Songs to test speakers with

DonkeyStyle \o/ · 04-07-2007 6:43pm #1

Just listening to Bach - Toccata and Fugue in D Minor again and thought to myself, "Hot-diggity-damn this is a speaker test if ever I've heard one"... I'd certainly bring it (along with a few other tracks, maybe some Muse, Altern8) with me on CD if I was shop-demo'ing some speakers I was interested in.
I'm a bass freak... if the woofer is at all muddy it drives me nuts.

I thought it might make an interesting thread to see what musical benchmarks you guys would use to put a new set of speakers through their paces and what you look for the most.

MacGyver · 04-07-2007 6:51pm

very interesting idea. unfortunatly i've got to think about it, which means im getting no work done now

padi89 · 07-07-2007 9:45am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qv4ObWB4aRo

Amazing, always makes me go :eek:.
Funny thing is im not a Harry Potter fan.

Red Alert · 13-07-2007 9:32am

A set of speakers would have to do the following to my liking:

Dire Straits - Telegraph Road (Live)
Pink Floyd - Learning To Fly
Negrocan - Aquela Esquina
Groove Armada - At the River
Flaming Lips - The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song
Santana - Smooth

Kintarō Hattori · 13-07-2007 9:38am

If I was in the market for a new set of speakers I'd be giving the following a listen:

Nice Cave - People Just Ain't No Good
Tom Waits - The Heart of Saturday Night
Beck - Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime
Pachelbel - Canon in D
The Killers - All These Things That I've Done

BaZmO* · 20-07-2007 3:57pm

If Bass is your thing you have to try out Horizons by LTJ Bukem. It's got some amazing sub frequencies that aren't that clear on certain speaker set ups

mossym · 31-07-2007 9:09am

moloko, time is now is mine...deep bass guitar at the start, then an acoustic guitar kicks in...i've used it for a few sets of speaker purchases now and it's my main test tune..

BaZmO* · 31-07-2007 9:12am

I was reading something recently that said that Leftfield's "Leftism" album came out on top in a poll in one of those HiFi magazines as the album most people use to test new systems.

Slaphead07 · 31-07-2007 10:36am

Disc two of the The Brits Awards 1993. Honest. It's mainly musical muck but it has a great range of frequencies and styles and it's been a reference disk since eerrrrr 1993 it's very familiar - familiarity is extremely important as you need to know exactly what you're losing and gaining with any piece of new equipment (and not just speakers).

Beware of using deep synthetic bass as a test, there's no way you can know it's accurately reproducing the original recording. Always include acoustic piano, bass, vocals (both male and female) guitar etc so you'll know how neutral a system is - you don't want a system that distorts or colours a recording.

ZENER · 31-07-2007 7:09pm

Some might say the melody will distract you from hearing the speakers. So for me this works.

The guy is a genius and is touring Russia shortly. He works at UCD clonskeagh.

He does everything on a MacBook C2D and the attire he's wearing talks in MIDI !!!

ZEN

mossym · 01-08-2007 8:59am

bjork is another good one, most of her earlier songs go through the ranges from deep bass to her high pitched squeaking...

when i bought my current speakers, i took the followiung cds to the store to listen to.

snow patrol-final straw. first song has a really light build in,
moloko - time is now(or whatever cd has it on it) see above post, great range of sounds on this one.
band of brothers ost - as close to classical as i get, but a great speaker test, some speakers make this sound flat,
saving private ryan ost. omaha beach goes from barely there low volume to deep and powerful...a good test.

if i find speakers that play all those well, then i'm happy..

god's toy · 05-08-2007 1:33am

The KLF!

If your a deep bass lover you will like the 20Hz 'humm' that 'The KLF' use to put in to allot of the music they made.. but you really needed a good set of cans (or speakers) to hear it.

All aboard all aboard whoa-oh

Slaphead07 · 05-08-2007 11:11am

god's toy wrote:

The KLF!

All aboard all aboard whoa-oh

Slaphead07 wrote:

Disc two of the The Brits Awards 1993.

I think that's track 3 on disc 2 of the The Brits Awards 1993.

Soundman · 07-12-2007 6:01am

god's toy wrote: »

The KLF!

If your a deep bass lover you will like the 20Hz 'humm' that 'The KLF' use to put in to allot of the music they made.. but you really needed a good set of cans (or speakers) to hear it.

