Torture Test - Table Of Contents
Torture Test - Table Of Contents Print

 

The official Modulation Arts Torture Test contains:

 

ABBA - One Of Us
Original 1981 release

ABBA - One Of Us
2005 Box-set remaster

 The two versions of the same track were chosen as a black-and-white example to where the loudness war has taken us. Useful to compare processing consistency. How do the radically different masters come out at the end of a state-of-the-art FM processor? How well does the processor equalize the two cuts?

Aerosmith:
Love in an elevator

 Balls-to-the-wall rock'n'roll, yet well mastered. Chosen because it's difficult for an FM processor to process without squeezing the life out of the few dynamics that are there to begin with.
Alanis Morissette:
Thank You		 Chosen because the bright piano in the intro often wreaks havoc with the clippers in common FM processors, causing audible distortion.

All-American Rejects:
Dirty little secret

 Mastered for loudness, yet has plenty of punch. Does the punch get through to the airwaves with your airchain?
Avril Lavigne:
I'm with you		 The original is mastered for loudness, yet punchy and dynamic. Deep bass, delicate yet powerful voice. Certain on-air processors completely squeeze the life out of this track, as well as causing objectionable distortion. The break in the middle right before the stick is challenging for the AGC / Multiband section of a processor, and can easily cause strange pumping / gain changes.
Axwell:
Watch the Sunrise		 Chosen as an example of modern loudness-mastered dance music. How does the audio processor deal with the sudden loud kick drum, the wideband pre-compressed master (for intentional artistic pumping) as well as the never-ending bright high-end?
Bo Bice:
The Real Thing		 Loudness-mastered Pop/Rock. CD is already dense - will anything be left for the airwaves?

Celine Dion:
My Heart will go on
(Entire Song)

 Many a 8200 choked on this very dynamic and well mastered track in the late 90s, while we were getting tired of hearing it. Does todays flagship processors do any better?

Chicago:
Hard for me to say I'm Sorry
(Entire Song)

 Well-mastered Classic Rock. Many processors have problems with the dynamics here and cause pumping. The Piano is very easily distorted, if not carefully processed.

Christopher Cross:
Sailing

 The waveform of this man's voice wreaks havoc with Pre-emphasis clippers, usually leaving a distorted mess. Wind-chimes also cause great problems for most processors.

Clawfinger:
Do What I Say

 Few things are as challenging for audio processors as a sudden +20dB increase in input gain with no prior warning. One of the processors completely chokes, all limiters in all bands panic and clamp down at the same time, and then come back one by one. Take a listen -- it's not pretty.
Dixie Chicks:
Landslide		 The combination of contra-bass and sharp, bright voices, spells distaster for most on-air processors.
Doobie Brothers:
Takin' it to the streets		 Sharp sudden gated snare-drum transients, very clean bright high-end. How does the audio processor handle its job of keeping the peaks in check while not causing audible image or frequency balance shifts?
Evanescence:
My Immortal		 Arguably the single hardest track to process for FM. Amy Lee's vocal waveform and sustained loud, bright notes - add a mid-bass rich string background, yielding a very delicate and sparse spectrum with lots of peak overshoots, but nowhere for clipping distortion to hide. After the long into, the band comes in (CD goes to squarewave) - does any punch come through to the airwaves?
Fleetwood Mac:
Dreams

Classic Rock doesn't get much more classic than this - how does the processor handle the transients, as well as Stevie Nicks' occasionally bright and loud voice on top of clean electric bass? Any distortion?

Green Day:
Wake me up when september ends

 Difficult track all-around. Very loud CD master (transients are all squarewave). Sudden dynamic transients, causing most processors to choke and audibly change the timbre of the sound, either instantly or over a period of time. How does the "loud" part sound? Overly distorted, or listenable?
Huey Lewis and The News:
If this is it		 One might think that distorted guitars aren't susceptible to further distortion caused by an FM-processor. Not so in this track. How do the drums cut through to the airwaves?
Kelly Rowland:
Stole		 Mainstream R&B. Deep bass, clipped CD, bright high-end. How does the processor cope with the onslaught of bass + treble? One particular un-named on-air-processor collapsed on this track, one bass transient caused the internal filter coefficients to overflow, creating a loud POP and sending the B1 and B2 limiters all the way down. However, this unnamed company fixed this problem for the EX-revision of their flagship product, so it's only here for historical reasons.
Lionel Richie:
Running with the night		 Massive synth transients with no warning. What happens to the overall frequency balance when they hit? Any dynamics left?
Mercy Me:
I can only imagine		 Bright high piano notes, and a voice with plenty of added distortion. Does anything come through besides distortion?
Mya:
Movin' On		 Rap/R&B. Kick-drum with synthetic wind-chimes on top? Can only spell disaster for most on-air processors. How does the processor handle consistency between this bass-heavy track and for example a loud rock track? Does this track come out quieter?

