Last month Jojo Mayer and Sabian launched a new signature cymbal, The Omni. Rhythm caught up with him to find out more...
"I wanted to make a cymbal that lives outside of stylistic boundaries and that I could crash and ride. In a way, it's the first real crash/ride cymbal. You can actually get a response from the 22" just crashing with your fingertips. It's really responsive. It works really well with other cymbals too because there's a drop out in certain frequencies that leaves a lot of room for other frequencies.
"I realised in the studio that when I wash ride or crash ride, really digging into the ride cymbal, it covers up a lot of frequencies that make a good drum sound. With the Omni, I can really get aggressive and crash ride the 22" and still not get in the way of the frequencies of the drums, like the snare.
"The main difference of the Omni over other crash rides is the architecture of the cymbal. It's not just the lathing on the one side and the buffing on the inside, the difference is a very tight bow. The reason for the two different surfaces is that the architecture requires it to sound the way it does. It's not just a visual thing. When we made the cymbal, I pushed really hard to make it uniform in its look.
"I didn't want it to become confused with other two surface cymbals. We tried many different ways to make it more ordinary in it's look, but it required the different surfaces to make the cymbal sound like it does."
The Omni will be available in two sizes, an 18" and 22" model. Upon playing the cymbal, we found that the 22" had a great wash sound for crash riding, but there was also great stick definition and a piercing bell for traditional riding.
The 18" was similar, but with a little tighter stick definition, yet a more traditional crash sound. Rhythm also found that the cymbals responded similarly whether using a wood or nylon tip stick.
For more information, go to www.sabian.com. Also check out www.jojomayer.com.
