to introduce the sound of our new cymbal series, we recently booked a studio for a day and had our artist ralf gustke record a couple of new audio/video clips. we've set up a drum kit and the only thing that changed were the cymbals. all of those clips are now mixed and edited and ready to go online. we hope those clips will help you to get a better understanding what every series is all about as far as its sound and will help to make the right decision.

to begin with, here is the clip demonstrating our new m-series cymbals.

other clips which we've recorded feature the new soundcaster fusion series cymbals, new byzance series cymbals, classics, mcs, and hcs series. all these clips will go online within the next two days. i will make a short announcement every time we put a new video online.

at the end of every video you see the listing of exactly which cymbal has been used in that clip. ralf's playing kicks ass in every video.

here are some further details about the recording setup:


microphones used were:
overhead: schoeps mk4
ride: earthworks sr25
hihat: akg c414eb
bassdrum: akg opus 99 and cu900
snaredrum top: akg m201
snaredrum bottom: akg opus 88
racktoms: opus 88
floortoms: opus 87


the drums are yamaha phx series.
20 x 18 kickdrum
10 and 12 racktoms
14 and 16 floortoms
13 x 6.5 ralf gustke signature birch snaredrum
12 x 5.5 oak snaredrum

- norbert

benny and i returned from the 2010 modern drummer festival yesterday and as you can imagine we've had a great time in new jersey. the festival was phenomenal and benny's performance blew everyone away. he got several standing ovations and the applaus didn't seem to end. after all those years of hard work i'm happy to see what he has achieved in the drumming community. on behalf of meinl i would like to congratulate him to his outstanding career. it is a pleasure and priviledge to work with him.

meinl artist chris coleman has also made his debut at this world famous festival. for the first time, modern drummer had a seperate smaller sized room next to the main stage where they hosted two masterclasses. chris played an incredible solo which included some of the most musical cymbal work i have ever heard followed by a extensive question and answer section. i can't wait to present chris coleman at the upcoming meinl drum festival.

hudson music recorded the entire festival for another legendary modern drummer festival dvd to come out later that year hopefully. watch out for that.

while in the u.s. we took the chance and hung out in new york for one day. the day after we flew down to good old nashville where benny performed a workshop at the french quarter cafe on behalf of forks drum closet. thanks to the folks at forks for their hospitatliy and hard work making it happen. thanks also to everyone who came to see benny that night.

here are a bunch of fotos for you taken throughout the whole trip. enjoy!

- norbert

as long as i can think back, the modern drummer festival has always been the most respected drum event in the world. i believe that to this day it still has that status. tomorrow i will again make the trip to new jersey to attend the festival once more. this time however i wont be doing that trip alone. i will meet benny greb at frankfurt aiport and we will fly together. benny has been invited to perform at the festival this year, which is without a doubt a highlight in any drummers career. we are very proud to have benny represent us at this festival. but more than that, i am so happy for benny that he has the chance to perform at the modern drummer festival this year. his performance will be one the highlights.

another meinl artist, the great chris coleman, has been invited to perform a masterclass at the festival too. chris will also be playing at our upcoming meinl drum festival in june. he's an awesome drummer and has a lot to contribute to the drumming community.

as usual, i will keep you posted via twitter and facebook. maybe cu there.

- norbert

Some days a job can feel like a "day-in-day-out" sort of thing. Even the most exciting of jobs in the world can get this way I'm sure. We all need some inspiration from time to time to make things seem fresh and new again. Working at Meinl is a great job. I feel so lucky and fortunate all of the time to get to do what I do for a living. BUT...as I mentioned, everyone needs a little jump-start now and then, and I am no exception.

That's why I love what I'm about to share with you. It's a great bit of inspiration and totally reminds me of myself a long time ago. We recently had an email come to us by way of our customer service email address. CS passed it on to me to read.

