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best track for mid bass - you only get 1 shot


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so many great tracks to try and my setup has developed an amplifier glitch and I'm reduced to a boom box on the back deck :(

 

On 10/04/2021 at 2:46 PM, gemini07 said:

Bass isn't just about slam and being able to shake the room - it's also about texture and clarity, especially with voicing at the lower registers. Many bass representations come across as 'muddy' because the quality of the equipment, especially the speakers, doesn't allow those distinctions to be heard. 

 

 

 

I got to see Screamin' Jay Hawkins back in the 80s at Easts Leagues Club in Brisbane - of course he played his signature song and brought the house down ?

That's an awesome version I hadn't heard before - thanks !

 

On 10/04/2021 at 2:46 PM, gemini07 said:

Many bass representations come across as 'muddy' because the quality of the equipment, especially the speakers, doesn't allow those distinctions to be heard. 

I would agree, but include the response of the room as just as important as the quality of the speakers.

 

I became a bass nut only after discovering how tight/clean the room's bass became after I added a bunch of absorption to my room a decade ago...a truly "night and day" change to the room sound.

What I didn't understand a decade ago is that absorption gets too large and deep to absorb low frequencies - I just happened to have a lightly constructed room that let all the low bass out ?...but the bass was great.

 

I did a major speaker upgrade around 2015 and went from 8" Vifa mid bass woofers/Vifa D27 dome tweeters to Acoustic Elegance TD18 mid bass with PSE144's horns on top.

 

With a few bands of EQ cut < 150Hz and the absorption working above, my room's bass is "reasonably" under control.

The TD18s produce the cleanest most articulate bass I've heard - I cross them at 50Hz to a sub below and at 350Hz to the PSE144s above.

 

An interesting story that sort of relates to mid bass, so is sort of on topic...

...before I built my sub, I ran the TD18s down low with EQ - 3 way active TD18s (25ish - 350Hz), PSE144s (350 - 20kHz)

It sounded great to me - articulate bass with lots of bass slam.

 

I had some friends over and we listened to the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra's version of "Fanfare for the Common Man".

Their comment was, "it's missing something in the bottom octave"...

Around the same time I listened to Jiri's @jkn's setup - the low bass made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up...

...I decided I needed to build a sub...which I'd had all the bits for for ages but just hadn't made any sawdust...I built Paul Spencer's T20 Tapped Horn, which is pretty flat in my room to below 20Hz.

 

...The "weight" the sub adds is amazing - the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra's version of "Fanfare for the Common Man" now has the bottom octave...those big kettle drums at the climax when the wick is turned up is staggering.

 

But adding the sub didn't change the bass slam I already had (as "bass slam" is above sub range), it just added weight below (which is of course nice to have).

 

@Paul Spencertalked me into splurging on the Acoustic Elegance TD18's - every time I listen to them I'm thankful I listened to his advice - they are awesome!

My wife, who appreciates good sound also, jokes that she's taking the TD18's if we ever split up :(...not the sub, not the PSE's, not the DEQX...just the TD18's!

 

With a room with the bass reasonably under control and good speakers, it comes down to the recording that

On 10/04/2021 at 2:46 PM, gemini07 said:

doesn't allow those distinctions to be heard. 

 

Plenty of good tracks above to listen to

 

cheers

Mike

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Guest Eggcup the Dafter
On 06/04/2021 at 7:26 AM, BugPowderDust said:

Stepping outside of the 70s and 80s, there were these guys weirding up the radio in the 90s.

 

 

While Les will dip into sub bass on his fretless, Primus were the masters of that explosive circa 100Hz slam, especially live. 

 

Such a strange band (basically all soloists in their own right) who were ridiculously tight live and played some of the most obtuse music of their time.

 

I'd not paid much notice to Primus - but am now.  i enjoyed  'Rhinoplasty". which has a lot of mid bass impact so deserves a mention here. Excelent set of covers- they know how not to be weird as well,! 

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I always like Jewe from the Mickey Hart Planet Drum album. Basically the thud of hands on bodies provides an interesting indication of how good your midbass is. And it ain't midrange I'm talking about - turn it up and you can fee l the pressure on your own chest as well.

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Loving rediscovering some bands on this thread! 

 

How about some old indie:  Pavement - Summer Babe (Winter Version)

 

Recording was a bit rough, but the kick drum comes through in the mix.

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Guest thethrowback
5 hours ago, joz said:

Hopefully this does.

 

Forget the bass, I much prefer the racy video.

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There have been a couple of mentions of Billie Jean. Thriller, as a whole, is probably one of the greatest examples of the producer's craft. Quincy Jones did a simply amazing job on this album and I think there are another couple of tracks worthy of playing with regards to the bass: Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' and Beat It.

 

I'm going to side-step OP's "one track only" as other people have taken the instruction as a seemingly advisory instruction too ?

 

1. Elton John's 1970 eponymous album, track 3: Take Me to the Pilot. When the Elton's piano kicks in fully and Alan Weighall goes to town on bass guitar....

