# Specific SQ Tracks to Test Extreme Stage Width & Depth Boundaries?



## bbfoto

Hey ladies & gents, I'd like to know what specific music or other audio tracks you are using to test the extremes of your car's far Left & Right Imaging/Stage Boundaries, and also Image Depth/Depth of Stage?

You know, those special tracks where the drum kit, double bass, or vocalist is floating out on the hood, or when triangle, cymbal strikes, or the horn section are outside of your L/R a-pillars, etc. 

Please include a short description of the track if possible...what you should hear and where you should hear it. 

It would be great for all of us to have a small compilation of these types of tracks for demo and tuning.

I'm going through my list now and will post some shortly.

TIA

EDIT: Just a general note for posting...Let's really try to keep the suggestions in this thread limited to only those tracks that exhibit extremely deep and/or wide staging cues...wanna keep these separate from the generally good SQ tracks. Thanks.


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## asota

Pink Floyd Another Brick in the Wall Part 1 
This song has a lot of off stage (left right) content and the children playing near the end are very deep in the sound stage. The sub bass in this song is also very strong and is a good test for how smooth a blend you have. It should be felt not heard and not pull you to the sub.


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## robtr8

I use Janis Ian's "Ride Me Like a Wave". There is a ton of sympathetic snare resonance and a whispered phrase that won't present it's self correctly unless the system is great. Overall, you should be able to close your eye's and imagine being in front of the band. This stupid track is why I'm stuck with Linn in the house.

I also like Joan Osborne's "Break Up to Make Up" cover. Pretty subtle backing volcals.
Peter, Paul, and Mary's "Kisses Sweeter Than Wine" has strong left or right vocals that make it very wide.


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## cjazzy4

robtr8 said:


> I use Janis Ian's "Ride Me Like a Wave". There is a ton of sympathetic snare resonance and a whispered phrase that won't present it's self correctly unless the system is great. Overall, you should be able to close your eye's and imagine being in front of the band. This stupid track is why I'm stuck with Linn in the house.
> 
> I also like Joan Osborne's "Break Up to Make Up" cover. Pretty subtle backing volcals.
> Peter, Paul, and Mary's "Kisses Sweeter Than Wine" has strong left or right vocals that make it very wide.


just took a listen to this ..... awesome SQ test song from Janis Ian.....thanks for the info I know what to play on my system to test when its complete.

Joan Osborne's Break Up to Make Up was spot on.....That's good SQ cruise music....back up vocals are rich and full.....such depth and passion. 

Peter, Paul, Mary Kisses Sweeter than Wine" did had that wide harmonic feel to it I loved it and will be using it to to test.


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## bbfoto

Awesome guys, Thanks! I'll check these out when I'm done working.

Thanks again. Keep 'em coming!


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## bbfoto

Okay, I'm having a hard time narrowing down my list, but I'll start with an awesome track for DEPTH:

"If I Could Sing Your Blues" by Sara K., from the Chesky Ultimate Demonstration Disc.










In this track there is a trumpet about 10 feet deep on the right, while Sara is up front and center.

Oh, and if you just want to buy one disc to test and tune your system (other than test tones), this should be the one!


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## bbfoto

Sorry guys, forgot about my own thread, DOH!

Not at home at the moment, but here's one off the top of my head...

Hell's Racers by The Dave Meyers Effect. This is an old surf guitar track that isn't necessarily a SQ track but the race cars in the very short beginning of the track image outside of the vehicle to the left and right, and some of the guitar riffs are outside, too.

Also the old classic, "Tequila" by The Challengers...hand claps and shouts/howls that are outside the vehicle.

And these are a few tracks that I think Andy Wehmeyer recommended in another thread...

The Pink Panther track from the older IASCA disc has a Triangle strike that will image outside of the physical boundaries of the vehicle.

And the track from the EMMA competition disc where there is a guy that walks from side to side across the stage.

That's it for now...will try to post others from my list at home in a few days.


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## inspector3711

Rush YYZ has some great side to side drumming....


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## bbfoto

^True. Moving Pictures is one of my favorite albums from my youth...a lot of inspiration for a young drummer. 

Mark Knopfler - Boom, Like That (a song about fast food, LOL)

There is a guitar riff that will image outside the vehicle. It's short but sweet.


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## jpeezy

try any highbit recording of tabla beat science, on a good system youll be able to hear the depth of musicians on stage, and the width is sick.forwarning it is very much world music.


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## PPI_GUY

asota said:


> Pink Floyd Another Brick in the Wall Part 1
> This song has a lot of off stage (left right) content and the children playing near the end are very deep in the sound stage. The sub bass in this song is also very strong and is a good test for how smooth a blend you have. It should be felt not heard and not pull you to the sub.


