sunspot42

[quote user=Ryklipsch]What songs would be good to listen to or make a cd that has very deep low end and nice high end for testing speakers, Can any one recommend any?? It's important to pick music that you're actually familiar with. You should try to bring along at least one track to represent every style of music - jazz, classical, rock, pop, soul, dance, new age - you listen to. Of course, there are so many different kinds of jazz or rock or pop it's probably better to bring along several samples from each genre. I tend to listen to music from different eras as well - rock and soul from the '50s, '60s, '70s and '80s dominates my collection - and since production techniques and recording technology vary from decade to decade it's a good idea to bring along samples from each era you listen to. I've been surprised by how bad a lot of '60s pop sounds on certain speakers for example, even speakers which sound pretty good with more modern recordings. I don't recommend toting along whole albums. Burn one or more stereo test CDs, and bring those with you instead. I tend to use CD-RW's, as more CD and DVD players can handle those without any issues for some reason, and if you don't like your track mix you can always erase and re-record them. You could burn an MP3 CD or USB stick, or use an iPod, but stick to MP3 compression rates of 256kbps or higher, which tend to be pretty transparent - good enough to compare the performance of two or more different speakers. If you have an iPod you can also use Apple Lossless, which provides bit-identical performance to the original CD (although iPods don't typically have great digital to analog converters and amplifiers, unfortunately). Here's my list of artists & tracks: The 5th Dimension: "Up Up & Away", "Aquarius / Let The Sunshine In", "Wedding Bell Blues" These tracks were all engineered and produced by the legendary Bones Howe. My copies come from the Master Hits collection, released a few years ago, made from the original masters which Howe had held onto for the past 3 decades. Howe is one of the finest pop/rock engineers who ever lived, and these tracks are more vibrant and dynamic than almost anything you'll hear recorded today. It's hard to believe they were made before the era of Dolby noise reduction and hi-fidelity as we've come to know it. If you have the recent remasters they make excellent test tracks. The Alan Parsons Project: "Sirius", "Eye In The Sky", "Psychobabble", "I Robot", "I Wouldn't Want To Be Like You", "Nucleus", "Genesis Ch. 1 V. 32", "Games People Play" Parsons is another legendary engineer and producer, and if Howe recorded some of the best sounding tracks of the '60s, Parsons was certainly responsible for some of the best sounding tracks of the '70s and early '80s. These are all taken from the original albums (I Robot, The Turn Of A Friendly Card, and Eye In The Sky, to be precise), mastered for and released on CD in the 1980s. For early CDs they sound incredibly good. Unfortunately Parsons was at war with his label Arista for some time, so more thorough remasters were slow in coming. They're out now though and I hear they sound great, so if you take your copies from those they'll provide even better test material. The title track from I Robot is great for testing the high end, while "Psychobabble" with its filtered, pumped up bass vocals is great for testing the low end response of a speaker. The Beatles: "Here Comes The Sun", "Because [A Cappella Version]", "Norwegian Wood", "I'm Looking Through You", "Dear Prudence" Alan Parsons turns up again in this list - he engineered The Beatles recording of "Here Comes The Sun" off 1969's Abbey Road, easily the best-sounding LP in the Beatles' catalog. When the albums were released on CD in the 1980s the first few records were digitally remixed from the multitrack masters, dramatically cleaning up the sound of albums like Help and Rubber Soul, from which I've selected two tracks, "Norwegian Wood" and "I'm Looking Through You". 1967's White Album is a somewhat uneven sonic experience, but "Dear Prudence" is one of their better true-stereo tracks, with hypnotic layering and a very transparent mix for that era. An a cappella version of Abbey Road's "Because" was made available as part of the Anthology release a few years back, and it's electrifying. We forget what wonderful vocalists The Beatles truly were. What a change from the manufactured bands of today. Blondie: "Live It Up", "Here's Looking At You", "Rapture" I always thought Blondie's records sounded like crap, with Autoamerican being the best of the bunch, but the remasters which came out a few years ago certainly improved the situation. Parallel Lines and Eat To The Beat both end up sounding pretty good, and Autoamerican is absolutely incredible in spots. "Live It Up" gives Steely Dan a run for their jazzy, hi-fi money, "Here's Looking At You" is a smooth sounding take on traditional pop, and "Rapture" sports Joni Mitchell alum Tom Scott on crisp jazz horns in a track with a soundstage a mile wide and at least as deep. One of the best-sounding recordings of that decade, without the grating digital harshness of some later