Natalie Cole:
As time goes by

 Classic mainstream jazz. Delicate Voice on top of contra-bass. How does the processor handle loudness consistency between this and loud masters? Any pumping, distortion, or loudness differences?
News/Talk

Jordan Bortz show, courtesy WHIO		 Original is clean but has great level imbalances, studio voice and caller. What happens during the news on a music station, if you leave the processor on a music preset? How does the processor handle the loudness equalization, and is any distortion added - particularly to the phone call?
Nick Lachey:
What's left of me		 What's left of the transients in this dense pop master, after it goes through the airchain?
Paul Young:
Every time you go away		 Very well mastered 80s pop music. Bright, powerful voice - easily susceptible to distortion. Powerful snare-drum transients with lots of high-end - a nightmare for pre-emphasis and most multiband-compressors alike. Does the frequency-balance stay consistent?
Pink Floyd:
Another brick in the wall		 How does the processor handle normalization between this quiet, conservative, clean and very dynamic master compared to modern masters? How is frequency balance consistency throughout the track? Any pumping?
Queen:
We are the champions		 The level-increase when the music starts is very challenging for most on-air processors. Does the on-air sound get louder, or quieter, when the drums hit? Also, what happens to Freddie Mercury's voice on "I've made a few", while it's riding on top of a loud bass note? Any gain
Roxette:
Fading like a flower		 Clean piano followed by the most powerful dynamics I've ever heard in pop music. Causes great problem for all known audio processors, with the piano being distorted, followed by the guitar+drum hits coming out quieter than the piano.
Roxette:
The Look		 How does today's state of the art processors handle this dynamic and punchy radio staple from the 80s?
Sarah MacLachlan:
Angel		 The softest, smoothest track of the bunch, with a delicate voice on top of deep bass. Highly susceptible to pumping, distortion, and frequency balance shifts.
Sash:
La Primavera		 Mid 90s Euro-pop at its best. The sudden entrance of the kick-drum causes a lot of distortion in the 8200. Does todays processors do any better? Also, how do the clippers handle the very loud 16khz twitter, 26 seconds in? How does the compressors handle the onslaught of bass 42 seconds in?
Staind:
Right here waiting		 Dense modern rock. The loud midbass easily causes frequency balance shifts in the intro, and easily causes IM-distortion with the singer's highly presence-eq'd voice.
Sweep - In Phase
Sweep - Out of Phase		 Long sweeps 20-20000hz. Shows 30hz high-pass filter performance, multiband phase linearity, and clipper performance. Directly reveals any aliasing. Curiously, both Orban and Omnia, respectively claiming to have Non-aliasing and Fully anti-aliased clippers, have plenty of it.
System of a down:
Toxicity		 Sudden onslaught of guitar + drums causes problems for all known processors, with the audio sounding quieter when it should be louder. Also, one processor chokes with extreme frequency balance shifts (mid + high-end disappears, then slowly comes back over several seconds, mids come back after highs)
The Police:
Don't stand so close to me		 Difficult to normalize (intro is very quiet) and sudden very sharp kick-drum transients cause great problems for multiband limiters.
Toto:
Can't stop loving you		 This track exposes the very different handling of transients in common processors. Very bright and dynamic track in general, tends to cause distortion.
Tower of Power:
Willing to Learn
(SACD live recording)		 Muted trumpet has some of the tallest high-frequency peaks known to man - right up there with saxophone - and when pre-emphasis is added, causes great strain (and high frequency loss) for most processors.
U2:
Electrical Storm		 If I had to pick a single song to test an FM processor's clipper stage with, this would be the one. Xylophone on top of a synth bed.
U2:
With or Without you		 Peaky bass-waveform with bright strings on top causes extreme distortion in some processors, and the sibilant vocals are very hard to process for distortion-cancelled clippers. Watch out for S-sounds turning into F.
Vanessa Carlton:
A Thousand Miles
 Loud master, extremely bright mix and an occasionally very dynamic voice, causes problems all around, in the form of distortion.
Visage:
Fade to Grey		 All synthetic bright high-end in the intro is extremely susceptible to clipper-induced distortion, and some processors leave no headroom for the kick-drum, causes a loudness-drop and/or pumping.
Telephone voice test files These clips were originally 8000hz 16-bit telephony quality test files. Telephone voice is very hard to process for FM due to the large empty area in the spectrum above 3.5 KHz, causing any clipping-induced distortion to be painfully audible.
Warren G:
Regulate		 Classic Rap music. The intro (sampled from a hollywood movie) is very susceptible to distortion, and when the bass comes in, some audio processors suddenly drop the loudness level of the audio.
Yes:
Owner of a lonely heart
 Distorted guitars revisited. Listen carefully with headphones - does the audio processor add any distortion to the pre-distorted electric guitar? With a bright preset, this song drives most processors crazy.