There were a lot from labels like Telarc, EMI, and Musical Heritage Society (on vinyl). Youtube can be a good source of well-recorded orchestra music (mainly soundtracks). My bank once sent me some well-recorded Christmas music.
Narada put out great recordings of acoustic instruments.
They all convey the impression of not listening to electronics.
Ed
Narada put out great recordings of acoustic instruments.
They all convey the impression of not listening to electronics.
Ed
Good recordings of orchestral or acoustic instruments without electronic interference??...
Look for stuff under "direct to disc"...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct-to-disc_recording
I have a few that Shefield Labs did......namely Harry James & his Big Band......
________
Then again at the opposite end of the music taste spectrum...Razorlight "Wire to Wire"....complete single take on a simple two track machine.....
Look for stuff under "direct to disc"...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct-to-disc_recording
I have a few that Shefield Labs did......namely Harry James & his Big Band......
________
Then again at the opposite end of the music taste spectrum...Razorlight "Wire to Wire"....complete single take on a simple two track machine.....
The following three are from Sean Olive (JBL - Harman) that are used in his "room correction software" white paper:
Tracy Chapman - [Tracy Chapman #02] Fast Car
Jennifer Warnes - [Famous Blue Raincoat - The Songs Of Leonard Cohen] #02 Bird On A Wire
James Taylor - [That's Why I'm Here] #01 That's Why I'm Here
The following are from Roy Delgado (Klipsch) for dialing-in loudspeakers in-room. In general, these are very dynamic recordings and will easily show up issues in small loudspeakers that can't handle wide dynamic range without distorting at near-performance SPLs:
James Newton Howard - [James Newton Howard & Friends] - #03 She, #08 Slippin' Away II, #09 Amuseum
Fourplay - [Between The Sheets] #01 Chant
Bonnie Raitt - [Luck Of The Draw] Something To Talk About, Good Man, Good Woman, Not The Only One, I Can't Make You Love Me
Tracy Chapman - [New Beginning] #01 Heaven's Here On Earth
Bela Fleck & The Flecktones - [Flight of the Cosmic Hippo] #02 Flying Saucer Dudes, #04 Flight of the Cosmic Hippo
James Taylor - [Never Die Young] #01 Never Die Young
A much longer list of titles from Jim Smith (author of Get Better Sound) is attached. I own a bit over 10% of these titles, and of the albums that I own, I've included their album dynamic ranges (as defined by the TT DR Offline Meter plugin within foobar2000), after declipping using Audacity's Clip Fix, as necessary. I'd recommend sticking with albums whose dynamic range is 11 or higher. This eliminates most popular music albums (including rock and its sub-genres, etc.) recorded and produced since 1991.
As far as what I use to listen to a system after dialing-in using DSP, I generally draw from my full list of recordings to zoom in on any issues surfaced while looking at in-room acoustic measurements (REW) or other subjective issues such as harshness, etc. that may or may not show up in measurements--but my ears tell me there's a problem. Generally, these are fully acoustic recordings of known provenance by reputable labels/recording engineers.
For instance, just about any recording by Prof. Johnson (Reference Recordings) or John Eargle (Delos), etc. If the system sounds good with these recordings, then any recordings that don't sound good--and there are a LOT of popular music recordings that don't sound very good especially those that have excessive amounts of clipping which includes almost all popular music produced since 1999--can usually be assigned to issues within the as-produced recording.
A good way to spot these recording issues is to look at their "ReplayGain" values within a player. Any ReplayGain values more negative than "-4" usually have severe clipping and/or compression issues.
Chris
Tracy Chapman - [Tracy Chapman #02] Fast Car
Jennifer Warnes - [Famous Blue Raincoat - The Songs Of Leonard Cohen] #02 Bird On A Wire
James Taylor - [That's Why I'm Here] #01 That's Why I'm Here
The following are from Roy Delgado (Klipsch) for dialing-in loudspeakers in-room. In general, these are very dynamic recordings and will easily show up issues in small loudspeakers that can't handle wide dynamic range without distorting at near-performance SPLs:
James Newton Howard - [James Newton Howard & Friends] - #03 She, #08 Slippin' Away II, #09 Amuseum
Fourplay - [Between The Sheets] #01 Chant
Bonnie Raitt - [Luck Of The Draw] Something To Talk About, Good Man, Good Woman, Not The Only One, I Can't Make You Love Me
Tracy Chapman - [New Beginning] #01 Heaven's Here On Earth
Bela Fleck & The Flecktones - [Flight of the Cosmic Hippo] #02 Flying Saucer Dudes, #04 Flight of the Cosmic Hippo
James Taylor - [Never Die Young] #01 Never Die Young
A much longer list of titles from Jim Smith (author of Get Better Sound) is attached. I own a bit over 10% of these titles, and of the albums that I own, I've included their album dynamic ranges (as defined by the TT DR Offline Meter plugin within foobar2000), after declipping using Audacity's Clip Fix, as necessary. I'd recommend sticking with albums whose dynamic range is 11 or higher. This eliminates most popular music albums (including rock and its sub-genres, etc.) recorded and produced since 1991.
