Acoustics perception aspect of Sundanese Celempung’s ensemble recording

Abstract

Celempung is a Sundanese traditional instrument from West Java, Indonesia made from bamboo internode. This instrument has three bamboo strings which cut out from the body of celempung itself. Celempung is played by hitting the bamboo strings using bamboo stick and hitting the open section at the end of bamboo by hand. The aim of this study is to determine the important acoustic aspects in celempung ensemble recording technique using semantic categorization. Recordings were made using several stereo recording techniques: XY, ORTF, NOS, Mid-Side (MS), Spaced-pair (AB), Decca Tree, STAAG, and the combination of AB and XY. Nine experts in traditional Sundanese music listened to the recordings using headphone and requested to give the open response regarding the quality of the recordings. Semantic categorization method was implemented to analyze the data using four categories: timbre, spatial, defects, and musical aspects. The study shows that timbre is the most important aspect of recording technique for celempung ensemble. Furthermore, spatial aspects also become the important aspect in evaluating the quality of the recording.