recordings. David Bowie: "The Prettiest Star", "Big Brother", "Chant of the Ever Circling Skeletal Family", "Andy Warhol", "Space Oddity", "The Man Who Sold The World", "Soul Love", "Starman", "Win" I'm a big Bowie fan, so I'm particularly familiar with how these tracks sound on a range of equipment. "The Prettiest Star", "Starman" and "Soul Love" from Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane feature lots of high end activity, enough to challenge any speaker when played at volume. "Space Oddity" and "Win" are great for testing stereo imaging, as are "Big Brother" and "Chant". The best track here though is probably "Andy Warhol", with the pinging guitar during the last 30 seconds of the song being a kind of midrange and high-end torture test for speakers. I cannot tell you how many otherwise alright-sounding speakers I've heard flunk the "Andy Warhol" test. It's arguably the most useful test track I've found. Bing Crosby & Rosemary Clooney: "Brazil", "Say 'Si Si'" Bones Howe worked for Bing before he became an engineer and producer for '60s superstars like The Mamas and the Papas and The 5th Dimension. These two tracks hail from Bing's late '50s recording Fancy Meeting You Here, and they're stunning. It's hard to believe anything recorded prior to 1960 could sound this good. Great bass, stunning stereo imaging, expertly recorded vocals – it reaches a standard most rock acts wouldn't attain for another 15-20 years, in spite of technological advances. That's because good engineering isn't just a matter of technology – it's knowing how to record the instruments and the vocalists, where to position the mics, how to avoid overloads, how to equalize or otherwise process various elements, and so forth. Unfortunately these things are rapidly becoming a lost art, and recorded music is suffering as a result. Many of the new releases I've heard over the past couple of years have been overcompressed, annoying sonic assaults as a result. No wonder record sales are tanking. Christopher Cross: "Sailing" This was ubiquitous 20 years or so ago for testing stereo equipment. Beautiful stereo soundstage, very transparent, lots of high and low-end activity. The Doors: "Touch Me", "People Are Strange", "Hello, I Love You", "Riders On The Storm" Some of their early tracks don't sound so great, but their later tracks from the recent remasters (I have their Legacy collection) are spectacular. Earth, Wind & Fire: "Shining Star", "Fantasy", "September" All taken from their Greatest Hits collection, which was remastered a few years back. Some of the best-sounding music from the '70s, very dynamic and alive, with tons of high-end material and solid bass. Brassy and bold, a real workout at high volumes. Eurythmics – "It's Alright (Baby's Coming Back)", "Don't Ask Me Why", "Never Gonna Cry Again", "Beethoven (I Love To Listen To)", "Love Is A Stranger", "I've Got An Angel" Their ability to radically change styles from album to album makes them the perfect stereo test material – same singer, completely different sound. "It's Alright" hails from their 1985 album Be Yourself Tonight, and is a great example of aggressive '80s pop-rock. "Don't Ask Me Why" is plucked from their early '90s Greatest Hits package, and is a good sample of that era's production techniques, with an excellent soundstage. "Never Gonna Cry Again" hails from a German remaster of their 1981 album "In The Garden", a great take on Krafterwerk-esque krautrock with gauzy vocals from Lennox and lots of subtle high-end content. "Beethoven" hails from 1986's Savage, and sports stark Syncalvier-sampled vocals with incredible presence. I auditioned this one on a pair of large Magnepan speakers and was creeped out by the experience – it literally sounded like Annie Lennox was in the room. "Love Is A Stranger" and "I've Got An Angel" come from their breakthrough 1983 CD Sweet Dreams, and feature a clean high end and extremely deep bass, especially on the recent remaster, which sounds spectacular. Fleetwood Mac: "Landslide", "Rhiannon", "Don't Stop", "Go Your Own Way", "Gypsy", "Sara", "Over My Head", "Gold Dust Woman", "Think About Me", "I Know I'm Not Wrong", "Never Forget" Most of these tracks are taken from their Greatest Hits CD, released in the 1990s. There have been recently issued remasters of their albums which sound incredible, along with a new greatest hits package. Mac's recordings were big-budget affairs in some of the finest California studios, made with the full support of the Warner Brothers machine which also brought us sterling recordings from Joni Mitchell, Linda Ronstadt and The Eagles, but I think Mac's tracks are the best-sounding of the Laurel Canyon bunch, which is really saying something. "Landslide" features brilliant guitar work, "Rhiannon" beautiful layered bass, "Don't Stop" has copious midrange and high-end content (that tacked piano is great for revealing any unnatural emphasis, ringing or response notches in midranges or tweeters), "Go Your Own Way" is rich with big booming drums, "Gypsy" is another high end showcase and "Sara" couples a ton of high-end with a deep soundstage. "Over My Head" is a showcase for Christine