All aboard all aboard whoa-oh

20Hz isn't a humm, nor can you hear the frequency. It is sub-audible bass, the kind of stuff you feel, that moves you.

Favourite track for checking speakers with is Sade - No Ordinary Love.

RINO87 · 17-12-2007 5:53am

tubular bells 2!!

L31mr0d · 20-05-2008 11:51am

I use this free CD to test all my headphones and speaker setups

http://www.pointstone.com/steven/Audio/Ultrasone%20CD.rar

Its stereo lossless FLAC tracks. On a good sound system they sound simply amazing.

chavezychavez · 09-07-2008 11:27am

Around 6 mins 13 seconds into the original release of Delerium - Silence.
That will test any speaker set to the core.

Fuzzy Clam · 25-11-2008 2:07am

Soundman wrote: »

20Hz isn't a humm, nor can you hear the frequency. It is sub-audible bass, the kind of stuff you feel, that moves you.

20 Hz is certainly within the audible range of most people. I can hear it with no problem. Some can hear below 15 Hz.

Loveless · 25-11-2008 3:11am

My Bloody valentine "Only Shallow"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GB8nCE2EoIw

brendansmith · 25-11-2008 3:25am

The 'and justice for all' album by metallica really tests speakers and shows up bad ones immediatly.

CHuga CHuga CHuga

Low quality speakers arent able for it

bluto63 · 03-12-2008 4:34pm

I like using pulk, pull revolving doors by Radiohead to try out the bass

big_moe · 04-12-2008 12:13am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIOrC2F5-P0

craig armstrong, weather storm.

great separation and depth. and then also when the bass kicks in its a good test!

adam

Slaphead07 · 04-12-2008 9:48pm

L31mr0d wrote: »

I use this free CD to test all my headphones and speaker setups

http://www.pointstone.com/steven/Audio/Ultrasone%20CD.rar

Its stereo lossless FLAC tracks. On a good sound system they sound simply amazing.

It's not a test disk though. For a test disk to work you need to know where it was recorded, a studio, a hall or a church or whatever. You need to know where the musicians were standing in relation to each other. This gives you only track numbers.

Where it gives "sound effects" we need to know if the birdsong is in a field a cage in a room or an aviary. There's bees on that track too and they sound as if they were recorded elsewhere and overdubbed... that defeats the purpose. Was that rainfall in a field forest or city? Without knowing that we don't know what we should be hearing. Fireworks? What does that test?

It's interesting but it's no test disk. Even a compilation of familiar tracks will give you something to compare to... you might hear more detail or deeper bass but even then you'd need to know what the original recording sounded like to call it a test disk.

Mark#1 · 13-03-2009 2:00pm

+1 on Tubular Bells 2 - Mike's own perfect production, with plenty of stereo imaging to really give your ears a workout, For the same reason, the intro of Mike's Crises and William Orbit's Water From A Vine Leaf (from Strange Cargo III) will also give any speakers the chance to impress or disappoint.

I'd also have to bring The Truth by Limp Bizkit - the bass player uses low B quite prominently, and the production/mix has the potential to let it ring clear.

No Man's Land (from Hyperborea) by Tangerine Dream - great range of synth tones & stereo separation.

The Big Blue Overture from The Big Blue soundtrack by Eric Serra - crystal production.

Any Joe Satriani CD - power, clarity, full range of frequencies, brom synth bass & kick drum to searing high guitar notes, usually great production.

Johnny Clegg & Savuka's Cruel, Crazy, Beautiful World would also be along with me, as would Gamal by Zainal Abidin - production & musicianship on both are fantastic.

I'd also bring along some older material, from times when production wasn't what it's become today - Dave Brubeck's Take Five & Blue Rondo A La Turk, and La Paloma Azul for the background noises in the club as it was being recorded.

Maybe some Yes or Rush, where bass mattered to the band and engineer/producer, but the technology wasn't necessarily there to achieve perfection.

Something by the Moody Blues too, probably - big busy arrangements & lots going on: vocal harmonies and orchestrations as well as the typical rock band stuff.

Although technically, we can hear 20Hz, I'm not sure that it's the case that we actually "hear" 20Hz - AFAIK, it's the harmonics that make up the note that we actually hear, and it's the larger amounts of air that a speaker reproducing a 20Hz note moves that we feel in our chests and that makes our flares flap. I remember reading something along those lines on a pro sound engineer forum one time.

