by jeffseitz on 16 Nov 2011 21:15
[quote="BABA"]Chapter3 However, when Stewart returns to this scene during the show (I think it was “Wrapped Around Your Finger”), Jeff appears in a white hard hat and seems to me to be adjusting/repairing the very items that I promised not to break.[/quote]
Chapter3 hard hat explained.
That was a fun story to be sure. The hard hat, which was covered in broken finger cymbals, was an end of tour gag I concocted for the last show. The finger cymbals could not withstand the impact they were being subjected to and as a result were always cracking, causing pieces to be sent flying around the riser nightly. The underworld crew operating the hydraulic percussion riser, and I, were always dodging the flying debris and occasionally I would don the hard hard for protection! On the last show, as a joke, I gaffer taped saved remnants of the finger cymbals to the hardhat. The item I was adjusting/repairing was a microphone that had dislodged from the rim of the tymp-tom. It was a coincidence that it occurred the same night as your soundcheck experience.
[quote="BABA"]Chapter 5
I tell Stewart that I gotta get some of those prototype hi-hats. He likes them too -- they’re a good size. I ask him if they will be produced. He says yes. He twirls them around and stops the spin with his thumb pointing at the rider logo. I detect some well-deserved pride and think: mmm . . . Rhythmatist hi-hats . . . [insert Homer Simpson drool sound].
I’ve fooled around with various bottom hat tilter settings forever, and now I need to see how the pro does it. I squat down to peek under his bottom hat and ask how he sets his tilter. Visual inspection and verbal instruction confirm that he doesn’t use it. Maybe that shouldn’t be a surprise, but now it’s concrete information. He explains that to get that nice tight sound you need to “get the air out” with a firm seal (which you won't get with a wavy-edged bottom hat). He then proceeds to demonstrate some two-handed hi-hat Copelandisms in both “if you don’t do this” (legendary) and “you get this” (possibly-less-than-legendary) versions. I ask about coping with the cymbal-groan that results from closing the hats too tightly. He tells me that, in the studio at least, even he sometimes gets it. Reality strikes: I’m getting a micro-hat micro-clinic from the grandmaster. This alone is worth the price of admission and then some.
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Clarification
#1
Baba, I'm not sure what you observed when you inspected the bottom hhs on the Royal Chariot but the tilter was definitely adjusted. As SC points out (to get that nice tight sound you need to “get the air out”). This is accomplished by adjusting the tilter to add a slight angle on the bottom cymbal which prevents the hats from trapping the air between them as they are joined. One end of the cymbals hit before the the opposite end, similar to a flam (for those drummers out there) allowing the air to escape. The angle also helps to achieve the "chik" sound when the hats are pressed together with the footboard, otherwise you get an air pocket and a muted "pock" sound.
#2
The prototype hats have not been put in to production by Paiste.
Jeff
"I think he's going mad" Karl van Beethoven (Immortal Beloved)