GM audio engineer lists Top 10 songs to test your car's stereo

[HeadphoneAddict]

I saw this tonight.

GM audio engineer lists Top 10 songs to test your car's stereo Yahoo! Buzz

Test driving the sound system when you're car shopping can be as key to your long-term satisfaction as checking out the handling. So we thought you'd like to see this list of Top 10 songs for testing car audio quality from General Motors audio engineer Matt Kirsch, who led the sound work on the Chevrolet Cruze.

GM also posted the tracks as a mix at the iTunes store: If you want it for your own audio test driving, you can buy here for $12 (you gotta have iTunes to download it, of course).

ALSO ON DRIVE ON: Katy Perry is OK for Volkswagen, but too hot for Sesame Street

Here are Kirsch's "10 Songs for an Audio Test Drive" and what he says to listen for in each track:

1) "Don't Know Why" by Norah Jones. Listen for Norah's voice to sound natural, and centered in front of you.

2) "Diamonds and Rust" by Joan Baez. Listen for strong vocals, and for the instruments to be set across a wide sound stage

3) "No One" by Alicia Keys. Listen for clarity in Alicia's vocals and spacious background sound.

4) "Hotel California" by the Eagles. Listen for the clarity and dynamic range during the opening guitar solo, and of course the powerful drum beat.

5) "Boom Boom Pow"by the Black Eyed Peas. Listen for powerful, accurate bass beats, even at full volume.

6) "Rock that Body"by the Black Eyed Peas. Listen clear, intelligible lyrics over the powerful, persistent bass beat.

7) "Hide and Seek"by Imogen Heap. Listen for the enveloping ambience of the song, building on the openness and dynamic vocals.

"He Mele No Lilo" by Mark Keali'i Ho'omalu from Lilo and Stitch. Listen for the ambience and staging as the children's chorus is offset by powerful bass.

9) "Bird on a Wire" by Johnny Cash. Listen for the clarity in Johnny's distinctive voice, and his guitar to sound natural and free of any coloration.

10) "Packt Like Sardines in a Crushd Tin Box"by Radiohead. Listen for the punch from the percussive bass, and the ring of the steel drums.

-- Fred Meier/Drive On

So, what would be your top 10 songs to test a car audio system?

[mypasswordis]

4'33"

Honestly it just sounds like he picked ten songs he liked. Also, every audiophile knows that Norah Jones album was probably mastered by people dumping acorns all over the boards and then letting some squirrels loose. Which is actually only slightly worse than the average mastering engineer.

[postjack]

not to mention the black eyed peas record is an autotuned mess.

i use NPR to test my car stereo. if I can hear Mike Siegel's voice without there being too much bass, it's just right.

[regal]

I was an engineer at GM many moons ago albeit not an audio one. I wouldn't let a GM audio Engineer anywhere near my audio equipment.

General Motors Audio engineer, just cracks me up. My 16 year old neighbor can put together a better car audio system than this guy for 1/3 the price.

Why did we bail out this drain on the economy mass corrupted company? Ever notice how the progoganda against Toyota started the minute that the socialists took control of GM? And now we are supposed to take advice from their "Audio Engineer", give me a break.

[Aura]

Boom boom pow is one of the dumbest fucking songs ever created. I'm going to go punch this engineer in his face.

[aardvark baguette]

I was an engineer at GM many moons ago albeit not an audio one. I wouldn't let a GM audio Engineer anywhere near my audio equipment.

I probably wouldn't let you near my equipment either.

[aardvark baguette]

[jvlgato]

Looks like a good list of songs to try out your Monster Dre Beats or whatever it is.

And what happened to 'pussywillow'? I miss that guy!

[luvdunhill]

i'm considering not letting him near my forum.

[HeadphoneAddict]

The Joan Baez song is possibly the only one worth using to try out a new stereo (maybe also He Mele No Lilo" by Mark Keali'i Ho'omalu from Lilo and Stitch). But the iTunes 256K version sounds like poop during the 30 second demo. I have the CD and it's actually a decent recording, but they're trying to sell the 10 song playlist on iTunes and I think it's a rip off.

I'm just curious what you guys recommend to others as test songs for a new system. I like to use the following as test music, not just for car stereo but headphones and home stereo. It's just a small portion of what I use and I can't pick just 10 songs. Most of it is Jazz Vocals and Folk Acoustic or Electronic. I have 8,621 songs on my Macbook and twice that on my iMac, so I'll spare you a list of everything.

Shelby Lynn - Just a Little Lovin'

Eva Cassidy (Live at Blues Alley) - Stormy Monday, Bridge over Troubled Water, and Aint No Sunshine (HDtracks)

Diana Krall (Live in Paris) - Maybe You'll Be There, S' Wonderful, A Case of You

Elaine Elias (Something For You: Eliane Elias Sings & Plays Bill Evans) - You And The Night And The Music, Evanesque, Solar, After All

Sara K. (Chesky Ultimate Demonstration Disc) - If I Could Sing Your Blues

Carla Lother (100 Lovers) - 100 Lovers

Nancy Bryan (Neon Angel) - Nobody's Buying and most of all the other songs

Herbie Hancock Feat. Norah Jones (River: The Joni Letters) - Court and Spark

Leona Lewis (Avatar Soundtrack) - I See You (Theme from Avatar)

Joan Baez (Diamonds and Rust)

