Audio Mastering as a Musical Competency

In this dissertation, I demonstrate that audio mastering is a musical competency by elucidating the most significant, and clearly audible, facets of this competence. In fact, the mastering process impacts traditionally valued musical aspects of records, such as timbre and dynamics. By applying the emerging creative scholarship method used within the field of music production studies, this dissertation will aid scholars seeking to hear and understand audio mastering by elucidating its core practices as musical endeavours. And, in so doing, I hope to enable increased clarity and accuracy in future scholarly discussions on the topic of audio mastering, as well as the end product of the mastering process: records. Audio mastering produces a so-called master of a record, that is, a finished version of a record optimized for duplication and distribution via available formats (i.e, vinyl LP, audio cassette, compact disc, mp3, wav, and so on). This musical process plays a crucial role in determining how records finally sound, and it is not, as is so often inferred in research, the sole concern of a few technicians working in isolated rooms at a record label\u27s corporate headquarters. In fact, as Mark Cousins and Russ Hepworth-Sawyer (2013: 2) explain, nowadays “all musicians and engineers, to a lesser or greater extent, have to actively engage in the mastering process.” Thus, this dissertation clarifies the creative nature of audio mastering through an investigation of how mastering engineers hear records, and how they use technology to achieve the sonic goals they conceptualize

Advanced automatic mixing tools for music

PhDThis thesis presents research on several independent systems that when combined together can generate an automatic sound mix out of an unknown set of multi‐channel inputs. The research explores the possibility of reproducing the mixing decisions of a skilled audio engineer with minimal or no human interaction. The research is restricted to non‐time varying mixes for large room acoustics. This research has applications in dynamic sound music concerts, remote mixing, recording and postproduction as well as live mixing for interactive scenes. Currently, automated mixers are capable of saving a set of static mix scenes that can be loaded for later use, but they lack the ability to adapt to a different room or to a different set of inputs. In other words, they lack the ability to automatically make mixing decisions. The automatic mixer research depicted here distinguishes between the engineering mixing and the subjective mixing contributions. This research aims to automate the technical tasks related to audio mixing while freeing the audio engineer to perform the fine‐tuning involved in generating an aesthetically‐pleasing sound mix. Although the system mainly deals with the technical constraints involved in generating an audio mix, the developed system takes advantage of common practices performed by sound engineers whenever possible. The system also makes use of inter‐dependent channel information for controlling signal processing tasks while aiming to maintain system stability at all times. A working implementation of the system is described and subjective evaluation between a human mix and the automatic mix is used to measure the success of the automatic mixing tools

Evaluation of product sound design within the context of emotion design and emotional branding

Thesis (Master)--Izmir Institute of Technology, Industrial Design, Izmir, 2005Includes bibliographical references (leaves: 111-122)Text in English; Abstract: Turkish and Englishxi, 127 leavesThe main purpose of this thesis is to set out the relationships between the work of product designers and the perceptions of costumers regarding the acceptability of product sounds. Product design that provides aesthetic appeal, pleasure and satisfaction can greatly influence success of a product. Sound as a cognitive artifact, plays a significant role in the cognition of product interaction and in shaping its identity. This thesis will review emotion theories end their application to sound design and sound quality modeling, the measurement of emotional responses to sound, and the relationship between psycho-acoustical sound descriptions and emotions. In addition to that, affects of sounds to emotionally significant brands will be evaluated so as to examine marketing values. One of the main purposes of chapter 2 is to prove knowledge about psychoacoustics; as product sound quality is a basic understanding of the underlying psychoacoustics phenomena. Perception; particularly sound perception and its elements are described during chapter 2. Starting with the description of sound wave and how our hear works, sound perception and auditory sensation is reviewed in continuation. In chapter 3, product sound quality concept and its evaluation principles are reviewed. Thus, in order to understand the coupling between the acoustic perception and the product design; knowledge of general principles for product sound quality are required. Chapter 4 can be considered as two main sections. .How does emotion act as a delighter in product design?. is examined to better understand customer and user experiences impacting pleasure-ability in first section. In the second section, emotion is evaluated through sound design. A qualitative evaluation is done so as to examine cognition and emotion in sound perception. Chapter 5 leads subject through emotional branding. Sounds that carry the brand.s identity are evaluated within. Sound design is re-evaluated as marketing strategy and examined with several instances. Keywords: Product sound design, psychoacoustics, product sound quality, emotion design, emotional branding