Let me suggest the PF album (actually more of a Roger Waters solo effort) "The Final Cut". It is literally packed full of panning and deep stage content. I don't have the album in front of me but, some of the tracks I recall having some good examples are "Paranoid Eyes", "The Gunner's Dream" and "Two Suns in the Sunset". Pay special attention to the cars passing in the intro and outro of "Two Suns". You might also want to do some research on the best version of The Final Cut if you don't already own a copy. There've been several remasters.


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## jamiebosco

Dire Straits * Private Investigations 
Yello * The Race

I find both of these pretty good for judging width


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## n_olympios

Pretty much most of the late 50's/early 60's albums have serious L/R instrument separation. It was when stereo started spreading around. Dinah Washington, Otis Redding, The Doors, The Beatles, all of them have productions with say the drums deep in one corner, guitars in the other, and voices in either one.


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## montyburns

PPI_GUY said:


> Let me suggest the PF album (actually more of a Roger Waters solo effort) "The Final Cut". It is literally packed full of panning and deep stage content. I don't have the album in front of me but, some of the tracks I recall having some good examples are "Paranoid Eyes", "The Gunner's Dream" and "Two Suns in the Sunset". Pay special attention to the cars passing in the intro and outro of "Two Suns". You might also want to do some research on the best version of The Final Cut if you don't already own a copy. There've been several remasters.


I second that... Final Cut has some truly spooky out of body noises in the intros and outros... more than any other PF record.

I was home alone listening on a pair of unknown sony cans back in high school (early 90s). There is a part with some loud cracks and footsteps... thought someone was breaking in, bolted out of bed.


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## Thrill_House

I got "The Track" for you guys, 'Moments in love" by the art of noise. its got a wide range of sounds, excellent image placement and tonnes of depth and width. In my car the xylophone on the far left actually comes from outside my drivers window and you can even hear the notes move forward and backwards as they are played. This is the version you want to get: Art of Noise: Moments In Love [Quiet Storm] - YouTube


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## ATOMICTECH62

The original Boston cd.The keyboards and what sounds a battle scene on Foreplay/Long Time is a good one.Hell it even made 6x9'sin the rear deck on a EQ booster with an 8 track sound awesome.


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## floydfan33

montyburns said:


> I second that... Final Cut has some truly spooky out of body noises in the intros and outros... more than any other PF record.
> 
> I was home alone listening on a pair of unknown sony cans back in high school (early 90s). There is a part with some loud cracks and footsteps... thought someone was breaking in, bolted out of bed.


The Final Cut, and Waters' "The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking", were recorded with Holophonics (comparable to binaural recording) , intended to perform best with headphones. Possibly why a good car system reproduces the effect so well.

Waters later used Q Sound on "Amused to Death" with even better effect.


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## coolmind

alan parsons project - tales of mystery and imagination he was the producer of many pink floyd albums and this is a must have.
From jeff beck's guitar shop the song behind the veil(sound's a bit reggae) awesome percussion and deep bass.


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## bbfoto

Wow, I forgot about this thread...again! So I'm back to revive it. 

Check out this Reggae track. There is a Shaker on the Far Right that should image at least a foot outside of your Right A-Pillar. And there is a Tambourine on the Far Left that should image outside of your Left A-Pillar.

*Track #14: Dominion by The Midnite-Lustre Kings from the 2008 Infinite Dub album*...

Check out a snippit here... http://1drv.ms/1LYgaiA


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## bbfoto

^Also the _Jimmy Cliff - Give Thanks_ LP.

The entire album has an amazing soundstage and imaging, but especially check out the first track, _"Bongo Man_" at the Link above.


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## bbfoto

_Rebecca Ferguson - *What is this Thing Called Love*_ from her _Lady Sings the Blues_ CD.

See Link in Post #19

_Summertime_ and _My Man_ are extremely nice, too.


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## NealfromNZ

Dave Brubeck take five. Best bit of vinyl I own.

https://youtu.be/vmDDOFXSgAs?list=RDvmDDOFXSgAs

Close your eyes and the band will appear as they would on their correct positions on stage


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## sqnut

*Sgt Peppers, Beatles*. The recording was done in studio 2 at Abbey Road Studios. A lot of good music has been recorded here. Studio 2 is a huge room http://www.abbeyroad.com/imageResize.ashx?f=/UploadedImages/3286fc70-174a-4d36-8a90-4993e37a6156.jpg&w=732 and that sense of space is captured very well on the album. Quite a few tracks have extreme left and right, front centre and centre stage (hence depth) happening at the same time. Overall the album gives a good sense of space and give a good sense of your stage dimension and placement. 

