What would be a great song to use while auditioning speakers?

[Gavilan355]

I want to use a well recorded song that has a variety of high's mid's and low's.

I was thinking of

Will you be there- Michael Jackson.

What other songs would be great?

 

[j_garcia]

Something that you like and know well. I can give you plenty of examples, but if you aren't familiar with them to know what to listen for, that won't do you any good.

 

[Gavilan355]

well just tell me, I would download it and listen to it. then I would go and audition them. I just want a well recorded song. also you could tell me what to look for specifically.

 

[markw]

There is no one song that has everything.

You should being a variety that suits your various tastes.

One song I like that does a good job for dynamics in a big band/swing/blues vein is "Toughen Up" By Clarance "Gatemouth" Brown on the album "Gate Swings".

A good test of a run o a fretless bass is "Flight of the Cosmic Hippo" by Bela Fleck on the album of the same name.

Now pick and choose the songs that embody what you want to listen for.

Likewise, I prefer to being an original CD. You never know how many time ssomthing has been stepped on otherwise.

 

[j_garcia]

Patricia Barber - Nardis off the album Cafe Blue. I could kind of do without the vocals, but there's wide range of tempo and instruments on the track. It is also a MoFi recording, so quality is excellent. I always bring it to test speakers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zi3i-HqDNFI

 

[Chicagorep]

well just tell me, I would download it and listen to it. then I would go and audition them. I just want a well recorded song. also you could tell me what to look for specifically.

Don't ever use a downloaded song to demo a system, all downloaded music quality sucks.

 

[GranteedEV]

don't ever use a downloaded song to demo a system, all downloaded music quality sucks.

flac? Alac? Ape?

 

[1hagop]

Woo Boost - Rusko

http://youtu.be/WtMlB-BEMso

 

[its phillip]

Don't ever use a downloaded song to demo a system, all downloaded music quality sucks.

Incorrect.

I will say that you should bring music you are familiar with though.

 

[GO-NAD!]

Guys, you might want to explain why a downloaded recording is not necessarily a bad thing. If the original recording has not been altered, i.e. compressed, then a downloaded copy won't be any different than the original.

For critical listening, I like to start off with a recording of a solo artist or small ensemble with acoustic instruments. I find it easier to pick out details that way. Then move on to something like an orchestral piece or big band to see how a speaker copes with a "busier" recording.

Of course, as already mentioned, it depends on what kind of music you like. Steely Dan are known for the quality of their recordings. Brothers In Arms, by Dire Straits is a good one too.

 

[its phillip]

Well, he didn't explain why "all downloaded music sucks," so I didn't feel like explaining either

But yes, a lossless rip of a cd will be identical, and there is plenty of lossless music available for download.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

One of the songs I like to test speakers is Pink Floyd - Wish you were here (same named song, not whole album)
In the beginning of it there is old cracle radio playing guitar and then "live" guitar solo starts. Right there on few first accords (I think it was Gilmour) touches strings (accidentally?) twice, very lightly and then a bit stronger.

I know this song deeply and I try to pin point this moment while auditioning for speakers. Money is another good song - very loud clinging of coins should not be harsh or fatiguing...

 

[Warpdrv]

BOOM BOOM POW ?>?>?>

There is so much great music to audition with - its really hard to narrow it down to just 1 song....

Sting's A Brand New Day in 5.1 DTS, track #3 "Small World, Big Lie":

Steely Dan's Gaucho on SACD

Talking Heads, Speaking in Tongues, dualdisc, with DVD-A or DD 5.1. Burning Down the House is my best test of drum kicking your butt

Donald Fagan - Morph The Cat


Lots and lots of great stuff out there, but I have to say that I am a bit biased, most of those are in fact great recordings, but they also have very well defined bass portions of their tracks...

Hey - Thats how I do, Don't worry about it...