 

2. George Michael's 1996 album Older, track 4: Spinning the Wheel. If bass can have a sexy quality, then the entry in the glossary would cite this track. I'm only now appreciating how damn good George Michael was after the fact.

 

 

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Far from a subtle (and not exactly clean organic) thump but that's The Mark of Cain in Henry Rollins produced album "ill at ease". 

 

 The Mark of Cain - Remember Me

 

 

The Mark of Cain - LMA  

 

 

The Mark of Cain - Contender

 


The Mark of Cain - Tell me

 

 

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  • 2 months later...
Guest deanB

John Campbell- Wild Streak

This would make me jump when played loud on the ATC 19 passives which, in conjunction with the Cymer 6CA7 amp, produced superbly tight midbass.

There's a couple more hard hitters on One Believer too.

Edited by deanB
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I just discovered this thread and love checking out some of the suggestions.

I'm with Joz, Chris Isaak with Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing is a fantastic track for bass but also one of my all time favorite test tracks.  I spent years being disappointed with this recording thinking that it just turned to hash during the crescendo where the cymbals and guitar just run into each other as noise.  I now know I'm on to a good thing when this passage is fully resolved at high volume and loving it.

On 4/13/2021 at 10:25 AM, joz said:

 

Im also a bass nut, I have so many bass tracks its just so many don't translate to well on youtube.

Hopefully this does.

 

 

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Groove is king by rock candy funk party….

 

the name says it all. I used to use this to test new speakers… I cannot think of a better bass. It may be a bit low for this thread and it does boom a bit, but pure fun…

 

enjoy👍

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4 hours ago, TonyW said:

Groove is king by rock candy funk party….

I found "In the Groove" by Rock Candy Funk Party - is that the one you refer to? - great mid bass!...and not too low for this thread...

 

On 4/13/2021 at 10:25 AM, joz said:

 

Im also a bass nut, I have so many bass tracks its just so many don't translate to well on youtube.

Hopefully this does.

 

 

@joz ... that's an awesome track...

...I've come to the realisation through reviewing tracks in this thread that for me it's the percussion I like best.

 

I love a great double bass/bass guitar bass line - but it doesn't hit you in the chest like the kick/toms/snare drums do.

 

4 hours ago, TonyW said:

It may be a bit low for this thread and it does boom a bit, but pure fun…

I cranked the Spotify version of  "In the Groove" and got no "boom" in my room - just clean decent bass with not much low bass going to my sub crossed at 60Hz - if you hear boom you may want to look at your room's reverb times and mode peaks.

 

I agree - great track and pure fun...

 

Mike

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13 hours ago, almikel said:

if you hear boom you may want to look at your room's reverb times and mode peaks.

 

Bass clarity is dominated by frequency response.....

 

Peaks sound a lot louder ..... and dips, if you were to see them in higher resolution usually correspond to frequencies which are totally missing (cancelled).

 

.... but it's also because the frequency response is just another way of describing the phase/time response.

 

Why does a LF "stop"? .... how do you make a "short" LF sound?...... by mixing higher frequencies with it.     Exactly when those high(er) frequencies happen dictates the "tone", "punch", "clarity", etc. of the sound.   If the HF were mixed in at the wrong time, the sound shape (when it starts and stops, and how quickly, etc.) is wrong.    An obvious example (as you said) of this is percussion..... or other wide bandwidth sounds like doors slamming, glass breaking, clicks, pops, and other "tappy-tap" or "chucka-chucka" sounds.

 

 

Heres a quick example/typical (simulated) frequency response  (which is actually good compared to a lot of systems).

Then see the phase of that response, with the keys of a piano roughly overlaid.

 

If you imagine someone playing a tune... you can see that one note will be shifted in time, one way... and the next note another way...... and it's harmonics shited back and forward in time by different amounts.   It makes the tone, rhythm, punch, clarity, "off".... as the overall waveform shape (start, stop, etc) is distorted by different amounts per note.

 

The trick is that typical measurements of a room/bass don't have as high resolution of the simulated response here.... so you can't see the issue as clearly in practical measurements  (but it's still there).

 

FR.png.e68279ed3b0df222932046fbfb3e93f9.png

 

 

phase.png.6239914a00e83c7081969fb06fc5ad9c.png

 

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27 minutes ago, davewantsmoore said:

The trick is that typical measurements of a room/bass don't have as high resolution of the simulated response here.... so you can't see the issue as clearly in practical measurements  (but it's still there).

 

How do you measure these things Dave?

 

 

@almikel...this song pretty much defines midbass slam doesn't it.  At silly volumes I reckon this could re-start someones heart...

 

 

 

 

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6 hours ago, acg said:

How do you measure these things Dave?

You just have to reinterpret results of speaker in room, in light of any finite resolution...... it's not really a big deal, except that you won't see the full detail of what is going on due to it  (eg. things that look like -10dB dips.... but are really dips to zero).

 

If I want to know what just the speaker is doing.... then you can simulate it, and also measure it in isolation (outside, etc.).

 

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Nothing meaningful to contribute...

 

...other than to express great appreciation of every response to this thread, some of which have been truly eye-opening [ear-popping]. Thanks!

 

Cheers,

pplater.

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