A Practice-Based Study into the Composition and Performance of Polytemporal Music

This practice-based research explores the composition and performance of polytemporal music, culminating in ten new works in audio/visual format with accompanying commentaries and notation. Research is undertaken into concepts of rhythm and pulse in order to develop new techniques for composing music in multiple simultaneous tempi, particularly methods for managing rhythmic consonance and dissonance in the compositional process. Attention is also given to the practicalities and implications of performance, investigating issues of accessibility and ensemble in reference to the use of click tracks and headphones, as well as the form and function of notation. The approaches within this research stem from my experience as a commercial rock/studio musician fused with contemporary classical influences. As well as these musical influences, a background in visual art and design also contributes to the visual presentation of works and scores; musical works are presented in video format which is shown to enhance temporal perception, and a new form of rhythmically accurate western notation for polytemporal music is developed. Composing and performing in a strictly polytemporal setting has at the time of writing not been widely researched, and it is hoped this work displays new knowledge and approaches important for the development of composition in this area

Audio source separation for music in low-latency and high-latency scenarios

Aquesta tesi proposa mètodes per tractar les limitacions de les tècniques existents de separació de fonts musicals en condicions de baixa i alta latència. En primer lloc, ens centrem en els mètodes amb un baix cost computacional i baixa latència. Proposem l'ús de la regularització de Tikhonov com a mètode de descomposició de l'espectre en el context de baixa latència. El comparem amb les tècniques existents en tasques d'estimació i seguiment dels tons, que són passos crucials en molts mètodes de separació. A continuació utilitzem i avaluem el mètode de descomposició de l'espectre en tasques de separació de veu cantada, baix i percussió. En segon lloc, proposem diversos mètodes d'alta latència que milloren la separació de la veu cantada, gràcies al modelatge de components específics, com la respiració i les consonants. Finalment, explorem l'ús de correlacions temporals i anotacions manuals per millorar la separació dels instruments de percussió i dels senyals musicals polifònics complexes.Esta tesis propone métodos para tratar las limitaciones de las técnicas existentes de separación de fuentes musicales en condiciones de baja y alta latencia. En primer lugar, nos centramos en los métodos con un bajo coste computacional y baja latencia. Proponemos el uso de la regularización de Tikhonov como método de descomposición del espectro en el contexto de baja latencia. Lo comparamos con las técnicas existentes en tareas de estimación y seguimiento de los tonos, que son pasos cruciales en muchos métodos de separación. A continuación utilizamos y evaluamos el método de descomposición del espectro en tareas de separación de voz cantada, bajo y percusión. En segundo lugar, proponemos varios métodos de alta latencia que mejoran la separación de la voz cantada, gracias al modelado de componentes que a menudo no se toman en cuenta, como la respiración y las consonantes. Finalmente, exploramos el uso de correlaciones temporales y anotaciones manuales para mejorar la separación de los instrumentos de percusión y señales musicales polifónicas complejas.This thesis proposes specific methods to address the limitations of current music source separation methods in low-latency and high-latency scenarios. First, we focus on methods with low computational cost and low latency. We propose the use of Tikhonov regularization as a method for spectrum decomposition in the low-latency context. We compare it to existing techniques in pitch estimation and tracking tasks, crucial steps in many separation methods. We then use the proposed spectrum decomposition method in low-latency separation tasks targeting singing voice, bass and drums. Second, we propose several high-latency methods that improve the separation of singing voice by modeling components that are often not accounted for, such as breathiness and consonants. Finally, we explore using temporal correlations and human annotations to enhance the separation of drums and complex polyphonic music signals