Mark

akaSol · 14-03-2009 2:14am

Brian Transeau's 1.618
Rolling Stones : (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction(Studio version not this live one)
Montserrat Caballé : La Mama Morta
Phil Collins: Take me home (studio Version not this live one)
Daft Punk : Tecnologic / Prodigy: Invaders Must Die
Christie Hennessy : Sunshine on my baby

>Sol

SlipperyPeople · 19-05-2009 11:41am

Around the world/ harder better faster stronger from the daft punk alive 2007 album

Thomas_S_Hunterson · 19-05-2009 11:43am

Timeless by Goldie

SidinNaas · 19-07-2009 4:49pm

Try The Collector by Cerrone. First couple of minutes with plenty of volume will give any speakers a good workout.

exaisle · 30-08-2009 5:00pm

Amateurs.....

Use Alan Parson's "Sound Check" or "Sound Check 2" if you can get your hands on it. Produced specifically for sound engineers.

Set up a home system or a stadium rig.

Find it, use it....wonder how you ever did without it!

About €50 if you can find it.

E.

PS (No, I wont give you a copy of mine).

patchmck · 16-11-2009 7:50pm

Dude above here recommended Horizons by LTJ, this track would be great for testing speaker bass. I'd prob go for another of his tracks called 'Undress your Mind', it has a wonderful bass groove that kicks in a few minutes into it.

If you really want to put them to the limit tho try rubber chicken by caspa, see what they can really do. Europe endless by kraftwerk is another solid choice for all roundness.

I have my eye on the B&W zeppelin, it allegedly sounds great and looks like a zeppelin, how awesome is that.

wreckless · 04-02-2010 4:50pm

would have to be breakbeat or drum and bass to test some speakers. gona try some later

C14N · 29-03-2010 11:47pm

I haven't actually gotten to try yet but I suppose when I do I'll try to get a good enough range.

All That Remains are a really heavy band that I like so I would probably try and get a listen of Chiron to see if it sounds good.

Maybe Roulette by System of a Down because it has a great accoustic guitar riff in it for the first verse and then some nice violin coming in.

Off the Video Games Live album I could take the Warcraft Suite for it's wide range of instruments (although could be replaced by many other classical orchestrated songs, I was just using an example).

I'd probably want to get the unplugged version of Layle by Eric Clapton on since it's a very high quality recording and I know exactly how it should sound (having played it myself many times).

I could also try either Battery by Metallica (S&M or studio) or Money for Nothing by Dire Straits. Both of these start off slow and suddenly break into something much faster and in both cases it kind of blows me away no matter how many times I hear it.

Can anyone tell me if these are actually any good or not? My theories could be completely wrong:o

gman2k · 19-07-2010 10:30pm

The Tracks onAlan Parsons & Stephen Court SOUND CHECK

The Race by Yello
Limelight by The Alan Parsons Project, featuring Gary Brooker.
Luv 4 Luv by Robin S.
Seasons Of Our Lives by Graham de Wilde and Mitch Dalton.
Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor. Daniel Chorzempa, organ.
Rigalleto transcription by Liszt. Jean Yves Thibaudet, piano.
Rite Of Spring by Igor Stravinsky: Deutsches Symphonie Orchester conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy.

gman2k · 21-07-2010 5:09pm

Got myself a copy of Soundcheck today,
here be the content listing - from a Russian Site, you may have to go through a translation if you are not on Chrome

windowgobo · 07-05-2011 12:52am

exaisle wrote: »

PS (No, I wont give you a copy of mine).

really? thats a shame...

AFL dubstep for response and Rage Against The Machine for sound quality

HiFi Guru · 16-05-2011 1:47pm

You should avoid listening to music you are unfamiliar with as you won't have a reference point to start from. Bass is the easiest frequency for speaker manufactures to overwhelm you with, treble is the real test of a speakers quality. That said everyone loves a good blast of bass now and again, so if you can think of your favorite songs and pieces of music with bass in them it should help you decide. Dance music has traditionally provided the best production of bass sounds in the past, so if you have any dance tracks you are particularly fond of use them. Leftfiled, Underworld, Basement Jaxx are classics, and if you've ever get a chance check out The Beastie Boys "Intergalactic" on a high end turntable set up, your jaw will hit the floor!!

