Today I got to live one of my dreams and visit a cymbal factory, and what’s more, one in the spiritual home of modern cymbals – Istanbul! The long trek from my cosy hotel in the historic Sultanahmet district to a drab industrial estate an hour to the west was immediately justified when I was greeted by some grubby young teenagers who assured my signed questioning that I had, at last, arrived at the Istanbul Mehmet Cymbal factory. You’ve just got to …

… good choice.

A few glasses of Turkish tea and my own personal guide to the Istanbul Mehmet cymbal vault kept me busy for a good three hours. While I must admit I had previously not been taken by the relatively new entrants to the cymbal market, having an opportunity to thoroughly examine and test the complete range gave me an appreciation of some of the fine cymbals they have on offer. I am pleased to say that I found many more cymbals worthy of adoption than I could afford, or justify, to purchase, nonetheless, I left with a little more than token purchase. After the dizzying highs of a dream come true I was given the royal tour of the factory.

The roller that turns obtuse little alloy nuggets into the basic cymbal plater.

The cymbal press that shapes the all important cymbal bell.

Into the fire, magic happens here.

The furnace holds a number of cymbals at a time. After this they are plugged into water. This process alters the structure of the metal.

That characteristic and essential hole is vigorously punched.

The edges of the cymbals are trimmed to ensure a true circular shape.

The unlathed cymbals await lathing, hammering and polishing.

Here the craftsmen lathe, hammer and polish the cymbals to give them there distinct sounds. The finished products are tested for quality before being stamped with the company logo and branding. Then some crazy foreign snaps them up and has to lug them all the way home to their country of origin.

Just in case you want to know, I purchased:

• 13″ Xperience X-metal Hi-hats
• 16″ Xperience X-metal China
• 6″ Turk Splash
• 6″ Hand & Stick Splash (for Lauren)

Of course, you can imagine buying at the factory in Turkey means great value. The above haul cost me less than buying one piece from a retail outlet in Australia. Plus they threw in a cymbal bag and a bunch of stickers!

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In this, the second instalment of Playing with Paradiddles, I continue to experiment with different variations of paradiddles used for fills across the drum kit. Additionally, I spend way too much time editing and tweaking this video when I could be sleeping instead. Clearly, the funky monkey needs no more Dr Pepper tonight.

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Paradiddles, double paradiddles, paradiddle-diddles. Which is your favourite? A paradiddle is a sticking pattern, or rudiment, for drummers to practice and use; it is commonly practiced but not so much used. I’ve been working with paradiddles for sometime in an effort to discover how I could make them an indispensable part of my chops bag, here is one such discovery.