Marty Thompson of Smyrna, TN (just down the road from MEINL USA in Nashville, TN) wrote us to tell us about his 14 year old son Spencer and his love and dedication to Meinl Cymbals. Apparently Spencer has invested heavily in Meinl Cymbals, buying all of them through Fork's Drum Closet, one of Meinl's best partners in the US, all through money he has earned. 

He told us about how Spencer's last day of middle school is one week from today, next Friday, May 21. That day, Spencer will perform in a talent show contest at Stewarts Creek Middle School where the contest has come down to just Spencer and one other student. Spencer is going to play drums along to the Foo Fighters song "Monkey Wrench" for the show. 

Marty explained that Spencer is wanting to wear a Meinl shirt and hang a Meinl banner during the show and asked if we could send some swag, any swag at all to help stoke his son's drive and ambition even further.

I love this sort of thing for so many reasons. First of all, Spencer sounds just like I was at his age, and it's a fun thing to read and remember. Marty's email elaborates further about Spencer's single-minded commitment to drums and the brands that he likes and plays. I was the same way. I lived and died for the bands whose music I listened to and the drums and cymbals I played on along to those bands' albums. Drumming and music was everything to me. This is why I appreciate Marty's email so much. It reminds me of a great time in life when all I had to worry about was being able to buy enough drum sticks to keep me going.

Drummers like Spencer are the drummers that I think of when I'm signing cymbal artists. I think about the drummers that are fanatics and I think about who they listen to and love. It's easy to get caught up in musical snobbery as you get older, thinking that you might be above a certain band or a certain style, but that doesn't work in an Artist Relations capacity. You have to forget all of that and get back to basics. You have to get back to the simple joy you felt when you where 10 years old and you picked up a pair of drum sticks and you have to remember what it felt like to love  the drumming on Motley Crue's Shout at the Devil album so much (okay...I'm showing my age...) that you felt that there wasn't anything better in life. That's what I remembered when I read Marty's email about his son Spencer and about how "he'll be excited to get anything  Meinl. It'll be like Christmas, graduation, and a first kiss all rolled into one for him. He doesn't care what he looks like, what he smells like, or (at this point) if he ever gets a date, but touch his drums and you might make the evening news." Awesome.

So Spencer - expect some Meinl swag in the mail and good luck at the talent show. The most important thing to remember is to have fun while you're on stage throwing down.

Marty - there should be more parents like you - the ones that support and encourage their kids' talents and goals. I've always said that drummers' parents are the best. Who else puts up with so much noise and racket?!?!

Anyway, thanks for taking the time to read this. It's guys like Spencer that inspire me to do what I do.

 - Chris Brewer

provided eyjafjallajökull (the icelandic volcano) won't cause any more trouble to the european air traffic, i am going to fly to bologna saturday and will attend the music-italy-show there. benny greb will be travelling with me to perform two workshops. mike terrana will also have a live appearance there. i am especially looking forward to meeting some of our national italian artists like furio chirico, daniele pomo, gianni branca, gaetano fasano, and hopefully some others. our italian distributor master-music will have all our latest cymbal innovations on display. if you happen to be there too, stop by their booth and say hello.

i really hope that eyjafjallajökull shows mercy and lets me fly to italy without problems. not interested in being stuck at an airport for an uncertain amount of time.

- norbert

just got them back from drumsigns. here are the specially designed bassdrum heads for our upcoming meinl drum festival on june 26th.

i had the great pleasure to attend the first echo-jazz award show in bochum two days ago. thanks to my friend wolfgang haffner for the invitation and congratulations again to this outstanding award for your round-silence album. the show will be broadcasted tomorrow saturday may 08th at 10:30pm on german tv program WDR. there will be some great music on that show. check it out when you have the chance to.

- norbert

lot of excitement here today. the bayerische rundfunk, one of germany's most popular tv stations, is here right now setting up cameras and lights for a live broadcast from our factory for their program later today. no taped program. realtime live broadcast from our cymbal production.

between 17:30 and 18:00 central-european-time it can be seen on bayerisches fernsehen during the show frankenschau aktuell.

as of tomorrow, the report can also viewed online at the br-mediathek.

- norbert