Paiste Mikrophonie Gong Once in a lifetime choice 2020 by Jens Zygar

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This is the document of one of the most special moments in my life as a gong musician. I am about to pick up my first Mikrophonie Symphonic Gong directly from the Paiste gong manufactory and I even have the option to choose between two of these great gongs.
The Paiste Mikrophonie Gong is a classical 60" symphonic gong that has been developed by the gong masters at the gong manufactory Paiste in northern Germany in order to create a similar copy of a traditional symphonic gong that belonged to the German composer Karl Heinz Stockhausen. Actually, he physically modulated the surface of the gong on various spots in order to emphasize specific tones, frequencies that he wanted to be part of the sounding of the gong; the performance of his composition Mikrophone 2 was not possible with an average 60“ symphonic and I even remember the time, when the gong masters at Paiste went to Karl Heinz Stockhausen in order to research complains of his students, who bought an average 60“ gong but were not able to perform the composition correctly according to the sheet.
When the Paiste Gongmasters realized, that Karl Heinz Stockhausen worked on his gong and changed the resonating responses through the taking of material, sanding down at the surface of the gong itself, which lead to a much more flexible, lighter vibrational response and of course altered the traditional sound of all the other symphonic gongs.
When the gong masters returned to their workshop, they started to imitate the process of altering the surface not through sanding off as Karl Heinz did, but through choosing different hammers, different circle hitting, etc. and at the end the students of Karl Heinz Stockhausen were convinced with the result, and above all, they were able to perform the composition Mikrophonie properly.
And above all that, the „new gong“ was so well appreciated, that Paiste decided to come up with an extra edition of the symphonic gong and named it along with the composition MIKROPHONIE.
The lovers of great gong sounds were of course very happy and since then this variation of the gong is a special demanded item of many gong lovers all over the planet.
I personally would describe the sound as much more sensitive then the „normal“ 60“ symphonic gong and my impression is, that according to the „lightness“ of the sound, it is a gong that can easily be played and enjoyed even inside a smaller room, whereas the classical 60“ symphonic definitely demands a certain size of a room around him, in order to be able to unfold the bass-frequencies, that build up all the rest of the sound spectrum.
So, even it's quite a huge instrument, it (or is „it“ a „he" or even a „she“?) perfect even for a home studio, and this absolutely what I wanted. Actually, I am dreaming of a Mikrophonie for years; so, this is a special moment in my life to finally get access to my personal dream Gong.
I am sorry to say I will not even try to perform the original composition but I am sure that it is perfectly in alignment with the creative spirit of Karl Heinz Stockhausen to do my own sound explorations with this amazing gong.