The Essential Subwoofer Bass Music Test Tracks and Demo List

July 17, 2018

Bass. It’s the sonic foundation of music. The layer of sound that makes you tap your toe, nod your head and instantly recollect a song after only a few seconds. Musical bass notes can also reach below the threshold of human hearing (about 20Hz), like when a pipe organ or EDM bass drop hits that guttural tone. Below this frequency, sound is only perceived by the sense of touch. You’re literally feeling the music.

Not all bass is created equal though. To get the most out of your music, you need a quality format like CDs, high-res streaming or FLAC files and capable full-range speakers, or better yet, an SVS subwoofer, to re-create the full dynamic impact and extreme low frequency extension present in music. This post is about recommending and discussing great subwoofer test tracks, but if you are interested in learning how to evaluate low frequency sound and choosing a subwoofer based on your listening preferences, check out 5 Things to Listen For When Choosing a Subwoofer.

To create the list, we asked our social media community the following question:

“We’re writing a post about the best music to show off a subwoofer, what are your favorite albums or songs for chest-thumping, toe-tapping bass?

We organized the results by musical genre and gave credit to those who chimed in. By no means is this list complete, but it’s a great playlist of bass-friendly music and we look forward to growing it as new music emerges and your feedback flows in! On that note, please drop your favorite bass music test tracks and albums in the comments.

Unleash the subwoofers!

Subwoofer Test Track List

Techno / Electronic /EDM

  • Fakear, Daft Punk – Billy Alibluedy
  • Long Way Down, Bass Mekanik – Eric Hammond
  • Pink Froid, Infected Mushroom – Anders Steen
  • Computer Love, Techmaster P.E.B – Ian Smith
  • Lonewolf, Emdi x Coorby – Phill Robson
  • This Sound is for the Underground, Krome & Time – Aaron Hole
  • The Orb’s Adventures Beyond the Underworld, The Orb – Mark Pavey
  • Under the Influence, The Chemical Brothers – Steve Bull
  • The Afterlife, Funki Porcini – Richard Somerville
  • Suntoucher, Groove Armada – Michael Bisceglia
  • Pulsating Reality, MantisMash – Chad Theofanopoulos
  • Butterfly, Bass Nectar – Darren Boxhall
  • The Hills are Alive, Coil – Hri Neil
  • Watermelon, Ed Rush + Optical – Kai Alvey
  • Cat Thruster, Deadmau5 – Alex Redman
  • Super Electric, Bomfunk MCs – Jordan Eves
  • Warrior’s Dance, Prodigy – Stephen Hayes
  • Walking with Elephants, Ten Walls – Terry Lowe
  • Leftfield, Phat Planet – Christian Holm
  • Fight Club Soundtrack, Fight Club (movie) - @subcrunk
  • Infinity, Guru Josh - @_neppp
  • Hear this Style, The Others - @victor_von_honiges
  • Pandorum - Punish, Code - @faezermusic
  • Still Standing, Headhunterz - @discostu121
  • Only You, Digital - @preservationbar

Hip-Hop, R&B and Funk

  • Worldwide Choppers, Tech N9n – Ben Farrell
  • License to Ill, Beastie Boys – Scott Capman
  • Partition, Beyonce – Warwick Brown
  • On My Level, Wiz Khalifa – Rich Prescott
  • Yeah, Usher – Bharath Spykee
  • Crucial Situation, Don Carlos – Thabo Buthelezi
  • Baduizm, Erykah Badu – Tau Danielsson
  • I Need a Freak, Too Short – Guy Faulkner
  • Rigomortis, Kendrick Lamar – Trevor Richardson
  • Funky Monkey, Mandrill – Henry Thompson
  • Fool for Your Stockings, ZZ Top – Russ Gladstone
  • Thug Motivation 101, Young Jeezy – Matt O’Hearn
  • Dope Man, N.W.A – Lonnie Murphy
  • Hail Mary, Tupac – Saman Vakili
  • Boom Boom Pow, Black Eyed Peas – Craig Lapp
  • Go Deep, Janet Jackson – Brian Abbott
  • Cherish the Day, Sade – Kirk Denetclaw
  • Ghostface, Schoolboy Q – Marc Jones
  • Criminal, Eminem – Nolan Naylor
  • 2001, Dr. Dre – Dinki Beckwith
  • Maybac Music, Rick Ross – William Smith
  • The Dukey Stick, George Dukey – Paul Reed
  • No Type, Rae Srummord – Jay Bird
  • Shiftee, Onyx – Duane Morris
  • The Massacre, 50 Cent – Jimmy Blake
  • Together Again, Janet Jackson - @kirkleft
  • Magnolia, Playboi Carti - @sebastianlgabor
  • Low End Theory, A Tribe Called Quest - @djdextrous76
  • Regulate, Warren G. - @pyrrah_
  • Drop the Bass, Magic Mike - @joepete58
  • Magenta Riddim, DJ Snake and The Weekend - @nikhil1037
  • Let’s Groove, Earth, Wind & Fire - @jessesnyder6
  • Iced Out, Lil Pump - @kysfagboy123

