Sound & signal
Ride cymbal
A ride is a large cymbal played in a steady repeated pattern, carrying the pulse the way a hi-hat does but with more sustain and a wash behind each hit.
In practice
A ride washes where a hat ticks. Two rides fill the top end continuously and a blend crowds up there.
When a high-end blend sounds cluttered and the hats are not the problem, look for a ride on one of the two records and cut its highs rather than filtering the whole channel. Note that this page is about the cymbal — riding the pitch fader is an unrelated technique with its own page, and the word does both jobs in a booth.
Sustain
What separates it from a hat
Continuous
How two rides collide
High cut
The fix, not a filter
Where these come from: Arrangement and EQ practice, not a catalog figure. For what we can measure, see the short version.
Why it matters
The sustain is what makes it a mixing consideration rather than just a sound. A hi-hat is a short tick that interleaves cleanly with anything; a ride washes across the beat, so two records with rides fill the top end continuously and the blend gets crowded up high in a way hats never manage.
It also changes what a high-pass filter does for you. Filtering a hat-driven record removes a tick and filtering a ride-driven one removes a wash, and the second is far more noticeable — the track loses its sense of motion rather than just its top.
Frequently asked
What is the difference between a ride and a hi-hat?+
Sustain. A hat is a short tick that interleaves with anything; a ride washes across the beat, so two of them fill the top end continuously.
Is this the same as riding the pitch?+
No — that is a beatmatching technique and has its own page. The word does two unrelated jobs in a DJ booth.
How do I stop two rides clashing?+
Cut the highs on one channel rather than filtering it. A filter takes the whole top end and the track loses its sense of motion with it.
Related terms
Hi-hat
The hi-hat is the high, ticking percussion that fills the space between kick and snare. Open hats on the off-beat are the sound that makes house music move.
Tom
A tom is a pitched drum with no snare wires, sitting between the kick and the snare in range. In dance music toms mostly appear in fills and in the descending rolls that lead into a drop.
Pluck
A pluck is a short synth sound with a sharp attack and a fast decay, imitating a plucked string. It carries melody without sustaining, which makes it the most mix-friendly melodic element there is.
808 and 909
Two drum machines from the early 1980s whose sounds became the vocabulary of dance music. The 808 gave hip-hop its long sub-bass kick; the 909 gave house and techno their punchier kick and open hat.
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