Nils Lofgren (acoustic live) - You, Keith don't go

Jack Johnson (In Between Dreams) - Better Together

Jack Johnson (On and On) - Times Like These

Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds (Live at Radio City) - Save Me, Crush, So Damn Lucky (and many others)

B.B. King & Eric Clapton (Riding With The King) - Worried Life Blues

Bill Horist & Aiko Shimada (Poor Boy: Songs of Nick Drake) - Cello Song (HDtracks)

Pink Floyd (Animals) - Dogs

Pink Floyd (DSOTM) - Money

B.o.B Presents: The Adventures of Bobby Ray (Deluxe) - Don't Let Me Fall

Evanescence (The Open Door) - Lithium

Peter Asplund Quartet (As Kinights Concur) - in a Pensive Place

Bill Evans (Waltz for Debbie) - My Foolish Heart

Fourplay (Between the Sheets) - Chant

E.S.T. Esbj

[Wmcmanus]

Honestly it just sounds like he picked ten songs he liked.

So it would seem. I like that boom boom pow though. Gotta get get. Gotta get get. Sounds good in a nice car stereo system, but I wouldn't play it anywhere else.

[morphsci]

Well the Norah Jones is pretty well recorded and even though I own that album I'm still cool. Diamonds and Rust can be good but it depends on which recording. If he is talking about the Hotel California version on "Hell Freezes Over" then I also agree with that. The rest is tripe and he is a waste of gametic material. Also, can you please castrate Regal before you ban him? K Thx Bye.

[n3rdling]

I just use what I'm most familiar with, not what necessarily is audiophile approved.

[aerius]

Wayne just touched upon something which I think is pretty important, the listening you do in a car is normally very different from the kind of listening we do in our homes & "serious" hi-fi systems. For one thing you're not going to be going "check out the low noise-floor, you can hear a pin drop" unless the car's parked with the engine off, the vast majority of the time the car's being driven and there's a ton of noise from the wind, road, and engine so you'll never hear the quiet parts & subtle details. You're not listening to the finer points of the music, most of your focus will likely be on the rhythm & groove of the song. If the car stereo can carry a beat and not make your ears hurt, it's probably good enough. Taken from that viewpoint, there's not much to complain about on the list.

[boomana]

I used to work at a GM factory in Warren, Michigan in 1978. Perhaps they listen to car stereos using the same methodology we used then: climb up on the roof through the men's bathroom, smoke weed, snort cocaine, then drink blackberry brandy behind the curtain with the welders. Lots of things might sound good. Sure made building cars fun.

[HeadphoneAddict]

Wayne just touched upon something which I think is pretty important, the listening you do in a car is normally very different from the kind of listening we do in our homes & "serious" hi-fi systems. For one thing you're not going to be going "check out the low noise-floor, you can hear a pin drop" unless the car's parked with the engine off, the vast majority of the time the car's being driven and there's a ton of noise from the wind, road, and engine so you'll never hear the quiet parts & subtle details. You're not listening to the finer points of the music, most of your focus will likely be on the rhythm & groove of the song. If the car stereo can carry a beat and not make your ears hurt, it's probably good enough. Taken from that viewpoint, there's not much to complain about on the list.

Agreed, In a moving car it's easier to forgive the mastering errors, loss of detail, noise floor, and bit rate issues. Somehow I've made it 4 years with the stock stereo in my Subaru, which is halfway decent if I turn up the treble over flat. But I'm still one of those people who listens to the same music via car stereo that I listen to in my headphone and speaker rig at home, at least when the kids are not with me. When they are with me, then I get to listen to their brick-walled crappy low bit rate alternative, punk, hip hop and pop. And sometimes I still find a gem in the music they like, while they find something in my library that they enjoy in return - without dealing with the technicalities and only enjoying the rhythm & groove of the song.

[HeadphoneAddict]

I used to work at a GM factory in Warren, Michigan in 1978. Perhaps they listen to car stereos using the same methodology we used then: climb up on the roof through the men's bathroom, smoke weed, snort cocaine, then drink blackberry brandy behind the curtain with the welders. Lots of things might sound good. Sure made building cars fun.

Timothy Leary would be proud of you.

[aerius]

I used to work at a GM factory in Warren, Michigan in 1978. Perhaps they listen to car stereos using the same methodology we used then: climb up on the roof through the men's bathroom, smoke weed, snort cocaine, then drink blackberry brandy behind the curtain with the welders. Lots of things might sound good. Sure made building cars fun.

It's a small miracle that my family's GM cars didn't spectacularly self-destruct back in those days.

[jinp6301]

I used to work at a GM factory in Warren, Michigan in 1978. Perhaps they listen to car stereos using the same methodology we used then: climb up on the roof through the men's bathroom, smoke weed, snort cocaine, then drink blackberry brandy behind the curtain with the welders. Lots of things might sound good. Sure made building cars fun.

you're my hero

[Dusty Chalk]

I disagree with aerius. While road & engine noise is a major (stifling) factor, I can still hear the difference between the way my head unit used to sound -- which was great -- to how it sounds now. Which is not as good.

Sent from mah Droid

[jvlgato]

I've never spent big money only car stereo. Just didn't think it was worth it. The one great car audio system I've heard was my neighbor's McIntosh system, in his couple year old Subaru Legacy wagon. McIntosh used to be offered by Subaru, apparently. Wow, that sounded great! But still wouldn't spend the money, since Ispend so little time in a car.

And what ever happened to that postjack? I miss that guy! Hey, wait a second ....