labatteria.it

Hi !

Sorry I can't write italian !

I am a Belgian drummer who also hammers cymbals. I started doing this about 20 years ago, after a long unsuccesful quest for cymbals that would match my taste for really dark complex cymbals. No modern factory made cymbal could satisfy me and I couldn't find any old K's.

After some years of trial and error I started to get the feel for it and acquired the ability to change a cymbal to a pre-dermined sound.

The cymbals I've hammered can be seen and heard on my webindex page. Mind you, I have hammered most of these cymbals to suit my personal taste (dark and trashy) but I can also brighten the sound or raise the pitch with a different hammering method.

I hammer pro- and also some non-pro-level factory cymbals into much richer sounding cymbals.
Besides creating light complex jazz cymbals, I also hammer heavier rock-oriented cymbals to dramatically enrich the sound.

Some "before and after modification" files can be heard HERE.

Some student cymbals I hammered into professional cymbals can be listened to HERE.


Soundfiles of these next pictures can be all be found on the site.

This was a Paiste Signature Power ride, hammered to sound like the old 60's Tony Williams ride, but a little heavier:




This was a Zildjian ZBT 20" ride, now a very complex thin professional jazz ride.



This dark complex sounding ride was once a bright Paiste 2002 22" ride:



A 20" Tony Williams (Nefertiti) ride made from a Sabian AA:



A 20" Complex Dry Crashride made from a Paiste 2002:



A 20" Dry Complex Rough Ride, originally a Paiste Dimensions:



Finally a "before and after" pic of a cheap 16" Headliner crash cymbal, now a professional dark thin crash:

Johan, you are a genius!
I think that the nicer is zbt crash professional jazz ride:P
Have you ever worked into a cymbal making company ( ) ?
(so dire poco di pi? in inglese) (I don't speak english very weel, so this is all that a can say. )

nn ho capito il processo ke ha utilizzato per modificare i piatti..

traduco per chi non capisce l'inglese:

Ciao!

Scusate non so scrivere in italiano!

Sono un batterista belga che martella anche i piatti. Ho iniziato a farlo circa 20 anni fa, dopo una lunga e infruttuosa ricerca di piatti che avrebbero soddisfatto appieno il mio gusto (piatti molto scuri). Nessuna fabbrica moderna faceva piatti che potessero soddisfare il mio gusto e non ho trovato nessun vecchio K.

Dopo qualche anno di prove e di errori ho cominciato a prenderci la mano e ho acquisito l'abilit? di cambiare il suono di un piatto.


I sample dei piatti che ho martellato possono essere visti e sentiti sulla mia (sua) pagina web http://users.telenet.be/cymbzdrumz/ . tenete conto che ho martellato la maggior parte di questi piatti per trovare il suono che volevo (scuro e trashoso). Ma so anche rendere il suono pi? "brillante" o alzare la nota usando un differente processo di martellatura.

Ho martellato piatti pro ma anche dei piatti entry-level di fabbrica fino ad ottenere dei suoni migliori.
Oltre ad aver creato dei piatti "leggeri" da jazz, martello anche dei piatti pi? "rock" per arricchire notevolmente il suono.

Alcuni "prima e dopo" possono essere visti qui http://jvds.byethost15.com/3_BEFORE_AND ... IFICATION/

Alcuni piatti economici che ho martellato possono essere ascoltati qui http://jvds.byethost15.com/3_BEFORE_AND ... IFICATION/

Thanks for translating !

(scusate mod se non ho modificato il mex prima ma a qualcuno potrebbe non fregare nulla delle mie risposte)


Johan you are really a genius! What kind of hammers do you use? Can you tell us some secrets about cymbal hammering? Thanks!!!

ps- you're welcome

Hello Johan and welcome to our forum.
I really appreciate your job(I heard the ZBT 20 ride. Damn! ) and I was wondering: do you sell the cymbals you already made or do you just modify cymbals that customers give you?
Thanx and keep up with the great job!

mariollo ha scritto:do you sell the cymbals you already made or do you just modify cymbals that customers give you?

