Our Videos

Butch Trucks (Drums), Marc Quinones (Percussion), and Oteil Burbridge (Bass) play in the Zildjian Drummer's Lounge.

Welcome to Zildjian Sound Lab Videos. In this installment we talk about and play the 22" K Constantinople Renaissance Ride with Paul Francis. He plays the cymbal and talks about what separates this K Constantinople from all the others. Here's a transcript of the video: Paul Francis: Welcome to the Zildjian Sound Lab video. Today we're going to talk about a new addition for 2012, and its part of the K Zildjian Constantinople series: The 22" Renaissance Ride. Now we developed this in conjunction with Adam Nussbaum, and we've been working on cymbal designs with Adam for at least the last twenty years. Some of the unique things about this K Zildjian Constantinople is that it has three rows of over hammering and four series of clusters. We kind of borrowed from other series of cymbals. The four series of clusters actually comes from our K Symphonic series. The over hammering has been done on the K Custom Dark series. We also borrowed the same bell that's in the 22" Bounce Ride. So this is kind of a hybrid of several difference series to get a sound that Adam was looking for. One of the things that Adam wanted was a cymbal that had a little bit more give to it., so we lathed it with a smoother style lathing and what we call an A Custom lathing. Also, to keep the stick definition a little bit more predominant, Adam asked that we didn't lathe the underside of the bell, which also helps gives a clearer bell sound. This is a great addition to the Constantinople series, and we welcome you to check this out on Zildjian.com or at your local Zildjian dealer.

Welcome to Zildjian Sound Lab Videos. In this installment we talk about and play the 20" K Constantinople Bounce Ride with Paul Francis. He plays the cymbal and explains the differences of the 22" and 20" versions. Here's a transcript of the video: Paul Francis: Welcome to the Zildjian Sound Lab video, and today we're going to talk about something new for 2012. This is the K Constantinople 20" Bounce Ride. And this size was inspired by the very, very successful 22" K Constantinople Bounce Ride that we developed with Kenny Washington. Now like the 22" version, the 20" version has the same bell, that was actually copied out of Kenny's old K, and it has a series of eight clusters. Now what's unique to the 20" Bounce Ride is that the clusters are smaller. So what we're going to do is retain some great stick definition and some very nice light, trashy qualities. Like the 22" cymbal, the bottom is lathed like an A, and that's how Kenny's 22" was lathed. On the top you can see there's more of a pin tonal groove, and we've retained that in the 20". This one is a little bit higher pitched than the 22", and it fits nicely in the K Zildjian Constantinople series. I welcome you to check this out at Zildjian.com and at your local Zildjian dealer.

Welcome to Zildjian Sound Lab Videos. In this installment we talk about and play the 21" A Custom 20th Anniversary Ride with Paul Francis. He plays the cymbal and talks about the special touches that make this cymbal such a collectable. Here's a transcript of the video: Paul Francis: Welcome to the Zildjian Sound Lab video. Today we're going to talk about a new introduction to 2012. Its the 21" A Custom 20th Anniversary Ride. We did a 21" cymbal to pay homage to Armand Zildjian because he loved 21" rides, 19" rides...he liked odd sizes. This is a great addition to the A Custom series because it's medium-thin in weight. So it's a great crash ride. It has great stick definition. It has a large bell for great bell sounds. And you can crash it. And also for 2012 we're printing this cymbal with white ink, just the 21" model. We also developed a special trademark for the entire A Custom series with a crescent moon and star with "1992-2012" on it, and you'll see that on all A Customs throughout 2012. I welcome you to check this cymbal out at Zildjian.com and at your local dealer.

Welcome to Zildjian Sound Lab Videos. In this installment we talk about and play the 22" K Custom Dark Complex Ride with Paul Francis. He plays the cymbal and talks about the unique features of a hammered bell and satin finish. Here's a transcript of the video: Paul Francis: Welcome to the Zildjian Sound Lab video. Today we're going to talk about the 22" K Custom Dark Complex Ride. We also have a 21" in this model, but the 22" is darker. It's a medium-thin blank that is heavily hammered on the top side and on the bottom. We have a similar bell in this cymbal like what's in the 22" K Constantinople Bounce Ride, but as you can see the bell is heavily hammered. This is a dark and dirty and trashy cymbal with some great stick definition. It also has a finish that we're calling a Satin finish that is unique to Zildjian. I welcome you to check it out at Zildjian.com, or actually go down to your local Zildjian dealer and check it out for yourself, because this is a very, very unique cymbal.

Welcome to Zildjian Sound Lab Videos. In this installment we talk about and play the 21" K Custom Dark Complex Ride with Paul Francis. He plays the cymbal and talks about the unique features of a hammered bell and satin finish. Here's a transcript of the video: Paul Francis: Welcome to the Zildjian Sound Lab video. Today we're going to talk about a new addition to 2012. It's the 21" K Custom Dark Complex Ride. And this is a very, very unique cymbal. We're going with a medium-thin blank that is heavily hammered on the top side and on the bottom. We also have a bell on it that's very similar to what we've used in the 22" K Constantinople Bounce Ride. But as you can see here, we've hammered the cup. This cymbal has some great stick definition, but it also has some really dark and nasty crash sounds. We've also developed a very unique finishing product that we're calling a Satin finish. The only way that you're really going to experience this is either by going on Zildjian.com, or I really welcome you to go down to your local Zildjian dealer and play this, because this is a very unique cymbal.

