I've listened to a lot of soundfiles and despite the obvious entertainment value are they at all of any use in evaluating a potential purchase? In many cases , that, is what they are presumably for, and often some ill fated attempt at showing off but there is no way at making any reasonable determination of a cymbal under such circumstances because there are so many variables attached to a cymbals overall sound. I own more than 70 cymbals ,all through the range from vintage K's to an 8" that looks like it was made on a workbench in someones basement and I can make any of them sound completely different, simply by choosing another stick, or more obviously, hitting it in a different place. An immediate case in point, is a medium weight 50's K. Zildjian 18" that I just received. Now, I have a lot of sticks. I am working on a stickmaking program from a number of local woods and as part of that I have collected sticks from all over the world and I play them. This cymbal came to life as both a ride and a crash using an Ed Thigpen Ludwig 8A but when under an 11A Hickory Clou(made in England) (which was about the same weight and tip conformation as the Ludwig) the ping went up about an octave and the wash became tinny. I think we have all wrestled with extracting the right sound out of cymbals, vis a vis stick match, so really, are soundfiles of any value at all?
a question about soundfiles
I think sound files are a general guide, and as they always say- "your results may vary".
Yeah- I don't like sound samples where the dude (or dudette) is trying to have a cymbalgasm with their own playing. I just want to hear edge, body, bell and a SIMPLE pattern on the cymbal. It would help if it was said what sticks were played. In my opinion, the most ACCURATE sound files are on Paiste's site.
Dead dogs like rusty fire hydrants!!!
I've listened to a lot of soundfiles and despite the obvious entertainment value are they at all of any use in evaluating a potential purchase? In many cases , that, is what they are presumably for, and often some ill fated attempt at showing off but there is no way at making any reasonable determination of a cymbal under such circumstances because there are so many variables attached to a cymbals overall sound. I own more than 70 cymbals ,all through the range from vintage K's to an 8" that looks like it was made on a workbench in someones basement and I can make any of them sound completely different, simply by choosing another stick, or more obviously, hitting it in a different place. An immediate case in point, is a medium weight 50's K. Zildjian 18" that I just received. Now, I have a lot of sticks. I am working on a stickmaking program from a number of local woods and as part of that I have collected sticks from all over the world and I play them. This cymbal came to life as both a ride and a crash using an Ed Thigpen Ludwig 8A but when under an 11A Hickory Clou(made in England) (which was about the same weight and tip conformation as the Ludwig) the ping went up about an octave and the wash became tinny. I think we have all wrestled with extracting the right sound out of cymbals, vis a vis stick match, so really, are soundfiles of any value at all?
I agree, it really depends. If the room is too lively or too dead the sound is altered. The model stick used, as you indicated, can make a huge difference. I know that Drumaholic used to create his sound files with VF AJ6's, (maybe he still does) which resulted in very distinctive, woody sticking. A different stick on the same cymbal played by someone with different technique could mke the results sound like a completely different cymbal.
I took a risk last year and bought a 20" newer new stamp old K on ebay, in part based on the soundfile, which was well recorded. In this case, the soundfile sounded remarkably like the actual cymbal and I was thrilled. But...it could have gone the other way.
BosLover
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