Music for Critical Listening

[Drew]

I'm curious what music fellow DIYers use during the building/tuning process. Measurements are important of course, but in the end it's about how it sounds.

So what recordings do y'all use before putting the final stamp of approval on your projects? Hopefully, in addition to being well recorded, it's good music!

Here's a short, off the top of my head list of what I use in no particular order:

Love Throws a Line - Patty Griffin
Via Chicago - Wilco
Piano Concerto No. 20 - W.A. Mozart (Academy of St. Martin...)
Travis - Bela Fleck, Edgar Meyer, Mike Marshall
Set Out Running - Neko Case (at unreasonabe levels )
Find the River - REM (Stipe's voice is tough to get right)
Denn Wir Haben Hier Keine Bleibende Statt (from Ein Deutsches Requiem) - Johannes Brahms (Atlanta Symphony Orch.)
200 More Miles - Cowboy Junkies (at soft levels)
Life in a Glasshouse - Radiohead
IV Stürmisch bewegt - from Mahler's 1st Symphony (SF Symphony)

That's a good start. What do you use?

[nox9colt45]

The classic song i use is Ozzy Osbourne, Mama I'm Coming Home. It's got a deeper bass and a lot of highs. It's my more overall test, not specific in anything.

[ibilisi]

Tracy Chapman Crossroads (solid vocals)
Eric Clapton Unplugged (A pretty good mix, except when the crowd starts clapping- they shouldn've downmixed that)
Mozart Symphony #41 In C
DJ Magic Mike - do you like bass (sub-only - anything else at your own risk, helps find holes in the lower freq)

One of my new favorites for vocals is Bebo&Cigala Inolvidable - guy has cray voice and the mix is pretty vocals heavy.

I listen to some hip-hop and R&B but I find that there isn't much I would use to test a speaker, maybe John Legend and The Roots but that would be it.

Some movie stuff too:
Terminator 2 intro (skull crush onward is tough on subs)
Indiana Jones Last crusade scene on tanks (pretty good mix of effects aross range)
Toy Story 2 (the intro is cray taxing on subs, let it play to get the rest of the system involved)

[sfdoddsy]

I use the Reference Recordings version of 'Pictures at an Exhibition', 'Magic!' a compilation of organ tracks, Patricia Barber's 'Modern Cool', 'Ras Mek Peace' by Midnite, 'The Boatman's Call' by Nick Cave, and 'Free Jazz' by Ornette Coleman.

Cheers

Steve

[joecarrow]

I use a french band called Fugu; it has a lot of sound effects, acoustic instruments, interesting percussion, and nice vocals.

I also like to use Blue Man Group's CD, Audio.

Another good one is Santana's CD, Supernatural. It seems well recorded.

Really, anything with a lot of acoustic instruments and percussion. I spent highschool in the marching band, and played percussion in the pit. I really know what cymbals and percussive instruments are supposed to sound like, so I can tell when a speaker isn't doing it right.

Honestly, I haven't heard very many that will do a full drum kit convincingly. Maybe that's just because of dynamics- but I also thing it has to do with noticing stored energy after the impact of the drum.

[thylantyr]

I sample all genres to make sure the audio system is capable,
from jazz to death metal, where death metal gives the system
a harder workout

[moreants]

Diana Kralls' - "Narrow Daylight" (won a Demmy for best 2 channel
song last year)

Norah Jones -= "Don't Know Why" .. she hits a note in there that is
the purest voice I've ever heard.
"One Flight Down" .. purdy

Maynard Ferguson - "I Can't Get Started" - the ultimate tweeter tester

"Round Midnight" - You gotta hear this. Dynamics- Wow!

Sarah Mclaughlin/maclaughin/Macgyver/Mcmuffin??? - Angel

Steely Dan - any

Ben Folds- " The Luckiest" for the piano.

Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms - All-time favorite demo cd. Recorded in DDD way back when. Beginning of track 4 my fave.

Jack Johnson "Sitting, waiting wishing..." Acoustic guitar

Queen Latifa - " Califorria Dreamin'" - clean, clear imaging

UB40 "Red, Red Wine" - Bass

Donnie and Marie Osmond -" Deep Purple"- (just kidding)

[JonMarsh]

I'm a pretty hard core objectivist with regards to measurements, but there's no point in the end unless you're listening to music. And there's a lot of stuff I'll listen to on a new design, some because I've known the music for so long, and others because they're very good recordings...



Alison Krauss, "Forget About It", SACD
Alison Krauss+Union Station Live SACD

Caroline Sageman "Chopin" SACD

Carl Orff, Carmina Burana, Atlanta Symphony Orch, Telarc SACD

Daphnis et Chloe, Munch conducting, RCA living stereo SACD

Diana Krall, "The Girl in the Other Room", SACD

Michael Hedges, "Oracle", "Taproot"

The Philadelphi Orchestra, "Nature's Realm", Litz and Dvorak, Water lily Acoustics SACD (DSD recording with all vacuum tube electronics excepting ADC)

Jacque Loussier, Play Bach, Telarc SACD

James Taylor, "Hour glass", SACD

Jazz at the Pawnshop, 2 disk set, SACD and XRCD

Jennifer Warnes, "The Well" SACD
Jennifer Warnes, "The Hunter", XRCD

McCoy Tyner with Stanley Clarke, Al Foster, Telarc SACD

Mingus, "Ah Um", SACD

Pink Floyd, "Wish You were here", SBM CD

Police, "Every Breath You take", SACD

Rickie Lee Jones, "Naked Songs"

Saint-Saens Symphony #3 in Cminor, Charles Munch conducting, RCA Living Stereo SACD

Terry Evans, "Puttin it Down", SACD

Yes, "Close to the Edge" remastered, "Relayer", "Union"