13" AAX Stage hat's. Annoying ringing sustain sound?

S.S.C.

Junior Member
Hi.

Just wondering if someone could help me out. (sorry for the long and might be confusing first post!)

I've recently brought a pair of, 13" AAX Stages hat's for my home setup for recording/overdubbing.
For the past 4 day's I've been messing around with the hat's. Getting some sweet tone's, liking them a lot but, there's this really annoying ringing/pinging almost like a slight sustain sound every time I hit the hat's no matter if it's, closed, semi, open, stick's on tops' stick's to sides.

I'll just point out. I'm not a drummer, I'm a producer, key's and percussion player. But, I know a little and can hold a beat. Not that clued up on the setup side of thing's tho.

When I put two fingers, (like, north and south say) on the top hat bell and apply a tiny bit of pressure on it, the ringing quiet's down a lot and the tone sound's sweet. Bang on in fact.

Does anyone know what could be causing this annoying problem?
Is it to do with the way I've set the hat's and stand up (stand's a Pearl H-900)
Maybe to do with the standard clutch setup?

I'm pretty sure it's the hat's or maybe it could be the stand setup not my room as, the ringing almost goes when I apply that little pressure on the top hat's bell,

If someone could help me, that would be cool and be a big help! It's really bugging me. Spent hours and hours trying to fix it.

Cheers!

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Just to add, I'm using V.F. American Classic's 5AN Nylon tip's, doubt that will matter tho.
 
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Just started from scratch, rebuilt the H-900 stand, made sure the bottom plastic bolt was tight to the bottom felt, messed around with different setting's with the 2 top washers of clutch,,,,,,, Nothing! Really annoying.

I've also tried testing different setting's on the stand's angle bolt and pedal tension. Still no luck.

As I said before, If I put a little pressure on the top hi hat's bell, the ringing get's quieter, in fact almost disappears and the tone sound's really good.

Really can't work out why it's doing this. All the video's and clip's I've watched of the Stage's don't seem to have this annoying ring.

I can always send the hat's back. But, too be honest, if it isn't for that ringing I'm liking them.

If anyone could help.

Cheers!
 
my bet is it is the overtone of the cymbal itself. you could tape / moongel the thing, but it will sound muted. might actually be OK recorded that way tho. i have my own collection of 1990s cymbals i never use because of a high pitched overtone that builds up. not a nice overtone that blends but not musical.
 
my bet is it is the overtone of the cymbal itself. you could tape / moongel the thing, but it will sound muted. might actually be OK recorded that way tho. i have my own collection of 1990s cymbals i never use because of a high pitched overtone that builds up. not a nice overtone that blends but not musical.

Cheers for the input mate!

Yeah, I was expecting some overtone's but these are really annoying. Shame, really want to get recording!
Someone from the shop I brought them from recommend about tape under the top hat bell to help dampen the overtone's? I'm kind of thinking tho, If that's the case, I might send them back and exchange for another pair. Due to where I live tho, there isn't a decent drum shop around that stock's a good section of used cymbals or new for that matter to test.

Worth a shot with the tape I suppose tho.
How much tape would I need too use? I've only got electrical tape around at the mo.
Cheers.
 
I just tried to replicate your observation with my 14 New Beats. I noticed that there really is a low "ring" sound that lasts twice the length of the "tisk" sound. It gets louder the harder you press down on the high hat pedal. IMHO, this may be inherent in b20 hihats, but you don't hear this in recordings because either 1) it isn't picked up by mics easily, 2) it gets masked like so many other sounds in cymbals, and 3) most drummers don't normally press down that hard on their hihat pedals, 4) something in your room is magnifying it.

So try the following. 1 Try recording it to see if it comes over the mics, 2) Try not pressing the pedal too hard. 3) Ask a good drummer to play it. 4) Borrow another b20 hihat and compare if it has the same sound. 5) Take it out of the room.

If none of these solves your problem, trade them for another set of hats that don't annoy you.
 
I just tried to replicate your observation with my 14 New Beats. I noticed that there really is a low "ring" sound that lasts twice the length of the "tisk" sound. It gets louder the harder you press down on the high hat pedal. IMHO, this may be inherent in b20 hihats, but you don't hear this in recordings because either 1) it isn't picked up by mics easily, 2) it gets masked like so many other sounds in cymbals, and 3) most drummers don't normally press down that hard on their hihat pedals, 4) something in your room is magnifying it.

So try the following. 1 Try recording it to see if it comes over the mics, 2) Try not pressing the pedal too hard. 3) Ask a good drummer to play it. 4) Borrow another b20 hihat and compare if it has the same sound. 5) Take it out of the room.

If none of these solves your problem, trade them for another set of hats that don't annoy you.

Cheers for the input and help mate. Very helpful. Nice one!

Yeah, my ringing sound isn't low pitched it's high.

