Music to test equipment by....

[the_nines]

In no particular order:

Dead Can Dance - Into the Labyrinth (Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab, Silver Label)
Willie Nelson - Stardust (45rpm, Classic Records clarity vinyl, single-sided)
Muddy Waters - Folk Singer (45rpm, Classic Records)
Rickie Lee Jones - It's Like This (45rpm, Analogue Productions)
Peter Gabriel - Passion (45rpm, Realworld records)
Peter Gabriel - So (45rpm, Classic Records clarity vinyl, single-sided)
Michael Jackson - Thriller (Japan press, 1982 Epic/Sony)
Count Basie & His Orchestra - 88 Basie Street (45rpm, Analogue Productions)
Illinois Jacquet - Swing's The Thing (mono, Quality Record Pressings QRP)
Stravinsky: The Firebird (Suite, 1919 Version) Borodin: Overture and Polovetsian Dances from Prince Igor - The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Robert Shaw (Telarc)
Richard Wagner - Lohengrin, Bavarian Radio Chorus and Symphony Orchestra, Rafael Kubelik (Deutsche Grammophon)
Beethoven - The Nine Symphonies, The London Symphony Orchestra, Josef Krips, (45rpm, Classic Records, clarity vinyl, single-sided)
Ry Cooder & Vishwa Mohan Bhatt - A Meeting By The River (Analogue Productions)
B.B. King - Live At The Regal (mono, ABC Paramount, 1965)
Dire Straits - Brothers In Arms (Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab)


.... to name just a few.

 

[Frank Sol]

Jack Johnson - Posters for soundstage

 

[nailer]

Whatever is in my current listening rotation.

 

[crazy eights]

Lou Reed - Walk on the Wild Side from the RCA & Arista remix box set, it's got everything you need, great bass, vocals, sax, imaging, dynamic range and recording quality with sections that push hard enough to challenge a speaker

 

[savatage1973]

I don't want to be mis-construed. I already admitted that I use some of the "stereotypical" recommended test albums, but that is because of my age and their popularity, and the fact that I like them and still listen to them regularly, so I am intimately familiar with what I think they "should" sound like (to me), so they make a good basis upon which for me to do a comparison. Your tastes may be different, so use whatever you like and are familiar with.

I listen to a diversity of music, and am open to listen to pretty much anything once--maybe only once, or maybe I'll run out and buy/order it tomorrow. That's how I "discover" new music, but if I've only heard it once or twice, it is not a good basis for me to use to evaluate gear.

It's not about finding the "holy grail" of the best recorded/engineered album with the greatest dynamic range on the planet--its all about what you listen to and like and know. At some point you have to draw the line between listening to the music and listening to the gear--if you are only listening to the gear, you are missing out on the music.

 

[dshoaf]

Crusaders: Chain Reaction. Yes, it was recorded with compression, but the sound of the tenor sax/bone as a single voice is what I listen for.

Dave Grusin on Sheffield: A Child is Born is an excellent single piano track to show see how well it is reproduced on the speakers. It is amazing how different that presentation can be. Best top reproducer I've found for piano are the Altec 604-8K or the UREI 811s - both coaxial horn combos.

Tower of Power: Squibb Cakes. If the hair didn't stand up on the back of my neck during Chester Thompson's organ solo then the speaker weren't ready for prime time. Oh, and if you're not out of your seat boogieing after this track - don't buy the speakers. You're not there yet.

Cheers,

David

 

[the_nines]

"Music to test equipment by...."

If you're going to test equipment, then you should be putting the equipment through the ringer. This means the best engineered, recorded and pressed media you can find.

I also would not bother testing with what I have heard countless times, I would test with something I've never heard before. Otherwise, my judgement would be subjective and skewed.

Quite the revelation.

 

[reynolds753]

Try this: side one, William Russo's Three Pieces for Blues Band and Orchestra, Seiji Ozawa conducting the San Francisco Orchestra with the inestimable Siegal-Schwall Band.