 

[sawzalot]

I like Manfred Mann Blinded By The Light , excellent recording, puts me in a good mood as well

 

[Beatmatcher247]

You can't go wrong with bringing a few tracks that you are very familiar with on their original commercially purchased compact disc.

I use commercially purchased cd's for demoing because I don't want to be persuaded by anything besides the speakers ability to accurately reproduce the sound I'm feeding into them. I don't want a computer's sound card driver's eq to mess up what is being fed into the amplifier, an ipods, any other mobile device with built in eq'ing... I also don't want something I download on the internet that is supposed to be a .flac file with a certain bit rate turn out to be something else. With a commercially purchased cd I've listened to a bunch of times, I know what I have.

I also know that chances are, I can find a decent cd player and amplifier anywhere that I'm demoing the speakers I'm interested in. That may not be true if you've got your stuff downloaded onto a flash drive or whatever. If you burn it onto a disc you run the risk of happening upon a stereo dealer who has a player that does not play burned discs or cannot play certain file formats

My auditioning lineup.
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I myself use Type O negative's 13."Wolf Moon (Including Zoanthropic Paranoia)" - 6:37 off of the October Rust album. This is a far from perfect recording that I'm really familiar with. I use it to make sure that the speakers I'm listening to are revealing of its imperfections.

I also use 23."I'm Deranged" (Reprise) – David Bowie – 3:48 from the Lost Highway soundtrack. A much more refined recording that I know well.

Black Magic WOman/Gypsy Queen (Track 2, of disc one of Santana's Greatest Hits). I use this because I like to see how well they reproduce that classic recording sound.

All that Remains' Clarity (Track 4 on Behind Silence and Solitude album)... I listen to a lot of metalcore with some harsh vocals and guitar solos that will make your nipples hard. The instrumental section of this song that kicks in at about 2:30 is a must for me to audition speakers. It has some good cow-bell too. lol
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Make sure to cover the range of music genre's that you most like to listen to when demoing speakers. Using material you aren't really familiar with would be doing yourself a huge disservice.

I had a guy at a stereo store say, "you have to hear George Michaels on here." "WTF is that supposed to do man? I hate George Micahels. This will tell me nothing about these speakers besides they really irritate me when they're playing George Michaels."

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Make sure to cover the range of music genre's that you most like to listen to when demoing speakers. Using material you aren't really familiar with would be doing yourself a huge disservice.

I had a guy at a stereo store say, "you have to hear George Michaels on here." "WTF is that supposed to do man? I hate George Micahels. This will tell me nothing about these speakers besides they really irritate me when they're playing George Michaels."

I agree. I hate George Michaels too.

All of us are music fans. I'm sure we've been listening to music since we were teenagers.

Listening to some new songs a few days before the speaker audition doesn't cut it.

I think we have to use the same songs we've been listening to for a long time, espeically with our current speakers. Experience is everything.

I can sing every word to the songs I bring to audition even without the songs playing. I can tell if something sounds differently when I hear these same songs play on different speakers.

Don't we all have like a compiled CD of our few favorite songs?

 

[davidtwotrees]

It's been suggested to use hi rez recording like a DTS, DVDA or SACD. Which is all well and good, but the last time I went to audition, the shop owner didn't have a player that handled any of the formats. He was kind of an audiophile and said that was trickery and tubes and vinyl were the real deal...........
So, bring good, ol fashioned cds, imho.

 

[Gavilan355]

thanks every one for their response, When I download music I always get the uncompressed ones and with the bit rate of 320. I dont have many cd's. because I download all my music.

 

[its phillip]

Are you saying you get uncompressed music as in WAV in addition to 320, or do you think 320 is uncompressed? 320kbps mp3 is still lossy.

 

[Gavilan355]

Are you saying you get uncompressed music as in WAV in addition to 320, or do you think 320 is uncompressed? 320kbps mp3 is still lossy.

I download wav files and mlac, but if I do get mp3, I get the 320 kb/s