I know there are some people on here whose opinions I greatly respect who don't mic hi-hats, but I was listening to "The Gathering" today, and the hi-hat work that Dave does is just so awesome, and made that much cooler by how prominent it is in the right channel (I, of course, would prefer it in the left for drummer's perspective, but I digress). Andy seems to mic the hi-hat a lot; it also sounds fantastically up front in the beginning of Arch Enemy's "Carry the Cross," and I love that defined, clear, precise sound and can't imagine how anyone wouldn't want to have that a mic on the hats to make that sound available, even if they didn't use it cuz a drummer didn't do anything remotely interesting.
Hi-hat Mic'ing - how can you not?
- Thread starter Metaltastic
- Start date
Yeah, that certainly seems like the logical choice (I've only mic'ed up a kit twice in my life, and didn't use a hat mic either time 
), but I don't see why some people wouldn't even mic the hat up at all...
), but I don't see why some people wouldn't even mic the hat up at all...
I always mic the Hats/Ride, and find a good mix of that with the OH's. I don't think I've ever changed the level in the middle of a song. Sometimes, I'll have it a little quieter or louder, depending on that particular song, but very rarely. I look at the Hat and Ride channels as almost part of the OH's when editing and mixing, so I like to get happy with them early and then (hopefully) not have to screw with them after that.
