You know the deal: a certain banger comes on the radio (sorry, I can’t bring myself to say “the streaming service”) and you are legally obligated to crank it. Sadly, that one particular track exposes the limits of your sound system. Inevitably, you’ll use this same cut to test the tunes in other cars you drive, or are considering plopping down money on. What could be more important when buying a car? The Car Radio Test Song is key for any real subjective automotive analysis.
Before I got my first “real” car in the late nineties, I inexplicably daily’d a black, 200,000 mile 1988 Lincoln Town Car Signature Series to my first professional job. Despite all of its typical Ford Panther shortcomings exacerbated by several round trips to the moon, the factory JBL audio system within could replicate the sound of a person in the trunk banging on the rear seat back with a baseball bat while you sat on a couch identical to what you see below. It was glorious.
This was especially true when playing music from a compact disc, which in the case of these medieval years meant the CD’s ones and zeroes were transmitted by a Discman sitting on the transmission tunnel tray, plugged into one of the three cigarette lighters and interfacing with the head unit via a cassette tape adapter. The Town Car rode so smoothly that the player didn’t skip, though half of you readers are likely too young to even know what I’m even talking about.
Still, even with the low fidelity of the radio, you could easily get trim pieces vibrating annoyingly. Return Of The Mack over the airwaves would get a terrible buzzing going in one of the front doors, and no matter how many times I investigated as the bass thumped, I could not for the life of me figure out what was the cause.
A station playing Breathe by The Prodigy caused me to pull over, stop the car, turn up the volume, and try to source exactly what the hell was rattling on the package shelf, dash top, or doors, despite tightening every screw I could see and shoving business cards into gaps.
Anything by The Crystal Method caused the loose thermometer on the driver’s mirror to bounce up and down.
It was all extremely annoying. Thankfully, the $20,000, 98,000 mile Mercedes S-Class that replaced the Lincoln solved the issue by having what was quite possibly the worst-sounding stereo I have ever experienced in a motor vehicle. No more rattles, and no more bass or treble for that matter. “Problem solved.”
How about you? What are your favorites for testing the stereo in a car? Are you going to fess up to playing the acoustic Hotel California to push your speaker’s limits (apparently that tune is a favorite for stereo analysis) or will you select some deep track to show us how much of an I’m-so-cool scenester you are? The Autopian is asking!
Two songs. Always in My Head by Coldplay is great at getting strong treble and bass to test the clarity of audio, and I Just Wanna Know by NF is great at determining whether you have good bass or not while being a great song in general to blast. Till I Collapse is great at testing how loud your speakers can get as well.
I’ve definitely heard the Hotel California thing and it seems to work well on determining fidelity at higher volumes.
There’s a few songs I have that actually overload the bass on my Ranger’s aftermarket setup, but on my Bolt’s factory radio sounds balanced, but I don’t have a subwoofer and am not super into body rattling bass, like to hear the rest of the song too.
I will say compared to stereos of yore even the most basic stereo systems now offer much better clarity and volume. When I worked at a Chrysler/Toyota dealer in the 90s I was amazed that the $1,000 factory upgrade stereos(90s price, nowadays way crazy pricier) still sounded like murky garbled junk, and this was before GPS or bluetooth, you were paying for ‘better’ sound. It’s when I found the magic of aftermarkets that somehow sounded 10 times clearer on factory speakers for like 1/4 of that price.
Danzig – Mother. You get very clear and distinct bass, low, mid, and high at different points in the song. A couple listens and you can have it completely dialed in to sound how you want.
Just wondering why are speakers still wired in instead of blue tooth?
I’m no tech expert or pro audiophile, but considering how my bluetooth devices love to
– Not connect
and
– Have their signal stolen by random other devices
I don’t think bluetooth car speakers, surrounded by all sorts of other electronic signals in a car, would be very functional. At the very minimum, definitely less reliable than ones that are just wired in imo.
