The Avedis Zildjian Company is the the oldest cymbal maker in the world. For 400 years, the family business survived migration, a world war, and the worst economic crisis in America.
00:00 This is the oldest symbol business in the world.
00:05 The Avidus Zildjian Company has crafted symbols for the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire,
00:11 American troops during World War II, and the Beatles.
00:15 When you think of the sound of a symbol, there's a very good chance
00:20 what you're hearing in your head is a Zildjian symbol.
00:23 For 400 years, the company has been instrumental in the evolution of music.
00:29 Developing the symbols used in modern drum sets.
00:34 Today, it's the world's leading symbol maker.
00:38 We're really responsible for the entire modern symbol industry.
00:42 I've been playing these symbols my whole musical life.
00:47 The key to its sound? An alloy-making process the Zildjian family has kept secret for centuries.
00:56 Craigie Zildjian is continuing her family's legacy as the 14th generation president of the business.
01:03 The word Zildjian means "son of a symbol maker."
01:06 So how did Zildjian become one of the most influential instrument brands in the world?
01:14 We traveled to Massachusetts to see how, after four centuries, this business is still standing.
01:23 Behind these doors, craftsmen forge Zildjian's secret alloy from copper, tin, and silver.
01:29 But not even the man who shapes the symbols knows the recipe.
01:38 I have no idea how they do it. I just know it's the best metal in the world for symbol making.
01:47 One thousand metal castings are made every day.
01:52 And Alan Levitt sorts and weighs each of them.
01:56 Even at this early stage, he can hear any issues with the metal.
02:02 Well, this is for the ringtone. Yeah, you can hear it yourself, but when I hear it, they possess quite the ringtone.
02:09 The ones that pass inspection go into the oven.
02:13 The ones that pass inspection go into the oven to be reheated.
02:18 This loader can feed up to 240 castings every hour.
02:27 We used to have those long rakes that you put the pies into the oven.
02:33 That's really a strain on their back.
02:36 After 30 minutes, the metal is about 900 degrees Fahrenheit and soft enough to be rolled.
02:43 Once they've cooled, the castings go back into the oven for 30 to 40 minutes.
02:52 This process of heating and rolling is repeated multiple times until the castings are as thin as a credit card.
03:02 And it hasn't changed much since at least the 19th century.
03:07 Next, the symbols head to the cupping machine, which will shape the bell.
03:15 The bigger the bell, the more the instrument will project and the longer it will ring.
03:28 Joe Pallai has worked in almost every step of production in his 29 years here.
03:34 I love working with my hands and I love music. It's kind of like my way of giving back, you know.
03:41 He uses a blanking press to cut the symbols to the correct size.
03:47 All of the extra metal goes into our scrap prutter and it all gets recycled.
03:55 Then, it's time for hammering.
03:58 The first step that really begins to change the sound.
04:03 It more or less controls the shape and it regulates the sound waves going through.
04:08 The impact hammer creates dents at precise points and can apply different pressure throughout.
04:15 The rotary hammer creates a circular pattern with consistent pressure.
04:22 Both machines affect the pitch and tone.
04:26 The symbol gets its signature umbrella shape in the forming press.
04:33 The deeper the curve, the higher the pitch.
04:37 Then, it's time for Joe's favourite moment.
04:41 Lathing.
04:48 Lathing is where the magic really happens, I think.
04:52 Different type of lathing, different type of sound.
04:55 The shaper scrapes off layers of metal as the symbol spins.
05:01 It also cuts small tonal grooves in a circular pattern.
05:15 Deeper and sharper grooves create more sustain, affecting how long the symbol will ring out.
05:22 Joe tapers the symbol down, making the weight even.
05:39 He has to be careful not to apply too much pressure, or he risks overworking the symbol and making it too thin.
05:46 You're always troubleshooting. I think you're just trying to figure out how to make the symbol perfect, you know.
05:52 That's what I love about it.
05:54 Finally, he removes any imperfections with a grinder.
06:01 Then, this machine smooths out the edges.
06:05 But they aren't ready just yet.
06:13 Each symbol needs to be tested.
06:19 Joe works closely with the machine to ensure that the symbol is ready for the next step.
06:26 Each symbol needs to be tested. Joe works closely with Guy LaCarta, the manager of innovation, to test 200 in half an hour.
06:35 At this stage, we're just looking really for major visual and sound defects.
06:41 You know instantly if it's a good symbol or a bad symbol. It's when they're questionable that you really dig into it and debate it.
06:49 Well, this one was overworked. You can see the rippling.
06:53 Within acceptable ranges between here and here. So this is the standard.
06:57 Those are almost identical. So this is considered conforming. This would pass.
07:06 Each symbol is then cleaned by hand.
07:15 And finally, coated with a polyurethane solution.
07:19 Mostly to protect against fingerprinting.
07:24 Zildjian has sold as many as a million symbols worldwide in the last decade.
