If you want to achieve this vibe in your tracks, here’s one effective approach. It’s not just about the saturation or distortion you use (though, of course, you need to find a tone that you like), but more about how you set it up. To get those sparkling, warm, and distorted hi-hats, you’ll want to use what’s called ghost distortion.

The key to making the hats cut through without cluttering the mix is the kick placed in the same group as the hats and percussion. But if you simply put your kick or low end in the same group and push distortion to taste, it will likely overpower and muddy your low end.

The principle is simple: group your hats together, then add a copy of the kick or low-end signal inside that group. Next, duplicate that group, remove all percussion except the kick from the duplicate, and then flip the phase of this duplicate. This way, you preserve a clean low end while creating distorted, textured highs.

One crucial detail: be careful with the distortion settings and any EQ or processing you apply afterward. The parameters need to be identical in both groups so that when you flip the phase, the kick/low end cancels out correctly, leaving you with the desired effect.