I use a rechargeable bluetooth speaker connected to my phone in my truck because I just haven’t had the heart to remove the original cassette deck after it finally gave up the ghost (ironically while playing Rick Astley). The bluetooth speaker has worked fine for the last year and a half with no interference, and it came from the dollar store.
Because they need to be powered anyway so why not carry the signal on the power?
Well fuck you for not allowing mute or cancelling any of these crap non music songs. You want to test the stereo just play what you like and test the system playing what you like. Otherwise songs that explore the range and the styles. Sitting on the dock of the bay, wreck of the the Edmund Fitzgerald, take this job and shove it, I can’t drive 55. Baby got back. A full range or just pull the plastic and look at the speakers
Huh? There was nothing for me to mute or cancel?
I dunno. He usually starts posting when the meds wear off.
Might be right. It matches past (very angry) comments I’ve seen from him.
Beck
I’m quite fond of Hyperspace while driving.
Que’ Onda Guero
Fantasy – Aldo Nova
I used to live next to a guy who seemingly ONLY listened to Fantasy and She’s A Beauty by The Tubes when he was driving. I’d hear him coming from a block away, and every single time, he was playing one of those two songs, and almost always at the exact same part of the song. It was the strangest damn thing.
I crank up Slim Whitman albums, it makes people’s heads explode.
It gives the oldtimers confidence that the youth will be alright.
It makes Gen X avoid you like the plague, which is a win for the human race.
It makes millenials flip you off, but that’s situation normal.
My peers see it agressively mid, which tells them I’m a troll and best to be avoided. Perfect antisocial music.
Is the hate from the youngs JUST because of the yodeling or is there something else too?
It doesn’t make people‘s heads explode. That was the point.
Bad Company 10 from 6.
Tom Sawyer on full blast.
Oooh! I didn’t even think of that! That entire album is so good, both musically and production-wise.
Ride of the Valkyries I love the smell of new car in the morning!
Little Deuce Coupe
409
Shutdown
Dead Man’s Curve
I was a car audio “professional” back in the mid/late 90’s and early 00’s. Built many a stereo, some of which went on to win competitions and such. Some of the tracks I used:
Eric Clapton – Signe
Enya – Anywhere Is (don’t laugh)
Pink Floyd – Sorrow (from the Pulse live album)
Fiona Apple – The First Taste and Pale September
Dave Matthews Band – Two Step
Dave Brubeck Quartet – Take Five and Blue Rondo a la Turk
Dada – Baby Really Loves Me and Dorina
Beastie Boys – Intergalactic, Gratitude, Sure Shot, Lighten Up
Like Minds – Question and Answer
And lastly but not leastly , the only real bass track I ever used – Bass Mekanik – Lock On Targets.
I’m sure I’ve forgotten some, but those are the ones that I used most often, so they stick in the ol’ memory bank.
Thank you.
Intergalactic is a great subwoofer test
It is. I found that it was always pretty good at exposing sloppy bass response.
I’m pleasantly surprised to see someone mention Dada. I bought that CD and I was working part time at a local high end home audio store in the late 90s. One of the salesmen borrowed it one day and discovered it had a high production quality. It became one of their go to demos after that.
Also, thank you for the Pink Floyd reminder! My memory failed me awhile back when I went to listen to Pulse. I think that was the track that blew me away when my roommate put it on their DefTech BP-2000s. The powered 15in subs in those shook the house. Now I have an old DefTech Supercube Trinity and BP-30s I’m going to crank up and annoy the wife and kids with tomorrow. I’m listening now on my earbuds. I love that deep bass.
Hmm, we listened to that CD the day it was released. That was 30 years ago. Oof
All of Dada’s albums were so well recorded. Funny you mention that you discovered them while working at a HiFi store in the 90’s, because that’s exactly how I discovered them! Dizz Knee Land and Dorina were some of our go-to demo tracks. I’ve seen them live a handful of times as well, and they’re just as good live.
As for Pulse, I remember buying that CD at Best Buy the day it was released. Remember the original packaging had that little slowly blinking red LED light on the “spine” that was supposed to approximate a human heartbeat? Ran on a AA battery as I recall. Excellent packaging. I was at a car stereo competition back in probably 1998 or so, and I played that track and accidentally set off a couple of car alarms with the bass in the intro. Good times..
