I’ll start with a disclaimer — I’m not a drummer. But during my decades as a recording engineer in Nashville I worked with some of Nashville’s finest drummers, recording Paul Leim, Shannon Forrest, Ronnie Tutt, Larrie Londin, Eddie Bayers, and others. Recording their kits in the studio was a real education on what great drums sound like. And what great cymbals sound like.
So why was it that some cymbals were the perfect pairing for a drum kit while others just blurred and washed out the sound of the drums? I appreciated what sounded great, but never truly grasped how big a difference the right ride cymbal can make until someone here at Sweetwater suggested that we audition ride cymbals. My drummer friends all thought it was a great idea — I could tell by the gleam in their eyes. We decided to take on this very ambitious project and listen to 24 different ride cymbals.
Nick D’Virgilio with one cymbal playing the DW Collector’s Series drum kit in Sweetwater Studio AHow to Listen
I’ll let Kevin Osborn, a drummer himself and a writer on our staff, give you some pointers about what to focus on as you listen to Nick D’Virgilio play these cymbals.
- How defined is the cymbal’s attack? Does it jump out of the mix? Or is it more integrated into the cymbal’s overall character?
- How quick is its attack? Is it immediate, or does it take time to bloom?
- How high or low is the cymbal’s fundamental tone? Is it pure (can you sing the note?) or harmonically complex?
- How cutting is its bell tone? Is it pronounced, or does it disappear into the performance?
- How long or short (dry) is the cymbal’s decay? Does the sustain wash out Nick’s ride pattern? How quickly does the cymbal sound die off?
- How wide is its dynamic range? How quickly does it appear to go from “ping” to a wash of sound?
Take a Listen
In order to preserve all the transients of the cymbals, we didn’t use any dynamic compression or limiting, so put on your best headphones or crank up your speakers and listen to the sonic intricacies of these beautiful cymbals.
The Cymbals You Heard
Zildjian A Series 20″ Medium Ride
Medium in weight and versatile in tone, the 20″ Medium Ride is a good all-around choice for diverse styles of music. This cymbal proves itself on stages and in studios all over the world.
Sabian AAX 20″ X-Plosion Ride, Brilliant
The 20″ X-Plosion packs a massive wash that you can really hear when Nick digs in. More surprisingly, it exhibits maturity and definition to stand out without dominating a mix.
Zildjian A Series 21″ Mega Bell Ride
A massive bell gives this Zildjian ride a penetrating attack and powerful projection across the 21″ playing surface. It’s built from a super-heavy B20 alloy for excellent definition, even as you lay into it.
Zildjian A Series 21″ Sweet Ride
The A Sweet Ride is one of the most popular rides of the past 15 years. It delivers a musically sweet response, with dynamic versatility in the bell, edge, and bow regions. A very balanced option.
Paiste Signature 22″ Reflector Bell Ride
This signature 22″ of Nicko McBrain (Iron Maiden) boasts a unique Reflector finish and an indomitable attack — a sound that metal listeners will recognize from the 1984 Powerslave record, on which this cymbal is based.
Paiste 2002 22″ Ride
B8-powered 2002s are known for their glassy tone, defined spread, and stage-friendly projection. This 22″ is a real multitasker for many musical applications, from live performance to tracking in the studio.
Sabian HHX Evolution 21″ Ride, Brilliant
This medium-thin B20 ride exhibits a modern mid-scooped response, with a pure fundamental and complex harmonics to cut through a busy mix. The brilliant finish on this model enhances visuals, attack, and glassiness.
Sabian HHX Evolution 20″ Ride
Players looking for a more traditional response from the HHX Evolution series will find it in this 20″ ride. It’s similar to the HHX Evolution 21″ Brilliant Ride (above) save its traditional finish, which evokes a subtler stick response and a creamier wash.
Paiste Masters 20″ Thin Ride
Thin weight and deep hand-lathing lend throatiness, darkness, and musicality to this popular ride model, along with the glassy partials common to the Masters series.
Zildjian K 21″ Sweet Ride
Zildjian’s K edition of the enduring Sweet Ride supplies added touches of Turkish darkness and complexity. It’s rolled extra thin and traditionally hammered for exceptional dynamic response and versatility.
Paiste Signature 21″ Dark Energy Ride Mk II
The Dark Energy collection brings a darker sound to the standard Signature series. The 21″ Dark Ride manages to come across crisp and pronounced in a mix without succumbing to excess overtones or unwanted brassiness.
Sabian AAX 21″ Raw Bell Dry Ride
This 21″ ride from the newly reformulated AAX series offers stage projection and studio complexity. Its small bell is left entirely in the raw — unlathed and unfinished — for a defined, cutting tone that’s perfect for accent work.
Zildjian A Custom 22″ Medium Ride
This 22″ ride from the A Custom series is bright and controlled, rich and scooped, and a versatile multitasker around the kit. It supplies a defined attack and rich wash that quickly wanders into crash territory.
Paiste Formula 602 Modern Essentials 22″ Ride
Vinnie Colaiuta’s signature sound is prevalent throughout the 602 Modern Essentials collection, and nowhere more evident than in this 22″. Its Swiss handcraftsmanship is evident from bell to edge, with a traditional B20 bronze formulation and artisan hand hammering to supply silvery overtones and buttery stick definition.
