Sizzle cymbal

A sizzle cymbal is a cymbal to which rivets, chains or other rattles have been added to modify the sound, attached either by means of holes bored in the cymbal or by means of an attachment known as a sizzler.

These rattles have two main effects on the tone of the cymbal:

Both effects have musical uses, and can also be used to mask unwanted overtones in cymbals of lesser quality. However the best results are still generally obtained with high quality cymbals.

Uses and patterns

The most common form of sizzle cymbal used in a drum kit is a large ride cymbal with a number of rivets loosely fitted but captive in holes spaced evenly around the cymbal close to the rim. This might be called the traditional pattern sizzle cymbal. The loose fit allows the rivets to rattle in the holes. Swish and to a lesser extent pang cymbals with rivets installed in this way were heavily used as main ride cymbals in the swing band era, and the swish is traditionally sold with rivets already fitted. Many early rock music drummers, such as Ringo Starr, used a secondary ride cymbal with rivets, normally a ride cymbal thinner than the main ride and ideally one size larger. This was used for variety, to back a lead break or to give extra tone colour to the whole of faster songs such as Roll Over Beethoven.