There are cymbals that are hybrid for crash and ride called crash ride cymbals. But some regular ride cymbals are also crashable. While these rides are mainly used for ride patterns, crashing them would also bring up other sonic experiences.

Generally a heavier dry ride cymbal with thin edges and a smaller bell; a ride cymbal with more of its weight toward the center, with thinner edges will crash better. The size of the bell has a significant effect, as does the profile; generally the flatter ride cymbal the less crashable.

Brilliant cymbals are machine buffed then hand polished to a smooth, bright and shiny high-gloss look. The buffing process of cymbals that are lathed with tonal rings in their surface smooth the peaks of the grooves.

The buffing removes a very thin layer of metal on cymbal and smooth the high edges of the grooves, rounding them off and thereby reducing the depth of each groove. Because sound vibrations move through the grooves, from the low valleys to the high peaks where they generate the low and high sounds that comprise the tone, buffing and smoothing the groove peaks creates a smoother, glassier, even warmer response and removes some of the high-end odd-harmonic overtones. Brilliant cymbals are in general more focused and the stick definition therefore will be more focused.

Sheet cymbals are made of 92% copper and 8% tin B8 alloy; they are more softer, flexible and a little less likely to break when it is abused therefore durable. That’s one of the reasons why beginner cymbals are made from B8. Casting bronze 80% copper and 20% tin B20 alloy cymbals on the other hand, tends to be much more brittle.

But the main difference is their sound; you will get more tonal sound qualities on B20. B8 cymbals have very little done to them, especially by hand because they are pretty much ready to go once they are stamped into shape with a die on an automated machine that gives really poor not so defined sound. Casting bronze B20 cymbals are more labor intensive than simply stamping a sheet, they require big labor working the blank (hammering and lathing) to make the blank into a playable cymbal that supplies a wide spectrum of cymbal sounds.

Cymbals good for metal can be discussed with a lot of variables, but there are some things you’ll need to be mindful of. In metal music you have to compete with loud distorted guitars, therefore you need big cymbals. Bigger cymbals equal more volume. Even a 15” crash cymbal or smaller ones don’t cut through the mix and end up sounding like a big splash cymbals.

Many metal drummers prefer bright sounding cymbals that can sit on top of everything sonically. But bright sounding cymbals can feature harsh sounds that can work for you or against you, depends on the situation.

Thickness of the cymbal plays a role as well as thin cymbals can crack easily, because the just don’t take the punishment of the hard hitting involved with metal drumming. Thin cymbals also don’t project very well, especially through all the other loud instruments in metal music. Real thick cymbals (commonly designated as “rock” weight) tend to sound hollow and gongy. Many metal drummers use medium thin cymbals that project well.

Flat base cymbal stands are on a hard surface, they can help bring out low tones, but on carpet, the stands wobble so much that I think a lot of the vibrations dissipate into the stand and the floor rather than through the cymbal. What makes flat base stands on hard surfaces sound good is the amount of wobble they offer, not the fact that they absorb less sound, but that they allow the cymbal to move more freely.

A lightweight flat base stand would vibrate with the cymbal as oppose to absorbing the energy. A very small point of contact between the stand and the bell seems to allow more freedom of vibration, and then it might be the mount of lateral movement lightweight stands allows that let them swing in a less inhibited manner.