The Case of The Disappearing Cymbal Hum

[Pibroch]

An annoying hum often happens when playing a new cymbal. Then, sometimes even after only an hour or so of playing, it disappears completely.

How?

Is it an unconscious finesse of playing technique resulting in a real disappearance?

Is the player's brain filtering out perception of the hum, but perceptive audience members can still hear it?

If the former, great!

If the latter .... eek.

Thoughts please .... And does it happen to you?

 

[Rock Salad]

Good question. The sounds do change, I have noticed. It seems to sometimes happen with "new to me" cymbals too. There definitely does seem to be some element of learning to play the particular instrument, but I agree that some of them seem to adjust to us as well.

 

[Pedal_Pusher]

All new cymbals hum until they learn the lyrics.
(sorry, sometimes I can't help myself)

 

[Squirrel Man]

I have a 8" splash that hums. It's new (well, new to me) but it hasn't stopped humming since I set it up a month and a half ago.

 

[Pibroch]

Sorry for you - being a splash it'll never be a humdinger. Seriously though, I'd have never imagined that a splash would hum. Guessing it's a wee bit on the heavy side? Or does it have a small bell compared to the average 8" splash. What model is it?

 

[Squirrel Man]

Sorry for you - being a splash it'll never be a humdinger. Seriously though, I'd have never imagined that a splash would hum. Guessing it's a wee bit on the heavy side? Or does it have a small bell compared to the average 8" splash. What model is it?

Zildjian A - it's mounted on the tom arm connected to my kick, guessing resonance from the kick gets it going.

 

[Pibroch]

Zildjian A - it's mounted on the tom arm connected to my kick, guessing resonance from the kick gets it going.

Strongly suspect you're right.
This DFO post from April 17 2012, FWIW:
pstone
Well-Known Member
JoinedMar 30, 2010Messages152Reaction score0Locationaz
The Hum that you're hearing is probably coming from the stand...
I've noticed this when attaching a cymbal stand to or around the bass drum mount or anywhere that can make a larger tom resonate.
If you have a tri-post mount with two holding up some toms, and one holding a cymbal, you will get some Hum from the toms when hitting the cymbal.
I have a few cymbals that are attached to tom stands, so I use neoprene as a buffer on the cymbal posts.

Cymbal "Hum"

I'm an avid YouTube cymbal demo video watcher, and I noticed some cymbals "hum". Is that a characteristic of certain types of cymbals? Does it have anything to do with the stand or how it's mounted? I don't particularly recall playing cymbals that hum.

www.drumforum.org

 

[Seb77]

I suspect it has to do with finding the sweet spot on a ride. Some cymbals have only a narrow area somwhere up the bow where they don't hum when struck by the stick tip. Now, if the crahs sound changes, that would be remarkable.
Unless a cymbal is really fresh off the anvil/lathe, I don't think the tension changes that much. If they do, it could also be in the other direction, developing more hum (could also be caused by less tension toward the bell).

 

[Rivet Gun]

I had a Zilco 20" crash/ride that did that.

 

[Esotericdrums]

Speaking of cymbal hum is there any trick to getting rid of a mid frequency hum? I have a 1932g 20” Kerope that is a great cymbal except when you get to riding it real hard it builds up this irritating mid hum. Everything else about it is great. I ordered some Bosphorus nickel rivets and plan to throw some rivets in it. It’s on a straight stand so I don’t think it would be the stand causing it

I bought it used and the last owner had a tight sticking area worn in on it so know it has seen many hours of play time before it came to me

 

[Soulfinger]

it could also be in the other direction, developing more hum (could also be caused by less tension toward the bell).

I actually had that happen with a new 20" Zildjian A Medium Ride (re-designed model, 2016 IIRC). It started to develop an audible mid-frequency hum after about a year or so. Never abused it in any way, just low volume jazz playing. Got so annoying I sold it. Shame because it was a very nice cymbal when I bought it.