Music-listening systems

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 2000.Includes bibliographical references (p. [235]-248).When human listeners are confronted with musical sounds, they rapidly and automatically orient themselves in the music. Even musically untrained listeners have an exceptional ability to make rapid judgments about music from very short examples, such as determining the music's style, performer, beat, complexity, and emotional impact. However, there are presently no theories of music perception that can explain this behavior, and it has proven very difficult to build computer music-analysis tools with similar capabilities. This dissertation examines the psychoacoustic origins of the early stages of music listening in humans, using both experimental and computer-modeling approaches. The results of this research enable the construction of automatic machine-listening systems that can make human-like judgments about short musical stimuli. New models are presented that explain the perception of musical tempo, the perceived segmentation of sound scenes into multiple auditory images, and the extraction of musical features from complex musical sounds. These models are implemented as signal-processing and pattern-recognition computer programs, using the principle of understanding without separation. Two experiments with human listeners study the rapid assignment of high-level judgments to musical stimuli, and it is demonstrated that many of the experimental results can be explained with a multiple-regression model on the extracted musical features. From a theoretical standpoint, the thesis shows how theories of music perception can be grounded in a principled way upon psychoacoustic models in a computational-auditory-scene-analysis framework. Further, the perceptual theory presented is more relevant to everyday listeners and situations than are previous cognitive-structuralist approaches to music perception and cognition. From a practical standpoint, the various models form a set of computer signal-processing and pattern-recognition tools that can mimic human perceptual abilities on a variety of musical tasks such as tapping along with the beat, parsing music into sections, making semantic judgments about musical examples, and estimating the similarity of two pieces of music.Eric D. Scheirer.Ph.D

The aural skills acquisition process of undergraduate electroacoustic (EA) music majors in the context of a new aural learning method

Thesis (D.M.A.)--Boston UniversityElectroacoustic (EA) musicians require aural skills that exist beyond tonality and meter; however, specialized ear training courses for EA music are rare in university and college music programs that offer EA studies (EaSt) in their curricula. Since 2005, this researcher has been developing and teaching EA aural training at a Canadian university in that was inspired by concepts from Auditory Scene Analysis (ASA) studies, primarily integration and segregation. In the 2009/10 academic year, the researcher conducted an action study with his intact EA aural training class of 25 first year undergraduate students majoring in EaSt for the purposes of better understanding and improving the students' aural skill acquisition process. and of refining the teaching and learning sequence. The action study was organized into four cycles of observation, critical reflection, and action, and focused on optimizing and autonomizing the skill acquisition process within the large, varied group. Actions were designed in response to critical reflection on emerging problems, evaluations of students' views about the process, their moods and attitudes, and measurements of students' achievements-with specific attention to eight EA-oriented skills and seven tonal and metric skills. Qualitative and quantitative data gathered from questionnaires, in-class surveys and tests, homework, and competence tests provided evidence of skill acquisition, primarily in loudness discrimination, timbral discrimination, tonal awareness, interval discrimination, meter discrimination, and descriptive ability. The most notable emerging problems in the skill acquisition process were related to the group's variety of ability levels, including imbalances in difficulty levels, in students' level of interest in the activities, and in the all-inclusive effectiveness of the training. The main transformational aspects of the action study were autonomization of the skill acquisition process at home through weekly reflective practice reports and developing a cooperative learning environment in the classroom through regular in-class discussion

Composition portfolio : producing techno grooves

PhD Thesis Additional music to be consulted in Robinson Library only.PhD submission consisting of a portfolio of recordings presented both in their published form on five twelve-inch vinyl records and on two compact discs. The portfolio is accompanied by a commentary intended to facilitate access to the aesthetic statement presented in the portfolio. Following Charles Keil’s distinction between ‘embodied meaning’ and ‘engendered feeling’ this project investigates approaches to the creation of Techno music in terms of the significance of specific sounds, techniques and technologies in generating subsyntactic value. The concept of the groove and the importance of microtiming as they operate in my practice are discussed in the commentary and demonstrated through the production of a series of Techno records including both original compositions and remixes