Meinl Pure Alloy 22″ Medium Ride
This 22″ fully lathed model from Meinl harkens back to stage rides of the 1970s and ’80s. Its B12 brightness and balanced attack/sustain make this ride suitable for stage performance as well as recording applications.
Paiste Masters 20″ Dark Ride
The 20″ Dark Ride is a modern cymbal with some mid-century magic going on. Its extra-dry, extra-dark voicing is tailor-made for traditional jazz. For the single-cymbal player, it also packs an irresistible crash.
Meinl Byzance 20″ Dark Ride
This earthy ride from the Byzance Dark collection sports a smoky look and mature tone that will speak to the heart of any cymbal savant. Its sound defies genres: modern yet traditional, dark yet cutting.
Meinl Byzance Extra Dry 20″ Medium Ride
Another dark-and-dry addition to the Byzance lineup is the 20″ Medium Ride. Its heavy weight adds attack and power to the handcrafted B20 recipe.
Sabian HHX 21″ Groove Ride
This multitimbral Groove Ride exhibits a velvety crash and a defined ping, suiting it well to virtually any style of music in the studio. Sweetwater customers love the dark, hand-hammered bell on this cymbal, which is pronounced in tone yet complex in voicing.
Meinl Byzance 21″ Transition Ride
Clinician Mike Johnston designed the Transition Ride to be a real multitasker in the studio. Its handcrafted formulation yields one-of-a-kind dryness, darkness, and complexity, with a bright, silvery attack that stands up to complex patterning in a mix.
Paiste Masters 22″ Dark Ride
Played with brushes, mallets, rods, or sticks, this 22″ Masters ride’s symphonic-like voicing remains balanced and integrated with the rest of the kit, even at higher intensities. Perfect for session work.
Sabian HHX 22″ Omni Crash/Ride
Jojo Mayer’s involvement in the HHX Omni proves that a cymbal can be both a great crash and a smoking ride. Dual surfaces give this versatile 22″ a pronounced attack, a controlled wash, and an icy, integrated bell tone that’s great for jazz to rock.
Zildjian K Custom 22″ Dark Ride
When it comes to orchestral darkness and purity, it’s hard to top the K Custom series. The 22″ Dark Ride is defined enough for complex patterning yet controlled enough to suit traditional styles of music. Tight lathing and complex hand hammering yield equal parts cut and complexity.
Zildjian K Constantinople 22″ Medium Thin Ride, Low Pitch
The K Constantinople is artisan-made from a centuries-old B20 bronze recipe to take on the character of some seriously hard-to-find Turkish Ks, with added clarity that holds up well to modern recordings.
Technical Details
The drum kit used for this recording was a DW Collector’s Series Cherry Gum kit with a 23″ X 18″ kick drum, 12″ X 8″ rack tom, 6″ X 15″ floor tom, and 14″ X 6.5″ aluminum snare. Nick used Vic Firth 55A Wood Tip sticks.
We used only four mics to capture the sound of the drums. On overheads, we used DPA 4011C mics, plus an sE V Kick on kick drum and an SM57 on snare, all routed into my Millennia Media HV-3R preamp with no other processing (no EQ, compression)then straight into Pro Tools. We recorded each drum performance separately with no technical changes at all. If you perceive differences that sound like volume or EQ changes, those are strictly the result of the cymbal.
The music you hear is “Theodora in Green and Gold” from the record Grand Tour by Nick’s band Big Big Train. To find more of their music, check here.
The Rest of the Story
If you’re like me, you might scratch your head and think, “What all is involved in auditioning 24 ride cymbals?” Let me tell you — the first thing you need is a strong back. When Kenric Knecht (Sweetwater’s Drums and Percussion Senior Category Manager) and Evan Turner (Drums and Percussion Category Assistant) collected all these cymbals and piled them in one stack, we looked at each other and asked, “How much do you think all those weigh?” We all wagered our best guesses. Then I took them all (on a cart!) to the warehouse to use freight scales and find out. Boy, were we wrong! This collection of bronze weighed a whopping 143 pounds!
The second question that came up: “How much are all those worth?” Well, I did the math, and the total price of this cymbal collection is over $10,000. Wow!
The Result
I was fascinated to hear all the different tones of these cymbals. It was an enlightening experience. I’ve never spent much time thinking about the fundamental pitch or overtones of a cymbal, but as I listen to these, it’s clear that there’s a tuned fundamental note for each. Some are washier with muted bells, while some have very pingy bells and a subdued sustain. Some rise above the music track and some disappear into it. Some are defined and some are pointy. The differences I heard were fascinating and shocking. I hope you learned something too.
If you need a new ride cymbal or a new crash cymbal, Sweetwater has all these and dozens more. Give us a call at (800) 222-4700, and we’ll help you find the perfect crash for your music and recording needs.
CREDITS: This ride cymbal shootout was accomplished with the skillful help of Sweetwater Studio staffers Dave Martin and Krystal Davis, and cymbal handlers Zach Landrum and Eric Heinzman.
