1- “Brother” 9- “Solitude” 2- “At The Pershing” 10- “Ode To Billy Joe”

11- Bob James-type jazz fusion 4- “Round Here” 12- “Temptation” 5-“Trans-Island Skyway” 13- “CloseTo You” 6- “Africa” 14- “I’ll Never Fall In Love Again” 7-“Tinman” 15- “Whats Goin’ On?” 8- “Time”

www.teamaudionutz.com

Layout by Mike Soliven of Laurel MediaWinnipeg, Manitoba, Canadaemail: laurelmedia@hotmail.com

ECA Sound Quality SeriesVolume 2

These tracks were compiled using my regular method...Rip to HD using EAC saved a lossless .WAV fi les, burned back with Lite-On DVD-RW drive at 1X. NO equalization, no volume normalizing,

nothing. The copies are 1X direct disc-to-disc rips using a Phillips dual CD recorder/player.~ Steven Head, Team Audionutz

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3- “Jesus To A Child”

Track 1- “Brother” from Alice in Chains Unplugged

Simply remarkable track!!! Th e recording quality of this disc is superb, and it is full of dynamicand microdynamic content, excellent tonality spanning the entire spectrum, great ambience andaudience ambience, and awesome image placement. Th is track features acoustic guitar at far right, bass guitar at right center, another acoustic guitar at far left, Layne Stanley and Jerry Cantrell at just left and just right of center on Vocals, full drum kit behind the vocalists spanning across the stage with a variety of percussion sounds. Th e image separation is remarkable and it should literally sound as if the band is live in front of you. Th e goal here is to keep all instruments fi rmly affi xed in their respective places, and of course, the tonality of the string instruments is tested over a very wide range of frequencies. A Must Have disc!

What to listen for: Double male vocal placement, far left and far right image location and stage width, room and audience ambience, tonality, clarity, instrument placement

Track 2- “At Th e Pershing” by Jazz Mandolin Project

A contemporary jazz instrumental with smooth balance, nice mellow percussion and cymbals, and very good bass fretwork. Th e strings super and there is just a plethora of instruments that come into play, including a very nice piano and fabulous cymbal brushwork giving us a sense of stage space. Wide frequency ranges present.

What to listen for: Instrument tonality and realism

Track 3- “Jesus To A Child” by George Michael

A good vocal track with nice ambient synthesizers and acoustic strings, and the room ambiences are readily apparent on his vocal sybillances and the percussion echoes, almost to the point of being exaggerated.

What to listen for: Upper male vocal location and room echo

Track 13- “Close To You” by Th e Carpenters Another landmark from the 70s, here is SACD remaster form. It is absolutely INCREDIBLE in every aspect. If you tough guys can get past the cheesiness of the song, you will be rewarded byoutstanding image placement, a complex and full stage, depth like a mo-fo, great tonality, and one of the silkiest voices ever recorded. All instruments remain fi rmly planted in their positions throughout, NO IMAGE WANDERING SHOULD BE APPARENT WITH ANYINSTRUMENT OR VOCAL, except when the horn at right stage comes in, there are someimmediate echoes from the left side, making it sound like two horns, but then it clears up andboy howdy. Maybe I’m a fairy, but damn this song is excellent.

What to listen for: Strong center female vocal image and tonality, solid piano image placement, back up orchestral resolution, ambience, stage width

Track 14- “I’ll Never Fall In Love Again” by Burt Bacharach with Elvis Costello on vocals A well-known ballad with full orchestral back-up. Burt plays piano, multiple horns back Elvis, who is center stage and very intimate in presentation, well in front of the horns, just a smooth wide fun track.

What to listen for: Strong male vocal image and tonality, instrument image placement and location

Track 15- “What’s Goin’ On” by 4 Non Blondes

Th is track features both acoustic and electric guitars at opposite locations, good midbass,wide dynamic vocal ranges, and good room ambience. System should not distort at all, evenloud volumes. Great for vocal tonality and clarity. You will like it, I promise!

What to listen for: Slightly abrasive female vocals, dynamics, electric instrument location

Track 4- “Round Here” by Counting Crows

A rock group with distinctive vocals at center stage, good slappy basslines and drumwork, excellent snare drums and powerful dynamics. Clean resolution is what to look for here.

