Music for torturing audiophile gear

[aerius]

As some of you might know, I once played Slayer and Guns n' Roses on a Quad ESL-57 system. Surprisingly, the audio gods didn't smite me for this blasphemy, and thus it was learned that Quad 57's don't exactly rock. Recently, Biggie has mentioned playing Slipknot to stress audio gear, and Dusty Chalk admits to blasting NIN while auditioning speakers, while I've inflicted Metallica and Fear Factory on various systems.

Which brings me to this topic, lots of people play Norah Jones, Diana Krall, and Miles Davis when auditioning systems or writing reviews, and then they oooh and aaahh at how warm, intimate and real it all sounds and give it an A+ rating. Which would be great, except the piano in every Norah Jones album sounds like ass, but I digress.

What I'm getting at is this, I just don't think the music most people use to test out gear is all that challenging, it sounds good on almost every system and you basically end up grading on a scale of good-excellent-great.

For some time now I've adopted a different approach, music which will severely stress a system and fuck it up. Like "Sister Awake" by The Tea Party where there's a dozen instruments going hard & fast at the same time, and where lots of gear blend everything together into mush or in less severe cases, lose details when the dynamics kick in and the volume goes up. For instance, an acoustic guitar sounds fine when it's playing by itself, but when the full band kicks in it sounds like shit, and all the tone & low-level details of the guitar are lost.

And so I have a torture list of music, if the system makes it through it's truly a great system, almost everything fails, including my own gear. Below is a list of some of the music, with brief notes.

Slayer - Angel of Death, Necrophobic, Postmortem, Raining Blood. Can it keep up with the furious drumming and guitars? Probably not, the ending of "Raining Blood" is pretty nuts and the speed & dynamics will kill most systems.

Fear Factory - Messiah. The bass drum is stupid fast and hard, most systems run out of steam trying to play it.

The Tea Party - Turn The Lamp Down (Alhambra version). Very busy percussion jam at the end of the song, systems have a very hard time keeping it all separate.

Nelly Furtado - Wait for You. Deep fast bass, a lot of systems start running out of steam after the first few bass hits. Did I mention deep bass? It'll flop the woofers on a loudspeaker an inch or two even at a moderate volume.

Tori Amos - Space Dog. Huge dynamics in the intro. Few systems can play it without compressing, especially at higher volumes.

SRV & Albert King - Blues at Sunrise. See if you can hear where they break their guitar strings when they're jamming away.

[hungrych]

I like to use Metallica - S&M because the system has to keep up with both metal and the symphony in the background. But I haven't really compared gear in awhile.

Also, I use alot of somewhat bad sounding stuff, because it's what I actually listen to. Audio is a means to and end, so if the system lowers my enjoyment of any music it's a failure.

[Dusty Chalk]

Aerius -- great thread. I completely agree with your premise, and I've heard it said before: the trick behind "audiophile music" is that it makes every system sound good.

Allow me to add a few suggestions, and query for a few:

Stabbing Westward, Darkest Days -- not only are their crazy dynamic changes, from busy to spare and vice versa, but the whole thing is HDCD-encoded, so it's a good test for a system which decodes HDCD as well. Also, I should mention, that this disk is compressed. It's not crazy compressed like most contemporary hard-rock recordings, but just enough that the delicate Pink Floyd -like sections, like "Drowning", aren't quite as subdued as they should be. This is by no means a perfect recording, but it's so reflective of most of the music I listen to, that it's an excellent test. Some systems will display the fallacies of this recording in the harsh light of day, reminding me of coming out of a matinee movie in the middle of summer, and wishing for a pair of sunglasses and a Slurpee, and some will euphonize it just right, making me still hear what little dynamics are left on the recording and be glad that I don't have to turn the volume up to hear it. Garbage's first two records -- especially the Japanese import of the first one -- will also test whether or not your system will "get" the contemporary mastering. And I don't mean "particularly good" or "particularly bad", I mean exactly "compressed without being too compressed". That's hard for systems to "get", although it's more subtle than I would call a "torture" disk. The new Rush (Snakes and Ladders) also does this.