I'm going to do a bit of test recording later with my new preamp I got a few months back. Makes a lot of sense and I didn't even think about the mic might not pick up on this annoying sound plus with all the other part's of the track going on it may not even notice.

I don't think I'm pressing down to hard on the pedal, I like to keep my foot pretty relaxed. It's never down really hard. I have the pedal tension set around a quarter of the way up. (I play quite light.) Will double check tho.

My mate who knows more about setting up ect Is on holiday at the mo. His band's drummer is a decent reggae drummer too. Hopefully see if he can check out the hat's.

Pretty sure it's not the room but, will defo try in different room's ect.

Yeah don't really won't to swap them in, Too be fair. I'm really liking these hat's. If it wasn't for this annoying ring. There perfect for my style.

Cheers!
 
I just tried to replicate your observation with my 14 New Beats. I noticed that there really is a low "ring" sound that lasts twice the length of the "tisk" sound. It gets louder the harder you press down on the high hat pedal. IMHO, this may be inherent in b20 hihats, but you don't hear this in recordings because either 1) it isn't picked up by mics easily, 2) it gets masked like so many other sounds in cymbals, and 3) most drummers don't normally press down that hard on their hihat pedals, 4) something in your room is magnifying it.

So try the following. 1 Try recording it to see if it comes over the mics, 2) Try not pressing the pedal too hard. 3) Ask a good drummer to play it. 4) Borrow another b20 hihat and compare if it has the same sound. 5) Take it out of the room.

If none of these solves your problem, trade them for another set of hats that don't annoy you.

Also, was very close to getting a set of hollow logo 14" New Beats but went for the stages.
 
You could maybe put a little bit of gaffer tape to dry them out but if it bothers you now then you are probably better off getting some new hats.

13's are pretty high pitched by the way... as are thick cymbals.

Get some thinner 14's maybe.
 
I have an annoying ring with a set of 14" K. Zildjian hats. I can do a "stick chick", and the ring is present as soon as the hats close. One of the worst I have ever heard.
 
Last night I tried the hat's in different room's. No difference.

Also, re-done the H-900 and clutch again. Haven't tried recording. Too be honest tho, If it's causing this much trouble, maybe these hat's aren't for me.
I did expect some overtone's but these are really bad and stand out. Can still pick up on them when I have my semi open DT 880 pro headphones on and the track's playing.

I'm pretty sure it's to do with the AAX Stages top hat bell. It must be that, that is causing the annoying ping, ringing sound. As soon as you put a bit of pressure on the top hat bell. The pinging, ringing sound fades.
Maybe it's just the cymbal's design on these or the fact there 13's. I don't know.

I also noticed that, when playing semi open (don't usually play semi open. The music I work on doesn't usually need but, always good to experiment!) . the hat's sound really bad. Vibrate a lot and rattle. This is probably to do with setup tho, right I'm guessing?
 
You could maybe put a little bit of gaffer tape to dry them out but if it bothers you now then you are probably better off getting some new hats.

13's are pretty high pitched by the way... as are thick cymbals.

Get some thinner 14's maybe.

Yeah. Haven't tried tape. I was told that I could tape the underside of the top hat's bell. That would eliminate some of the annoying overtones.

Not too sure if I want to do this tho. I'm not really one for masking a problem. Plus, wouldn't the tape have a big impact on the original tone?

I went for 13's because I like the higher pitch, brighter kind of sound. I really like my hat work standing out in a mix. A good hat sound give's the track extra energy, vibe and flow.

I am thinking of boxing them up and sending back mate.

I have an annoying ring with a set of 14" K. Zildjian hats. I can do a "stick chick", and the ring is present as soon as the hats close. One of the worst I have ever heard.

Cheers for the input.

Yeah, maybe it's just these hat's. The sound I'm getting is a high ping which ring's type of sound. It doesn't sound like a tinny metal ping. It's higher pitched and ring's out for a while. Really annoying!
 
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Just got an email from the drum shop I brought the hat's from. Got to say, there customer service has been great!

They said defo try taping and I'll find that, pretty much all cymbal's will do this. Start by taping in small quantities the inside of the top bell, see how the sound get's on. If you need a bit more, try a little in the bottom bell.

Going to give it a go. Only have electrical tape about. I take it that will be O.K?

Edit------------------------

Electrical tape's going to be too small in width I reckon.
 
Problem fixed!

I tried some electrical tape around the inside of the top hat's bell and a strip or two on the bottom hat's bell. The annoying pinging sound's down by about 70%!

Jammed to some track's, couldn't pick up on it this time. Tone still sound's nice too. Quality!

I can see over dubbing is going to be a lot of fun. Defo give a sweet touch to my DAW, stem's drum work.

Will test record tomorrow. Be using my NT55 mic I reckon. The hat's going through my new ISA pre should sound cool I reckon.

Cheers to all those for your input and help.

Cheers.
 
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