Best Songs to Show off your System

[dadgumit]

I got to thinking about that bit they did on the show, best movies to show off your crap, and it occurred to me, I like to show of my sound with music from time to time. Some of the songs I like to use:

1) J'ai Dormi Sous L'Eau - Air (I had to look back and forth from my keyboard to itunes the whole time I typed that)
2) We are the People - Empire of the Sun
3) Besame (and a few others)- Diana Krall
4) The Clock - Thom Yorke



Well, there are a few off the top of my head, I am sure there are much better. Really interested to see what others use.

[ghelyar]

I'm no audio expert but whatever you use, it's probably most important that you play a whole range of audio at high quality (e.g. lossless or PCM straight off a CD).

I've never actually heard any of the 4 you mentioned so I don't know how wide that range is but there should at least be a wide range of pitches and tempos.

People tend to just up the volume and bass to 11 and go on how they vibrations through their body for some reason.

[tokenuser]

People tend to just up the volume and bass to 11 and go on how they vibrations through their body for some reason.
Sad as it might be, thats not such a bad thing. Music is such a personal thing that some people just want to "feel" it.

I like stereo seperation and a full tonal range, but my home theatre isn't used for music (often), so its optimised for movie sound tracks. Audio in my car is another story. I try to keep it centred on me (as the driver and primary occupant of the car).

I just wish that THEY were more balanced. Nothing worse than needing to crank to volume up for dialog only to be blown out of the chair by incidental music.

Oh yeah ... what do I use? Dire Straits are good - they have great audio mixing that swirls around you. So do Phil Collins and Genesis.

[davmoo]

I usually test audio with Ozzy Osbourne's "No More Tears", or Moby's "Extreme Ways".

[heinenth]

2 pretty random songs, but good for testing nonetheless:

- "Such Great Heights" by The Postal Service
- "Intro" by Big Boi (on Speakerboxxx album)

[mrpopular]

No way. Download A High-Def Movie Trailer. TR2N

[shike]

Anything that hasn't been touched by the loudness wars is a good start. In other words anything that still has a dynamic range (extremely rare).

Guns N' Roses - Chinese Democracy is a good one in terms of modern mastering.