Music for testing Audio Equipment

[gmgraves]

"Best music to test audio equipment with."

 

There can be only one answer to that question: Play what you like and what you are familiar with - regardless of genre. The sound of the stereo has to please you, not some self-appointed arbiter of taste such as magazines like Stereophile and The Absolute Sound tend to be. Only you know what you want your system to sound like. Some go for neutral, accurate sound (like me). others like big bass, bold mids and bright sparkling highs, with no concern about how this differs from the sound of real music, played in a real space. But that's why it's your stereo. It exists to make you happy. So "voice" your system using the music that you listen to and leave all the "recommended" test material to the recommenders!

[gmgraves]

On 5/16/2018 at 11:36 AM, biosailor said:

Not so much of a perfect album, but the opening track 'La Nevada', a 15 minute something of a piano pulling in the spectacular drumming of Charlie Persip, followed by a tight bass play of Ron Carter and getting into an ever more complex play with horns/trumpets and tuba. It is amazing how this complex set up is spatially nicely resolved on this track. And despite having it recorded in 1960! Impulse record's recording is usually very good!

 

Can't say for sure about this one, but most Riverside and Impulse recordings of that era were recorded by Rudy Van Gelder & Co. The "stereo" ones were actually 3-channel mono, but in a small jazz ensemble, that doesn't really matter that much and since it's the convention. But Van Gelder knew how to record jazz to get the best sound out of the instruments and it's probably the main reason why these recordings are so much in demand year after year and keep reappearing in whatever new distribution format comes down the pike.  

Thanks for bringing it to my attention as well! Ron Carter was, without a doubt, the best bassist in the history of jazz, a real legend.

 

I'm listening to it right now, via Amazon's "Music Unlimited" Excellent! Does anyone know if it's available as a high-res download from any service?

[gmgraves]

On 5/30/2018 at 11:38 AM, oso said:

I hadn't thought about that. Maybe you have a point. But jazz in the key of Blue is a fine album, so +3.

Piano sound will always "lack" when the recording producer/engineer puts the piano microphone(s) inside the piano! I don't know about any of you, but I've never listened to a piano with my head inside the piano! Have you? To me that practice is every kind of wrong!

[gmgraves]

23 minutes ago, PAP said:

It is a very common practise on a number of Jazz albums.

But i do agree that the piano sound on i.e. Rudy van Gelder recordings is not optimal.

Something can be "common practice" and still be wrong. Van Gelder didn't put mikes inside of pianos but he put them very close and they were mono and pan-potted to one of his three channels (depending upon whether the piano was the feature instrument in the recording or just as sideman for the instrument or singer that was).

[gmgraves]

3 hours ago, semente said:

 

Have you listened to this live Ron Carter recording by Keepnews?

 

 

Carter plays a piccolo contrabasso sometimes with a bow and is accompanied by a bassist playing a full-size instrument. A very good track for evaluating bass and sub-bass performance and the sound is very good with the atmosphere of a club.

 

 

 

I have heard cuts from this album on the San Francisco jazz station. I agree about the bass. Stir three-channel-mono, but like I said, I made my peace with that long ago. 

[gmgraves]

1 hour ago, PAP said:

Sounds to me as if he has them practically touching the soundboard.

Just curious; do you have a link to an article on how he recorded?

yeah, they were DAMN close! Thankfully, though, his pianos weren't as big as the room like many choose to do (Mark Waldrep of AIX records, for instance) these days by placing an Earthworks brand (or equivalent) piano microphone "rig" across the grand piano's widest  dimension behind the keyboard. This is, in my estimation, every kind of wrong because you end up with the bass end of the piano on the extreme left of the sound stage, and the treble end of the piano on the extreme right with the center of the keyboard range in the phantom center channel. That's bad enough, but you also find that you are hearing things the audience is not meant to hear, such as the mechanical workings of the piano's mechanism. I Say Bah! to that kind of recording chicanery. Below, find a picture of the Earthworks Piano Mike.

 

About Rudy Van Gelder, I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Van Gelder at the New York Audio Engineering Society Convention at the Waldorf Astoria in the late 1970's. I bought him lunch at the nearby Brasserie restaurant in the Seagrams building and we talked for some time. So all I know about Van Gelder and his recording practices is what he told me. I've never looked on the web for any real biographical info except for just now.  There is a Wikipedia article on him and and another on the Van Gelder studios. Googling his name should get you there.  Below is a drawing, made by Mr. VanGelder himself  showing his initial and then his revised grouping for stereo recording small jazz ensembles. Notice that they are three-channel mono. This has become the de facto standard for recording jazz and much in the way of pop groups.