Welcome to Zildjian Sound Lab Videos. In this installment we talk about and play the K Constantinople Crash Ride and HiHats with Paul Francis. He plays the cymbal and talks about new pin lathing that gives these Constantinoples a more complex sound. Here's a transcript of the video: Paul Francis: Welcome to the Zildjian Sound Lab video. What we have here is a new addition for 2012 to the K Constantinople series. This is a 19" K Constantinople Crash Ride. This cymbal has been in development for the last couple of years. Like some of the other K Constantinoples, specifically the 20" Bounce Ride or the 22" Bounce Ride, we're using the same bell. This bell actually came out of Kenny Washington's old K that we helped recreate. Some of the great unique attributes to this cymbal is that we have that thinner pin groove that are in the new crashes for 2012. And rather than putting in cluster hammerings we have two unique rows of over hammering. This helps not only with the stick definition, but gives it a little extra trash too when you're riding and or crashing. I welcome you to check this cymbal out at Zildjian.com and your local Zildjian dealer. Welcome to the Zildjian Sound Lab video. New for 2012 is a redesigned set of 14" K Constantinople HiHats. Like the crashes I talked about in an earlier video, the HiHats are going to employ the same type of lathing where it has that pin groove which pays homage to some of the Zildjians that were made in the 50s and 60s. We've also redesigned it in the fact that we've added some hammering on the top and bottom side. The top cymbal is a little bit thinner which gives it some more dark and trashy overtones. The bottom is still medium in weight and has similar lathing to the top cymbal. This has a great "CHICK" sound and is very nasty and trashy when you need it to, and nice and clean when you need it to. I ask you to look at this on Zildjian.com and at your local Zildjian dealer.

Welcome to Zildjian Sound Lab Videos. In this installment we talk about and play the 15"-18" K Constantinople Crashes with Paul Francis. He plays the cymbal and talks about new pin lathing that gives these Constantinoples a more complex sound. Here's a transcript of the video: Paul Francis: Welcome to the Zildjian Sound Lab video. What we have new for 2012 are some new Constantinople Crashes. We've redesigned the 16" and 18" Crash, and we've also added a 15" and 17" so drummers who like the K Constantinople sound have a wider variety. Some of the changes we've made with these crash cymbals is that we've changed the bell. In the 16" we've gone to more of a vintage cup. And this cup is also in the 15" and 17". We've maintained the cup in the 18", so we still have that big 18", full crash sound. We've added some additional hammering to dirty up the sound, which also helps with giving a fuller sound. And if you can notice the lathing has changed as well. Rather than more of a traditional A-style lathing, we're paying homage to some of the Zildjians that were made in the 50s and 60s, with a small little pin groove. You've also seen this on the 22" K Dark Medium Ride. Here is a vintage 14" Zildjian cymbal. If you can see that tonal groove, that pin tonal groove that I talked about that we've done in the new cymbals, are also done in this one. I welcome you to check this out on Zildjian.com and also at your local Zildjian dealer.

Welcome to Zildjian Sound Lab Videos. In this installment we talk about and play the 13" A Zildjian Pocket Hats with Paul Francis. He plays the cymbal and talks about the large hammering clusters and brilliant finish. Here's a transcript of the video: Paul Francis: Welcome to the Zildjian Sound Lab Video. Today we're going to talk about a set of 13" Pocket HiHats. We had made this as an exclusive set of hihats as part of our Inspiration Pack last year. One of the great things about this set of hihats is that it has a thin top with an extra heavy bottom. Now we've borrowed a lot of things from the past to make these hihats. As you can see the hammer marks are very, very large. These are the hammer marks that we used in the Remix series when that came out in 1999. The cymbals are unlathed and they're polished to a very high brilliant finish. Now the great thing about the thin top with the extra heavy bottom is you get a great "CHICK" sound, but with the thinner top you get a lot of color. So it's not just a high pitched brash set of hihats, it's very colorful and very quick, and its great for hip-hop and R&B music. So I welcome you to look at this set of 13" Pocket HiHats at Zildjian.com or at your local Zildjian dealer.

Welcome to Zildjian Sound Lab Videos. In this installment we talk about and play the 19" K Custom Trash Smash with Paul Francis. He plays the cymbal and talks about the volcano bell and great trashy sound. Here's a transcript of the video: Paul Francis: Welcome to the Zildjian Sound Lab video. Today we're going to talk about an addition to the K Custom Hybrid series for 2012. The original Hybrid Series in the K Custom series was introduced in 2006 and was designed in conjunction with Akira Jimbo. Now this is another collaboration with Akira for 2012, and has very, very unique attributes to it. The first is we're using a new bell, that has originally been seen in the Z3 Ultra Hammered Chinas. It's what we're calling the Volcano Cup. You can see the cup comes up and then goes back down in on itself. Like other Hybrids, it's unlathed on the inner half and its lathed on the outer half. But this Hybrid Trash Smash, which is actually in a 19" size, has some hammer rows that actually radiate out from the center, and this is where we get our trashy sound from. This cymbal is actually medium-thin in weight, and it's a great alternative to a China. I welcome you to check it out on Zildjian.com or at your local Zildjian dealer.