McVie's soulful mellow vocals – you'd be amazed at how many speakers seem to swallow her voice, a sure sign of midrange issues. "Gold Dust Woman" comes from the Rumours CD itself, and couples a deep soundstage with an active high end and booming drums – it's a real speaker workout. "Think About Me", "I Know I'm Not Wrong" and "Never Forget" hail from 1979's Tusk, one of the first digitally-recorded rock albums. It's amazingly crisp without being particularly harsh, unlike a lot of the recordings which followed it. "I Know I'm Not Wrong" was recorded in Lindsey Buckingham's living room, and it's interesting to hear how different speakers reproduce the resulting soundstage. Peter Gabriel – "Lead A Normal Life", "I Have The Touch", "This Is The Picture (Excellent Birds)" Gabriel was a mainstay of stereo test discs for the better part of the 1980's and early '90s, thanks in large part to his early embrace of the Fairlight CMI sampling keyboard. Unfortunately, as the recently released remasters of his '80s recordings reveal, the early Fairlights were 8-bit samplers, resulting in quite a bit of noise and digital grain – you can clearly hear samples cutting in on these remasters. Still, the vocals are well-recorded and there are some interesting synthetic soundstages and bass content. Astrud Gilberto – "Fly Me To The Moon", "Here's That Rainy Day" Gilberto's "Fly Me To The Moon" is aural estrogen, beautifully recorded. An excellent demonstration of female vocals backed by a lovely pop band. "Here's That Rainy Day" is taken from the wonderful Verve Remixed, Volume 2, and in addition to her lovely girlish vocals sports a wonderful low end. Annie Lennox – "A Thousand Beautiful Things", "Honestly", "Why", "Money Can't Buy It", "Little Bird", "Primitive", "I Can't Get Next To You" While her work with Eurythmics provides a good sample of '80s production techniques and sounds, her solo work exceeds its contemporaries from a sonic standpoint, making it perfect material to test the limits of speaker performance. "A Thousand Beautiful Things" and "Honestly", taken from her 2003 release Bare, are flawless recordings with incredible soundstages and a range of content to challenge any driver. "Why", "Money Can't Buy It", "Little Bird" and "Primitive" all hail from her 1992 solo debut Diva, one of the first recordings to fully exploit the capabilities of the Compact Disc. All of the tracks feature glittering highs and Lennox's husky, well-recorded vocals. Even more remarkable is the bass – the intro to "Money Can't Buy It" is a woofer torture test that most speakers utterly fail to this day. "Primitive" features deep bass content which continues throughout most of the song, underneath quiet and understated instrumentation and vocals – the test here is to see if the deep bass leads to coloration of distortion of the other material. On the uptempo "Little Bird" the test should be if individual instruments remain discernable during the busier passages of the song, as they should. The surprising thing about Diva is the low level non-linearity of the recording, an artifact on many early digital recordings. You'd think this would detract from the overall fidelity, but it doesn't – a testament to the care with which the vocals and other instruments were recorded and mixed, and how the end-product was mastered. Finally, "I Can't Get Next To You" is taken from her covers disc, 1994's Medusa, and is a lovely combination of electronic instruments, Lennox's vocals, and a wonderful Spanish guitar, all of which results in a crisp, transparent soundstage on good speakers. Gordon Lightfoot: "If You Could Read My Mind" I'm not a huge country or folk fan, but Lightfoot straddled the line between the two and "If You Could Read My Mind" is one of the most beautifully-recorded samples of either genre. This one's taken from his recent Complete Greatest Hits compellation, which improves greatly on the sonics of his earlier Gord's Gold collection. You'll find it hard to believe this track hails from the early 1970's. Madonna: "Holiday", "Borderline", "Vogue", "La Isla Bonita", "The Power of Goodbye", "Nothing Really Matters" I know what you're probably thinking – Madonna?!? But from her debut onward, she's consistently released some of the best-engineered recordings out there, head and shoulders above her contemporaries. Her first greatest hits package, The Immaculate Collection, is the source for the first four tracks. Remixed with Q Sound, a positional three-dimensional sound processing algorithm, the tracks sport an unnaturally wide and deep soundstage which is, nevertheless, quite pleasing. Things to listen for with these tracks include any really unnatural artifacts or tweeter ringing from all the high-frequency content. The final two tracks come from her William Orbit produced 1998 record Ray of Light, with their electronic burbling and rumbling providing a wonderful counterpoint to Madonna's surprisingly rich vocals. The Mamas & The Papas: "Go Where You Wanna Go", "I Saw Her Again", "Once Was a Time I Thought", "Twelve-Thirty", "Midnight Voyage", "Dream A Little Dream Of Me" The Mamas & The Papas were to the 1960's what Fleetwood