Bach's Orchestral Suite No.3 in D major, BWV 1068 (Air).
In this application we create a large string orchestra out of a string quartet, that performs an excerpt from J. S. Bach’s second movement of Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D major, BWV 1068. The well-known Air. The application uses a group of Audio Effects in ODEON (such as Chorus and Spectrumizer) and it is described in detail in the following paper:
C. L. Christensen, G. Koutsouris, A. Richard and J. H. Rindel, “Audio effects for multi-source auralisations”, I3DA International Conference, Virtual, 2021 (upcoming).
The input anechoic signals are the first 6 bars played by a 1st violin, a 2nd violin, a viola and a cello. Details about the recordings can be found in the following paper:
D. Thery, B. Katz, B. F.G., “Anechoic audio and 3D-video content database of small ensemble performances for virtual concerts”, ICA conference, