Populating the Mix Space: Parametric Methods for Generating Multitrack Audio Mixtures
The creation of multitrack mixes by audio engineers is a time-consuming activity and creating high-quality mixes requires a great deal of knowledge and experience. Previous studies on the perception of music mixes have been limited by the relatively small number of human-made mixes analysed. This pa...
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MDPI AG
2017-12-01
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Series: | Applied Sciences |
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Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/7/12/1329 |
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author | Alex Wilson Bruno M. Fazenda |
author_facet | Alex Wilson Bruno M. Fazenda |
author_sort | Alex Wilson |
collection | DOAJ |
description | The creation of multitrack mixes by audio engineers is a time-consuming activity and creating high-quality mixes requires a great deal of knowledge and experience. Previous studies on the perception of music mixes have been limited by the relatively small number of human-made mixes analysed. This paper describes a novel “mix-space”, a parameter space which contains all possible mixes using a finite set of tools, as well as methods for the parametric generation of artificial mixes in this space. Mixes that use track gain, panning and equalisation are considered. This allows statistical methods to be used in the study of music mixing practice, such as Monte Carlo simulations or population-based optimisation methods. Two applications are described: an investigation into the robustness and accuracy of tempo-estimation algorithms and an experiment to estimate distributions of spectral centroid values within sets of mixes. The potential for further work is also described. |
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format | Article |
id | doaj.art-e11d266432ab4c13b66c94d74eb65c1d |
institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
issn | 2076-3417 |
language | English |
last_indexed | 2024-04-12T12:14:02Z |
publishDate | 2017-12-01 |
publisher | MDPI AG |
record_format | Article |
series | Applied Sciences |
spelling | doaj.art-e11d266432ab4c13b66c94d74eb65c1d2022-12-22T03:33:29ZengMDPI AGApplied Sciences2076-34172017-12-01712132910.3390/app7121329app7121329Populating the Mix Space: Parametric Methods for Generating Multitrack Audio MixturesAlex Wilson0Bruno M. Fazenda1Acoustics Research Centre, School of Computing, Science and Engineering, University of Salford, Greater Manchester, Salford M5 4WT, UKAcoustics Research Centre, School of Computing, Science and Engineering, University of Salford, Greater Manchester, Salford M5 4WT, UKThe creation of multitrack mixes by audio engineers is a time-consuming activity and creating high-quality mixes requires a great deal of knowledge and experience. Previous studies on the perception of music mixes have been limited by the relatively small number of human-made mixes analysed. This paper describes a novel “mix-space”, a parameter space which contains all possible mixes using a finite set of tools, as well as methods for the parametric generation of artificial mixes in this space. Mixes that use track gain, panning and equalisation are considered. This allows statistical methods to be used in the study of music mixing practice, such as Monte Carlo simulations or population-based optimisation methods. Two applications are described: an investigation into the robustness and accuracy of tempo-estimation algorithms and an experiment to estimate distributions of spectral centroid values within sets of mixes. The potential for further work is also described.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/7/12/1329intelligent music productionmusic information retrievalmultitrack mixingstereo panningaudio equalisationtempo estimationspectral centroid |
spellingShingle | Alex Wilson Bruno M. Fazenda Populating the Mix Space: Parametric Methods for Generating Multitrack Audio Mixtures Applied Sciences intelligent music production music information retrieval multitrack mixing stereo panning audio equalisation tempo estimation spectral centroid |
title | Populating the Mix Space: Parametric Methods for Generating Multitrack Audio Mixtures |
title_full | Populating the Mix Space: Parametric Methods for Generating Multitrack Audio Mixtures |
title_fullStr | Populating the Mix Space: Parametric Methods for Generating Multitrack Audio Mixtures |
title_full_unstemmed | Populating the Mix Space: Parametric Methods for Generating Multitrack Audio Mixtures |
title_short | Populating the Mix Space: Parametric Methods for Generating Multitrack Audio Mixtures |
title_sort | populating the mix space parametric methods for generating multitrack audio mixtures |
topic | intelligent music production music information retrieval multitrack mixing stereo panning audio equalisation tempo estimation spectral centroid |
url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/7/12/1329 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT alexwilson populatingthemixspaceparametricmethodsforgeneratingmultitrackaudiomixtures AT brunomfazenda populatingthemixspaceparametricmethodsforgeneratingmultitrackaudiomixtures |