Got a new set of speakers and of course going through the requisite set up and best room placement. Working on the short wall of the room and want to know what cd others have found with repetitive low bass that allows time for speaker movement to get best results. I'm sure I've got something in the collection but am racking my brain for the right one. Your help is most appreciated.
"Sneakers" soundtrack. James Horner, Brandford Marsalis
"Cosmo ...Old friend" is the track.
Has a repetitive bass drum (tympani?) throughout. A recommendation by REL for setup. I've used it with my Strata III. Still don't think I have it right! :0) Tough thing to do on your own.
If your into Rock music try just about any disc by Janet Jackson , most of her music is mastered bass heavy , she's one of the few artists that I turn my sub on for . The more bass your system can produce the better this stuff sounds .
Chris, problem with testing bass response with percussion only is that the sound is somewhat unpitched. You may also want to try some well pitched bass lines.... for example, the Edgar Meyer performance on double bass of Bach's prelude from the cello suite #5, or Antonin Dvorak's "In The Old Castle", played on what appears to be a Bosendorfer grand piano, by Inna Poroscina from the Brilliant Classics 4-CD set of complete Dvorak piano works. And if you have a recording of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, possibly conducted by Pierre Boulez, you will find the nether regions of the massive percussion and bass brass score quite delicious, and yes .... droning to boot. For monitoring mid bass bloom, my standard candle is the double bass line in the Bernstein performance of the 2nd movement from Dvorak's New World Symphony' with the Israel Phil.
If you are just looking to position speakers for optimum delivery then why not use test tones and an SPL meter? That'll give you all the time you need to move things about.
For music, Radiohead's Amnesiac, Pack'd Like Sardines ought to shake some walls. Harder to find and in the classical realms, try the Adagio d'Albinoni by Gary Karr which will add some wonderful natural tonality to some notes down below the basement. The Radiohead is more prolonged though, while the Albinoni is more organic, if you will.
I would try to find different recordings for bass response one instrument at a time. Here are a few I use:
For a very deep electrical bass line I use:
Tin Pan Alley, on the Stevie Ray Vaughan album Couldn't Stand the Weather
For acoustic bass, try:
Many tracks on "Rite of Strings" by Stanley Clarke, Al Di Meola and Jean-Luc Ponty
To assess a drumkit I listen to:
Quaudiophiliac, Frank Zappa - Chunga Basement. Note that this is a quadrophonic DVD-A.
By the way, the recording with the most over the top amount of bass in the mix I recently discovered is the 2 channel 196/24 BR disc of Neil Young's LaNoise. Too much of it for my taste.
To asses bass from your subs instread of mains on 5.1 BLlu Ray, Michel Jackson's "This is it" has incredibly amounts yet well mixed and controlled bass.
For the purpose of speaker placement I recommend Ray Brown Superbass 2.
To show off bass dynamic to your friends or to test a speaker's bass producing capability, I would use track 1 (Poem of Drum) of the Master of Chinese Percussion CD.
Songs 1, 3 & 9 are by far the best on any scale. It's actually an amazing recording in my opinion. It's one of only a couple of CDs that I'm forced to use a subwoofer to get it sound right.
For your needs this CD has a very constant bass line that will allow you some wiggle time.
Michael Murray: TELARC: A Recital Of Works By Bach, Messiaen, Dupre, Wildor and Franck: Recorded in the Davies Symphony Hall: Track One - Bach: Kyrie, Gott Heiliger Geist, BMV 71: About 1 minute and 25 seconds into the track Michael plays a sustained 14Hz (to the best of my recollection) note.
Bass 2000 - Mission 1. This CD even has a warning label, stating: Warning! Mega low bass may damage speakers, use with caution! This CD will definitely give your speakers a work out!
If you want to hear some really great bass guitar - then Level 42's first CD, simply titled, Level 42.
Emmylou Harris, Spyboy. Deeper Well has an amazing deep and nuanced funky bass line that will go right down through the floor but everything else too On this cd sounds amazing-- all live recorded by Daniel lanois. Also thievery corporation--richest man in Babylon. Many radiohead tracks work too.
I second Theo's Bela Fleck suggestion. I always include a sampling of Bela when auditioning new gear. Only problem is that once you buy one album, you'll want/need to buy the rest.
I would also agree with Theo. The Bella Fleck track is useful for a variety of purposes. Really works the amp, speakers, walls, windows and ears, Should also come with a warning label. I have a theory that you can improve or change the bass characteristics of a system slightly by running this sort of track on repeat.
I luv Dragon Attack - Roger Taylor came up with most of it and played the bass as well as his usual job behind the drum set. My uncle's kids were in the same school as Rogers.
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