Thanks, Steve -- nice track! I can hear how this would be very helpful.
Not sure my wife would tolerate me playing it 1000 times, but I've played it a couple of times already.
Steve Z
Best Bass Demo Albums or Tracks
- Thread starter musicfirst1
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Thanks, Steve -- nice track! I can hear how this would be very helpful.
Not sure my wife would tolerate me playing it 1000 times, but I've played it a couple of times already.
Steve Z
Thanks very much for the link. I've loaded their bass selections (and the additional selections under each main choice) into a playlist in Roon to explore, as well as doing the same for a couple of the other playlists.
Steve Z
Steve williams
Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
The first minute tells very quickly how good your bass is. If it’s loose and tubby you’ll hear it in this song
I don't know if any of these have been mentioned, haven't read the whole thread:
Three Pieces For Blues Band And Symphony, William Russo composer, Siegel-Schwall Band playing, Seiji Ozawa conducting. The entire album side has huge symphonic bass lines, lots of kettle drum. The other side of this Deutsche Grammophon album is Symphonic Dances From West Side Story, which I played once and never want to hear again.
The Embrace, from the album Kiss My Axe by Al Di Meola. I'm not sure how they are doing the huge bass shots, maybe a big drum and synthesizer?
The above need to be played LOUD, through speakers with woofers that can grip the air and shake the room. Headphones won't do.
Unorthodox Behaviour, album by Brand X. Prominent fretless bass work. Great music by amazingly talented players. Who knew Phil Collins could play drums like this?
Sunday At The Village Vanguard, Bill Evans. These pieces were chosen to memorialize Scott LaFaro's bass playing.
Autumn Leaves, from the album Nightclub by Patricia Barber. Mostly a singer accompanied by an upright bass, very fine solo in the middle.
I Just Go, from the album Dig by Boz Scaggs. Deep synthesizer bass notes, and a beautiful guitar solo by Boz.
All of the above are extremely well recorded.
Three Pieces For Blues Band And Symphony, William Russo composer, Siegel-Schwall Band playing, Seiji Ozawa conducting. The entire album side has huge symphonic bass lines, lots of kettle drum. The other side of this Deutsche Grammophon album is Symphonic Dances From West Side Story, which I played once and never want to hear again.
The Embrace, from the album Kiss My Axe by Al Di Meola. I'm not sure how they are doing the huge bass shots, maybe a big drum and synthesizer?
The above need to be played LOUD, through speakers with woofers that can grip the air and shake the room. Headphones won't do.
Unorthodox Behaviour, album by Brand X. Prominent fretless bass work. Great music by amazingly talented players. Who knew Phil Collins could play drums like this?
Sunday At The Village Vanguard, Bill Evans. These pieces were chosen to memorialize Scott LaFaro's bass playing.
Autumn Leaves, from the album Nightclub by Patricia Barber. Mostly a singer accompanied by an upright bass, very fine solo in the middle.
I Just Go, from the album Dig by Boz Scaggs. Deep synthesizer bass notes, and a beautiful guitar solo by Boz.
All of the above are extremely well recorded.
Agree! I've been familiar with the Ozawa/Siegel-Schwall, Brand X, Bill Evans/LaFaro/Motian, and Patty Barber albums for more than a couple of years. The Boz Scaggs and Di Meola tracks are not ones I can recall listening to, but I'll put that right this evening. Thanks for sharing these.
Steve Z
This is not real music but the sound/recording is excellent for test/demo use.
https://www.madisoundspeakerstore.com/books/drums-bells-loudspeaker-evaluation-cd/
https://www.madisoundspeakerstore.com/books/drums-bells-loudspeaker-evaluation-cd/
Splanky, from the album Gettin' To It, Christian McBride with Ray Brown and Milt Hinton. All bass. This MP3 doesn't do it justice:
I was just cruisin' on this rainy, dreary misty but beautiful fall day watching the yellow and orange leaves fall and once again, this Joscho Stephan track stopped me in my tracks. One thing led to another and I am all smiles. (Sorry to derail but this is not about bass, but wow...)
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I don't know if it was mentioned somewhere else but Duran Duran's A View To a Kill has a very difficult bass track to reproduce. The delay/echo John Taylor used in certain portions is an interesting effect that I find gets muddy very easily.
This is not real music but the sound/recording is excellent for test/demo use.
https://www.madisoundspeakerstore.com/books/drums-bells-loudspeaker-evaluation-cd/
A friend recommended this to me a couple of years ago (maybe he found it from one of your columns, Kal) and while it's not something I'd listen to often, it is indeed a very well-recorded set of tracks that make a a great demo or test disc.
Steve Z
That's just the tip of the iceberg. He has sent me many additional files which have not (yet) been released commercially. It's really great but, OTOH, there's only so much of it one can take.
Very cool, Kal.
Another sound artist I can recommend for superbly recorded and sounding tracks is Harry Bertoia, the noted sculptor who began exploring the sound of his sculptures in the 1950s, recording them in his Pennsylvania barn on 1/4" tape via four microphones suspended overhead. He called the sounds Sonambient and released his first LP by the same name in 1970. There are currently individual discs and a box set collection, also titled Sonambient, Complete Collection on the Impec label, which brings together the remaining recordings of Bertoia's archives.
https://boomkat.com/products/sonambient-recordings-of-harry-bertoia
The sonic effects of Bertoia's sculptures, particularly the large hanging gongs is mesmerizing --- and a good test not only for bass performance but for one's entire system, particularly the digital front end.
Steve Z
Another sound artist I can recommend for superbly recorded and sounding tracks is Harry Bertoia, the noted sculptor who began exploring the sound of his sculptures in the 1950s, recording them in his Pennsylvania barn on 1/4" tape via four microphones suspended overhead. He called the sounds Sonambient and released his first LP by the same name in 1970. There are currently individual discs and a box set collection, also titled Sonambient, Complete Collection on the Impec label, which brings together the remaining recordings of Bertoia's archives.
https://boomkat.com/products/sonambient-recordings-of-harry-bertoia
The sonic effects of Bertoia's sculptures, particularly the large hanging gongs is mesmerizing --- and a good test not only for bass performance but for one's entire system, particularly the digital front end.
Steve Z
Interesting. This reminds me of one of the recordings that seduced me into multichannel:
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https://www.forcedexposure.com/Catalog/va-immersion-dvd/ST.2010.html
https://www.starkland.com/reviews/S2010-Stereophile.pdf
The double bass is incredibly recorded on this CD.
The music is fantastic too!
I found this recommendation on this Thread... and bought it on vinyl.
Lowest Bass ever recorded? It's really low, 27.5 khz!
And what an album! Just finished first listen through. It's supremely enjoyable.
CD is for sale via https://carmengomes.bandcamp.com/album/up-jumped-the-devil-discovering-the-music-of-robert-johnson-part-1
And what an album! Just finished first listen through. It's supremely enjoyable.
CD is for sale via https://carmengomes.bandcamp.com/album/up-jumped-the-devil-discovering-the-music-of-robert-johnson-part-1
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The new Carmen Gomes, Inc. recording noted above is scheduled for release by Sound Liaison on November 13th in DXD, various other PCM resolutions and DSD. I hope to have the 24/192 version today and will chime in once I listen.
