Zildjian In the Kit with Rick Allen of Def Leppard

Rick Allen of Def Leppard explains his set-up and how it impacts his playing. Here is a transcript of the video: John just brought me this today. It's a new K Custom Medium Ride and I hope it become a part of my set-up. I really like and it sounds great. Our sound engineer is a little particular. These are a new addition these are hybrids these are really cool. They seem to cut their own little space through the guitars. If anybody has played with guitars, they can appreciate there is a lot of frequency stealing going on within the spectrum of the PA. These Hybrids have a really good placement within a situation that we have with all these guitars. As you can see I use a lot of hihats. Because of the set-up, I can't really express myself with one hihat because a lot of the time I am not necessarily playing the hihat with my foot. I am more playing with foot pedals. Concentrating on snare drum parts, kick drum parts, or tom parts. If I arrange these hats they are a different openness then I can create a different momentum. It's very simple as you can see but simple is good. It doesn't necessarily need to be complex in terms of sound. It just needs to have its own space within the spectrum of the band and that is one of the things I have been able to do over the years with Zildjian. I can always find, it doesn't matter what record we have just recorded, I can always find something that can fit with the band. At home when I am sitting at home I am using a different set-up. But for this particular application I found that this set-up works really well. And this something that has just evolved over a long period of time. I am sure if anyone wants to try this stuff out, it's easy to just check out the website, see what cymbals are available and whatever music application you need I am sure you can find something. Even in the same cymbal. It's nice that they are so individual. Some people find it a negative point but I find it a plus because you can always find that nuance. It's really a pleasure to work with. I really like that.