07:34 And they're all in the same place.
07:39 Zildjian has sold as many as a million symbols worldwide in a year.
07:44 They can cost between $90 and $4,000 each.
07:49 But even with its global success,
07:53 Zildjian still operates as a family-owned business.
07:58 This room holds some of the earliest Zildjian symbols made in America.
08:08 They call this the family vault.
08:10 Some of these fingerprints belong to my grandfather or my father. Some of the symbol testers.
08:18 Craigie is the 14th generation Zildjian to run the company.
08:22 She was the first woman to become CEO in 1999.
08:27 Today, she works as president.
08:31 I never thought I would end up in the family business. It was really just for the male members.
08:37 These are heavy.
08:39 A select few symbols were gifted to some of the world's most famous drummers.
08:44 So we gave one of these to Ringo and we had to do something so it could adapt to his hardware.
08:52 This is very old looking.
08:55 The family's story begins way back in 1618 in the Ottoman Empire, in what is now Istanbul.
09:05 The company's founder, Ovedis I, was an Armenian smith who worked for the Sultan, making symbols for the military band.
09:13 While trying to make gold, he discovered a bronze alloy that made the instrument stronger but thinner, with a clearer sound.
09:22 He founded the company in 1623 and it thrived for centuries.
09:27 The 12th generation owner, Ovedis III, moved to America in the early 1900s.
09:34 He was Craigie's grandfather.
09:37 If he had stayed in Turkey, that was not a good place to be for an Armenian.
09:43 The factory officially relocated to Quincy, Massachusetts, just a month before the Great Depression hit in 1929.
09:51 But as the economic crisis took hold, so did a new style of American music.
09:58 It was the beginning of the jazz era, which was here.
10:02 Zildjian created symbols for jazz legends like Gene Krupa, Chick Webb and Joe Jones.
10:10 Ovedis III worked directly with them to develop new symbols like the ride, the hi-hat and the crash.
10:21 Those gave drummers more range and freedom, and were crucial for the evolution of music.
10:27 It became the basis for symbols as we know them today.
10:33 This collaborative tradition continued with Craigie's father in the following decades.
10:39 The ideas really just kind of flourished as my dad was the head of the family.
10:46 The ideas really just kind of flourished as my dad was there, you know, testing symbols in front of them.
10:53 All the top drummers of the day, and we'd gain their input.
10:57 Louis, Elvin and Roy. Here's my dad.
11:02 This was my dad's drum kit. I've left this as it was when he was here, when this was his office.
11:11 In the 1940s, the company provided symbols for American and British troops during World War II.
11:18 But it was the Beatles' first US performance that made Zildjian a household name.
11:24 In February 1964, Ringo Starr used the company's symbols during the band's appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.
11:31 The Beatles, bring 'em on!
11:35 She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah. She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah.
11:40 The Beatles changed everything.
11:43 All of a sudden, we were back-ordered because everyone wanted to start a band, a garage band.
11:49 From there, musicians from all genres were lining up to get one too.
11:54 Everything from the band and orchestra world, to marching, to jazz, to rock, to metal, to country, to everything in between.
12:03 By the mid-1980s, the company was the world's leading maker of symbols with 40% of the market share.
12:09 Today, it's made symbols for drummers like Questlove, Travis Barker and Anderson .Paak.
12:17 This is my dad here. My father always said we need to follow the music, so wherever the music leads us, that's how we track it, is through these musicians.
12:30 To this day, the company works closely with musicians to develop custom models tailored to their styles.
12:36 Artists are looking to express themselves. They're looking for, sometimes it's a sound, sometimes it's a tactile feel or response, sometimes it's an emotion.
12:46 It's why drummers like Omar Hakim only use symbols made by Zildjian.
12:56 If I have identified a need for some instruments that I don't have in my arsenal at that moment, 11 times out of 10, they've got the solution.
13:07 This is one of my favourite symbols. It's called the K Custom Hybrid Trash Smash.
13:19 He got his first set of Zildjian's when he was just eight and has exclusively used the company's symbols for nearly five decades.
13:26 Over the years, Omar has worked with artists like David Bowie, Madonna, Michael Jackson and Miles Davis.
13:43 It's important to have a set of symbols that resonates with the music that you're trying to create, speaks to you as a musician.
13:53 When you blend the metal and the skins and the wood and you create this tonal palette to kind of cover a full spectrum of sound.
14:08 Omar says although other symbol companies have popped up, Zildjian still sets the standard.
14:13 Even the old ones are the bar and that's heavy when the entire industry is using your product as the example of what needs to be in the marketplace.
14:25 The next generation of Zildjian's is already working to continue the family legacy.
14:32 I mean, they're all board members. Each generation is charged with revitalising the business and adding something to it.
14:40 Craigie says that as long as music lives on, so will Zildjian.
14:44 There will always be music. I mean, music is part of our soul, right?
