Hello this is Bobby Boos, Sabian's East Coast Artist Relations Manager. You'll be hearing from me regularly while on the road doing what we do taking care of our Endorsers. I've been with Sabian 20 years, a drummer for 35 years and lived in Los Angeles for over 22 years...look out for more as we build! Happy Drumming!!!...

Hello Drummer and Percussionists,

This is Mike from Marshfield. I am an Intern here at Sabian. Last night I got another opportunity to try out some cymbals from The HH (Hand Hammered) series. While testing I tried something different - I used brushes to give the cymbals a new element and feel. I experimented with the 20" Flat Bell Ride, 13" Bright Hats, and 21" Hot Ride. This is what I concluded:

HH (Hand Hammered)

13" Bright Hats: In a brush setting where the cymbals can mask the attack of the brushes, these hats certainly do not muddy the sound. In fact, they help compliment the brushes very well if used correctly. As it says they are very bright, and loud. They have great brush definition when rubbing or hitting the bristles over the top hat. When the foot comes into play the cymbals offer a tight "chick" sound that is good for all musical settings.




20" Flat Bell Ride: This is a great cymbal for a jazz drummer. It is very dry, great definition, and has a classic dusty Manhattan sound. Something about this cymbal, I'm guessing it's the hand hammering, gives the cymbal a unique character that fits jazz playing so well.




21" Hot Ride: From a first glance I expected the cymbal to share similar or possibly identical sound characteristics with the flat bell ride. However, I was surprisingly mistaken. It was dry, but yet very bright. It cut through much more clearly than the other cymbals. It had the best response to brushes. It gave great definition and response to every note I played in different ride patterns, and sounded great when I rubbed the bristles over the top of the cymbal. The bell was also pronounced which surprised me because of its small size.




That's it for today.

Mike

Hello everyone,

Today I got a chance to check out a few cymbals from the AA line for my first time. Going in I suspected that the cymbals would not live up to the standard of the AAX line, but I found I was gravely mistaken! I found the hammer marks were different from the AAX line. The cymbals offered a lot of punch, but I noticed (especially in the ride) that there seemed to be a lot of diversity in the sound that can come from this particular cymbal line.

AA line:

13" Light Hats: Quick response but not too punchy. These hats blended well so you almost felt them more than heard them in grooves or fills. Every open Hi-Hat was crystal clear. This is probably the best all around Hi Hat cymbal I've played from any cymbal line.




19" Medium Crash: Relatively heavy, very loud, and very in your face when you want it to be. I took it down a notch and found that it would sound great in a jazz context in clubs, or even sound good in a coffee house depending on how you play. The bell was also very pronounced which is how I like them.




20" Extra Heavy Ride: This cymbal had a great ping and a strong bell. No big surprise there. What was cool was how good it sounded when you rode this cymbal on the edge Bill Ward style. It opened up into a roar that I loved but that was easy to control.




Thanks for reading!

Mike

Hello fellow Drummers and Percussionists,

Today I am going to try out a wide variety of cymbals from the Sabian HHX line. I'm also going to take a look at a few other miscellaneous cymbals. From the HHX line I am going to talk about the 14" Power Hats, 8" and 10" Splash, the 18" X-Plosion Brilliant Crash, 17" Stage Crash, 21" Groove Ride, and an 18" China. The other miscellaneous cymbals I will analyze are the 8" Chopper and the 9" Stage Ice Bell.

I would also like to mention that my musical styles and background include jazz, funk-fusion, funk-rock, and hip-hop.

HHX Series:

8"/10" Splash: My first impression was that these are perfect for the Reggae drummer. Other sounds that this reminds me of include The Police and Incubus' Jose Pasillas. For all you Incubus fans, these splash cymbals remind me of the splashes in the song "Circles" on Morning View. They offer a quick attack, and have a bright snap to bring out the background of your music. They are easy to hit in both busy and pocket grooves and fills. If used properly these Splash cymbals can be used in many musical contexts.

8" HHX Splash 10" HHX Splash



14" Power Hats: Ladies and Gents, the word "Power" explains what these hi-hats are. Rockers, metal heads, and slammers get ready! Its loud, the decay is long and will carry through higher and lower frequencies in the music. When the cymbal is closed tight it can even be used effectively for a groove based funk drummer.





17" Stage Crash: This cymbal is called "Stage" but it felt to me like it would sound great in a studio setting due to its slower attack and quick decay. This cymbal wouldn't suit the music and environments I play, but for a studio drummer or drummers who like a quick hit cymbal then this is for you.





18" X-Plosion Brilliant Crash: Just like a Guinness......BRILLIANT! This cymbal is great for the diverse drummer. It's bright and loud, it's crisp enough to ride on and it looks great! You could use this cymbal in a Jazz Ballad, and then crank it in a Slayer type composition. Loved this cymbal.





