Blending vocal music with a given sound field due to the characteristics of the running autocorrelation function of singing voices

Abstract

This is a study to meet music and the opera house acoustics. It is said that singers adjust their interpretation style according to the acoustical condition of the sound field in a room. However, this mechanism of blending of musical performance with the sound field is unknown. In order to obtain a method of performance blending of opera house acoustics, we attempted to develop evaluation criteria for a singing voice in terms of the minimum value of the effective duration of the running autocorrelation function (r-ACF), (te)min, of sound source signals. This temporal factor has shown to have close correlation with the subjective response of both listeners and performers to sound fields [Y. Ando, Architectural Acoustics (AIP Press/Springer-Verlag, New York, 1998)]. As example for the control of (te)min due to performing style, effects of singing style, kind of vowel, relative pitch, vibrato extent, and intonation on the values of (te)min are demonstrated. In addition, the fine structure of the r-ACF is discussed with regard to the identification of vowels of singing voice. a)Now at 1-10-27 Yamanokami, Kumamoto, Japan.