playon wrote:

Not if the drummer is decent. The hat doesn't *have* to be that
loud.

Al

Exactly..... The horribly loud hi hat syndrone is the fault of the
player and not the engineer..... The worst is the half open thrash rock
technique. There is no way to get a good drum sound when they play that
way....And then they barely tap the toms ..... Oh well. What can you
do.

But if you've ever worked with a great R & B drummer who understands
dynamics, you can mic the hat and use it in the mix and it's a
beautiful addition.

J_West