i am glad to let you all know that we've come out with 46 news for 2012 :-)
all of them will be introduced at the upcoming winter namm show which starts in just a few days in sunny california.

all new products are online already. if you want to see them all at a glance, go to the products section on meinlcymbals.com and simply click on new 2012 in the tag-cloud. that will make all of them show up collectively on your computer. no more time-consuming search necessary.

and for more details, download our new 2012 cymbal guide PURE METAL - or - grab your own copy at the namm show, or at your local dealer soon.

enjoy !!

- norbert

fresh from the printer's shop comes our new cymbal guide for next year. it shows you all product news (46 this time), and of course the whole cymbals, drumgear and merchandise portfolio too.

besides that, we've been focusing on the fact that next year we will celebrate our 60th meinl cymbals anniversary. we've made a timeline spanning from 1952 until 2012 showing all our series ever made, special events and other company highlights. very interesting content in my opinion.

and last but not least: features on many of our international top artists, a meinl drum festival report from mexico city and tons of more information are included.

pure metal 2012 will be available online on meinlcymbals.com as of january 02, and will be handed out for the first time at the namm show in anaheim, california.

i take this opportunity to thank you all for your outstanding support during the last year. it means the world to us. there is much more to come next year. stay tuned!

- norbert

I know, I know, we can't quit writing about the guy...But that's because he never stops. 24/7 drums and "Jurasskickpark" as Mike would say.  :-)

Meinl Cymbal artist Mike Johnston and his on-line lesson website mikeslessons.com are both gearing up for a very cool event happening this coming Monday, May 02. In addition to his regularly scheduled on-line lessons happening at 11am PST and 6 pm PST, Mike has also scheduled  for the same day, a 'Meinl Day' which will air at 12pm PST and 7pm PST. During these two scheduled times which will last until there are no more questions, Mike will have  Meinl Cymbals' US president Mitch McMichen and US and Canadian Artist Relations Manager Chris Brewer at his mikeslessons.com facility, where they will participate live while Mike gives a thorough run down and demonstration of all of the pro-level Meinl Cymbals series. Mike will play each series and Mitch and Chris will chat live with all of Mike's students who are watching and who have questions, comments, etc. about what they are seeing and hearing Mike play.

This will be an excellent chance for any of Mike's students who are interested in and/or curious about Meinl Cymbals to learn more straight from an artist and also two of the company's employees. Of course you have to be a paying student to access the Meinl Day, but it's well worth the money spent, as mikeslessons.com is simply an incredible way to learn.

Don't miss it! Sign up and tune in!

yesterday we had our first research + development meeting about new cymbals and sounds for 2012.

we would like to get your input too and ask you what you want us to make? if you happen to have a suggestion for us, now is your chance to let us know.

• which new models, sizes, finished do you think should be added to an already existing meinl series?

• which new sounds in general do you find are missing in our cymbal assortment?

• is there any cymbal accessory that you suggest us to look into?

only serious suggestions please. we will discuss and consider every proposal at our next r+d meeting. of course, no guarantee can be given as to which of your ideas will become an actual new meinl product.

we are looking forward to reading your suggestions :-)

- norbert

we're preparing for a lengthy and pretty extensive video shoot right now in our own in-house studio. this will take up a lot of our time over the next couple of weeks, maybe months. looking forward to the result though.

- norbert

new for 2011 are five matched cymbal sets in the soundcaster fusion, soundcaster custom, mb10, mb8 and classics custom series.
every set includes a 14" medium hihat, a 16" medium crash, a 20" medium ride and comes with a free 22" cymbal case.

we've made a seperate video for each one. in every take, jost is playing more or less the same groove to give you the chance to compare every set directly with each other.

check' em out, enjoy and let us know what you think.

- norbert

if you want to see all of the new products we came out with for 2011 collectively, go to the products section and simply click on new 2011 in the tag-cloud and all of them will show up at a glance. no more time-consuming search necessary.

- norbert

new for this year is the byzance vintage 22" benny greb signature sand ride. check out this exclusive video about it which benny produced . his feel, sound and groove are again incomparable on that performance and make him stand out from most other drummers in the world today. enjoy!

- norbert

after a long period of hard work, our new catalog for 2011 is finally ready. it is currently being printed as you can see on the photo. in just a few days we will get all of them delivered. they have a totally new look and style than the ones we have made in previous years. we're very excited. stay tuned for more news about it shortly.

together with our artist jost nickel (who in case you dont know is a hell of a drummer and plays for jan delay & disko no. 1) we entered the studio again and recorded 22 new cymbal demo videos yesterday featuring some of the new series we're gonna come out with very soon. jost has been fantastic on that session. you can tell he's a real studio pro and always came up with the right groove for that specific cymbal line we were tracking. he didn't slow down untill 12hrs later all 22 videos where cut. thank you man for being so professional and such a great guy to work with. i big thank you also goes to our engineer lothar schrems for the great sound and for making it all run so smoothly.

the results are all awesome; great new cymbal demo demos filmed on four different cameras, featuring the amazing drumming of jost nickel. they will all go online within the next couple of weeks. please check them out. i will keep you posted as to when exactly you can see them on our various web channels.

a short behind-the-scenes clip will be released in just a few days. and also check out the video recordings photo album i just posted.

- norbert

i got an email from john e. johnson recently, drummer and editor-in-chief of secrets of home theater and high fidelity. he has been reviewing cymbals by measuring their frequency spectrum using laboratory-grade microphones calibrated to plus or minus 0.5dB, 20 Hz - 30 kHz. various of our cymbals have been and will be reviewed by him, and here are the first three of a total of ten results.

> mb20 22" heavy bell ride
> byzance jazz 18" medium thin crash
> byzance brilliant 19" medium thin crash

i find this very interesting, especially the graphical analyses. check'em out and stay tuned since more meinl reviews will be coming up.

there's also a thread on drummerworld.com about this.

- norbert