AES Paris 2016
Engineering Brief EB5
EB5 - eBriefs 5: Lectures
Tuesday, June 7, 14:00 — 15:30 (Room 353)
Chair:
Emiliano Caballero Fraccaroli, Electric Lady Studios - New York, NY USA
EB5-1 An Investigation into Kinect and Middleware Error and Their Suitability for Academic Listening Tests—Thomas Johnson, University of Huddersfield - Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, UK; Ian Gibson, University of Huddersfield - Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, UK; Ben Evans, University of Huddersfield - Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, UK; Mark Wendl, University of Huddersfield - Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, UK
This paper investigates the accuracy and error introduced by middleware applications when used with the Kinect. The middleware applications (Synapse and GMS v3.0) were tested to quantify the error they introduce compared to the error of the Kinect and assess their suitability for use in academic listening tests.
Engineering Brief 273 (Download now)
EB5-2 How Can Actor Network Theory and Ecological Approach to the Perception Be Used to Analyze the Creative Audio Mixing Practice?—Yong Ju Lee, University of West London, London College of Music - London, UK
In audio mixing, communication between the artist or producer and the mix engineer are crucial elements in creating a track that is authentic and aesthetically pleasing. Through a MA Record Production module "Performance in The Studio", the researcher explored the idea that mix engineers, artists and producers develop and select appropriate sounds for a track through a process of negotiation. Furthermore, this negotiation occurs through both verbal and non-verbal communication. Specifically, the researcher aims to look at subjective, or as 'vague', metaphorical descriptions and moments where the engineer, producer, and artists agree on the sound by recommendation and by synchronizing their expectations. However, a metaphorical description cannot define an exact meaning as it is insufficient linguistic tools. The researcher uses Actor Network Theory to understand this negotiation between the technical and the creative and the role of this process of communication and cognition in understanding the interaction and synchronization of the participants' mental representation of the mix and mix process. Furthermore, the researcher uses the Ecological Approach to Perception to analyze specific behavior and response from participants in the mixing process.
Engineering Brief 274 (Download now)
EB5-3 On the Silver Globe Revisited—Joanna Napieralska, Frederic Chopin University of Music - Warsaw, Poland; Dorota Nowocien, The Felix Nowowiejski Academy of Music - Bydgoszcz, Poland; Ronin Group Studio - Radom, Poland
On the Silver Globe is known to be the preeminent expression of Zulawski’s visionary ideas. Its shooting began in 1976, was halted in 1978 by the communist authorities, and then reconstituted in 1988. Digitally restored in 2016 – courtesy of the Polish Film Institute – it had its real first showing on the 20th of February at Lincoln Center in New York, just three days after the director’s death and 28 years after its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, when the mono loudspeaker went down. Sound restoration is an example of the capabilities of modern technology in pursuing compromise between fidelity to the mono 35 mm magnetic original and digital 5.1 cinema in terms of sync, loudness, timbre, and spatial standards.
Engineering Brief 275 (Download now)
EB5-4 Analyzing Sonic Similarity in Hip-Hop through Critical Listening and Music Theory—Denis Martin, McGill University - Montreal, QC, Canada; CIRMMT - Montreal, QC, Canada; Ben Duinker, McGill University - Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music Media and Technology (CIRMMT) - Montreal, Quebec, Canada; David Benson, McGill University - Montreal, Quebec, Canada; The Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music Media and Technology - Montreal, Quebec, Canada
The notion of a musical artist’s or genre’s sound is frequently evoked, but what sonic parameters define this sound? We address this question through an in-depth corpus analysis of 100 critically and commercially acclaimed hip-hop tracks from the genre’s golden age that we define as 1986–1996. We operationalize the term sound as the sum of both musical and production parameters. The practices of music theory and critical listening are brought together to analyze each track across 75 musical and production parameters in 9 categories. Through statistical analysis of our data set, we demonstrate that from these parameters we are capable of assembling groups of songs that sound alike. These groups are then compared against pre-existing groupings such as geographical location and recording label.
Engineering Brief 276 (Download now)
EB5-5 "Space Explorations": Broadening Binaural Horizons with Directionally-Matched Impulse Response Convolution Reverb—Matthew Lien, Whispering Willows Records Inc. - Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada; Universal Music Publishing - Taipei, Taiwan
More people are listening with earphones than in the history of recorded music. But earphones locate typical audio claustrophobically in-and-around the listener's head due to an absence of localizing information the brain requires to externalize sound. When combined with recent trends to highly compress music, the results are an unnatural and unhealthy listening experience—a dumbing-down of the auditory faculty. But the rise of earphones has also brought binaural technology onto the radar. While most binaural music productions have been limited to capturing live performances within a single space, the pioneering application of directional binaural impulse response convolution reverb paired with directionally-matched binaural studio recordings restores acoustically diverse spatialization to
music.
Engineering Brief 277 (Download now)
EB5-6 An Automated Source Separation Technology and Its Practical Applications—Alexandre Vaneph, Audionamix; Ellie McNeil, Audionamix; François Rigaud, Audionamix; Rick Silva, Audionamix
Audio source separation, the process of un-mixing, has long been seen as unreachable, "the holy grail." Recent progress in coupling digital signal processing with machine deep learning puts this process within reach of the typical sound audio engineer. Using our technology, we will demonstrate a few examples of separations focused on isolating voice tracks from fully arranged mixes and the opportunities that can be realized from this technology in a series of industry case studies.
Engineering Brief 278 (Download now)
