Bass Mekanik v5.0
www.pandisc.com
Pandisc's latest creaton offers you beefy bass tracks and test tones to feed your obsession.
by Brian Smith
A few days ago, a friend accused me of "being the guy who tells all those annoying kids in the booming cars how to make the most noise." Nevertheless, I'll be the first to admit my annoyance with that guy in the $500 car with $2000 wheels playing a boom disc loud enough to make every panel on his car and mine rattle. But, I also remember when I was young and financially liquid. Nothing was sweeter than irritating some uptight geezer that really needed it - by whatever means necessary.

Are you feeling an urge to upset a retiree? Ready to catch that scowl from Mr. Oldsmobile with the receding hairline? Then go out and find yourself a copy of Bass Mekanik v5.0. If 18 bass-intensive music tracks won't get 'em, the test tone section is a sure thing.

I looked at several sections of this disc with a digital workstation that provides waveform display and frequency analysis. The musical section offers exactly what you would expect spectrally - lots of bass. Most of it is in the 30 Hz-and-up range, but track 10, "Toccata in B," contains a substantial amount of energy around 17 Hz.

The technical tracks on this disc were obviously done by a man who possesses both a nice signal generator and the patience of Job. I've done several of these types of CDs and what seems to be a simple set of sweeps and tones can become a logistical nightmare to produce. All of the test tones on this disc begin and end at zero crossing (no pops, squeaks, etc.) and are at the highest level that can be achieved on a CD without clipping. Tracks 19-99 offer not only a sweep that literally begins at 0 Hz, but every frequency between 20 Hz and 200 Hz on half-cycle increments. Finding your system's sweet spot should be a snap. Just don't play this CD near the zoo; frisky elephants can really be hell on your paint job.
Price & Contact: $16.98; 305-557-1914. Web: www.pandisc.com