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Critical (Best) Music Tracks for Speaker and Room EQ Testing

Kal Rubinson

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I did but I selected the tracks in advance. :cool:
Sure. I was asked in advance to provide a list of tracks and the test set was selected from that list. Thus, I was familiar with them but, more important, I liked them enough to tolerate what seemed like endless repetitions without loosing focus. I did eventually get bored of the tedium of the process but not before the data was in.
 

Overseas

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Well, my favourite is a piece of Michel Goddard played after Monteverdi, yet I would not test my system with that alone.
However, any type of cap-d-opera may have its place in a mix for testing.
 

MarkS

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I find it difficult to concentrate on or, even, care about how speakers sound or differ on most of the music in the offered lists.
Ditto! The only thing the Harman-favored tracks make me care about is the location of the OFF button.
 

Kal Rubinson

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Well, my favourite is a piece of Michel Goddard played after Monteverdi, yet I would not test my system with that alone.
However, any type of cap-d-opera may have its place in a mix for testing.
Cap-d-opera?
 

apexkingjusto

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back on topic (somewhat) ...
Eva Cassidy Live at Blues Alley should be a goto recording, even with all its warts. Recorded 1996, well respected, but it's recording quality is all over the place. Much limiting in many songs, some cuts, however, were aloud to breath, esp when just her & guitar.

What a song list (live) ...
  1. "Cheek to Cheek" (Irving Berlin) – 4:03
  2. "Stormy Monday" (T-Bone Walker) – 5:49
  3. "Bridge Over Troubled Water" (Paul Simon) – 5:33
  4. "Fine and Mellow" (Billie Holiday) – 4:03
  5. "People Get Ready" (Curtis Mayfield) – 3:36
  6. "Blue Skies" (Irving Berlin) – 2:37
  7. "Tall Trees in Georgia" (Buffy St. Marie)– 4:05
  8. "Fields of Gold" (Sting) – 4:57
  9. "Autumn Leaves" (Joseph Kosma, Johnny Mercer, Jacques Prévert) – 4:57
  10. "Honeysuckle Rose" (Andy Razaf, Thomas "Fats" Waller) – 3:14
  11. "Take Me to the River" (Al Green, Mabon "Teenie" Hodges) – 3:51
  12. "What a Wonderful World" (Bob Thiele, George David Weiss) – 5:50
  13. "Oh, Had I a Golden Thread" (Pete Seeger) – 4:46 [Studio recording]
Tall Trees is an impressive DR13, easily the highest on the list. Most of this album is ~DR8, including my favorite track Bridge Over ...
View attachment 2090

Limited, but it sounds soft.

And let's not forget that her version of Fields of Gold (DR11) will happily help anyone in need of forgetting about Sting (sorry, if that sounded mean).
Wow too bad I can’t find any Dead shows with such impeccable quality!
 

Zaireeka

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Apart from being an excellent song, this track is a nice test thanks to the very well mixed and nicely aggressive drum part.

 

don'ttrustauthority

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:) And how much audiophiles rely on such tracks for system evaluation when they are not revealing.
I always say my Grados sound best with small acoustic groups, and planars for rock and high energy music like rap or classical.

Can't figure out what sounds good with country.
 

_thelaughingman

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This is a great Japanese Jazz track for critical evaluation and imaging.
 

_thelaughingman

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A.R Rahman - Dacoit Duel.
 

ferrellms

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I post the list of tracks Harman uses after literally decades of research to detect fidelity of speakers and room Auto Equalizers in another thread but thought it deserves its own thread. I have had the fortunate luck of sitting through a couple of their blind tests and can attest to the efficacy of the tracks used:

---------

AES Paper, The Subjective and Objective Evaluation of Room Correction Products
Sean E. Olive, John Jackson, Allan Devantier, David Hunt, and Sean M. Hess

JW - Jennifer Warnes, “Bird on a Wire”
TC - Tracy Chapman, “Fast Car”
JW - James Taylor, “That’s Why I’m Here”



AES Paper, A New Listener Training Software Application
Sean Olive, AES Fellow
Harman International Industries


· Tracy Chapman, "Fast Car", Tracy Chapman
· Jennifer Warnes, "Bird on a Wire", Famous Blue Rain Coat
· James Taylor "That's Why I'm Here", “That’s Why I’m Here”
· Steely Dan “Cousin Dupree”, “ Two Against Nature”
· Paula Cole, “Tiger”,” This Fire”
· “Toy Soldier March”, Reference Recording
· Pink Noise (uncorrelated)



AES Paper, Differences in Performance and Preference of Trained versus Untrained Listeners in Loudspeaker Tests: A Case Study*
Sean E. Olive, AES Fellow


James Taylor, “That’s Why I’m Here” from “That’s Why I’m Here,” Sony Records.
Little Feat, “Hangin’ on to the Good Times” from “Let It Roll,” Warner Brothers.
Tracy Chapman, “Fast Car” from “Tracy Chapman,” Elektra/Asylum Records.
Jennifer Warnes, “Bird on a Wire” from “Famous Blue Rain Coat,” Attic Records.


