Explorations in Timbre

Abstract

Timbre is the quality of sound that enables us to recognise different instruments. The most successful methods for automatic instrument recognition are performed using information from sound that does not mean anything to the musician and is not directly related to the perception of timbre. Instead we start with an attribute of sound that is known to affect the way we perceive timbre. Two such attributes are the harmonic content of the sound and the “envelope” which describes the way volume rises and falls. This thesis explored several methods for detecting envelopes for the purpose of timbre description. A tool was developed that allows a user to match a synthetic wave to recorded audio by adding and adjusting amplitude and frequency control points. The resulting synthetic wave sounds subjectively close to the real audio. This provides avenues for future psychoacoustic research.