Best Examples Of Cymbal Decays On A Recording

The double-stick technique on the long ride of Boston's Foreplay (Sib Hashian) cut ... a rare sonic texture; simple and rich.

Neil Peart's jazzy crescendo of layered cymbals near the end of La Villa Strangioto is sublime ... the skillful master of veiling complexity and nuance.  Miss his energy

Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm Section ... too numerous to mention.  Great question OP ... sorry I strayed a bit 

Tord Gustavson's Karmosin from Being There. The first 30 seconds is the ultimate in soundstaging and percussion delay.

The song "Workin' Man" from the Stanley Clarke album "If This Bass Could Only Talk". Gerry Brown plays multiple cymbal strikes on each of the cymbals in his kit as part of the intro to the song. You can hear the location and decay of each as he moves around the kit.

Bruce Cockburn’s album from 1991, Nothing But A Burning Light, track 2 Kit Carson, has Cymbal crashes with decay to give any tweeter a workout.  Also his recent album Crowing Ignites track Bells of Gethsemane.  Mind blowing percussion and guitar work, with reference SQ.  Another long time fave of mine…Loggins and Messina Pathway to Glory, from Full Sail.  Finally, Keith Jarrett and Jack DeJohnette on ECM, track 2 of 1971s Rita and Daitya…great cymbal sound for the era.

@bdp24 -                       

                                         +1

       Gotta wonder: how many can tell the difference (in sound) between, say Turkish and chinese Zildjians?

       Between a Paiste and Zildjian, or whether it's got rivets?

       Was that a Hi-Hat center strike, or: Snare rim shot?

       Many systems won't resolve and many more folks can't tell (via a lack of familiarity) the differences.

        I've had to point out to a couple experienced Drummers (albeit: over decades) that their own drum heads/skins had lost their resonance/pitch.

        Then again: as long as the listener is pleased with their musical reproduction, that's ALL that matters.

                                           Happy listening!