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Acoustic Space Sampling and the Grand Piano in a Non-Anechoic Environment: A Recordist-Centric Approach to the Musical Acoustic Study

A novel approach to instrument acoustics research is presented in which the instrument is coupled with a room and both are measured as a single acoustical system, in juxtaposition to many anechoic and computer simulated studies of musical acoustics. The technique is applied to the ubiquitous concert grand piano, where spectral information is gathered through the process of “acoustic space sampling” (AcSS), using more than 1330 microphones. The physical data is then combined with psychoacoustic predictors to generate a map of timbre. This map is compared to the preference of expert listeners, thereby correlating the physical measures obtained through acoustic space sampling to the application of the recording engineer.

Authors: Sikora, Grzegorz; Leonard, Brett; de Francisco, Martha; Eck, Douglas
Affiliations: McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music, Media, and Technology, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; International Laboratory for Brain, Music, and Sound Research, Montreal, Quebec, Canada(See document for exact affiliation information.)
AES Convention:128 (May 2010) Paper Number:8059 Import into BibTeX
Subject:Room Acoustics, Sound Reinforcement, and Instrumentation

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