What reference disc for setup?

D

dogn4u

New member
I was curious what others use as reference material for setting up monitors, comparing professional results with your own, etc. One commonly used disc is Donald Fagen's "Nightfly", which I'll admit is one fine sounding album. Nightfly was engineered by Roger Nichols, who also has worked for James Taylor and Roseanne Cash, among others, as well as engineering Steely Dan's finest 45 minutes: "Aja".

However, to my 49-year-old ears, Chris Isaak's "Heart Shaped World" (engineer: Mark Needham) is the best sounding recorded music I've ever heard (purely in technical terms). Beautiful, crisp highs without sibilance problems, and unlike with so many modern recordings, Needham took it easy with the compression/limiting, preserving dynamic range and avoiding listening fatigue.

Now, 50 years, while certainly not "old" (IMHO)-, is enough time so that the edge continues to be shaved off the limits of high frequencies I can hear...probably currently shelved at around 12-15 KHz. As with so many young men, I was pretty much a testosterone-addled idiot for my teen years, but through a combination of a rare burst of intelligence and sheer luck, I've always managed to use earplugs for my three nosiest pursuits: motorcycle riding, shooting, and playing in various garage bands. You gotta be careful if hearing is important to you. Ten rounds through my H&K 9mm without ear protection could and probably would cause a bit of damage. And ear damage, sadly, is irreversible.

While hardly anyone but a healthy seven year old can hear anything above 15 KHz or so, it still makes sense for playback systems to be able to reproduce frequencies above 15 KHz. It mostly has to do with combining sounds and harmonic overtones...drop me a line if you're interested in more, but it's too wordy and complex to get into right now. So, while I'm not blessed with "golden" ears, I would safely call them at least "polished aluminum", and intend to preserve them as long as possible. I also have a cast iron stomach, a lead foot, titanium in my left leg, and brass balls...and some Thursday nights I join Lemmy at the Rainbow for a glass of metal shavings or two...so quite a bit of metal going on here.

So what do others use? And this needn't reflect on your musical taste, which is your own bidness anyway (and 100% as valid as anyone's); I'm just talking in technical terms.

Cheers all,
Rudi

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Chris Isaak records have a very nice mellow balanced sound to them. I love that other album that sounds like he recorded in on a beach in Mexico. Can't remember what it was called?

I listen to a lot of hardcore punk and rock but my favorite mixed album is Suzanne Vega's - 99.9 F. She plays folk but this is one of those stand out albums that she got studio professional to play all the music along with her folky guitar. There are lots of textured sounds and guitar and I always wondered how they did that so masterfully.

Then again I can't mix for shit, maybe I should listen to some James Taylor? Then again, maybe not :D
 
I've never listened to reference CDs on my monitors. I listened to some Deep Purple on a friend's though. It was like Roger Glover was booted out of the band !
Oh yeah, he was !
 
I have damage :(

Oh well, life's too short to whine...

I use anything that I know really well. Stuff (like Gov't Mule) that I listen to all the time in my car, on my computer, live, etc.

I'm not looking to be amazed. I just need a reference.

So you are about my age. Try some Beatles or .... Floyd (common denominator: Alan Parsons).....
 
guido #2 said:
I'm not looking to be amazed. I just need a reference.
Click to expand...

Exactly. Although I like a little Chris Isaak - especially the more rocking/rockabilly stuff - I'm no rabid fan. Even less a Fleetwood Mac fan, tho I've always enjoyed Buckingham's guitar work. I am, however, a rabid fan of Mark Needham's fine engineering work. And Alan Parsons, both as a producer and a musician. Good seventies album: Parson's "I Robot".
 
Hadn't checked the thread in a couple of days, it says in the liners: recorded by Tom Mallon and Dave Carlson, mixed by Lee Herschberg.
 
Reference Tracks

Rudi,

Let me recommend the following:

Alison Krauss and Union Station - Let Me Touch You For Awhile
Alison Krauss and Union Station - New Favorite
Fuel - Empty Spaces
Fuel - Last Time
Fuel - Prove
Nickelback - How You Remind Me
Nickelback - Never Again
No Doubt - Ex-Girlfriend
No Doubt - Too Late
Weezer - Don't Let Go
Weezer - Hash Pipe

There are quite a few others, but these are excellent recordings and masterings and part of my reference list. By the way, I'm almost 58. ;)

Cheers,
John
 
well... for the record I'll be 58 this week...

I have a few different CD's and I'll listen to them depending on the make-up of the players and the music I'll be working with

here's a few of my favorites

Raising Sand- Alison Krauss and Robert Plant
Steely Dan - Aja
Stevie Nicks - Belladonna
Beatles- Sgt. Pepper
Doobie Brothers - Living on the fault line
Dave Brubeck - Take 5
 
I usually take a couple sine waves, run them through a brickwall limiter, and play those back. I like to think I'm "ahead of the curve." :cool:
 
dogn4u said:
I was curious what others use as reference material for setting up monitors ... I'm just talking in technical terms.
Click to expand...

Technically, the best (and really, only) test source is room measuring software. Anything else is just guessing. One problem with "good sounding" CDs is they sound good on all systems. So what use is that? Further, the key of the music interacts with the peaks and resonances in the room, introducing an unacceptable variable. If your room has a strong resonance at 110 Hz music in the key of A will sound boomy, but music in the key of B might sound thin. With room measuring software you see directly what happens at all frequencies.

Here's my standard list of room measuring links:

Room EQ Wizard, Windows and Linux and Mac OSX 10.4+, Freeware
ETF, Windows, $150
FuzzMeasure, Mac, $150
Room Measuring Primer
Comparison of Ten Measuring Microphones

--Ethan
 
I don't listen to other things for reference. what something actually sounds like doesn't matter much as long as it has some visceral impact. As long as the music communicates the emotion that it is supposed to, you have done your job.

I used to think that I wanted my stuff to sound like Metallica's Black album or Dream Theater's Awake album. But when I think I achieved it, my stuff sounds darker and heavier. I realized that I wasn't trying to make things sound like those albums as much as I was trying to achieve the same impact that those albums had on me when I first heard them.

I can do that pretty consistantly on music where it is appropriate. So I'm normally pretty happy...
 
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