About

What's an ARTCYMBAL?

ARTCYMBAL is a sound sculpture, hand-crafted by Manabu Yamamoto.
They are unique in 3 ways.

lineup

1. JAPANESE “TANKIN” METHOD :

I use a traditional Japanese hammering method, called “TANKIN”. Normally, hammering is about thinning the metal, but in TANKIN we can also thicken the metal by hitting it in a certain angle, and gather the bronze to certain areas. It takes a vast amount of time, for example 20 hours of hammering for a 24”. This results in unique sounds that I like.

2. COMPLETELY HAND-FORMED BELL :

I start from a completely flat sheet of B20 bronze which I import from the best foundries in Turkey. (In some YM and YC series I used blanks with a hydraulic pressed cup, which is normal in modern cymbalmaking.) By hand-forming it, it gives a great density to the bell, and opens up bright and complex overtones. Also I often make the bells "off-centered" or not in a perfectly round shape, because it produces the mysterious sound I want. The Istanbul Ks and the original Constantinople Ks gave me the inspiration for the hand-formed bell.

3. ACOUSTIC TUNING :

I design my ARTCYMBAL to blend perfectly with unplugged acoustic instruments, even with a unplugged solo violin. Through the past 70 years, general cymbal sounds seems to have become "brighter, louder, and simpler”. I want to take you back in time when people enjoyed music without hurting their ears. Every ARTCYMBAL has a wide dynamic range, a wide frequency range, multiple tonal characters to enjoy everymoment in music.

Biography

1988 [0yo] Born in Tochigi, Japan. Almost dies of heart attack.
1992 [4yo] Starts learning the piano. Loves Beethoven.
1995 [7yo] Moves to Ohio, USA. Loves Michael Jackson.
2000 [11yo] Moves back to Japan. Misses MTV and Eminem.
2004 [15yo] Joins the schoool orchestra as a percussionist. Also plays Rachmaninov's piano concerto as a soloist.
2005 [16yo] Joins a percussion laboratory of Hidehiko Sato, a Japan’s pioneer sound-sculpture artist. Starts experimenting on making percussion instruments.
2006 [17yo] Learns music composing and arranging from Gareth Coker, a British composer now based in Los Angeles.
2006 [18yo] Attends Utsunomiya University music education course.
2011 [22yo] After graduation from university, flies to India to learn tabla from Lachhu Maharaj, a legendary musician of Benaras gharana.
2012 [23yo] Becomes a music teacher at a junior-high school.
2012 [24yo] Becomes a drum-tech for Murakami "Ponta" Shuichi.
2014 [25yo] First TV appearance as a Dhol(Indian Drum) player.
2016 [27yo] With over 10 years of studying and experimenting with music, and collecting over 100 vintage cymbals, starts making cymbals as M.Yamamoto Cymbals Japan. Builds a lathing facility in Tochigi. Makes more than 120 cymbals starting from Brass and re-tuning existing cymbals.
2018 [29yo] After a trip to Turkey, starts making cymbals from traditional Turkish B20 bronze. Changes the name to "ARTCYMBAL" .