Classic Rock

  • Sultans of Swing, Dire Straits – Eric Lapp
  • Diamonds in the Soles of Her Shoes, Paul Simon – Miguel Quinones
  • You Shook Me All Night Long, AC/DC – Adrian La Rocca
  • Pulse, Pink Floyd – Walter McGhee
  • Bad Sneakers, Steely Dan – Tom Mundal
  • Hotel California, Eric Clapton Version – Michael Shelton
  • Moby Dick, Led Zeppelin – Sean Hays
  • Inside Looking Out (Live), Grand Funk Railroad – William Chism
  • Echoes (Live in Gdansk), David Gilmour – Lea Newton
  • The God that Failed, Metallica – Weetam Cutchy
  • Witch Hunt, Rush – Daniel Wells
  • Los Endos, Genesis – Joe Bartiromo
  • It’s a Kind of Magic, Queen – Joe Wareing
  • Dirty Laundry, Don Henley - @_snapchad_
  • No More Tears, Ozzy Osbourne - @bluewaterchef
  • The Seventh Seal, Van Halen - @mcgavinj
  • Synchronicity (Live), The Police - @redsabound

Heavy Metal

  • New Elysium, CellDweller – Ben Farrell
  • Du Hast, Rammstein – Daniel Williamson
  • Freak on a Leash, Korn – David Smith
  • 13 Steps, Pantera – Chris Ahven
  • 11th Hour, Lamb of God – Christopher Leblanc
  • Sonder, Tessaract - @bdeelman
  • War, Mutemath - @justonai
  • Nothing Else Matters, Metallica – Nick Green

Jazz and Classical

  • Kites, Submotion Orchestra – Mark Ginsberg
  • Another Lifetime, Simon Phillips – Edwin Hurd
  • Ain’t No Sunshine, Boney James – Nick Cole
  • Jupiter, The Planets (Holst) – Andrew Coates
  • Toccata & Fugue D Minor, BWV. 565, Bach (Performed by Hannes Kastner) – Paul Taylor
  • Bachbusters, Don Dorsey – Mark Boyton
  • 1812 Overture, Tchaikovsky - @ochto_neves
  • Into Darkness, Thomas Bergerson - @benbenkr
  • Fading Sun, Terje Isungset - @tluomaaho

Alternative/Other

  • Golden, Kylie Minogue – Erwin Michel Llano
  • Sail, AWOLNATION – Ross MacGarvey
  • Long After You’re Gone, Chris Jones – Rob Kingman
  • Electric Café, Kraftwerk – Travis Yarbrough
  • Post, Bjork – Dean Rosenberg
  • Walk on Water, 30 Seconds to Mars – Jack Rowbury
  • Limit Your Love, James Blake – Dmitryi Patsko
  • Decaf, White Clouds – Michael Shelton
  • Flight of the Cosmic Hippo, Bela Fleck & The Flecktones – Jeff Ritzema
  • The Package, A Perfect Circle – Greg Morrison
  • Lucky Star, Alex Lloyd – Leif Acworth
  • Islands, Sara Bareilles – Jeffrey Forner
  • Going Down to Boston, Dropkick Murphys – Mitchell Fournier
  • Journey to Arnhemland, Jamiroquai – Brett Hammond
  • Frankenstein, Edgar Winter – Rod Martinez
  • Set Me Free, Chris Rea – Kym Pridham
  • Live at the Dome, Human League – Mark Hinton
  • Splinter, Gary Numan – Steve Baret
  • Frogstomp, Silverchair - @william.stanton

SVS makes a variety of home subwoofers to fit every room, audio system and budget. Browse all SVS subwoofers and use the compare tool to look at features and specifications side-by-side as you choose the best subwoofer for your music and home theater.

Have questions? The SVS Sound Experts are available 7 days-a-week to help you choose the best subwoofers based on your set-up and listening preferences.

Suggestions for your favorite subwoofer test tracks and demo music? Leave them in the comments.

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