Costanza Festa, La Spagna -- SACD. Lots of very pure tones from brass and woodwinds, sometimes hitting very proximal notes. Will test the Inter-harmonic distortion of just about any system. Unfortunately, the music is very monotonous -- it's 32 variations on a theme, after all, and you won't be able to tell some variations from others. But I love the essence-tial theme, so that makes it a lot more easy to tolerate. I recommend finding something similar -- either with similar qualities (there's a lot going on on Philip Glass' Glassworks that's similar), or with lots of very clearly recorded bells. I think what with it being SACD and all that ultrasonic hash, it's very hard on most tweeters.

Garden of Shadows, either Oracle Moon or Heart of the Corona are some of the most meticulously recorded extreme metal. I've seen these guys live, and they have like 3 guitarists in addition to the bassist and synthesizers. You can hear every single layer, even on CD, and only the most discerning of systems will convince you that it wasn't recorded with George Martin's "Wall of Noise" style of production (where every channel is deliberately allowed to bleed into every other channel). And unlike most busy music, it's all in that same midrange.

Bass, crazy bass -- you should have at least one, really good bass recording. Stereonerds, "F.U.N.K. (Is What You Don't Play)" is mine. I have a friend who really likes Chemical Brothers' I think it's the instrumental remix of Spiritualized, "I Think I'm In Love". There are others who swear by Victor Wooten. And yet others who swear by organ music.

I'd really like some recommendations on some exemplary recordings of:

- no-noised? I've heard this sounds bad, but what's a really good audible example of this?

- PCM master on SACD? Most of my SACD's sound great, but I think I'm listening for something else than what people are saying is bad about this particular combination. Perhaps a nice contrast would be a DSD-mastered SACD that sounds comparatively great.

- watermarked DVD-A -- I still don't know what this is -- back when DVD-A first came out, I was told it was audible, but since then they stopped complaining. I want to know what to listen for.

I have several of those recordings that you mentioned aerius, so as I go through my CD collection, I'll have to remember to pull them out and listen to them again.

[Iron_Dreamer]

My favorite metal test disc is Zero Hour's The Towers of Avarice, which is both an HDCD and not overly compressed, for a metal album. It's very clean and dynamic sounding, and has some very fast double bass that is easy to blur over. I love putting the first track on and waiting for the drums and bass to just explode out from the speakers or headphones.

For sheer bass power I like the track "Noise Maker" by Infected Mushroom, from B.P. Empire. It has some extremely low bass like the famed Massive Attack "Angel", but a much faster tempo. IM the Supervisor is another favorite 'shroom tune for torturing gear.

Luca Turilli's Prophet of the Last Eclipse has a gazillion layers of different sound effects, all at a warp-speed pace, and it's sure to congest all but the speediest systems.

I also like Fear Factory, but I prefer to use "Self Bias Resistor" from Demanufacture as a test track since the overall production sounds better to me than that of their other albums, the drums have a great snap and bite to them.

Finally, I like to use Overkill's The Years of Decay to make sure that a grungy, rough sounding thrash record sounds as it should.

[mirumu]

I could not agree more really. Tracks that stress a system are great for exploring new gear.

Some of the Smashing Pumpkins tracks I find are great. They are close to low entropy white noise at times making many system flaws more obvious. Tracks like "The Aeroplane Flies High (Turns Left, Looks Right)" or "Love" (from Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness) are good this way. I think the same can be said of many Nine Inch Nails tracks too although I have no particular favourites for this purpose.

The thumping bassline on the title track of Michael Jackson's "Dangerous" is great at thrashing speakers or headphones into submission. There's quite a lot of others close too although I don't recall finding anything with this level of impact.

