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The Level Differences on Different Recordings of the Same Musical Score

A large number of recordings (on records) of the same musical score were analyzed by means of a level recorder and a computer in order to obtain relative level differences as they appear in different recordings. The main topic of interest was the average level difference between the voice and the music in opera recordings, and it was found that the difference can vary up to several decibels. The difference in the total dynamic range were equally evaluated by means of the level distribution diagrams of the recordings and values exceeding 10dB were found. For comparison sake, some amateur live recordings in a closed and an open-air theatre were analyzed in the same manner. This enabled to find out among other things how much the voice on the records in enhanced with respect to the music. Some other dynamic properties (octave-band dynamic range, level fluctuations of the same fragments) were equally examined.

Authors: Kurtovic, Husnija; Gurjanov, Manojlo
Affiliation: Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Belgrade, Yugoslavia
AES Convention:65 (February 1980) Paper Number:1607 Import into BibTeX

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