What to listen for: Male vocal location and image, electric guitar and bass tonality, dynamics

Track 5- “Trans-Island Skyway” features the well-known vocalist from Steely Dan backed up by a trio of other vocalists. Th e bass and drums stay constant and are crisp and defi ned, and guitars and horns fade in and out at various locations. Th e key here is to localize the drums and bass clearly stable in front of you and high, with the bass in front of the drums, and be able to pinpoint each additional instrument as they appear at various points.

What to listen for: Midbass, clarity, detail

Track 6- “Africa” by Toto

Yes it IS the song from the ‘80s, but dammit it sounds very good. Th e percussion and synthesizer work with xylophones at the beginning is very involving, and the range of dynamic volumes is pretty good. Toto generally uses multiple vocalists singing in unison, with no real dominating center vocalist, although you can pick out the separate voices as the arrivals of the syllibances of each are slightly diff erent. Th row in an occasional electric guitar, shaker, drum roll, and gong and you have the classic 80’s track. Enjoy!

What to listen for: Microdynamics, complexity resolution

Track 7- “Tinman” by America One of many hits from the ‘70s, timeless and world-reknown. Th is is a large band with a very full soundstage, great center vocalist and multiple backup vocal positions. Drums should be behind the singer with the piano in the foreground, bells in the background, acoustic guitars at far left and far right, bass just to the left of the drums, excellent tonality. If this soundstage sounds cluttered and you are unable to distinguish separate locations for every instrument and vocalist, there is a problem.

What to listen for: Center male vocal, stage position and instrument location, midbass

Track 8- “Time” by Pink Floyd

Th e quintessential rock epic that anyone over 25 has heard on more than one occasion. Recorded in 1973, then remastered at least on one occasion, it is a dynamic, eerie, and pristine recording sure to give your system a workout. Th e alarm clocks should all be distinct and separate from each other, the room size should be apparent by all the echo locations of the various synth sounds and toms, and the frequency range should be very wide. At fi rst, Back up vocals are distorted on purpose and the vocalists like Toto, seem to sing in unison. Th is track is not for the vocals, and I don’t really care for the high-hat and crash cymbals used at right center stage, but everything else ROCKS! Dont play this too loud at fi rst until you fi nd your systems distortion threshold.

What to listen for: Outer stage width boundaries, treble resolution, complex dynamics, sound eff ects

Track 9- “Solitude” by Edwin McCain A sort of acoustic rock ballad, Edwin is joined by Darius from Hootie and the Blowfi sh on vocals. Focus with this track should be Multiple instrument clarity, acoustic string tonality, left center bass guitar that does NOT move in location, and strings that are noticeably in front of the drum set and cymbals.

What to listen for: Male vocal duet location and image, acoustic tonality

Track 10- “Ode To Billy Joe” by Lou Donaldson A cool older jazz track featuring drum set far right, lead horn in the center, organ behind the horn slightly left, mild guitar left of center, and all cymbals at right with drums. Recording quality isn’t spectacular, but for an old track, it is very acceptable. Th e bluesey electric guitar that comes in should be a little harsh on certain notes but distinct and focused.

What to listen for: Stage width, layering, and instrument location

Track 11- Th is jazz fusion is reminescent of Bob James, Ray Obiedo, and Boney James. Good dynamics good bass response, mainly electric guitar playing lead. Horn section back up comes in occasionally, and you can hear certain members of the band hollering periodically. Very full and up close soundstage with this one, but horns are defi nitely behind the guitarist and percussion.

What to listen for: Bass and midbass reproduction, instrument tonality

Track 12- “Temptation” by Diana Krall Features excellent stand up bass that will defi nitely point out midbass resonations if they arepresent! Keeping the bass focused up front and center will ONLY be achieved when you have dialed in the best possible install, sub to midbass transition, tonal balance, resonance control,and arrival times. As always, Diana sounds like good sex, and UNLIKE most of her stuff , thereis synth in the background, a lone guitarist to her left, and very little piano. Hmm.

What to listen for: Center female vocal, stand up bass reproduction, tonality