Tori Amos's somewhat rare track "Flying Dutchman" from "More Pink, the B sides" is a great test of dynamic capability and "Sugar" off the same album is a great treble test too with all the highs sounding terrible on systems with significant roll off. Unfortunately this album only seems to have been released in Australia and New Zealand (hence why I own a copy).

[philodox]

Cool thread... I need a copy of that Tori Amos album. I have it in decent quality MP3, but that just wont do.

[NotoriousBIG_PJ]

The only slipknot (people=shit) I listen to is on my test cd hehe. Some other tracks I use:

radiohead - life in a glass house

->on a reference system this track each note on each brass instrument should be discernable, you should be able to hear the spit valves (shudder), and the instruments should remain smooth sounding as they climb higher and higher, and cymbals should portray depth

->on some systems the highs on this track just become unbareable to my ears

pearl jam - corduroy

->on a reference system the sibilance on this track and the track should be toe tapping

-> on some systems the sibilance can become peircing and wreck the song

I also burned a bunch of audiophile test cd's (chesky and such), but I never bother with those.

I look for systems that:

-remain smooth all the way to the highest highs

-do not contain colourations that polarize my music collection

-can keep up the prat with any type of music

-non-fatguing

-do not exagerate sibilance

-cohesive soundstage without crossfeed

-pinpoint imaging and depth portrayl

Biggie.

[en480c4]

For anyone who cares, both "Flying Dutchman" and "Sugar" are available on A Piano, as are a number of other worthy b-sides. Before "Playboy Mommy" came around, "Sugar" was my favorite of all her tracks.

As for my choice for torturing gear, there are a number of tracks I like to use...

• Tori Amos - "Doughnut Song" (from Boys for Pele Very well-recorded track that has great dynamics (vocals tend to break up on gear near its limits) and the layering of vocals and textures throughout tend to get lost if something in the chain isn't right.
  
• Ivy - "Keep Moving" (from In the Clear) There are a number of aspects of this track that make me use it, but the biggest reason is the bassline... It's very strong and hits a number of notes, and should be pretty constant in volume. It really exposes one-note bass as whichever frequency the headphones can handle is nice and loud and full and the rest sound weak and rolled off.
  
• Opeth - "When" (from My Arms, Your Hears) This might surprise anyone familiar with this album because it's often referred to as the worst-produced of their catalog. I actually love the production, and what initially sounded murky and muddled actually a very demanding sound that requires a system that is capable of reproducing the atmosphere and complexity without losing the details.
  
  

There's a whole assortment of tracks I'll listen to, primarily ones with female vocals. So much of what I lieten to is female-fronted, so any problem in the reproduction of female vocals will really drive me crazy. Many systems I've heard yield either thin and uninvolving female vocals or they sound artificially full and rich. Striking that natural balance seems to be difficult to acheive.

I do hate when complex passages get muddled and lose their clarity and impact, but so much of what I've been listening to lately hasn't been that demanding... Even the heavier stuff I listen to is slow. And I've been more about atmosphere and not the details, so I've been far less discerning with my equipment lately, especially when it comes to soundstage.

But the one thing I can't handle at all is graininess, harshness or sibilance. My ears are very sensitive to high frequencies, and problems there almost always keep me from being able to enjoy the music. I'd rather have a sound that errs on the side of smooth of accurate than the harsh side of accurate.

[Dusty Chalk]

Tori Amos's somewhat rare track "Flying Dutchman" from "More Pink, the B sides" is a great test of dynamic capability and "Sugar" off the same album is a great treble test too with all the highs sounding terrible on systems with significant roll off. Unfortunately this album only seems to have been released in Australia and New Zealand (hence why I own a copy).

Probably because it's a bootleg. "Sugar" is a B-side from one of her a single from her first album, "Flying Dutchman" came later. And yeah, it's easily one of her best songs. I want to do a remix of it (I can hear it in my head).

[aerius]

I'd really like some recommendations on some exemplary recordings of:

- no-noised? I've heard this sounds bad, but what's a really good audible example of this?

