[Wongway]

Originally Posted by jeffb335

But if you are going to try to "hear" issues the first song that jumps to my mind as its long been used as a demo track by us audio guys is Dire Straights: Money for Nothing, about 1 minute into the intro there is a drum crescendo with the drums panning from left to right and back. In a properly setup system those drums will sound like they are up on the dash, the bass should be up there too....and it should knock your head off! Muddled uneven left to right frequency response will have the bass pull back and be uneven as it pans back and forth.


Another example I think you could hear it on, but for a different reason....Social distortions latest album, "hard times and nursery rhymes".....at the beginning of the song "Gimme the Sweet and Lowdown", Mike Ness's voice is mixed pretty bottom heavy and falls right into the area where the underseat woofers take over for the door mids. It also has two distinct guitars tracks on the left and right channels, When its wrong the vocal gets a bit boomy and "thumps" on the harder syllables, this also pulls the vocal down and it looses its focus. I spent a lot of time with this track tuning my current system, playing with crossovers and getting things EQed right so that the transition between speakers is smooth...resulting in no thumps and the vocal staying high and centered while not screwing up the guitar tracks in the process.

Originally Posted by kaigoss69

Nice post Jeff! I am well aware of the Money for Nothing track, it is one of my favorites for testing stereo mid bass. Another great one is "Say Goodbye" by Dave Mathews Band, from the Central Park Concert album. The drum solo at the beginning of the track pans from left to right and back, over and over again, an awesome experience on a good system.

I recall them making posts like that awhile back, and it got me to wondering, what are some of your favorite tracks the rest of you guys use to test out your audio systems? And for what reasons?

[kaigoss69]

There are different categories to check. All of these are on Spotify.

Midbass impact:

• Take the power back - Rage against the machine (XX) - First 9 seconds only...the driest, tightest punch I have heard in a recording.
• Billie Jean - Michael Jackson (Thriller) - Nice dry mid-bass notes, not too deep, but yet powerful.
• Hey you - Pink Floyd (the Wall) - Drums start about 1:20 into the song...daddy likes!
• Say Goodbye - Dave Matthews (The best of what's around) - Intro with drums in stereo. If you don't hear them moving all over the place, you need to do some more work...
• An evening with el diabolo - Chevelle (Wonder what's next) - Very dry bass with a LOT of impact

Bass:

• Time of the season - America (Back pages) - Nice recording, lots of different bass notes to give your subs a workout
• Hyperballad - Bjork (Post) - Very low bass notes at beginning of song; your car should be shaking
• Timestretch - Bassnectar (Timestretch) - This electronic track will give your sub(s) a workout!
• Trust - Neon Trees (Picture Show) - This track has a little bit of everything - deep bass, mid bass, stereo mid bass.
• River of tears- live - Eric Clapton (One more car, one more rider) - The bass guitar and drums work together beautifully in this awesome track. One of my favorites!
• The island- Pt. 1 - Pendulum (Immersion) - Another great electronic track that will give your sub(s) a workout!

Tonality, Imaging & Staging:

• Masterpiece - Rickie Lee Jones (The devil you know) - Nice quiet track that is well recorded, with awesome vocals. You should be able to "see" Rickie in front of you, focused at a single location about center of the windshield, head high. If the image is at your knees, skewed toward the left, you need Time Alignment!
• Our love is easy - Melody gardot (My one and only thrill) - Great track for imaging. If you don't get goosebumps from her voice, well you know...you've got work to do!
• Comfortably numb - Pink floyd (The best of pink floyd) - Great track for checking dynamics of system.
• When you say nothing at all - Alison Krauss (Now that I've found you) - Another female voice goosebump track.
• Free Radicals - The flaming lips (At war with the mystics) - Check out your soundstage L&R boundaries!
• You're so vain - Carlie Simon (No secrets) - I know I know, it just sounds good though!
• Look around - Blues traveler (Four) - One of my favorites, this track just sounds awesome in so many ways.
• Hurt - Johnny cash (Unearthed) - What can I say, just listen and enjoy.
• Run - Leona Lewis (Spirit) - I'm a sucker for female vocals, and this one is my favorite. Great dynamics, too.
• Go insane - Remastered live version (The very best of fleetwood mac) - The guitar man, the guitar, oh my!

Edit: You need Spotify Extreme to get 320kbps quality, which is equivalent to CD. Anything with lower bitrate should not be used for SQ testing.

[Wongway]

very nice!

Even without Spotify, still not a bad idea to keep a USB or CD with most of these songs on it to pop in and listen for yourself either! Thanks kaigoss69!

[WilliamS]

Anything Michael Jackson or Fleetwood Mac. If you want to test the high range stuff original Mariah Carey Always Be My Baby she can and will make some ear bleed if your setup can handle it also has a decent low end in the song.

When I want to really put the whole setup on stage I will use my old trust Cyrstal Metod Vegas CD. Busy Child will wear out every part of a musical setup.

[ctuna]

echoes Pink Floyd

[Radioactive Yeti]

A true classic from the 90s!
Danger High Voltage Track : Bass Measured in Pounds

And also, Rage Against the Machine