 

[teal'c]

Sir Mix A Lot - Posse On Broadway

Pink Floyd - Pigs (Three Different Ones), or Sheep, or Dogs

Pink Floyd - Comfortably Numb

LL Cool J - Going Back to Cali

Sade - The Sweetest Taboo

Rufus & Chaka Khan - Ain't Nobody
Taylor Swift - Blank Space
Nazareth - Hair of the Dog
Iggy Azalea - Fancy ft. Charli XCX
Jessie J, Ariana Grande, Nicki Minaj - Bang Bang
In The End - Linkin Park
Blondie - Heart Of Glass
Olivia Newton John - A Little More Love
Madonna - Vogue
Head East- Never Been Any Reason
Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Lucky Man

 

[JoeESP9]

Crusaders: Chain Reaction. Yes, it was recorded with compression, but the sound of the tenor sax/bone as a single voice is what I listen for. David

I have this on a MFSL release. Even though it's compressed it sounds very good.

 

[imral3]

Sir Mix A Lot - Posse On Broadway

Pink Floyd - Pigs (Three Different Ones), or Sheep, or Dogs

Pink Floyd - Comfortably Numb

LL Cool J - Going Back to Cali

Sade - The Sweetest Taboo

Rufus & Chaka Khan - Ain't Nobody
Taylor Swift - Blank Space
Nazareth - Hair of the Dog
Iggy Azalea - Fancy ft. Charli XCX
Jessie J, Ariana Grande, Nicki Minaj - Bang Bang
In The End - Linkin Park
Blondie - Heart Of Glass
Olivia Newton John - A Little More Love
Madonna - Vogue
Head East- Never Been Any Reason
Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Lucky Man

Sounds like a damn good playlist to me!!

 

[arts]

Just a personal note here regarding Dire Straits-Brothers In Arms; for a multitude of reasons,I have always preferred their first,self-titled album release.I find the sound quality to be exceptionally good,very dynamic,and the material to be somewhat more eclectic.This has always been one of my go-to albums for a fun listen

 

[justjed2]

Dire Straits - Telegraph Road
Robin Trower - Bridge of Sighs/In This Place(also - Bluebird)
Dixie Dregs - Odyssey
Mike Oldfield - Platinum, side one
Alan Parsons Project - Tales of Mystery and Imagination, side one

 

[noogies]

"I also would not bother testing with what I have heard countless times, I would test with something I've never heard before. Otherwise, my judgement would be subjective and skewed.

Interesting take -- most people would say you should use recordings that you're familiar with.

 

[AdamAnt316]

Some of my favorite test recordings and albums, in no particular order:
1. J. S. Bach - Toccata and Fugue in D-Minor
2. Aja (of course) or any other Steely Dan album
3. Donald Fagen - The Nightfly
4. David Gilmour - s/t
5. Tool - Undertow
6. Roger Waters featuring Pink Floyd - The Final Cut
7. Supertramp - Crime of the Century
8. The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
9. Steve Miller Band - Fly Like An Eagle
10. Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon

 

[the_nines]

Interesting take -- most people would say you should use recordings that you're familiar with.

Yes, sure, if you want. But that's not how I was treated when I sat down and auditioned new equipment. Yes, I brought along some albums, material I was familiar with. Sat down and listened. Nice, I always knew Kind of Blue was a great album, and the percussion on Santana's Abraxas was amazing. Or Rickie Lee Jones had an amazing voice which I am a huge fan of. Then the store proceeded to play some of its own material.

I thought I knew what an acoustic bass sounded like from playing my own records as a reference, but then I heard the bass lines on Ray Brown's "Soular Energy", a record I had never heard before. Stunned. Some of the deepest bass notes I ever heard (or felt) was courtesy of Dead Can Dance album "Into the Labyrinth" song called Yulunga (Spirit Dance). Stunned. Same goes for female vocals as I heard for the first time Lisa Gerrard sing "The Wind That Shakes The Barley" from the same album. Stunned. And, Melody Gardot's album "My One and Only Thrill" several tracks and in particular 'Over the Rainbow'. Stunned. Or, the eerie silence in a recording room from the album Folk Singer by Muddy Waters. Never heard this album before. Stunned. I thought I knew what Willie Nelson's guitar sounded like until I heard his album Stardust. Same goes for the harmonica. Stunned. Percussion courtesy of Ry Cooder's 'Buena Vista Social Club'. Stunned.