- PCM master on SACD? Most of my SACD's sound great, but I think I'm listening for something else than what people are saying is bad about this particular combination. Perhaps a nice contrast would be a DSD-mastered SACD that sounds comparatively great.

- watermarked DVD-A -- I still don't know what this is -- back when DVD-A first came out, I was told it was audible, but since then they stopped complaining. I want to know what to listen for.

I can't say I know the answer to any of these, but I'd bet the guys on the Steve Hoffman forum could probably list a dozen examples.

[Dusty Chalk]

Yeah, I should really revisit that forum, that is the sort of thing they're good for.

I've got another one for you:

"Cornpone Brunch Watt Remix" by Tortoise, off of A Lazarus Taxon (and I don't know what else). Three basses -- it takes the most discerning systems to make sense of this track. It basically does for the bass/woofer region what I was saying above about Garden of Shadows, what their recordings do for the midrange. It's not so much a lot of bass as complicated bass, with multiple basslines weaving in and out of each other.

The L3000 does it.

[aerius]

Also, I use alot of somewhat bad sounding stuff, because it's what I actually listen to. Audio is a means to and end, so if the system lowers my enjoyment of any music it's a failure.

This is a very important point, to me at least, there's no point in having a "100% super duper perfect system" if it makes 99.9% of my music unlistenable. I have a lot of albums in my collection which aren't all that well recorded, I still want them to sound good and enjoyable and if "upgrading" my system makes the music suck then it's not worthwhile for me. I have amazingly well recorded albums as well as ones that might as well have been made in a garage, I want as many of them as possible to sound as good as possible.

Back to the torture test.

Tori Amos - In the Springtime of his Voodoo (Boys for Pele). This one's been in my test rotation for a long time. Most systems have a hard time keeping the low piano notes from blending into mush, and some systems even end up blending the electric bass into the piano notes. Keeping the piano & bass groove going is a nice test of bass control. The bass drum hits are pretty cool too, it's pretty hard to get the impact right without having it get boomy. Getting the balance right between tightness, impact & dynamics, and keeping the bloat & boom under control is surprisingly hard, especially with speakers. There's also the cool hi-hat cymbals in the 1st minute or so where they go "ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch" really fast, I think the first sequence of that is around the 30 second mark, give or take 10 seconds.

The Tea Party - Psychopomp (Transmission). This one's another nice test for what happens when things get busy and loud. On the quieter simpler parts, it shouldn't be too hard to hear all the details & texture of the instruments, and when it gets loud all those details & textures should still be there. Also good for checking to see if the system can keep the cymbals and other highs under control when the song gets loud, or if they start getting distorted & harsh.

[mirumu]

Probably because it's a bootleg. "Sugar" is a B-side from one of her a single from her first album, "Flying Dutchman" came later. And yeah, it's easily one of her best songs. I want to do a remix of it (I can hear it in my head).

I'm completely sure it's not a bootleg, it was released when she was touring this part of the world around 1994 when Under the Pink was released. Both the regular version of Under the Pink and this version with the extra disc were sold side by side at local music stores and both were from the Warner Australia label. Wikipedia seems to agree too. J-pak is right about those tracks being on her recent "A Piano" release although I don't know if they're the same versions, I'm still waiting for my copy of that set to arrive.

One more to add to the torture test is Basement Jaxx's "Right Here's The Spot" from the album Kish Kash. There's a lot of going on in this track with some very short and sharp sounds and the bassline is constantly moving all over the place at high speed. On a poor system the bassline will merge together and at worst the different notes will all sound like a single recurring note. The other quick sounds can also easily get lost in the mix, especially with the distraction from the bassline.

[humanflyz]

Old thread, but I was listening to Rage Against The Machine's first album, and I realized that it would make a perfect torture disc for audiophile systems.

The recording quality, I think, is actually very good for rock, and the album has a ton of huge dynamic swings and heavy basslines. Most systems I've heard run out of juice quick when you turn it up and start to rock out.