Studio Drummer – Another interesting Jeff Porcaro Observation

Like I mentioned in the previous post, our shows with Toto some years ago, were very interesting and very informative from a drummer’s perspective.

After our set I stood directly behind the staging and I could see through the scrim at the back of the stage.  I was standing on the floor of the theatre and the staging was higher so I was basically looking at the back of Jeff’s kit, at his foot level.

He was heel up on his bass drum but his hi hat foot was heel down and totally still.  In other words it was not involved in keeping time.  It was controlling the tension on the hat cymbals.  He would of course deftly adjust the tension in the lope of his groove, creating his signature magic of great groove playing.  When he would go to the ride then of course he’d be doing foot hat patterns along with the ride but I really took notice of the fact that when he was playing the hat with sticks he was very still with the hh foot.

This made perfect sense since his recordings always have a beautiful hi hat texture, a very consistent texture.  Not too tight in general, not too loose.  He knew how to get the best sonic texture and musicality out of the hi hats.  It was an instrument unto itself.  Drummers too often don’t think in those terms.

Another top individual in the music industry, this time a producer, being Mutt Lange (Def Leopard, Shania Twain) has been known to tell drummers (which shall remain nameless)  that they don’t play individual instruments/components very well.   This is exactly what he’s talking about.  A component and a very important part of the studio drumming is hi hat and hi hat texture and feel.  It’s an ‘inner, internal component’ of playing great studio drums.  Separate yet inclusive in the making of a great sounding and consistent groove.

Next time you are recorded solo the hi hat and listen to it.  Does it consist of static and inconsistent transients that just slosh around?  Are you choking the tone of the hats or stomping on the foot pedal when it should be a set tension?   Or is it compelling,.. such as if you were just playing the hat by itself and trying to make it convincing, such as in an intro?

Some would say the Devil is in the details, well perhaps God is in the details…