Sound power and timbre as cues for the dynamic strength of orchestral instruments

In a series of measurements, the sound power of 40 musical instruments, including all standard modern orchestral instruments, as well as some of their historic precursors from the classical and the baroque epoch, was determined using the enveloping surface method with a 32-channel spherical microphone array according to ISO 3745. Single notes were recorded at the extremes of the dynamic range ( and ) over the entire pitch range. In a subsequent audio content analysis, audio features were determined for all 3482 single notes using the timbre toolbox. In order to analyze the relative contributions of timbre- and amplitude-related properties to the expression of musical dynamics in different instruments, Bayesian linear discriminant analysis and generalized linear mixed modelling were employed to determine those audio features discriminating best between extremes of dynamics both within and across instruments. The results from these measurements and statistical analyses thus deliver a comprehensive picture of the acoustical manifestation of "musical dynamics" with respect to sound power and timbre for all standard orchestral instruments.