Unbelievable horrible... sorry, just 1 guy out of 6.5 Billion's opinion. :2Cents:

Thanks for posting this- good to see what NSMD is up to.

This is a good example of why I have never been a fan of "series" cymbals. If someone bought those as a boxed set I imagine they would be disappointed quickly.

He states they were designed for Moderate (or Modern) Pop, Rock, and even Metal. They seem a bit dark for pop and Metal. They would, however work great for Rock. The lower freqs will have a tougher time cutting through the guitars, though. That's the only drawback I can see.

The only ones I'm not fond of are the ride and hats. They are just a bit too chunky and clunky for my ears. But, the crashes are really cool for what they are. They have a nice touch and open up nicely. Good presence and volume. They bite when they need to and breath at a touch. The 18 and 19 could do lighter ride work in a Rock setting ... for those quieter passages. That china is very nice for Rock.

I kinda liked them. They are definitely far and away from jazz, but like the man said, they weren't designed for that.

I don't know ... the more I think about it ... all but the hats and ride would actually work pretty well in an electric jazz idiom. I can see that. The 19, 18, and 16 would smoke ... and that china would kick you in the head during punctuated explosions. Cool.

I do like the ride..... nice attack.....even on the bow

Z

I didn't like the sound, but I think some of that had to do with the fact that the overall recording was pretty...awful. :( But, beyond that, and I think MUCH more important to remember is that the person playing them is going to be playing them according to what he knows and how he hears things. Secondly, as just as important to remember is that the sticks he is using are going to impart their own thing to the sound. It looks like he might be using a 5B or something -which is a common size.....

....However, just for example: I use a 7A nylon-tip Regal Tip stick with the nylon tip removed -in my right hand and I often combine that with something like a 5A in my left hand. I have even used a combination of 2S and 7A before! How's that for diversity? heh heh. My point is that each stick reeeeallly and I mean reeeeeeaaaallly makes a cymbal sound different.

And I always like to explore the entire terrain of a cymbal. There are often sweet spots that depend on lots of things like the angle of the stroke, the portion of the stick making the contact, the density in the wood of the stick...even the placement of the cymbal can make a big difference. That's because the sound leaves the edge of the cymbal more than the top or the bottom. So, if the mics happen to be pointed at the edges and they are very directional mics, then they get speared with a certain overtone, but not the same sound that may be emanating throughout the room -like how people might hear it on a gig.

Which brings me back to the recording quality....which was pretty bad.

It might have been a good idea to give some contrast by A/Bing a nice, old K with some of these newer lines -not because all old K's are great, but just to show a difference between an old Turkish-style cymbal and a new one. That'd be my preference, anyway.

I will reserve judgement on the cymbals until I can play them, myself, or until there is a better recorded example to go by. I don't even think an old K. would sound great under those conditions. Sorry!Burger Kin

I do love NSMD, though -just for the record! No criticism of them at all! That's a great organization! It's a good idea, but it just needs to be recorded better and maybe a few different players could step in and try their own sticks with their own touches. I guarantee you that you would hear those cymbals differently each time -as would be the case with most any cymbals.

Cymbals are magical (or not) and you really just have to play them to know what they will really do. I can't get a true idea of that from this video.

just one more little thing...

I also wanted to say that, since I play with other musicians, I am always hearing the sounds in my head along with the sounds of the other instruments. Like, I imagine how the bass would sound against that ride cymbal or how softly I could play them so the piano player can work more dynamically with the sound...etc. Listening to a guy crashing around a drum set, solo, is only part of the picture of the sound...and not a very realistic one, for me. It's difficult to judge these things, in my opinion.

carry on! Storm Trooper

I don't think people realize that when you record a cymbal, the sound is a marriage of the cymbal and the mic/mic/pre etc... plus digital audio formats like mp3's radically change the sound. But of all things, the mics used make a massive difference.

With the right mics and the right sticks you could probably make pretty much any cymbal sound musical.

Anytime you listen to a drum, a guitar or any instrument "outside of a song" it gets bizarre. There are lots of good musical instruments and musicians that sound terrible "outside of a song".

been watching Columbo reruns?

There's lots of good musicians playing good instruments badly that sound bad even after post-production has done all they can do.

Mick Jagger on harmonica comes to mind........LOL !!

I really like how the ride articulates. as for the crashes and hats they sound very much like the ZBT Zildjians to me.