18" China: IMO this is what a China should be like. It's trashy, loud, each hit is crisp and clearly defined. You could be slamming away on songs like "Dai The Flu" by hard-rockers, the Deftones, or grooving away with Weather Report on tunes like "Black Market." It's big enough to deliver power, but small enough so it didn't interfere with my playing.





21" Groove Ride: This is my personal favorite cymbal. When I laid down my first groove I wanted to play it for hours by itself. The bell is loud and the cymbal is pingy and crisp for every hit. You can be grooving away with people like Steve Kimock and Wayne Shorter, or throwin' down phat beats for Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg and still offer an effective touch. It offers a quick response perfect for music styles like Jazz, R&B, and Hip-Hop.





Other Miscellaneous Cymbals:

8" Chopper: I like this cymbal a lot. It's very small with an instant decay. It's almost like a self-choking crash or self-closing hi-hats. You can use it for accents or to keep time on a hi-hat or ride. I would use it to give my music an alternative character and feel.





9" Stage Ice Bell: This is what a bell should sound like! It's large and isolated. You could be sitting on the throne for Lettuce, Yes, Phish, Umphrey's Mcgee, and King Crimson and this bell will fit perfectly for you in all these eclectic settings.



That's it for today. More to come tomorrow.

Hello again,


Today I'm going to give you my first cymbal analysis of the 13" AAX Fast Hats, 20" AAX Studio Crash in both a brilliant and normal cast finish, and I will conclude with an analysis of the 22" AAX Stage Ride.

13" AAX Fast Hats:

These are my new personal favorite Hi Hats. They have a sharp and quick attack. They are loud and very punchy, which allows each hit to break through space and noise so each hit can be clearly defined and heard. When hi hats are closed they have a quick and crisp punch which can best be suited for funk-fusion or reggae music. When opening these hi hats they deliver a loud and swishy sound that can be best suited for rock, punk, or progressive music. The beautiful thing about 13" hi hats is that they never get in the way of your playing due to their size and still offer a great sound for wide variety of musical styles.



20" AAX Studio Crash:

Normal Cast Finish - These cymbals are huge! They deliver a lot of power for an aggressive drummer. They are loud and punchy, but have a quick decay. These cymbals are great for hard rock or metal drummers and everything in between. You don't have to slam these cymbals either. With decent technique you can deliver power and aggression through the cymbal without putting in a whole lot of blood, sweat, and tears.



Brilliant Finish - I noticed right off the bat the brilliant finish was brighter compared to the normal cast finish. The decay was slower, but the power still remained in the cymbal. This cymbal could range to musical styles other than rock and metal. It could be used in funk-fusion, and possibly jazz music for a big, bright attack (for example be-bop or hard-bop jazz).

The opportunity to have the same cymbal with two different finishes can give power and variety in your sound. They both offer the same characteristics, but still maintain their own personality. This can do a lot for your sound.



22" AAX Stage Ride:

This cymbal is very similar in sound characteristics to the AAX Studio Ride. The ride was very pingy so that each hit could be heard whether it's quarter notes, sixteenth, or thirty second notes. The bell was very loud, which I liked a lot. It has a long decay and delivers a clear sound through the thick of music. Like the other cymbals mentioned above, the 22" Stage Ride is great for rock, and funk-fusion settings.

My name is Mike Foote. I'm currently interning for Sabian Cymbals in their US office in Marshfield, Mass. I am a drummer and percussionist and have played for twelve years.

In the fall I will be entering my senior year of college at SUNY Oneonta in New York State where I am studying Music Industry. I plan to begin a career in the business side of music (especially in drums and percussion) and play music on the side.

My influences include Louis Bellson, Elvin Jones, Rodney Holmes, Adam Deitch, Zach Vilmer, and Chad Smith who is a Sabian endorser.

As a bonus for interning with Sabian I get the chance to pick out cymbals from the warehouse and play them. For the next few months I will be posting my personal thoughts and opinions to share with fellow drummers. There's a whole lotta cymbals here so I'll be testing out a wide variety.

-Mike-

Monday the 15th of June we successfully excavated the 100 cymbals that we buried last October. You can see some of the highlights of that day below.

As we said from the start, the purpose of this promotion was not to prove or disprove anything. We did not set out to seek a definitive answer on the effect that burying a cymbal in the ground has on the sound. If that had of been the purpose, then we would have approached it in a much different way. Our only purpose was to give the drummers who have been curious about this sort of thing, a chance to own one. That's it.

Now, do we think it affected the sound? Absolutely. All we can tell you is what we believe happened to these 100 Sabian Artisan cymbals, not what we think will happen if you choose to bury yours in the back yard. What we've found is that they are definitely somewhat drier than they started out. That really is not that much of a surprise, as I think all of us expected that at least to some degree. The other apparent change we found, was that the high and low frequencies seem to have been subdued somewhat, and the mid's are more prominent. Definitely less overall "roar" as well. The intensity of the above does vary from cymbal to cymbal, because these are all individual instruments to start with.

