Thank you for those kind words.

Do check my website at barrymasonfineart.com. IF you go to events , you will find whole performances where we play with hand pans, cellos etc, but also play the gongs with mallets as well as flumies.

Lmao

Thanks for those kind words David.

Thank you for those kind words!

Thanks for those kind words Eber. Looks as if you are doing some great work in Costa Rica too..! I have subscribed tp your channel .. Do become a Facebook friend too.

You can do it!

Where is Tehema? I'm in England! Just sent a gong to Hawaii though!

Thanks for those kind words Jens, they mean a lot coming from you. I have learned a huge amount over the last 4 years, but certainly do not consider myself a master! I do not have access to the generations of experience of someone like Martin Blaise or Border Oatken, and do still sometimes make big and expensive mistakes..... I do hope that we can meet sometime on the gong "circuit".

Thank you Heather And gabriella, I learnt so much from you at that first singing bowl workshop. You gave me the confidence to experiment and also to work with intention. Forever grateful!

Hi Manuel, The Daniel Billing Band can be found on Apple Music. These gigs and recordings are nearly 9 years old now though. I now play with my own band, named the Truly Madlys. We have only just started recording and gigging, so some sample tracks can be found on soundcloud. We also have a Facebook page for recent gigs etc. Daniel Billing is a great musician, and he now works regularly with Davey Dodds and another project called LIvES.... It's always a pleasure to work with him.

Hi Robert, Thanks for those kind words. I only use flumies from Bear Love (sound of love.co.uk). Each size brings out a different set of frequencies and overtones. We hardly never use mallets these days as these flumies allow us to target specific frequencies. I've had some for years now, and they are as good now as the day I bought them!

@@barrymason4314 Thanks Barry, I'll deffo have a look at purchasing a couple. Keep up the great work mate, love the videos 🙏💚🌍🙌

Yes, I use "kiln wash". - it's what potters use to stop pots sticking together in the kiln. Ross Barrable uses anodising on his ti crystanium gongs gongs too - passing an electric current through an electrolyte bath.. Interesting!

@barrymason4314 Awesome, thank you for sharing! I've thought that anodizing or maybe metal-plating would be interesting to try, but I'm not sure how you'd get the electricity to distribute evenly through such a large body of water. I guess the electrolytes aid in that then?

Hi Antonio, I strongly suggest that you first experiment with some scrap titanium. You will find that it doesn't behave like other metals in that when you heat it it actually gets harder! (You can' t anneal it like brass or bronze alloys!) Therefore all the hammering and shaping has to be done cold. I do also hammer every square cm, to return the titanium to its original hexagonal molecular shape that has been compromised in the rolling process. It is VERY hard work; be warned. I treat it like a meditation. I only apply heat only after the gong is fully shaped and hammered. The extra hardness that comes after heating gives it far greater resonance. Personally I just use propane torches, but you can also colour titanium using anodising. Do look at Ross Barrable's crystanium gongs if you want to see this. I may well experiment with anodising in the future, but for now I am happy with the process that I have developed. Martin Blaise has also been quite inspirational, and he regularly posts videos online. Good luck with your quest!

Thank you for your reply sir. Your works give happiness and motivations to a lot of people. I really appreciate your kind words. Antonio.

Thanks for the great clips. I too wanted to make a titanium gong, so I immediately bought a plate and started tapping on it. When I started hitting it on the anvil with a metal hammer, the board warped so much that I couldn't get it to do what I wanted. What kind of hammer do you use when you strike the center of the board instead of the edges? Should I bend the edges first and then strike the inside? thank you for great work.

Hi Misha, I have collaborated with John Stuart Reid, who has played the sounds of my gongs through pure water on his Cymascope instrument. The resulting images are really interesting. I have engraved one of my gongs with its "own" image, which was quite an exercise. Do check him out online. I find his work really inspirational.

@@barrymason4314 thanks alot, I will!

It's perfectly possible to make any shape of gong. Take a look at the work of my friend Steve Hubback for example.. He makes skull shapes, shell shapes ; all sorts! But the deeper I go into the world of vibrational research I am more and more drawn to the larger gongs. In fact I am now working on 2 new 48 inch examples, which from a business point of view is crazy.