As far as what I use to listen to a system after dialing-in using DSP, I generally draw from my full list of recordings to zoom in on any issues surfaced while looking at in-room acoustic measurements (REW) or other subjective issues such as harshness, etc. that may or may not show up in measurements--but my ears tell me there's a problem. Generally, these are fully acoustic recordings of known provenance by reputable labels/recording engineers.
For instance, just about any recording by Prof. Johnson (Reference Recordings) or John Eargle (Delos), etc. If the system sounds good with these recordings, then any recordings that don't sound good--and there are a LOT of popular music recordings that don't sound very good especially those that have excessive amounts of clipping which includes almost all popular music produced since 1999--can usually be assigned to issues within the as-produced recording.
A good way to spot these recording issues is to look at their "ReplayGain" values within a player. Any ReplayGain values more negative than "-4" usually have severe clipping and/or compression issues.
Chris
Cowboy Junkies' The Trinity Session. A DAT machine placed in an empty church.
Ella's Love is Here to Stay from the Songbooks shows the room.
Blues Brother's Briefcase Full of Blues from the Universal Amphitheater is neat: you can feel the interaction with the crowd, and it seems to me that Donald Dunn was fighting feedback from his bass amp the second side of the album.
Over the last year, Led Zeppelin's first album has become a surprise to me because of the mixes, space, and dynamics.
Lourdes' Royals is a low synth bass delight. Just fun stuff.
And find some Tibetan singing bowls. The deep fundamentals will reveal you room nodes and reflections, and the overtones are fun.
If my kids start hearing Thomas Dolby or Tears for Fears or Rickie Lee Jones or Shawn Colvin, they know dad's busy evaluating his stereo.
Ella's Love is Here to Stay from the Songbooks shows the room.
Blues Brother's Briefcase Full of Blues from the Universal Amphitheater is neat: you can feel the interaction with the crowd, and it seems to me that Donald Dunn was fighting feedback from his bass amp the second side of the album.
Over the last year, Led Zeppelin's first album has become a surprise to me because of the mixes, space, and dynamics.
Lourdes' Royals is a low synth bass delight. Just fun stuff.
And find some Tibetan singing bowls. The deep fundamentals will reveal you room nodes and reflections, and the overtones are fun.
If my kids start hearing Thomas Dolby or Tears for Fears or Rickie Lee Jones or Shawn Colvin, they know dad's busy evaluating his stereo.
I see Gesualdo "Tenebrae" with the Tallis Scholars on that list -- "Spem in Alium" by Thomas Tallis via the Tallis Scholars should be on the list -- even better if you can hear it live. I think I have almost all the Tallis Scholars recordings, and they are making a US tour in April 2023.
I have the Thomas Tallis stuff sung by "Magnificat" Directed by Phillip Cave, recorded by Linn Records (yes Linn as in Linn audio), & I think it was recorded in a Church around one microphone. I have both the CD & a 24bit 96kHz FLAC download...
I use direct-to-master disc recordings from Sheffield Labs, especially ones by Lincoln Mayorga. Play his version of Peace Train and hear the tinggggg at the end for evaluation. These recording went directly from microphone to master disc with no recording tape used. Because there was no look-ahead recording head on a live recording, groove spacing had to be opened full wide for the entire session.
Careful now ! If you play that too loud, the speakers might start dancing and shuffle right out of the room!
(And if you follow up with "Shotgun" by Jr. Walker, they'll end up down the street. )
Sheherazade, Orchestra of the Kirov Opera.
Aja, Steely Dan.
Kind of Blue, Miles Davis SACD.
Some of those old Mercury recordings done on film soundtracks re-released on SACD.
Jazz at the Improv (Just kidding)
Waltz for Debby, Bill Evans
Some Hendrix for the phase effects Where the guitar goes around the room.