Hi everybody! Yes, well, I'm not with Paiste anymore...long story which I don't want to bore you with...but I should mention maybe the following:
one reason (amongst others) was that after 12 years of working there (started in 1986) I had a vision of making customized cymbals...and at Paiste that wasn't the right place to do this at that time, because it did not fit in with the company's policy.
What's funny is that I got that vision from some drummers I met there...you know, after learning how to make cymbals there was a time when I was working in the "Drummer Service" department, (and later in the "Sound Development" department)...and in that period I met drummers...as you can imagine...and of course it was always nice to hear from somebody that Paiste sounds great...but I was much more intrigued by those folks who said: "such and such model of a particular line sounds nice, but what if it had a little more of that and a little less of this..."
These kinds of conversations led me to the following conclusion: somebody has got to make that...for that particular person...because it would be difficult to always add a new series with a little more of this or that, whenever this kind of feedback would arise.
...so...long story short...here I am... on my own...making cymbals and gongs from scratch (if I can get good blanks) and mostly "pimping" rides, crashes, hats and what ever else...even snare drums...sometimes!
Michael