Raven Sounds

Handmade Bronze Gongs

Raven Sounds gongs are handmade bronze — 80% copper, 20% tin — made for us by a Wuhan workshop we've worked with for years. Styles run from the traditional Chau to lathing patterns we developed ourselves: Sun, Eclipse, Horizon, and the Solar variants. For how those styles differ in sound, see our guide to Chau, Wind, Sun, and other gong types.

Named styles are listed 18" to 32"; Random Note gongs start at 16". Every named-style gong is recorded in our sound room, and the recording is the exact instrument that ships; Random Note gongs skip the recording, which is why they cost less. Named-style gongs come with a Cosmic Tones mallet. Free US shipping.

10 products

How the styles differ

Lathing — how much metal is turned off the face, and in what pattern — is what separates most of these. The Wind Gong is lathed front and back: bright, quick to open, and the readiest to tip into a crash under a hard strike. The Sun Gong's concentric rings hold the tone more centered and make that crash less likely. The Horizon leaves an outer band of raw, unlathed metal, which reins in the crash and adds harmonics of its own. Solar Horizon and Solar Eclipse combine those patterns. The Eclipse is built with a heavier center and a lighter outer ring: a steady tone at the middle and a brighter, faster response toward the edge. The Chau is the traditional form — turned lip, dark rim and center, lathed mid-section — deep and grounded, with the most controllable direction.

Gongs produce inharmonic partials rather than a tidy harmonic series. That's the physics of a vibrating plate, and it's why written descriptions only get you so far. Every listing has its own recording; use them.

Choosing a size

Larger gongs sit lower, carry more overtones, and fill a bigger room. Smaller ones are brighter, easier to move, and work well as accents next to a large gong. For group sound baths, 26" and up. For personal practice, small rooms, or a second instrument, 18"–24". Each size carries its measured note on the product page — worth checking if you're matching a gong to instruments you already own.

Mallets and what pairs with what

Every gong ships with a Cosmic Tones mallet, which covers most playing. Harder and softer heads, and friction mallets for sustained tones, are in the gong mallets collection. If you're building a room rather than buying one instrument, Grotta Sonora gongs are a different lineage and a different voice, and the harmonized sets pages show combinations matched by complementary musical intervals.