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Post by Deleted on Nov 1, 2019 19:14:27 GMT
What essential tracks do you use as a reference point when testing kit? Let's get a definitive list going here!
Rule: Only 3 tracks can be selected.
Okay.....I'll run first:
Sarah McLachlan - 'Possession' The Flaming Lips - 'One Night While Hunting For Faeries And Witches And Wizards To Kill' Lana Del Rey - 'Video Games'
Anyone for anymore? |
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Post by macca on Nov 1, 2019 19:28:32 GMT
Good thread!
Hard with only three
Earth Wind And Fire 'September'
Jethro Tull 'Acres Wild'
Simply Red 'Stars'
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Post by Deleted on Nov 1, 2019 20:05:26 GMT
R A D I O H E A D. 15 Step.
Tom Waits ... Misery.
The Fall... Your Future Our Clutter.
All brilliant and all different and a poor system will Sh#t itself.
That's vinyl I'm talking about .
All digital sounds the same obviously.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 1, 2019 20:54:58 GMT
Tchh.....you and your vinyl-only fixation, eh?
The Radiohead and Waits tracks are good calls. The problem with The Fall track is that it won't sound good on ANY kit yet invented. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 1, 2019 21:45:40 GMT
Have a listen. ..... Stan Laurel head.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 1, 2019 22:47:05 GMT
Have a listen. ..... Stan Laurel head.  |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 2, 2019 9:32:46 GMT
Have a listen. ..... Stan Laurel head. NO. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 2, 2019 9:39:51 GMT
Any Beach boys LP, if it sounds Sh#t on the system then IMHO the system is shyte, a system is only as good as how good it makes your worst recording sound.
I have been banned from doing this a demos.
So asking me that question is easy, any mediocre recording is my test track. Except the Fall that is, cause it ain't music it is an abomination.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 2, 2019 10:03:23 GMT
The ONLY original rock band after 1977.
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The modern Wordsworth.
🙂👍
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Post by Deleted on Nov 2, 2019 10:21:52 GMT
The ONLY original rock band after 1977. . . The modern Wordsworth. 🙂👍 . I would never get in a car with you, I would rather catch a Burundi Bus than have to endure that Sh#t. I have just sampled the tracks. Have you got brain damage or something, FFs! |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 2, 2019 11:56:00 GMT
🤪👍
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Post by Deleted on Nov 2, 2019 12:27:31 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Nov 2, 2019 12:29:12 GMT
The best system in the world can't make a Sh#t recording sound good though can it ?
I took ' test' ad meaning 'test' , not demo.
The tracks I pick ate bloody hard for a bad system to get right.
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Post by macca on Nov 2, 2019 12:36:52 GMT
I like the Sparta one. The other one is 'interesting.'
A good system makes sense of a 'Sh#t' recording. Although I don't like to use the term Sh#t recording because most of the time you are getting what the artist wanted you to hear. If it sounds dog rough it is meant to sound dog rough. Did Mark E Smith want his recordings to sound like Dire Straits? I'd guess not.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 2, 2019 13:07:20 GMT
"Interesting' is why I love them and it's nice to see an open mind.
Concerning your second point though.
A lot of bands I know have had to release very poorly produced records against their will due to them having no power in the studio. Penetration ... Joy Division ... Johnny thunders Heartbreakers ...Sex Pistols ...
Although in Joy Division's case Martin Hannet's production ideas proved to be their key to success at the time they were disgusted with it.
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Post by macca on Nov 2, 2019 13:19:13 GMT
Fair point, it's not always what they wanted that's true. That's not the same as it being a poor recording because they had poor equipment or didn't know what they were doing though. Demos and bootlegs aside there's not many such recordings about. Although 99% of what I listen to is on major labels, there might be a ton of obscure stuff I don't know about I suppose.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 2, 2019 16:28:04 GMT
I used to take Iggy & The Stooges 'Raw Power' along to demos, firstly because I know it back to front. secondly because it's so poorly recorded. For something that's less of a torture track, I'd use The Band's 'The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down', because it's ace. Noodly audiophile jazz-rock and/or breathy female vocals sound good on almost any system, which is probably why they're used so much in demos. Certainly back in the mid-late '80s that jazz guitar stuff was ubiquitous. It just sends me to sleep.
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Post by macca on Nov 3, 2019 8:18:43 GMT
I used to take Iggy & The Stooges 'Raw Power' along to demos, firstly because I know it back to front. secondly because it's so poorly recorded. For something that's less of a torture track, I'd use The Band's 'The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down', because it's ace. Noodly audiophile jazz-rock and/or breathy female vocals sound good on almost any system, which is probably why they're used so much in demos. Certainly back in the mid-late '80s that jazz guitar stuff was ubiquitous. It just sends me to sleep. Was it poorly recorded, or was it just that was the sound they were looking for? Seems like it might be 6 of one and half a dozen of the other. See below re Bowie's mixing of the album:
To the best of my recollection it was done in a day. I don't think it was two days. On a very, very old board, I mean this board was old! An Elvis type of board, old-tech, low-tech, in a poorly lit, cheap old studio with very little time. To David's credit, he listened with his ear to each thing and talked it out with me, I gave him what I thought it should have, he put that in its perspective, added some touches. He's always liked the most recent technology, so there was something called a Time Cube you could feed a signal into -- it looked like a bong, a big plastic tube with a couple of bends in it -- and when the sound came out the other end, it sort of shot at you like an echo effect.