And this from a 1992 research at NRC on genre of music and its revealing nature in this regard:

Program+Influence+on+Listener+Performance.png


A bit about the science, the suitability of track is a matter of statistics. Colorations in speakers are only revealing if there is significant content/energy in that part of hearing spectrum. Rock music tends to have such rich spectrum. Classical music as a general rule does not. Hence the domination of rock/pop music in the top most critical list.

In both this space and audio compression with which I am intimately familiar with, high fidelity of the music recording is not an aid and if anything a distraction. A "pretty" sounding track sounds pretty on many systems because we are drawn to it by its good substance. Critical test clips on the other hand tend to be uninteresting and force you to pay attention to the task which is to analyze equipment with your ear.
Well, this list is 30 years old and really out of date. If you want to hear modern music that has really unbelievable stereo imaging, dynamics, very low bass, and extreme detail, you need modern electric pop and electronica.

Try Imogen Heap's Sparks album. Lots of experimental reverbs, sonic envelopment tricks, outside the speakers imaging, open and crystal clear trebles, excellently recorded vocals, thunderous and clean and deep bass. The music is great, too.
 

dualazmak

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MRC01

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Well, this list is 30 years old and really out of date. If you want to hear modern music that has really unbelievable stereo imaging, dynamics, very low bass, and extreme detail, you need modern electric pop and electronica.

Try Imogen Heap's Sparks album. Lots of experimental reverbs, sonic envelopment tricks, outside the speakers imaging, open and crystal clear trebles, excellently recorded vocals, thunderous and clean and deep bass. The music is great, too.
Dynamics? You are aware that most modern electronic pop & electronica is heavily dynamically compressed? The album you recommend has a DR14 average of 8, which is pitiful. Though apparently one of its tracks rates an 11, which is decent. If you want to experience real dynamics, try Brad Dutz & Chris Wabich album Drums and Bells, which has a DR14 average of 20 and peak of 29. It's also a fantastic album for critical evaluation of audio equipment.
 
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Speaking dymaics. This is a nice one. From 2L studio. Bass goes to 5hz. Recorded in a famous norwegian church...

About the studio:
 

MRC01

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Modern electronic music can be good for critical evaluation of frequency response, since it can have deep extended bass and high frequencies. But, it also tends to be heavily processed and compressed, so it's no good for evaluating a system's dynamics or its transparency/distortion. For that you need different musical sources. For dynamics, large ensemble orchestral works, and high quality drum/percussion recordings can be useful. For transparency/distortion, well recorded female vocals or piano. By "well recorded" I mean a recording using high quality mics with little or no post-processing, EQ or compression. Several times over the years I have discovered subtle distortion that became apparent only in that kind of music, and otherwise inaudible.
This is of course not exclusive, just a few suggestions.
 

Sal1950

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using this database of dynamic ranges for recordings and sorting for highest minimum dynamic range is an interesting and entertaining way of poking around for new music, definitely some oddball stuff (and a few experimental error outliers):
Album list - Dynamic Range DB
Want to hear something awful?
Click on the DR to invert the list and then go check out a couple of
recordings that have a 0 DR measure.
I just don't get it. :facepalm:
 

dualazmak

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Modern electronic music can be good for critical evaluation of frequency response, since it can have deep extended bass and high frequencies. But, it also tends to be heavily processed and compressed, so it's no good for evaluating a system's dynamics or its transparency/distortion. For that you need different musical sources. For dynamics, large ensemble orchestral works, and high quality drum/percussion recordings can be useful. For transparency/distortion, well recorded female vocals or piano. By "well recorded" I mean a recording using high quality mics with little or no post-processing, EQ or compression. Several times over the years I have discovered subtle distortion that became apparent only in that kind of music, and otherwise inaudible.
This is of course not exclusive, just a few suggestions.

Essentially and fully agree with you, thank you for your invaluable general guidance.

Your suggestions are fully compatible with my selection and evaluation of the consistent "audio reference/sampler" music tracks which can be found in my post #205 here on this thread.
 
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