Sonor

Sonor is a German drum kit and percussion manufacturer.

History

The company was founded in 1875 as a percussion manufacturer. One of the oldest existing models of drums manufactured by Sonor is a 1942 Johannes Link Parade Snare, a very heavy snare drum with an alumininum shell and thick tension rods.

In the 1980s, Sonor's tagline was "The Rolls of drums". The drums were made very thick (13 mm) and heavy shells that were beech wood, with an innermost and outermost ply of furniture-grade veneers, such as rosewood and bubinga. Nicko McBrain of Iron Maiden was one of the most prominent Sonor artists of the 1980s, along with Steve Smith of Journey, Phil Rudd of AC/DC, Thomas Haake of Meshuggah and jazz legend Jack DeJohnette.

Sonor invented the modern screw thread drum-construction and the metal snare drum in the early 20th century. William F. Ludwig got this idea in his early years back in Germany from Sonor and began to use it later in Chicago.

As the 1980s progressed, the market began to stray away from thick heavy shells and Sonor started slimming down its shells with a line called "Sonorlite" and "Hilite", a step away from the idea a drum shell should resonate like a violin or guitar body. The thinner the shell, the lower the fundamental tone.

Sonor (disambiguation)

Sonor may refer to:

See also

Sonor (album)

Sonor is an album by Canadian jazz pianist Paul Bley recorded in 1983 and released on the Italian Soul Note label.

Reception

The Allmusic review by Eugene Chadbourne awarded the album 2½ stars stating "For Paul Bley to comment that this 1983 recording is the best collection of his music to emerge since 1961 is a provocative statement unless, knowing Bley, he's just kidding around. Since this is even more spaced-out than some of his famous "slow" recordings such as Ballads, does that mean he really wanted those recordings to be even more minimal than they were?... The demanding listener may not forgive Bley for having tapped a vein of boredom, but perhaps this enigmatic jazz figure was trying to prove that there is no such thing".

Track listing