No abstract

No abstract

Synthetically modelled performances and commercial recordings of orchestral minuets were used in three rating tests and a synchronisation test to investigate two issues. The first one addresses the impression of authenticity and plausibility, i.e., the impression of a human-rendered performance, questioning whether smooth mathematical functions are adequate means of modelling timing and dynamics, or whether it is the deviations from smooth functions observed in human performances that contain hidden information contributing to the impression of authenticity and plausibility. The second question investigated whether the subjective impression of plausibility is also reflected in the anticipation of musical events, such as that required in a synchronisation task. In the plausibility tests, there was no significant difference between participants' ratings of synthetic performances modelled with smooth functions and those including hidden information . In the synchronisation test, participants showed a higher standard deviationproportionally to the mean beat length -in the tap-onset difference when tapping to the beat of a synthetic performance that had been rated implausible in the previous tests.

No abstract

We linked an analysis of vocal vibratos in early recordings with Edison's dismissive attitude towards singers' tremolos in the same recordings. We conclude that there are at least two different factors contributing to Edison's concept of tremolo, which include a) technical limitations and artefacts related to the recording process, and b) aesthetic judgements based on his taste for a good singing voice, but which are not necessarily related to the vibrato as such. In some cases, his comments on the tremolo even contradict the vibratos found in the recordings. Yet, Edison's concept of tremolo was as ambiguous as it was influential, for it was the tremolo on which Edison frequently based his decision to employ singers for commercial recordings. Since many of today's vocal artists still view early recordings as the gold standard of interpretation, we should consider the possibility that early recordings are by no means a representative sample of the artists of that time, but rather a selection due to the constraints of the technology at that time.