All to say, yes, I know what my albums sound like and what my system is able to reproduce when playing them. However, I did not know my system was capable of making my home vibrate by playing the deep bass notes on Yulunga , or having my wife tell me "Wow, you can actually hear the saliva in Melody Gardot's mouth as she pauses between verses".

And, as I said in my previous post, this new material was quite revealing. I also discovered new artists.

 

[JoeESP9]

Most of the selections that you were unaware of are widely known to be of demo quality. In fact I have most of them.

 

[BilboBaggins]

First of all, I was not offended by this post.

This question has come a lot in the years, and most no one really seems to pick good music for testing records, they all almost use the same old music, Dire Straights or Steely Dan, hell I am surprised someone doesn't pick the Beatles "Hey Jude".

One that I like to use is any good performance of Carl Orff's "Carmina Burana",

My response to this is one mans trash is another’s treasure. Since we all hear differently, and have different gear, it makes sense that there will be many different choices.

And yes, there are many sheep in the world. All you have to do is watch traffic flow in the city on multi lane roads to see people following the leader, even though they could simply change lanes to get where they want faster. They would rather turn off their brain and follow. We see that in many other areas, but I won’t tread there.

"Music to test equipment by...."

If you're going to test equipment, then you should be putting the equipment through the ringer. This means the best engineered, recorded and pressed media you can find.

I also would not bother testing with what I have heard countless times, I would test with something I've never heard before. Otherwise, my judgement would be subjective and skewed.

Quite the revelation.

I completely agree with this. If you don’t know the recording, how will you know if anything is missing, or something is there you never heard before?

In my opinion, I thing Sade - Love is Found is the best stress test I have found. It brings many systems I’ve tried it with to its knees! All of my keeper gear plays this song beautifully, even when I crank it up.

As well, I have a list of other songs that show me other aspects of a system.

Here is my song list.

1) Carpet Crawler - Original recording by Genesis. When Peter gets down low, many woofers/mids break up.
2) Anytime, Anywhere - Sarah Brightman - The mids and highs on this song will push a system to its limit, especially as you turn it up.
3) Shine on you crazy diamond - Pink Floyd - This is just such a beautiful song and hearing the tubular bells tells a lot about the detail the system is capable of.
4) Love is Found - Sade - Already spoken about. Just a really powerful song that will push your system to its limits!
5) Sorry seems to be the hardest thing - Ray Charles and Elton John - This is just a beautiful and powerful song. If it all sounds right, it’s a winner. Ray Charles also does a version of Fever on Genious loves Company that broke open some marginal foam surrounds for me.
6) Samba Pa Ti - Santana - What can I say? This is just a gorgeous, beautiful song!
7) Summertime - Janis Joplin - I like to listen to the guitar work
8) In the Air Tonight - Phil Collins - at 3:20 into the song (I think) the drums kick in! Nothing more to say
9) I Can See Clearly - Holly Cole Trio - I love hearing how the acoustic Bass sounds!
10) Barefoot - KD Lang - From the MTV unplugged compilation. It just blows me away, especially when she howls. Sends shivers down my body!
11) Sk8tr Boi - Avril Lavigne - there are some Sub Sonics at the beginning of this song that I never heard until I got better equipment. If the gear can’t play those sub Sonics, it won’t stay in my system.
12) Black - Pearl Jam - What can I say, I love the way it starts off muted, and suddenly it comes to life. Can reveal issues with gear.

 

[jimmkitts]

Food for thought:

The best answer to the question "Mayonnaise or Miracle Whip?" is either Mayonnaise or Miracle Whip. The BEST answer is not Mayonnaise or Miracle Whip followed by a listing of the inadequacies and shortcoming of those who answered differently.

 

[noogies]

Food for thought:

The best answer to the question "Mayonnaise or Miracle Whip?" is either Mayonnaise or Miracle Whip. The BEST answer is not Mayonnaise or Miracle Whip followed by a listing of the inadequacies and shortcoming of those who answered differently.

Huh?