Music 209 Week 7: Database Descriptors

March 2, 2006.

Methods to compute and use descriptors for database entries (spectral shape, loudness, pitch, etc).

This lecture focused on database descriptors for level, loudness, spectral shape, and pitch. Much of the material was adapted from Chapters 10 and 11 of Diemo Schwarz's Ph.D. (available here). In particular, we recommend Chapter 10 (and its references) as good reading for spectral shape and harmonicity metrics.

Part of the lecture described loudness models. This recent AES paper evaluates a variety of loudness models for use in musical material (one of the authors is from TC Electronics, a professional audio equipment manufacturer).

Part of the lecture concerned pitch. This review paper by William Hartmann is a good introduction to pitch perception. This review article by Patricio de la Cuadra is a good introduction to engineering approaches to pitch tracking.