test music recomendations

[ssyfert]

Hi there, I'm in the market for some new music to push my speakers. What's the first CD you use to fully test your new design, or what is the CD you pull out when you just want to enjoy your speakers? I'm starting to get into jazz (I like the saxaphone along with bass and piano). Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[mzisserson]

Hi there, I'm in the market for some new music to push my speakers. What's the first CD you use to fully test your new design, or what is the CD you pull out when you just want to enjoy your speakers? I'm starting to get into jazz (I like the saxaphone along with bass and piano). Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Test music is nice, but you need to use your music. If all you listened to was test music, your library would be small and 20 min. long


That said:

Pomp and Pipes
Blue man group
Yellow Jackets "live wire"
Bruce Katz "three feet off the ground"
Patricia Barber (any)
Holly Cole "Don't smoke in bed"
Puddle of Mud (any)
Metallica "death magnetic"
Stereophile test cd's music tracks
Pink Floyd "the final cut"
Deliearium "spheres"

I can go on and on... There's lots of great stuff out there, but any one of them at any time I will put on.

[daver]

Here's a link to a thread where several contributors provided some good suggestions.

http://techtalk.parts-express.com/sh...d.php?t=214016

[rogoll]

There are many test CDs available. I've purchased one that I like pretty well, but that was before someone introduced me to Bink's Audio Test CD. Download the audio as well as the MS Word document that contains information on the various tracks contained on the CD. This is one tool that every DIYer should have.

[ajinfla]

Hi there, I'm in the market for some new music to push my speakers. What's the first CD you use to fully test your new design, or what is the CD you pull out when you just want to enjoy your speakers? I'm starting to get into jazz (I like the saxaphone along with bass and piano). Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Klazz Brothers/Sony

Dave-Brubeck/Telarc

Joshua-Redman/Warner

Arturo Sandoval/SBME

[arlis_1957@yahoo.com]

this may sound a little strange but........... go to amazon.com/mp3 and you can listen to 30 second clips of many, many artists.
dave coz, david sanborn. sax
larry carlton. guitar.
just do a search for jazz, you'll get pages.

[Mark65]

Test music is nice, but you need to use your music. If all you listened to was test music, your library would be small and 20 min. long


That said:

Pomp and Pipes
Blue man group
Yellow Jackets "live wire"
Bruce Katz "three feet off the ground"
Patricia Barber (any)
Holly Cole "Don't smoke in bed"
Puddle of Mud (any)
Metallica "death magnetic"
Stereophile test cd's music tracks
Pink Floyd "the final cut"
Deliearium "spheres"

I can go on and on... There's lots of great stuff out there, but any one of them at any time I will put on.

"The Final Cut"? "Death Magnetic"? Are you kidding? Let's see, Roger Waters' tribute to megalomania (with his own in the forefront), and Metallica's half-hearted attempt to sound like, well, Metallica?

Better choices from those two bands would be "Meddle", and "Master of Puppets", respectively.

On the other choices, I have no opinion, having heard none of them. Oh, wait, Blue Man group is pretty awesome, give them a listen.


Mark

[mzisserson]

"The Final Cut"? "Death Magnetic"? Are you kidding? Let's see, Roger Waters' tribute to megalomania (with his own in the forefront), and Metallica's half-hearted attempt to sound like, well, Metallica?

Better choices from those two bands would be "Meddle", and "Master of Puppets", respectively.

On the other choices, I have no opinion, having heard none of them. Oh, wait, Blue Man group is pretty awesome, give them a listen.


Mark

We were not talking best CD's Test CD's!!! Clean your ears!

Ever listen to Brown and mild eyes off the final cut? What about "South Hampton Dock?" Those songs are a trip wrapped in a psychedelic jacket!

As far as the new Metallica, it's good. It is what should have been continued after the Black album, and the sonics are really well done.

I was definitely considering sonics over bests, though they are not quite THAT bad.

MMmmmmm Master of puppets..... gues once a metal head, always: I do all to ofter like to rock.

[Mark65]

Ok, Ok, point taken.

The sounds on "The Final Cut" are awesome, it's just that the songs suck so bad...(although I actually do like "South Hampton Dock" and "The Fletcher Memorial Home") but you'll never convince me on "Death Magnetic", overly compressed, and desperate, bad combination.


Mark

[ddanrr]

I always like to test speakers with the instrumental YYZ by Rush. Just cleanly recorded and well played guitar, bass, and drums. Sounds a lot like a warm up jam, but fantastic on great speakers.

(PS: and I think the best song on The Final Cut is "the gunner's dream" no meglomania there just a great historical, emotional song)

[jliedeka]

I really like Abbey Road. In addition to vocals for mid-range, there is some excellent drumming to work the lows and highs. Plus there are some subtle guitar things to listen for which can tell you how good the transients are.

I would also add something symphonic that you know well. Any muddiness may indicate cabinet resonances especially where several instruments are playing and it seems smeared.

For the obligatory female vocals test, I use Sade mostly because I like her music and the production quality is decent.

Over all, the best test music is music you are familiar with. Even if you haven't heard it on a great system, you will know when it sounds better or worse than what you are used to.

Jim

[Æ]

I'll listen to Sade, her album Diamond Life. And Basia, her album London Warsaw New York.