*Amused to Death - Roger Waters* Another well recorded album. Both the quality of recording and the content compliment each other well. The album is recorded using QSound which basically uses complex mic arrays and timing to give the sound a 3D feel of space. Love the music on the album and the guitar solo's by Jeff Beck are excellent. 

The Barking Dog - The sound of a dog barking appears 3-4 times on the album and the location changes each time. You have one at your right ear another out on the hood and then to the left and far away etc.

Perfect sense Part 1 - The opening vocals on this number will make you feel that Roger Waters is sitting right next to you in the car, spooky . 

Late Home Tonight, ends with an explosion from an in coming rocket. Which side is the rocket coming from and how real does the explosion sound?

Too Much Rope, starts with a man chopping wood each stroke sounds like the crack of a gunshot. This is followed by a horse drawn carriage with a sleigh bell moving from the extreme left to the extreme right. As it fades away to the right the sound of the hoofs and the bell feel like they are moving further away. How far into the fade do you feel the distance increasing? At what point do you continue to hear the fade but it stops sounding like it's further away?

In a car the extent to which one perceives the effects in recording eg how far out on the hood is the dog, the sound of the explosion etc comes down to the timing from individual drivers and the combined response from them at your ears. That and where you place the speakers. 

I like to use Dire Straits when tuning for response. If DS sounds like it has too much bite or it sounds a bit thin and gives the urge to raise the bass a bit, the response needs tweaking.


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## NealfromNZ

Here's a few from the 70s/80s with tracks that either have nice wide stereo soundstage or spin the music 360 degrees.

First up Kraftwerk numbers. You'll find this sampled in heaps of hi hop tracks

https://youtu.be/4YPiCeLwh5o

Second up Jean Michel Jarre - Oxygen II, play loud for maximum effect.

https://youtu.be/hD4KMp22jBg

Third up , cheesy 80s dance track , Doppelganger Communications breakdown. This one spins the sound stage 360 degrees in places. E.G 3:30

https://youtu.be/wCMqzyjUQV4


Fourth up, yello ciel overt, mile wide soundstage. One of my pav demo tracks .

https://youtu.be/cP67vt7Wc4k

Fifth up Pink Floyd Echols , love the way that around 7 mins mark the sound stage goes ultra wide.

https://youtu.be/Jey20qVirXg


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## bbfoto

Guys, those are Awesome suggestions! Thanks


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## ErinH

INXS - Never Tear Us Apart

@ about 1:50 the breakdown in the song begins. There's a sax that's panned far left and sounds deep as well. 

Note: The youtube video has an extended intro, so the sax starts here at about 2:36.









To get in to a different genre...
Kanye Wests's "Gone" samples an Otis Redding song. Otis' voice is (apparently) a difference signal* which makes his voice pan hard left. Very cool. 
*Note: when listening to rear-fill in L-R, R-L you can hear his voice in the center of the rear speakers


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## Bluenote

Good one Erin! Love the string arrangements...


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## TallTexan

Skip up to 1:00 into Andreas Vollenweider's Caverna Magica
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxEJ74n9b4Y&list=PL3E59931F9E337146

"New Age" (I guess)/Jazz. I believe analog (thus some tape hiss) recording partly done in some Swiss caves. Starting past the 1:00 mark are some water drops that alternate far left to far right as well as some echo's from the couple walking discovering the caves (the first 1:00) which gives you good stage depth testing.


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## bbfoto

ErinH said:


> INXS - Never Tear Us Apart
> 
> @ about 1:50 the breakdown in the song begins. There's a sax that's panned far left and sounds deep as well.
> 
> Note: The youtube video has an extended intro, so the sax starts here at about 2:36.


Nice, Erin! Forgot about that one. I like "Need You Tonight" and the rest of that album, too. And I think that you should check out their albums titled, "The Swing", "Listen Like Thieves", and "Shabooh Shoobah" as well.  I'll definitely check out that Kanye track, thanks!








Bluenote said:


> Good one Erin! Love the string arrangements...


There are some really nice string arrangements on "The Swing" album, as well as awesome bass lines, sax, drums/percussion, synth, and guitars, of course. It's one of my favorite albums from that timeframe. The Killer Kick Drum & Bass Guitar are the highlights for me though!



TallTexan said:


> Skip up to 1:00 into Andreas Vollenweider's Caverna Magica
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxEJ74n9b4Y&list=PL3E59931F9E337146
> 
> "New Age" (I guess)/Jazz. I believe analog (thus some tape hiss) recording partly done in some Swiss caves. Starting past the 1:00 mark are some water drops that alternate far left to far right as well as some echo's from the couple walking discovering the caves (the first 1:00) which gives you good stage depth testing.


