8Mile
Platinum Member
Since this is a wide open jazz thread, I want to throw in that cymbals have been big on my mind lately-- I've been making a big change in direction in that department. In the last 7 or 8 years I had been increasingly going for thinner, softer cymbals, as I was refining my technique and ability to play quieter, setting up a kind of death spiral of way-too-delicate playing. It came to a head around the time of this gig, when I realized I wasn't being heard, and there was a weird distortion happening in the ensemble dynamics. After that I got a old 3200g 22" Paiste 602 dark ride-- a total monster by current standards-- which actually projects, and provides a nice cushion for bringing my sound back into a realistic zone. And when you crash on it, they hear it, by God. At the Ballard Jazz Festival recently the contrast was really stark-- I got to hear several drummers playing unmiked in the same long room, and none of the thinner K-type cymbals were cutting at all-- the performances were lost. From the playing position they sound like Tony on Four & More; out front, sadly, no...
So, now I'm running around Portland telling everyone to get heavier cymbals, at least for live playing, and my brother's doing the same thing in Seattle, hoping to start a regional movement. I just wanted to throw that out there, and see if anyone has had similar feelings/suspicions...
Interesting take on cymbals. My new main ride, a 22" K-Con Medium, hasn't seen a gig yet, so I don't know how it will project FOH. Some of the venues I've played jazz have been wine bar-type places where brick floors and boom-y acoustics make a cymbal that speaks with a softer voice ideal.