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Songs to test speakers with

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    #32
    C14N
    Registered Users Posts: 2,656 ✭✭✭C14N


    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


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    #33
    gman2k
    Registered Users Posts: 4,076 ✭✭✭gman2k


    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.


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    #34
    gman2k
    Registered Users Posts: 4,076 ✭✭✭gman2k


    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


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    #35
    windowgobo
    Closed Accounts Posts: 25 ✭windowgobo


    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


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    #36
    HiFi Guru
    Closed Accounts Posts: 11 ✭HiFi Guru


    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!!


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    #37
    Slaphead07
    Registered Users Posts: 2,323 ✭✭✭Slaphead07


    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.


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    #38
    Hermy
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 11,313 Mod ✭✭✭✭Hermy


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

    Genealogy Forum Mod



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    #39
    gman2k
    Registered Users Posts: 4,076 ✭✭✭gman2k


    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) :-)


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    #40
    RockyTwoArms
    Registered Users Posts: 43 ✭RockyTwoArms


    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


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    #41
    magicbastarder
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 48,484 CMod ✭✭✭✭magicbastarder


    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)


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    #42
    Gmol
    Registered Users Posts: 1,281 ✭✭✭Gmol


    Sound and vision David Bowie isn't a bad start


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    #43
    SixtaWalthers
    Registered Users Posts: 249 ✭✭SixtaWalthers


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


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