Hi there, I'm in the market for some new music to push my speakers. What's the first CD you use to fully test your new design, or what is the CD you pull out when you just want to enjoy your speakers? I'm starting to get into jazz (I like the saxaphone along with bass and piano). Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[Jimador]

Use the music you listen to most and know best. Otherwise, how are you going to know what to listen for?

For me, the first track from Sonic Youth's Daydream Nation is a favorite. It's a TERRIBLE recording technically, but it has a great range of material. The initial wide band resonating bass line is perfect for discerning mid-bass balance and the fast paced high-hat over guitars makes it easy to characterize the high end response. Add in distinct passages of male and female vocals, and a large stretch of guitar work that's roughly akin to pink noise, and you've got yourself a pretty solid test suite in one song. As a bonus, the whole album rocks.

Of course, test discs are great for impressing your audiophile friends.

[jerryanderson]

On the smooth jazz side of things, The Rippington's have many fine CD's!
"Sahara & Black Diamond" are very fine CD's, with lots of keyboards & sax and plenty of detailed sound! Acoustic Alchemy is also another fine group to check out!

[gc1]

http://rateyourmusic.com/list/Studda...isc_gold_cds_/

Here's a list of good stuff...

[Dirk]

As far as the new Metallica, it's good. It is what should have been continued after the Black album, and the sonics are really well done.

I just threw up a little in my mouth.

Don't get me wrong, I LIKE Death Magnetic, but the engineering on the CD is total garbage. However, I have a copy of the album that was exported from the Guitar Hero downloadable content. There's way more dynamic headroom and no signs of clipping ANYWHERE. It's a completely different listening experience.

If you're the internet savvy type (ie, bittorrent), it's out there in FLAC format on most trackers.

As to my personal cuts, the first disc to go in is Tori Amos "Boys for Pele". Her voice is a good test for the midrange and the Bosendorfer piano present in most tracks helps assess tonal balance from 80hz on up through the BSC region.

The second disc is usually Dave Matthews "Before These Crowded Streets". The disc is a bit busy, but the complex bass lines and percussion will point out any slop in your woofers. The imaging is really good, too.

[learn2turn]

I'd look to David Grisman's Acoustic Disc label.

Here's a variety CD -- http://www.davidgrisman.com/acd_html/acd20.html

I find acoustic strings very revealing. You have the highs of mando and fiddle and the lows of guitar and bass, the staccato of picked strings and the legato of bowed strings.

Acoustic Disk also cares about fidelity and won't have some of the issue of contemporary commercial music like absurd compression.

My $.02

-l2t

[LouC]

I think the best audition is a compilation of your own favorites with as much diversity as you can have (good & bad mastered recordings). I have CD's with great music and horrible mastering. My demo has cuts from:

• Telarc orchestral, live jazz & piano solos
• Anita Baker, Dianna Krall, Maria Mulduar & Linda Ronstadt for female vocals;
• Chris Rea, Bill Withers, and Chris Isaac for male vocals;
• Cowboy Junkies - Trinity Session cuts for live "pop";
• Pink Martini; Cirque du Soleil
• Old- Santana, Blood Sweat & Tears, Michael MacDonald
• some horribly mastered cuts from the Cars & Rod Stewart.

My critical tune for voicing is Linda Ronstadt's "Ruler of My Heart"

[brianp]

I'm starting to get into jazz (I like the saxaphone along with bass and piano). Any suggestions would be appreciated.

I'd say, start delving into REAL jazz from the golden era of mid-1950s to mid-1960s. Much of this material was superbly recorded: live in a large studio, direct to analog 2-track through tubed electronics, so it captures the ambience of real instruments playing in real time in a real acoustic space, and sounds warm and natural. Rudy VanGelder was the greatest recording tech of the time, so you can't go too wrong with anything done at his studio. Depending on placement of performers and mics, the piano in some of them sounds a bit remote, but Rudy always just NAILED the horn sounds. For the most part, these sound WAY better than more recent recordings done with modern studio trickery.

Great labels of the era: Blue Note, Impulse, Verve, Mercury, Atlantic, Columbia. Great saxophonists: Coleman Hawkins, John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderly, Sonny Rollins, Dexter Gordon, Ben Webster (his 1959 "Meets Oscar Peterson" is one of the best sounding recordings in my collection), Lester Young, Charlie Parker (only recorded in mono -- he died before stereo became standard), Sonny Stitt, Roland Kirk, and MANY more. Great bands were led by the likes of Miles Davis, Charles Mingus, and Thelonious Monk -- many superb players passed through these ensembles.

There's lots of great music from that time to explore. If your local public library has a decent selection, that's a good way to get your feet wet. Enjoy!

[biff]

Stan Getz, Serenity, is stupendous for the music and the recording is great, too. Dave's True Story, (rhymes with rex) without bodies is a match for Patricia Barber with a bit more edge. Mark O'Connor's Hot Swing Trio with Jane Monheit is a big grin for a modern take on Django type stuff. Telarc's Breathe series jazz guitar CD is terrific, with Joe Pass, John Pizzarelli, the L.A. Guitar Quartet, Al DiMeola and others and also has some of the best sounding acoustic bass you'll find.

Jazz is like a big old halloween bag - a million different goodies to explore, looking for the audio equivalent of a Dove bar, and it's all cool except the horehound candies.