Nice!

Thanks Gents!


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## Babs

I've become smitten with this gal. What absolute talent. This is soundstage on a different level than massive huge orchestra or huge amphitheater but realism should be perceived as being in a nice smokey jazz club or small-medium hall. It's a good test of your systems air and detail to really project the room acoustics around the band in your stage, I think.

I listened to the beginning of the album version of this track last night until my ears bled trying to dial in my frontstage from her voice. Such is the trials of getting past newb-dom. Trying to turn "Shh" sounds into "S" sounds.


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## jpeezy

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/by-way-of-the-world/id312931826, Telarc- Spies, By Way of the World, whole album is really good, but #12 Rite of Passage will have a huge soundstage. 25-26 sec a young kid runs bare footed on rock,yes you can actually hear that, from far left to far right, so much going on its fairly difficult to write about all of it, at 57seconds there is what sounds like a really f&%&ing big Odaiko drum, when you start the track you'll need to turn the volume fairly high to hear everything, and it is dynamic so be forewarned.


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## drop1

NealfromNZ said:


> Here's a few from the 70s/80s with tracks that either have nice wide stereo soundstage or spin the music 360 degrees.
> 
> First up Kraftwerk numbers. You'll find this sampled in heaps of hi hop tracks
> 
> https://youtu.be/4YPiCeLwh5o
> 
> Second up Jean Michel Jarre - Oxygen II, play loud for maximum effect.
> 
> https://youtu.be/hD4KMp22jBg
> 
> Third up , cheesy 80s dance track , Doppelganger Communications breakdown. This one spins the sound stage 360 degrees in places. E.G 3:30
> 
> https://youtu.be/wCMqzyjUQV4
> 
> 
> Fourth up, yello ciel overt, mile wide soundstage. One of my pav demo tracks .
> 
> https://youtu.be/cP67vt7Wc4k
> 
> Fifth up Pink Floyd Echols , love the way that around 7 mins mark the sound stage goes ultra wide.
> 
> https://youtu.be/Jey20qVirXg


That Yello track gad some fantastic depth for me as well. I don't get a lot of width on my truck. Instead of going really wide it kinda wraps the sound around me. 
Some tracks have sounds that seem like they area good foot behind my head though I don't run rears. 
Standard quality sq tracks ( stuff like steely dan) stage wonderfully for me but tracks that use a lot of width wide up going super deep for me.


Just an intersting fact. When producing music a really good way to get huge width is to take parts of the left and right channels , invert the phase and feed a small amount into the opposite channels. It's a simple old school trick that is responsible for most of this type of imaging. 
On of my friends is a stellar producer . I'll see if he will allow me to upload some of his stuff. Depth and width are unreal.


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## DDfusion

Rolling Stones ruby Tuesday has the drums and another effect on the far left


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## madcatter

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJhAyg2LTEk


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## Kevin K

drop1,
Anything from your friend that you can share?
Thanks.





drop1 said:


> That Yello track gad some fantastic depth for me as well. I don't get a lot of width on my truck. Instead of going really wide it kinda wraps the sound around me.
> Some tracks have sounds that seem like they area good foot behind my head though I don't run rears.
> Standard quality sq tracks ( stuff like steely dan) stage wonderfully for me but tracks that use a lot of width wide up going super deep for me.
> 
> 
> Just an intersting fact. When producing music a really good way to get huge width is to take parts of the left and right channels , invert the phase and feed a small amount into the opposite channels. It's a simple old school trick that is responsible for most of this type of imaging.
> On of my friends is a stellar producer . I'll see if he will allow me to upload some of his stuff. Depth and width are unreal.


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## teldzc1

Dead Can Dance - The Ubiquitous Mr. Lovegrove from the Into the Labyrinth Album


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## Alextaastrup

Everything (or almost everything) from Telarc and Chesky Records can be used for this purpose. Nice recording and mastering!


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## db doctor

Let's try some more current music with great dynamics:

Milky Chance-- "Stolen Dance"
Dawes-- "From a Window Seat"
Lindsey Stirling-- "Shatter Me"
Mr. Probz-- "Waves"


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## Elgrosso

NealfromNZ said:


> Second up Jean Michel Jarre - Oxygen II, play loud for maximum effect.
> 
> https://youtu.be/hD4KMp22jBg


Oh yeah, this and the Equinox album, they are tracks that I rediscovered recently with the install of the APL1. That was something really, deep impression, it was so good I couldn't stop laughing :laugh:
Need to try others listed here!


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