Mac would be to the 1970's. Engineered by the legendary Bones Howe, like the 5th Dimension recordings these tracks have a vibrancy and a soundstage which defies the limitations of the era's technology. Mama Cass has a unique voice, more pop than rock, which makes her something of a unique test for midrange speaker performance. Steve Miller: "Space Intro", "Fly Like An Eagle", "Take The Money And Run" The recently released 30th Anniversary Special Edition of Miller's Fly Like An Eagle album is a real sonic masterpiece – arena rock never sounded this good before. The low and high-end performance is really stunning, the imaging is improved (especially the vocals) and Miller's synths never sounded better. The combination of electronic and acoustic instruments (listen to those drums on "Take The Money And Run"!) provides a wide range of tones and timbres for speakers to handle. Joni Mitchell: "Night In The City", "Conversation", "Court And Spark", "Help Me", "Car On A Hill", "The Hissing Of Summer Lawns", "Hejira", "Off Night Backstreet" Mitchell herself produced these tracks, but even she acknowledges engineer Henry Lewy was essentially her co-producer, and his spectacular work at A&M Studios set a standard I don't think anybody has ever really matched. Mitchell certainly hasn't produced anything as sonically pleasing since ending her association with Lewy after 1979. "Night In The City" is amazingly crisp, highlighting Mitchell's high clear early vocals. "Conversation" features some of the best-recorded acoustic guitars ever. "Court And Spark", "Help Me" and "Car On A Hill" come from arguably Mitchell's finest recording, Court And Spark, and feature a somewhat more muted, jazz influenced sound. "The Hissing Of Summer Lawns" is a comparatively low-fi affair, sounding more like a television soundtrack recording, but that in itself makes it interesting test material. "Hejira" from the album of the same name, and "Off Night Backstreet" from Don Juan's Reckless Daughter are sterling examples of '70s high-fi, and equal to anything being done by Fleetwood Mac or Steely Dan during the same period. Check out the Jaco Pastorius bass which opens "Hejira" – many speakers have trouble accurately reproducing it at high volume. Warners released HDCD remasters of these albums around the turn of the century and they're pretty spectacular. If you have the earlier CD releases replace them with these remasters. Dolly Parton: "9 To 5" This is the film-soundtrack version, taken from The Essential Dolly Parton compellation. Of particular interest are Dolly's multi-tracked vocals, those typewriter bells, and some wonderful rhythm guitar work twanging in from outer space. This mix is longer than the more familiar single mix, and features a wonderful New Orleans-style band weaving in during the fadeout. Pet Shop Boys: "Heart", "I Want A Dog", "Single" "Heart", from their 1987 album Actually, is one of the earliest examples of just how intense the bass coming from a CD could be in comparison to LPs (this kind of bass would pop a needle right out of the groove on a conventional 33 1/3 RPM album if unattenuated). The track also features a glittering high end. "I Want A Dog" from the subsequent Introspective sports even more intense bass, the kind of grinding which can not only reveal driver weakness but also nasty cabinet resonances, always an issue in large, cheap speakers which aren't properly braced and dampened. "Single" off of the '90s release Bilingual is noteworthy for its Brazilian percussion and a deft layering of acoustic instruments and percussion with electronics and vocals. Prince: "Black Sweat", "What Do U Want Me 2 Do?", "Christopher Tracy's Parade", "New Position", "Mountains", "Anotherloverholeenyohead", "When Doves Cry", "Soft And Wet", "Kiss" Prince's sonic masterpiece is his 1986 soundtrack for Under The Cherry Moon, featuring tracks like "Kiss", "Christopher Tracy's Parade", "New Position" and "Mountains". This album in particular features slamming bass and a whip-snapping high end, with some of the best stereo imaging ever (listen to the kisses in "Kiss" – they should be distinctly identifiable on good speakers). "Black Sweat" and "What Do U Want Me 2 Do" hail from his more recent albums but maintain similar standards. "Soft And Wet" and "When Doves Cry" are older tracks, but not much older, and are representative of their era. The Rolling Stones: "Angie", "Waiting On A Friend", "Country Honk", "Monkey Man", "She's A Rainbow", "2000 Light Years From Home" In my opinion the Stones didn't become a major creative force until well into the early years of the high-fidelity era (at least, for rock), and tracks like "Angie", and even earlier material like "Monkey Man" off the SACD remaster of Let It Bleed, exceed the fidelity of most of the Beatles' late '60s releases (at last, as currently available on CD). "2000 Light Years From Home" sports pretty incredible bass for its age, and even lower-fi tracks like "Waiting On A Friend" are useful for assessing how a speaker handles more typical pop recordings from the '60s thru into the early '80s. Linda Ronstadt: "It's So Easy" It's actually not so easy to pick