Remote Hi-hats

[sidereal]

Hi,

 

Thinking of reconfiguring my drum kit in an odd way. I want to get a remote hat with the cable so that I can have the foot pedal in the same place but have the hat in a position right underneath the ride.

 

Thing is, I play a lot of subtleties on the hat ala Stewart Copeland. Wondering... has anyone used these remote hats and do you get the same instant response in dynamics and opening/closing with a remote hat? To borrow a digital audio recording term... is there any latency?

 

Thanks.

[felix stein]

yes,

they are on cables...but I havn't played one in years I hated it so much...maybe they are better now.

 

I'm a traditionalist so maybe I'm not the one to ask...to me they are another piece of hardware to lug around.

 

put a cowbell underneath your ride LOL

[djarrett]

Hey, Sidereal:

 

I have actually used the new DW cable hat and it is great. No drag (or latency). It is available with different length cables so that you can determine the distance between the pedal and housing.

 

This concept of alternative setups is not new. If you ever caught any of Dony Wynn's playing (Robert Palmer, Brooks & Dunn), he used a remote hat as his primary hi-hat. He positions the cymbals directly in front of his snare drum so that he does not have to play with one hand over the other. This (according to him) allow him to play with more power on the back-beat. He positioned his toms so that the first tom to the right was his smallest tom (7X8") and then the first tom to the left was the next smaller tom (8X10"). Then the next tom to the right was his third tom (10X12"). The next tom is to the left and is the forth largest tom (12X14"). And finally, his largest tom is to the fairest right (14X16").

 

Wynn called this his "Symmetrical Kit," because it allows him to symmetrically play around the toms (much in the way a multi-tenor player in Drum Corps does), using a right, left, right. left. right motion!

 

I have actually considered this myself. As it is, I use my 8" tom in between the snare and floor tom (which is actually my third tom) I hang my largest tom to the left of the high-hat. This allows me to play around the drums in much the same fashion. Now, all I would have to do is position a remote hat in front of the snare and move my second tom down to the current hi-hat position.

 

I really like alternative set-ups. I think we get roped into believing that something is standard and "the way it has to be," because we've seen it that way all our life.

 

Try some new things. You will be surprised how fresh it can make your playing.

 

Thanks,

 

DJ

[Cymbals]

Phil Gould with Level 42 played some awesome remote hi hat stuff. If you get the setup, you might want to check out some of his playing.