This is a cool one – I hear complaints from drummers about rubber practice kits/electronic kits about how using them for low volume practice kinda sucks because the feel is never the same. But for it to feel the same, it generally has to have all the other properties, most notably VOLUME.
But Zildjian has you covered. Their new line of Low Volume cymbals are full of holes and covered in a matte finish to reduce the volume by around 80% while maintaining a far more cymbal-like feel. I played them at Summer NAMM and I was astounded. I couldn’t help but laugh out loud when I hit them and was greeted with near-silence compared to a normal cymbal (granted, the floor of NAMM in the drum section isn’t exactly the best place to gauge this), but in combination with Remo mesh heads on the drums for a combination of quiet drumming, it was cognitive dissonance city.
I think these are very cool, and great for me because I suck at the drums and now my neighbors won’t have to hear the abyssmality, just me. They really do feel like cymbals, so I recommend you give them a try if you’re a drummer with limited practice options.