Ronstadt tracks, since almost all of her '70s output sounds great. Kudos go to producer Peter Asher. I picked this track because it sounds a lot like The Eagles, so you can kill two birds with one stone and assess how both acts might sound on a given pair of speakers. Boz Scaggs: "Breakdown Dead Ahead" The last decade of the analog era produced arguably the best-sounding rock recordings ever made, and this is one of them. Yeah it's slick and hyper-produced, but it's never shrill or unnatural like so much of the material which followed it in subsequent years. I don't blame digital recording for the overall decline in audio quality which took hold in the 1980s – a more harsh, less natural, more shrill sound simply became trendy during the '80s, overwhelming some of the benefits of digital recording (indeed, making their enhanced crystalline accuracy a drawback instead of an advantage). Nina Simone: "Love Me Or Leave Me", "Black Is The Color Of My True Love's Hair", "Ain't Got No / I Got Life (Groovefinder Remix)" The interesting thing about Nina Simone is that her older Verve recordings sound much, much, much better than her RCA stuff, which came later but sonically is really primitive stuff. "Love Me Or Leave Me" hails from her essential Verve collection Nina Simone's Finest Hour, and is a great example of how good '60s jazz/pop should sound, with crisp piano work and well-defined vocals. Simone has been a favorite of late with remixers, and here selections here from Verve Remixed 2 and a Simone-specific Remixed And Reimagined release make wonderful test pieces. Dusty Springfield: "Needle In A Haystack", "Don't Forget About Me", "The Windmills Of Your Mind", "What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life", "That's How Heartaches Are Made", "If It Hadn't Been For You", "The Look Of Love" Dusty's catalog is a real mixed bag from a fidelity standpoint, but this has its advantages as it allows you to test speakers with less-than-ideal material. "Needle In A Haystack" is a recent remix of a previously unreleased track, taken from the US Anthology release. The fidelity here is great – they remixed the original multitrack masters in the late '90s, and Dusty's '60s vocals never sounded finer. "Don't You Forget About Me" and "The Windmills Of Your Mind" come from her seminal LP Dusty In Memphis, here represented by the mid-'90s Rhino Deluxe Edition. Memphis was always a hissy recording – the original masters were destroyed long ago in a huge fire along with the rest of Atlantic's priceless masters (say goodbye to all of Aretha's classic recordings, too) – but the stereo imaging is good and the hiss at least imparts a wonderful aura of space to the soundstage as it enhances the apparent high-end. A UK remaster came out a few years later that NoNoised the recording TO DEATH without properly accounting for the lost high-end. "What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life" was recently resurrected for a diamond commercial on television, which is when I realized how stunning this recording sounds. It's available on the Dusty In London compellation. The other tracks come from the US editions of her earlier records, and they're great examples of fairly low-fi '60s pop. If you listen to this style of music though (think old Motown) it's crucial you test your speakers with it. No point buying speakers that'll make these tracks unlistenable due to odd colorations or other defects. "The Look of Love" is the exception here – it was apparently recorded by Burt Bacharach himself, and features some pretty funky engineering. Dusty sounds like she's coming out of some wormhole from another universe, which is a unique effect, especially when well-rendered by a good set of speakers. Steely Dan: "Peg", "Josie", "Hey Ninenteen", "Time Out Of Mind" Four of the best-sounding tracks ever recorded, two from Aja, two from Gaucho. There are probably another dozen SD tracks you could pick, but since nobody else really sounds like them I'm hesitant to load the list with too much SD. Anyhow, I already have a ton of Fleetwood Mac on the list, which already provides a huge sampling of hyper-produced '70s studio rock. The big difference between the two is that where Mac sometimes revels in its impossibly lush production and indulges its acoustic folkie tendencies, SD tends to be a bit more spare, crystalline and electric with its overproduction. The FM mixes often have more fullness and depth as a result, with all sorts of cool and hypnotic spatial cues, but you can't hear thru them as clearly to pick out individual elements as you can with the SD stuff. The high end is generally sharper with SD too, especially on Gaucho with its drum machines. I've got a few other acts I'd include on this list, like Sting, Al Stewart, Stevie Wonder, Yes (tracks from 90125 especially), Jean-Michel Jarre (stuff from Equinoxe and Oxygene), and a few select soundtrack items from John Williams and Jerry Goldsmith (his soundtrack from the 1st Star Trek film is a stereo test disc in its own right - it's certainly better than the film that inspired it), but that should be enough to test any speakers for a pop/rock listener.