He used that on the guitar in "Gimme Danger", a beautiful guitar echo overload that's absolutely beautiful; and on the drums in "Your Pretty Face Is Going To Hell". His concept was, "You're so primitive, your drummer should sound like he's beating a log!" It's not a bad job that he did...I'm very proud of the eccentric, odd little record that came out.[4]
Bowie later recalled:
...the most absurd situation I encountered when I was recording was the first time I worked with Iggy Pop. He wanted me to mix Raw Power, so he brought the 24-track tape in, and he put it up. He had the band on one track, lead guitar on another and him on a third. Out of 24 tracks there were just three tracks that were used. He said 'see what you can do with this'. I said, 'Jim, there's nothing to mix'. So we just pushed the vocal up and down a lot. On at least four or five songs that was the situation, including "Search and Destroy." That's got such a peculiar sound because all we did was occasionally bring the lead guitar up and take it out.[7] |
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Post by dsjr on Nov 3, 2019 21:53:13 GMT
The following is what all Rega and Naim dealers are playing this season. I bloody hated it, but it's growing on me..
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Post by dsjr on Nov 3, 2019 22:01:30 GMT
Oldies I used to use at high volume but not sure it's 'good enough' for today - The Talk Talk track has some 'room sound' in the drum track which isn't always heard - effin' great album I reckon.
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Post by Bigman80 on Nov 3, 2019 22:20:25 GMT
I take a different stance to most here. I don’t own or play shite recordings. An unpleasant sound is exactly that. Just like I don’t enjoy good recordings played on shite systems, I wouldn’t want a shite recording on a good system either. I just play whatever I’m in the mood for if I’m trying something new.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 3, 2019 23:14:07 GMT
I have that Talk Talk album on original CD. Can sound thin/bright on most systems.
S.
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Post by dsjr on Nov 4, 2019 12:38:45 GMT
That's why it's so good, as when the crossover region is suitably refined and the tweeter behaving itself, all of a sudden it's *more* than listenable. No doubt you'd need a larger speaker to flesh the kick drum out a little. One reason why I tend to dislike small boxes as you seem to lose half the bass octaves and the sound can be 'squeezed' somehow - just my vibe obviously and getting more bass can be more than 'just' a larger box in my experience.
You'd probably find this too much as well - continuing on a Pierre Moerlen's Gong vibe -
The vinyl had a really nasty upper mid peak eq'd in and the digital file ain't hugely better - even the Harbeths are having a job as I type this. I had the closing moments on a 15IPS half track master tape copy and didn't find it as bad. All gone now, so just memories. Great percussionist though and another one who went before his time in my view
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Post by Deleted on Nov 7, 2019 0:16:00 GMT
Frank Zappa track "You are wot you is" a very busy track, multi layered with lots going on great for sorting the so-called wheat from the chaff !!
Kate Bush "The Kick inside" if you ain't swimming with the whales at the beginning of "Moving" something ain't right.
And Todd Rundgrens "A Wizard a True star" will either soar or cause your brain to melt !!!
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Post by Deleted on Nov 7, 2019 12:11:14 GMT
This thread is so good I see the boring boors from another forum have nicked it.
KLF - The White Room.......Good test of Bass.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 7, 2019 12:19:12 GMT
Tchh.....you and your vinyl-only fixation, eh?
The Radiohead and Waits tracks are good calls. The problem with The Fall track is that it won't sound good on ANY kit yet invented. ... or any likely to be invented 'cos it's shite! |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 7, 2019 19:33:57 GMT
Frank Zappa track "You are wot you is" a very busy track, multi layered with lots going on great for sorting the so-called wheat from the chaff !! Kate Bush "The Kick inside" if you ain't swimming with the whales at the beginning of "Moving" something ain't right.
And Todd Rundgrens "A Wizard a True star" will either soar or cause your brain to melt !!!
Great call......see where you're going with that. The Kick Inside is just utter superbness in it's purest form.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 7, 2019 22:12:40 GMT
Kate.
Sh#t voice.... great chestickles . 🤪👊
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Post by Deleted on Nov 8, 2019 9:35:23 GMT
Y'see, I like The Fall, Frank Zappa, Todd Rundgren and Kate Bush. Catholic in musical tastes and religion.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 8, 2019 14:35:42 GMT
Hey !
I'm the only Fall fan in the village ! 😠
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