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Audiophile Best Test Songs???


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16 hours ago, babadono said:

caution: digital cannons

Being one of the first 3 people in Michigan to buy a CD player, back in 1982, this was the CD talked about at a local Audio Engineering Society meeting, where the presenter said that CD was used to calibrate Subwoofer levels, so that the woofers didn't end up on your lap!! LOL. It was a great Khorn demo disc also, and one of the first ones that needed a "CAUTION" sticker on it. With my BIG Tapped Horn Subwoofage, this is no longer a challenge, or anything to worry about as far as safety is concerned with 1-4 Kilowatt power handling of the horn loaded drivers.

 

Great recommendation. Yes, I still have mine after all these years.

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5 hours ago, ClaudeJ1 said:

Being one of the first 3 people in Michigan to buy a CD player, back in 1982, this was the CD talked about at a local Audio Engineering Society meeting, where the presenter said that CD was used to calibrate Subwoofer levels, so that the woofers didn't end up on your lap!! LOL. It was a great Khorn demo disc also, and one of the first ones that needed a "CAUTION" sticker on it. With my BIG Tapped Horn Subwoofage, this is no longer a challenge, or anything to worry about as far as safety is concerned with 1-4 Kilowatt power handling of the horn loaded drivers.

 

Great recommendation. Yes, I still have mine after all these years.

Yep, totally the go-to CD back in the day.  That one and another called "The Digital Domain" (picture below).  Also, Mannheim Steamroller's Fresh Aire III track 1, "Toccata".

 

  image.png.01d35056138c39325c895b4d7e6b730f.png

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13 hours ago, codewritinfool said:

Yep, totally the go-to CD back in the day.  That one and another called "The Digital Domain" (picture below).  Also, Mannheim Steamroller's Fresh Aire III track 1, "Toccata".

 

Toccata by Mannheim Steamroller was always one of my go to's! It always impressed people when I played it, but not many were familiar with it, they would always comment on how good it sounded. But, got much more of a reaction when playing something they already were extremely familiar with but never knew how good it could sound.

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Lots of good suggestions here.  I will add mine;

 

Mickey Hart - Dafos CD (but free for Prime members on Amazon Music) - This is an "out there" sort of album but from soft to loud it can really stress and test a system

Nitty Gritty Surround Band - AIX Records - DVD-A

Dark Side of the Moon - SACD

Led Zeppelin II - Japanese Pressing Vinyl 

 

I have others depending on who is listening but those are my favorites.

 

Laters,

Jeff

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Today Steve Guttenberg the Audiophiliac posted a link on his YouTube channel to a free download of high quality audiophile recordings that are very very good sounding. Minimal production two microphone, two track, uncompressed recordings of some interesting jazz and ethnic stuff. There's twelve tracks and the files are 44.1/16bit wav. Worth a listen and a good work out for your system.

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Just came across this via Reddit. Currently downloading to see what they've got in there.

 

 

 

There's a little image that says "A Free Audiophiliac MA Recordings Sampler download" and it takes you to a file sharing service here: https://we.tl/t-V7yzZ8N0Va

 

Quote

The MA Recordings Sampler download is available on their website. https://www.marecordings.com  I found it easier to download on my computer than my phone.

 

The Sampler's (Partial) Liner Notes

 

I hope this finds you well, wherever you may be.  My name is Todd Garfinkle, the producer and engineer of the MA Recordings label.  I am writing you from the relative safety and comfort of my home in Los Angeles. This week, I had an idea to contact our mutual friend, The Audiophiliac, Steve Guttenberg, to inquire as to whether or not he would be interested in me assembling a “Stay at Home” sampler of tracks from the recordings of mine he has mentioned over the years. He readily went for it and here we all are!  There are a dozen tracks with a total time lasting 82 minutes and 42 seconds. They are 44.1 kHz WAV file tracks,  and by the way, all tracks were recorded with only two omni-directional microphones, except for track 3 which was a live recording in Tokyo.  So, here we go!

 

 

 

“Gajdarsko Oro” - from Krushevo; MA catalog #: M044A

“Jano mori” - from Krushevo; MA catalog #: M044A

These first two tracks are from “Krushevo” the Balkan cult recording I did in 1998 in the Republic of Macedonia, now officially called the “Republic of North Macedonia” due to the intense opposition from Greece which has always had its own territory traditionally called “Macedonia.”  The recording venue was the “Makedonium” National monument that Josef Tito had constructed in the 1070’s to commemorate the slaughter of the Macedonians during the Ilinden Uprising.