I have made a couple of gongs in the past that were smaller than 39 inches, and they sounded like "dinner gongs" by comparison with the larger sizes.. As my gongs are used principally by myself and others for sound therapy work, I prioritise the deeper frequencies that only come from the larger sizes.

How thick is the titanium sheet you are working with ?

@@ThatGongGuy I've worked with 1.8, 2 and 2.5 mm.. It's a "Goldilocks" problem. The thicker the material the longer the sustain, the thinner, the easier to bloom but the shorter the sustain. I now usually build in 2mm grade 1 (pure titanium). Best compromise...

Hi Manh, Do check out my website at barrymasonfineart.com. You will find all the gongs which are currently available as well as their prices. Glad that you like them!

Do you mean bells Victor? I do make bells from the titanium offcuts. Do take a look on my website at barrymasonfineart.com for details. Thanks

Hi Miley, I've tried 1.8. 2. and 2.5 mm . I find 2 mm the best compromise . The only SS gong that I have made was from 3mm - too thick ! Hope that this all helps.

@@barrymason4314 oh ok. That's fairly heavy gauge sheet. That's heavier gauge than I thought it would be. I have some 16 gauge (1.6mm). I think that should work out alright. Thank you for your help.

Also your work is brilliant I'd love to buy one but I'm almost positive its more then I could afford.

Save the plastic! Fart in the bath ! 👍

​@andrewaajohnson7584 float a couple candles above it.

Hi Bruno . I have only used grade 1 titanium so far as I believe that this is the purest.. (Thats why I call my work "Elemental Gongs". I have also worked in the past in pure copper, with surprisingly good results)

thank you for your kindness and avaiability

You say 1.2 x 1.2 m sheet, but what gauge?

Hi Allen , I am very fortunate to be able to make my gongs in my spare time, with percussion teaching , music gigs and my other sculpture work to support my practice. I also have low overheads as I own my own studio and am mortgage free. I try to offer my pieces at a fair price, that reflects both the cost of materials and also the time that they take to forge . I don't wish to charge so much that they become too expensive for the sound therapy community. . I do not have the high overheads of masters such as Martin Blaise, with studio rentals and apprentices to pay, but neither do I wish to deliberately undercut his prices. Titanium is half the weight of steel, and size for size, ( as bronze gongs tend to be thicker) are about 1/3 of the weight of a similarly sized traditional going. . The 39 inch gongs fit easily through the back door of a normal car, and are easily liftable with one hand. The 48 inch gongs do need a bigger estate or SUV , but again they are relatively light . Also, being titanium they are completely weatherproof, so could even go on a roof rack if necessary (In a bag though!) Hope that this answers your questions... Cheers Barry

Hi Miguel, But I am only a beginner myself... I am constantly learning new things each time I make a new gong!

@@barrymason4314 Well, if some day you consider yourself a master, know that you have a eager student waiting

Don Conreaux - lucky me! I also joined Don and played percussion with him on several occasions with his band "MYSTERIOUS TREMENDRUM" . That was FUN!

@@barrymason4314 I imagine it was, being a percussionist myself (as well as a gong practitioner) 🧡

@@HushHour_Alicia_Ma_Ri_Atu_Ma Yes , I remember receiving a really nice gong bath from you at Drumcamp some years ago . We are there again this year, and have our cellist with us, so we will be giving a full on sound journey with the HOhME Trio on 2 occasions. We still refer to it as Drumcamp, but the new name is the World Music Workshop Gathering !

Sounds wonderful! I much preferred the name Drum Camp tbh. So much easier to remember…

I am always happy to receive visitors to my studio. Do contact me via email if you fancy coming. Addresses are on my website at barrymasonfineart.com.

Hi Martin, Gongs can be any shape - look at the work of Steve Hubback for example; he even makes skull shaped ones. I have made a copper gong, and it sounded really good too. Any big metal plate, hung up and hit, will give you a "gongy" sound, but the skill is to maximise the frequency ranges that they produce. A flat gong (often called a wind gong" tend to splash` quickly and then decay quickly too. Putting a rim on a` circular gong holds and controls the tension in the central portion, so you have more control and tension. Good luck with your gong quest. Do start by making a small singing bowl. You will learn a lot from this process!