I do both.

Devil's Drummer ha scritto:Alcuni piatti di studenti (?) che ho martellato possono essere ascoltati qui http://jvds.byethost15.com/3_BEFORE_AND ... IFICATION/

Si riferisce ai piatti economici, chiamandoli "piatti PER studenti".

avevo tradotto anche io cos?, ma i k non mi paiono tanto piatti economici...

Devil's Drummer ha scritto:What kind of hammers do you use? Can you tell us some secrets about cymbal hammering?

I use ball-peen hammers that go from almost flat to round.
There are no secrets about hammering. I learned it by experimenting a lot without knowing anything about it.
After a while you start to understand and FEEL how you have to hammer a cymbal towards a certain sound you have in your head.
But every cymbal is different and needs to be hammered differently. That's something you only learn after a long time. So you can't say: do this and that will be the result. It depends on the cymbal.

S? ? vero infatti la cosa appare strana.
Sar? mica che ha martellato sul serio uno studente?

Mik0 ha scritto:S? ? vero infatti la cosa appare strana.
Sar? mica che ha martellato sul serio uno studente?

Can anyone translate ?

Mik0 ha scritto:S? ? vero infatti la cosa appare strana.
Sar? mica che ha martellato sul serio uno studente?

Ma LOL!
A parte che se la mettiamo cos? ha martellato un piatto studente!

what do you mean for "student cymbals"??

Johan VDS ha scritto:

Mik0 ha scritto:S? ? vero infatti la cosa appare strana.
Sar? mica che ha martellato sul serio uno studente?

Can anyone translate ?

We're just having fun of Devil's Drummer who translated "student cymbal" literally so,in italian it seems that you hammered a student(a real one).

Devil's Drummer ha scritto:what do you mean for "student cymbals"??

I mean all the cheap cymbals made from B8 alloy, like :

Zildjian ZBT, ZXT
Sabian B8
Meinl MCS, Classic, Profile, Headliner B8
Pearl Pro, CX 900
Paiste 400, 404, 502, 505, 802, 1000, Alpha
and many others
I can hammer these into professional quality dark or complex sounding cymbals for rock, funk or jazz.

But NOT brass cymbals like Paiste 302, Brass tones / Meinl Meteor, Sabian Solar, Zildjian Planet Z. These are NOT useful.
The only brass cymbals worth hammering are Pearl brass cymbals and a few others, mostly when made in Asia or Japan.

ok, thanks!!

Azz ...
Welcome Johan VDS in this community!
How much do you want for this kind of work?
My very compliments!

tittu82 ha scritto:How much do you want for this kind of work?
My very compliments!

Thanks ! Here you find all the details :

http://jvds.byethost15.com/MODIFICATION_RATES-PROCEDURE-CONTACT.doc

Johan VDS ha scritto:

Mik0 ha scritto:S? ? vero infatti la cosa appare strana.
Sar? mica che ha martellato sul serio uno studente?

Can anyone translate ?

I'm sorry fom my non-translation Johan.
These kind of cymbals, here are not called "student cymbal", but simply "cheap cymbals". This the reason of my doubt!

Mik0 ha scritto:I'm sorry fom my non-translation Johan.
These kind of cymbals, here are not called "student cymbal", but simply "cheap cymbals". This the reason of my doubt!

I don't mind ! I had a good laugh

I've just read your doc! Very much professional, Johan! Very good!
Drummers love you!
And sorry for my bad english!

Compliments man it's incredible

(certo che ci vuole un coraggio per martellare un costantinople ...con quello che costa)

dariogreat ha scritto::o Compliments man it's incredible

(certo che ci vuole un coraggio per martellare un costantinople ...con quello che costa)

Non me ne parlare.

mort?!

Porc...se trovo uno zbt usato glielo spedisco subitooooo......

Hi Johan, welcome to this community, and my best compliments for your great work. I've just listened at the samples you've got on your site, and I liked them very much.

Per gli altri: ma che gente geniale c'? in giro?