 

“Honey Suckle Rose/Ain’t Misbehavin’” - from The Very Thought of Two by Sheila Jordan & HarvieSwartz

MA catalog #: M005A   This is a live concert recording that I did (in 1989) while living in Tokyo. I got involved in a bit of concert promotion before establishing MA and this is one of the concerts I produced.  Steve Guttenberg really likes this recording, I think more for the incredible performance than the sonics.

I tend to agree.  Sheila was around 60 years old when we did this. Unbelievable!

 

“Saint Thomas” - from Songs From Within by Sheila Jordan & Harvie Swartz; MA catalog #: M014A                 

I also wanted to present Sheila and Harvie in what is undoubtedly a much better acoustic setting. This is the album we recorded while they toured Japan to promote the above live Tokyo Concert album.

 

 

 

“Gitana”  Silvia Perez Cruz + Ravid Goldschmidt - from Llama;  MA catalog #: M070A

This album was recorded over a period of three evenings in a small chapel in the Bari Gotic quarter of Barcelona, Spain. 

 

 

 

 

“Marvin`s Udu Voodoo” -  from Ghatam by The Antenna Repairment; MA catalog #: M038A

Next we have a rather long track from one of Steve’s favourites, “Ghatam” by the Antenna Repairmen

The “Ghatam” project represents the culmination of a work by three California based percussionists and a rather prolific and creative potter.

 

 

“Minor`s Boogie” - from Man From Plovdiv by Milcho Leviev; MA catalog #: M018A

This is one of the first recordings I did for MA, although it was released a few years after it was produced.

In the late 80’s, I flew Milcho from LA to Japan where we went up to the Harmony Hall in Matsumoto,   Japan and recorded two albums over a period of only three days.

 

“Gears” - from With Space in Mind by percussionist Mark Nauseef; MA catalog #: M020A

I took Mark up to the Harmony Hall in the early 90s, to record this solo project. 

“Victimae paschali laudes” - from Sous les voûtes le serpent .... by Michel Godard; MA catalog #: M048A

French born Michel Godard is a master of the modern Tuba, as well as the Serpent, the Renaissance predecessor of the tuba. Michel plays the Serpent on most of this record which is both avant-garde and Medieval in scope.

 

 

 

“Batuta Lui Costel Sarambel” - Hora Tiganeaska - from Departe de Casa; MA catalog #: M060A   

Producing this album was truly an adventure and a tremendous learning experience!  In the spring of 2001, I traveled to Paris from Tokyo to promote MA at the “France Musique” Music Fair. Paris is quite well known for the musicians that play in the subway system and the Paris Metro is where I met the musicians that played on this recording!  

 

Gregorian Chant with Peter Epstein (Fall 2020 release)

In the spring of the year 2000, I found myself with saxophonist Peter Epstein in a Catholic church on a hill overlooking Rovato, a smallish town in the Italian Brescia region.

 

“Izvor” Miroslav Tadic: guitar + Santiago Vasquez: percussion and tabla.

 

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For me it is those three albums or on remastered Cd:

 

Weather Report - 8.30 Live Album

Al Di Meola - Casino 

Al Di Meola - Land Of The Midnight Sun

I have the albums and the Japanese remasters....

Brings back great memories....

 

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Big fan of Mojo Pin from Jeff Buckley to show off the system.

 

The way his voice lifts at the start and then you can literally hear his lips smacking on the opening verses......it's pretty amazing.  Listening to it on Qobuz right now.

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Welcome to the world of impeccable sound, the " IN-AKUSTIK REFERENCE SOUND EDITION ". This remarkable sound carrier from In-Akustik has been assembled with a love of musical detail. RESO Mastering, the new high definition maserting procedure, provides significant acoustic improvements in transparency, dynamics,bass reproduction and depth differentation. The music is gaining more atmosphere and emotion. To best transmit this musical experience, the Direct Metal Mastering ( DMM ) technique is employed and 180 gram pure Vinyl ( Virgin Vinyl ) is used for the sound carrier.

 

https://www.in-akustik.de/en/music-media/

 

 

 

Inakustik 1.jpg

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For "Live" in concert recordings:

 

Return To Forever The Mothership Returns 

Great Imaging, sound stage. Very much like being there on my setup.

 

The Mothership Returns [2 CD/DVD Combo]

 

 

And The Eagles Live 1994 Hotel California

Eagles: Hell Freezes Over Poster

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Roger Waters Amused to Death

 

This recording was made with "Q-Sound" surround sound stereo processing. With the "right" equipment and conditions the imaging way outside, beyond the width of the speaker spacing is uncanny.

 

Amused to Death By Roger Waters (1999-01-25)

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