One of the most wonderful sound in the drum are the hi hats and cymbals. Without them, the song sounds dull and ugly. They define the brightness, air and level of professionalism of the produced track. It is because if you cannot hear the cymbals/hi hats very clearly or it sounds too loud, it drastically affects the whole mix, not only the drums. Mixing them is not hard unlike bass guitars or kick drums. However, this underdog in the mix is sometimes what defines a good mix – an essential balance between bass and treble.
If you are a beginner in mixing, I encourage you to read this introductory guide on drum frequencies of bass drum, hi-hats, snare and crash cymbals. You will learn a lot of new information pertaining to the important frequencies of each drum kit components.
With this method you can EQ them better in the mix.
In recording production of drums, you need to know that there are actually 4 parts of cymbals and hi hats used. Below are some of the suggestions on how to make them sound better in the mix.
Audio Mixing Suggestions for Cymbals and Hi-hats
1. Crash cymbal – this is the cymbal that will be hit very hard by the drummer.See pictures below:
Crash cymbal
(photo by: Stephan Czuratis)
Panning: LEFT, 9.375 units for a left handed drummer
Read this additional reference on drum panning.
Note: The panning settings for crash and ride cymbals used in this tutorial are for a right-handed drummer. If you like to have a left-handed drummer perspective, then you simply need to pan them to the opposite. So instead of panning LEFT for the crash cymbals, you would pan them RIGHT. The panning units or percentage would still be the same.
The panning units would also vary from DAW software to another. In Reaper these are expressed in terms of percentages, so a panning units of 10 would mean 10%. Of course these assumes that 0 unit for center and 100 units/100% for hard left or hard right.
EQ settings:
a.) High pass filter/Low shelf filter at 500 Hz (means allowing only above 500 Hz to pass, cutting mode) -6dB
This will remove the harsh metallic sound associated with cymbals. However it depends on the music and the type of the cymbal. If you can still hear some metallic sound, you can increase the cut-off frequency to 1000Hz or even 2000Hz until the cymbals sounds nice with its natural treble/ringing response.
b.) Cut 3dB at 3000Hz, Q = 1.4
c.) Boost 3dB at 12500Hz Q=1.0
Note: Some drum kits have only one cymbal, so in this case, it functions as both ride and crash cymbals. For mixing of this type of configuration, refer to ride cymbal tips below.
2. Ride cymbal – this is the soft sound of the cymbal, as opposed to crash cymbal. This is located to the right of the drummer instead to the left.
Panning definitions: RIGHT, 12.5
EQ setting:
Low shelf filter at 500Hz -6dB
Cut -3dB at 3000Hz
Boost +3dB at 10,000Hz
3. Open hi hat – this gives a crash sound of the hi hats, typically used for rock alternative choruses.
Panning definitions: Right, 12.5
EQ settings: Same with crash cymbal
Picture of pedal and open hi hat:
Hi hats
(photo by:Stephan Czuratis)
4. Pedal hi hat– this is the soft equivalent of open hi hat. Typically employed in song stanzas.
Panning definitions: Right, 12.5 (the same with open hi hat, since they are same structure, played in different style – open or closed)
EQ setting: Same with ride cymbals
For EQ settings of other drum kit components as well as the rest of your mix, you can read this comprehensive guide on EQ settings to be used during audio mixing. I also recommend to read this additional resources on mixing drums.
Overall note: These tips are not one-size-fits-all-EQ, so I suggest to start with these settings and then tweak your sound to perfection.
Content last updated on October 23, 2012