We’ve received a few inquiries from readers about a music track I’ve mentioned in recent subwoofer reviews. Considering that I’ve described the piece in question as having “the most intense low bass I’ve ever heard,” this interest isn’t surprising.
I was introduced to this recording by the founder of subwoofer specialist company Hsu Research, Dr. Poh Hsu, who included it on his own subwoofer test CD. It’s a 1983 performance of Camille Saint-Saëns’ Symphony No. 3, better known as the “Organ Symphony.”
As you can see in the spectrum analyzer readout above (measured with True RTA software in peak hold mode and the graph set to span 10 to 100 Hz), the deepest note in this recording is at 16 Hz. Hearing it through a subwoofer with ample response below 20 Hz is an astounding experience.
You don’t really hear the deepest bass notes, you just feel them — and yes, if your sub is capable enough and the fabric of your khakis is light enough, you will feel your pants flap a little. Surprisingly, this isn’t the kind of obnoxious, headache-inducing sturm und drang one often encounters on test CDs. It’s a gorgeous orchestral recording that seems to float above the deep organ notes like cirrus clouds passing over California during a 7.0 earthquake.
This recording was originally released on the Boston Audio Society’s Test CD-1, which is available through DB Systems. Beware: Not just any recording of the “Organ Symphony” will match the deep bass you get here. The other recordings I’ve heard of this piece can’t touch this one.
You have to be careful with this track, though. Play it too loud through a subwoofer that’s not equipped with a limiter, or through a full-range passive speaker, and you risk blowing the woofer. Even with a monster sub such as the Hsu Research VTF-15H, the woofer diaphragm moves so far back and forth when playing this track that you might fear the cone will pull free of its basket.
If you dig the “Organ Symphony,” I’d suggest also checking out organist Michael Murray’s Telarc recording of Joseph Jongen’s “Symphony Concertante” with Edo de Waart conducting the San Francisco Symphony. The bass doesn’t drop quite as deep as on the Saint-Saëns’ recording on the Boston Audio Test CD-1, but it’s still a challenging piece that only the best subwoofers can faithfully reproduce.
So, it's the deepest bass ever, ha? Well, what part of the compostion does it all go down? Unless I missed out, we wanna know. If I'm correct, it has seven tracks.
Try the second movement "Poco Adagio" and be warned: if this movement has been correctly miked, the moment the organ comes in it can and does blow out some subwoofers. No, I am not saying that because the sound level was "cranked". Play the passage with the strings are "normal" volume and you'll find out what I mean. Sadly, it should be noted that there are other performances (E. Power Biggs for an example) who could provide real power to the performance but they were long before really good sound (Hi-Fi has come a long way) and the organ used in the demo performance is retired. There will not be another recording like this one.
Brent - You might also consider "Toccata & Fugue in D minor", BMV 565; as presented by Don Dorsey on Telarc "Bachbusters" CD-80123.
Mr. Dorsey's use of the Synclavier Digital Music System to reproduce the sound of a traditional pipe organ offers a clean, digitally generated, 16Hz note at the end of the Toccata.
And as would be expected, the Telarc liner notes offer up the obligatory warning about potential damage to "speakers or other components".
This recording is in the genre of electonica, after the fashion of "Switched on Bach", so it won't provide the kind of complex imaging or soundstage presentation of the Saint-Saëns; but it is clearly a credible test of a speaker's ability to reproduce frequencies across the full breadth of the audible spectrum (there are also some scintillating bell tones for tweeter tasking).
And it's a pretty decent Bach album in its own right.
Just thought I'd share with the community of fellow bass-heads.
No, I am not saying that because the sound level was "cranked". Play the passage with the strings are "normal" volume and you'll find out what I mean.
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Did I miss it? If not, it woulda been nice if Brent had given credit to recording engineer Micha Schattner. Here are details:
Saint-Saëns: 'Organ' Symphony, excerpt from second movement (Poco Adagio)
WARNING: When playing this track for the first time, lower the volume as your woofers may be at risk. The bottom octave of this recording may damage vented or planar loudspeakers. (The opening string passage should be quite soft.)
Boston Civic Symphony conducted by Max Hobart, James David Christie, organist. Two AKG 414 ORTF cardioids, about the third row in Boston's Jordan Hall, spring 1983. This was one of the last times that the Jordan Hall organ, already showing signs of serious asthma, was heard in a public performance. [MS]
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While people are debating how tough this cut is (it is), y'all should also check out the Boston Pops Keith Lockhart Celtic Album, Bravehart cut (track 4, around 1:21) -- HUGE drumbeats, quiet, sort of, very low (28Hz or so) and very loud (a couple dB under dBfs, digital full-scale).