Very soon our master product specialist Mark Love will be doing some comparisons that we'll post on our YouTube page as well as below.

All the owners have been contacted and informed of which number cymbal they will be receiving, as well as a reminder of the benefits we have put together for them. This includes an invitation to visit the Sabian factory in spring of 2010. We had people from literally all over the world purchase one of these, and we look forward to seeing them next year for a very special trip. We hope to be packing the cymbals in their custom made cedar cases very soon and shipping to the owners.

As promised, a portion of the proceeds will be going to charity. We are pleased to name the Children's Wish Foundation as the recipient of this donation. We look forward to formally presenting them with the cheque in July.

Thanks to all who purchased and everyone else for your interest in this promotion. Stay tuned for those videos so you can hear and see for yourself.

Peter Stairs
V.P. of Sales

Today the One of 100 cymbals have been unbagged and run through our automated washing process to remove the dirt. We actually had to run them through twice to fully remove all of the earth. Some of them are more rustic than others, depending on their location in the steel cage. Bob 'Sabian' stopped by to check on our progress and inspect the sound of a few.

They certainly have changed with the mid range more enhanced and the highs and lows have mellowed and are more subtle.

More as we prepare to trademark and serial number them over the next week.

-Mark Love from the Vault





Edited: 06/19/2009 at 02:43 PM by MarkLove

We have them all back at the factory now. They need to be cleaned up some, then our vault team will be going through each one individually to make sure everything is ok. We've tried a few and there definitely is a difference. Still too early to tell for sure, as they need to settle down a bit from being in the ground for 8 months. We'll know more in a couple of days.

In less than 2 hours we were able to unearth the One of 100 cymbals, pack them and send them to the factory to be tested.

Here is a sneak peek at the dig ... Enjoy!



Edited: 06/15/2009 at 04:11 PM by SABIAN's Blog Page Moderator

The cymbals are out and on the way to the factory!

We are at the dig site waiting for everyone to arrive. The sun is shining and the dig hole is sunken from the elements of eastern canada.

-------------------------
Katie Robinson
eMarketing Coordinator
SABIAN Ltd.

Today is the day we're unearthing the One of 100 cymbals. In a little over an hour from now we're all heading up to the location to start the work. The weather looks ok. Maybe some showers, but otherwise not bad. Keep checking back. We'll keep you posted.

While Mark is making all the last minute arrangements for the unearthing on Monday, I'm making contact with all the owners to keep them up to date on the progress. Once we get them out of the ground, we still have a lot of work to do to prepare them for shipping all over the world.

More to come on Monday.

-Peter

HI, I'm Peter Stairs, vice president of sales and I've been with SABIAN now for 27 years. I began my career here as a product specialist in the Vault and moved on to customer service and then sales. Looking forward to keeping you up to date on all things SABIAN.

-Peter

In preparation for Mondays dig we have coordinated an excavator and personnel to handle whatever the sealed box 5 feet beneath the ground has in store. We've had a great deal of interest in how mother nature will affect the acoustics of these artisan cymbals. With all the logistics in,place we all look forward to switching from cymbal makers to archeologists on Monday.


Stay Tuned.


Mark

Hello from the vault

My name is Mark Love and I'm a product specialist with SABIAN. I've had the pleasure of basically growing up with SABIAN. I've been playing cymbals and developing new and exciting sounds for the last 29 years.

Every day has an exciting challenge, What a gig!!

Die hard Sabian fan (and great Philly drummer) Daren Metz made the pilgrimage to Dales for today's event. This guy has more cymbals than anyone I know (all Sabian of course), yet he still drives mile to check out what's new. I knew he couldn't leave without something (cool cymbal disk with jingles....please don't tell his wife :-) )

Thanks Darren and thanks for bringing Jason with you.

Edited: 06/08/2009 at 11:09 AM by Funkygz

Hey Gang!

Sabian own cymbal guru Mark Love has been on fire talking with Harrisburg PA cymbal fanatics! Cymbals are flying out of this place and it's all I can do to not put some in my own car. The Dales crew has been a huge help and you can see why this is the place to shop for drums in the state capital! Steve Spak from KMC Music is also in da' house helping out those in search of the ultimate cymbal.

Did I mention that I love my job!!!

GZ

Edited: 06/08/2009 at 11:16 AM by Funkygz

Good morning all! We are here at Dales along with half of Harrisburg! Come on down and check out the killer protos we have on display. These are one of a kind cymbals that sound amazing. We're having a blast so don't miss it. Photos to follow.

Stay tuned for more later.

Hope to see you

GZ

Hey Gang,

Tomorrow's the big day. Mark Love is on his way and we'll be at Dale's Drum shop at 11:00am! Come check out the coolest prototype cymbals and feel free to ask Mark about the cymbal making process.

See you tomorrow!

GZ