Music for Testing Treble (High Frequency) Sound

[dualazmak]

The closest to the acoustic signature of the Koopman Trio Sonatas are some of those in Marie-Claire Alain's Johann Sebastian Bach: Complete Works for Organ on the Erato label. The analogue recordings were made between 1978 and 1980 on instruments in Switzerland, Denmark, and France. The ones most closely resembling the instrument used by Koopman were played on the Schwenkedel organ, Collégiale de Saint-Donat, Drôme, France.

Is it this one? Yes, I have the CD!!

 

[Aynsley]

Is it this one? Yes, I have the CD!!
View attachment 341556

I have the 15-CD set of the Complete Organ Works but I'm fairly sure this collection of Trio Sonatas is taken from the same recordings. Next to Helmut Walcha, I find Marie-Claire Alain's interpretations of Bach's organ music to be the most satisfying. There's a remarkable consistency in her performances. With the interpretations of other talented musicians, I find myself distracted by sudden and (to me) unexpected pauses, or inflections, or over-enthusiastic use of ornamentation. I confess to being a Bach Fundamentalist.

 

[Leporello]

Thank you for that surprising insight into the digital processing of Grumiaux' 1961 recording of Bach's works for solo violin.

I had no idea such shifting of violin harmonics was possible. It does, however, provide a convincing explanation for the poor quality of the 'remastered' CDs.

I wonder how that kind of processing would even be possible. I also wonder what is meant by 16 kHz recording. In any case the remastered Grumiaux cds sound just fine.

 

[pavuol]

Emika - Letting Go [Prague Metropolitan Orchestra · Paul Batson · Michaela Srumova]

 

[dualazmak]

Emika - Letting Go [Prague Metropolitan Orchestra · Paul Batson · Michaela Srumova]

Hello @pavuol and dear ASR friends,

I thank you for sharing the link to a wonderful YouTube clip which is really suitable for testing/checking high-frequency sound reproduction of our audio system!

First of all, I very much carefully listened to and enjoyed the YouTube clip using my DSP-based multichannel multi-SP-driver multi-amplifier stereo audio system which has still-excellent tweeters YAMAHA JA-0513 and super-tweeters FOSTEX T925A (ref. here for the latest system setup).

Then, after conversion of the YouTube clip into 24 bit 48 kHz AIFF audio format by JRiver MC32, I analyzed the audio track by ADOBE Audition 3.0.1 and XiVero MusicSccope 2.1.0.

Let me start by sharing the ADOBE Audition 3.0.1 color 3D (time/gain/Fq) spectrum of the whole 9 min 7 sec track in vertical scale of 20 Hz - 21 kHz logarithmic, Spectral Controls of Range: 200 dB, Saturation 100, Gamma: 2.80, Resolution: 16384 Bands.

Next, the enlarged view of the vertical Fq Zone of 10 kHz - 21 kHz, with Spectral Control Range 260 dB;

When I analyzed the whole track, the vertical Fq Zone of 10 kHz - 21 kHz, by Spectral Control of of Range: 400 dB, Saturation 40, Gamma: 4, Resolution: 16384 Bands, we can see this 3D color spectrum:

Next, when I analyzed the beginning 90 sec portion, the vertical Fq Zone of 10 kHz - 22 kHz by Spectral Control of of Range: 400 dB, Saturation 40, Gamma: 4, Resolution: 16384 Bands, we can see this 3D color spectrum:

Whole of the beginning 90 sec portion was selected, and its Fq SPL spectrum was analyzed by FFT Size 65536 of Blackmann-Harris window to give this precise Fq spectrum;

The amzing high-frequency transient sound distribution also can be seen in these analysis charts/diagrams given by MusicScope 2.1.0;

Yes, all of my subjective listening sensation and the above objective analysis data clearly tell that this YouTube clip should be one of the really nice excellent sampler/reference music tracks for checking/testing high-frequency transient sound reproduction of our audio systems.

(In my audio setup, this excellent track is also very much suitable for checking the proper ballistic behavior in high-Fq zones of my IEC 160268 compatible 12-VU-Meter Array, together with another specific track of SONY Super Audio Check CD, ref. the top post #1 on this thread and the post here on my project thread.)