Slaphead07 · 21-05-2011 2:34pm

HiFi Guru wrote: »

Leftfiled, Underworld, Basement Jaxx are classics, and if you've ever get a chance check out The Beastie Boys "Intergalactic" on a high end turntable set up, your jaw will hit the floor!!

Hardly a useful test for a listener. That's all synthetic bass and you'd be as well off using a CD (or album) of test frequencies. Real bass comes from real instruments so a cheap and cheerful copy of Dave Brubeck's "Take Five" would provide a far better reference... while you're at it try and hear the wood creak in the double bass during the quieter passages. A system with good resolution will reproduce this. If you want the deepest bass from an instrument then listen to some organ music, it's the instrument with the lowest natural frequencies.
Extreme frequencies are easy enough to reproduce so going lower or higher is no indication of accurate reproduction. It's easy to force speakers to deliver highs and lows and while they impress in a showroom they will quickly tire your ears at home.
Use familiar recordings of real instruments to test systems, not studio produced dance tracks.

Hermy · 27-12-2011 12:11pm

Aphex Twin - Ageispolis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlZ-NEMt_iI

gman2k · 27-12-2011 10:24pm

Slaphead07 wrote: »

Use familiar recordings of real instruments to test systems, not studio produced dance tracks.

And this is why Soundcheck is so useful;

Track 63: Piano (stereo)
Track 64: Acoustic steel-strung guitar - finger style (mono)
Track 65: Acoustic steel-strung guitar - strummed (mono)
Track 66: Nylon strung Spanish guitar (mono)
Track 67: Electric guitar - clean sound (mono)
Track 68: Electric guitar - distorted rock sound (mono)
Track 69: Bass guitar (mono)
Track 70: Flute (mono)
Track 71: Saxophone (mono)
Track 72: Bongos (mono)
Track 73: Tambourine (mono)
Track 74: Kick drum (mono)
Track 75: Snare drum (mono)
Track 76: Cymbals and hi-hat (stereo)
Track 77: Toms (stereo)
Track 78: Whole drum kit (stereo)
Track 79: Violins (stereo -1st violins panned left, 2nd violins paned right)
Track 80: Cellos and violas (stereo - starting with cellos only panned right, joined by violas panned left)
Track 81: Woodwind emsemble (stereo)

And the interesting stuff;
Track 89: Sub machine gun - Chieftain tank target ranging (mono)
Track 90: Chieftain tank: Firing - shell detonation - the target (mono)
Track 91: Thunderstorm (stereo)
Track 92: Steam trains (stereo)
Track 93: F-16 and Tornado jets: flypast with afterburners (stereo) :-)

RockyTwoArms · 14-05-2012 6:14pm

If you want to check your bass levels and accuracy there is only one song;

Chemical Brothers - Under the Influence

on the Surrender album

Beatles and Queen tracks for you surround sound

As for the accuracy of the speakers on the broader scale one thing that comes to mind would be streaming the audio from the matrix as it is very heavily enhanced.
While agree that natural sound would be the best to test with instrument by instrument recording quality and inaccuracy may hinder judging the experience. A well known, well edited & complex track should provide the clarity to judge a track upon

magicbastarder · 01-08-2013 10:27am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnmOpzIBGSY - archive, londinium
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PILJRHjUVEw - lamb, gorecki
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3W_alUuFkA - miles davis, sketches of spain
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QzDWIOUnM0 - van morrison, sweet thing (if anyone knows anything about a fabled remaster of astral weeks, please let me know)

Gmol · 27-08-2014 12:07am

Sound and vision David Bowie isn't a bad start

SixtaWalthers · 19-05-2020 4:17pm

To check mixes of high, low, mids, I play Orinoco Flow by Enya. Das Speigel could also be a good option to check quality.

WebDevSean · 14-06-2024 12:17am

I'd suggest:

"The Eels" - Novocaine for the Soul
"Boccherini" - La Musica Notturna Delle Strade Di Madrid. No. 6
"SOAD" - Chop Suey
"Stevie Wonder" - Superstition
"Max Romeo" - Chase The Devil (Bonus points if you can name the song that sampled the chorus from this- hehe)

I'd use these for different audio quality reasons but… lets face it… they're also damn cool tunes!

Songs to test speakers with

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