Early ’90s stuff is good because the recording quality/production is generally good and it’s before the loudness wars took over. “Pod” by the Breeders is particularly awesome thanks to Steve Albini’s honest production and the massive dynamic range.
[Reaches for Electrical Audio ballcap]
I listened to your examples with a pair of wired Apple ear buds and there was a buzzing in my left ear and various body parts fell off.
I’ve got a few…
Mission Temple Fireworks Stand by Paul Thorn
Sirius/Eye In The Sky by the Alan Parsons Project
Departure/Ride My See-Saw by the Moody Blues
“Problem solved.” Ha!
The audio system in my ’17 Accord EX-L is adequate. For me anyway.
My wife’s ’15 BMW X5 was OK, except Sirius XM sounded awful. I was shocked how much better that source sounded in the Accord. And when I got back in the X5, it was wow, this just so bad. The X5 was eventually replaced by an ’18 Acura MDX, but not because of its audio system.
TBH, audio is pretty low on my list of priorities.
Jurassic Park main theme for the warmth and good mix of mids and highs from woodwinds and brass.
Knights of Cydonia by Muse for great bass and rock.
For testing any home theater setup (but also sounds great on the B&O system in my car), I play the podrace sequence from Star Wars Episode 1. Still the greatest audio foley and mixing ever in a movie IMO.
My niece loved the Jurassic Park theme so much she had a string quartet play it at her wedding instead of the traditional march.
The last few notes of the Jurassic Park theme will really give you a good understanding of a subwoofer’s bottom octave capabilities
In the late 90’s/early 2000’s, when I was really into my car audio, I used to test whatever install I’d completed with a few different tracks. First I’d play I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For by U2 and then Two Step by Dave Matthews Band to test the fidelity. Then I would play Rebirth of Slick by Digable Planets and then Super Disco Breakin’ by the Beastie Boys to test the bass. I especially love the “808” bit in Super Disco Breakin’.
That’s a solid list.
Albannach: Bareknuckle Pipes and Drums. I play it loud in the dealership until the Sales Manager takes off another $1,000 off the price.
Led Zeppelin, “What is and what should never be” . . . Jimmy Page’s guitar licks that bounce back and forth between the left and right channels after a lull late in the song really project a sense of space. It also fires me up.
Paul Hardcastle – The Jazzmasters. Especially “Sounds of Summer”.
Fleetwood Mac “Chain”
Beastie Boys “Gratitude”
Flume “Never Be Like You”
Basenji “Heirloom”
Muddy Waters “I’m a Man (Mannish Boy)”
Do You Feel Like We Do
Kashmir
Award Tour
Immigrant Song
I’m gonna have to do this by year — for the years that matter — because these days aftermarket car audio is so much thinner than it ever was back in the era of DIN sleeves and crappy OE sound systems.
1993-94: The Chronic
1995: Bone Thugs N Harmony
1996: MegaBassssss Mixxxx 27 (and all the other spelling variants)
1997: Funkmaster Flex; honorable mention to RATM
1998: Fatboy Slim
1999: Whatever German/Dutch DJ is popular this week before everyone complains and you just put Fatboy Slim back in the CD player.
2000: Now That’s What I Call Jungle 4! (album may not actually exist)
2001: Juvenile
2002: Why the hell did Honda put this giant head unit in my car, it doesn’t even fit any other stereos!
2003 onward: RIP
Lunatic Fringe – Red Rider
Darkside of the Moon.
After over 50 years it’s still the go to music for me. YMMV.
It’s also great for making my two maniac dogs mellow out and fall asleep…
Love Floyd but there is a No Pink Floyd policy while I’m driving. Takes me to a different place and I don’t pay attention to the road.
You need to break out a calendar or calculator or something because that’s simply not possible
Surely you jest Bob…
That album is no more than 8 or 9 years old, I’ll swear to it. And don’t call me Shirley! 😉