where it gets subtly funky.

Thanks for all the advice everyone, i made a pretty decent rhythm i think... Guess we'll see when i finish this tune.

Blinx on hihats.
1. Less can be more.
2. DONT SWING EVERYTHING, just use it where its tasteful.
3. Use 3+ samples that are similar but different enough.
4. Rides/Crashes are good to use as accent hits in your hi hat patterns.
5. Do your best to remove or shift hits every so often to help add some more flavor to your pattern.
6. Try breaking your pattern and riding straight 1/8ths or 1/16ths pattern for four bars then back to your othe rpattern.

blinx wrote:Blinx on hihats.
1. Less can be more.
2. DONT SWING EVERYTHING, just use it where its tasteful.
3. Use 3+ samples that are similar but different enough.
4. Rides/Crashes are good to use as accent hits in your hi hat patterns.
5. Do your best to remove or shift hits every so often to help add some more flavor to your pattern.
6. Try breaking your pattern and riding straight 1/8ths or 1/16ths pattern for four bars then back to your othe rpattern.

Now this is some good advice, thanks man. Gonna be incorporating this into something soon