Bob marley's high hat sound?
 

I'm trying to work out how to produce a high hat sound like on those 70's marley records. Has anyone got some insider info?

What I've tried so far:
Different pencil condensers from cheapo to schoeps. The c451b seems to work best so far. Into an vt737, strong filtering in the lows, a bit of a boost in the highs. In pro tools some reel tape sat plus some analogue ch plus some gml eq. Tried the waves Helios emulation, but it didn't work for me.

I feel I'm getting close. 95% there. But I just can't get the last 5%...

Has anyone got any tips?

Thanks,

J.

Re: Bob marley's high hat sound?
 

You could try some duct tape on the hats. Dunno if it was a Marley thing, but it was a 70s method at times.

Re: Bob marley's high hat sound?
 

and maybe even an SM57:D

Re: Bob marley's high hat sound?
 

Thanks, guys. Will give duct tape a try. Haven't considered that coz taping things down usually dampens the highs, but I want more. Will give it a try anyway, lets see what happens.

... a 57, hehe :-) ...good one... :D LOL!

J.

Re: Bob marley's high hat sound?
 

Have you seen the Marley docu? It looks like an Electro Voice RE40omni on the toms in most of the shots couldn't really see the hat mic. I've heard rumors of taking mics apart and putting the diaphragm inside the hat stand. Never seen it done. My mentor played with it for a while but it was more trouble than it was worth in the end.

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/mar0...ssictracks.htm

This would seem to also suggest that the stuff at island was recorded using EV mics too so wouldn't surprise me given the size and shape of the RE40 if it was used in this capacity. Could also be an RE20 off to the side or depending on era 57 as Albee said. I don't see any tape or dampers on the hardware. Theres allot of shaker dub in the hat too. What song are you trying to get the sound from?

Re: Bob marley's high hat sound?
 

You might also get your drummer to change hihats to whatever Carlton Barrett used. Something I've learned since I added drums to my instrument playing arsenal is that not all cymbals sound the same and can vary from genre to genre. There are cymbals more suited to jazz than rock, for example.

Re: Bob marley's high hat sound?
 

pretty sure they used those 420 mics...

e

Re: Bob marley's high hat sound?
 

A couple of additions to the Carlton Barrett hihat issue:

In his setup he sometimes used a cloth between the hats to muffle the sound. For the actual cymbals have your drummer try a pair of 70's hollow logo A Zildjian 14" New Beat hats.

As far as the drums themselves Carlton used a Ludwig 5 piece kit, no heads on the bottom of the toms, and the snare top head cranked down hard to the point of almost breaking.

And as is usually said by guitarists: the tone is really in the fingers/hands of the artist. Playing good reggae drums ain't easy.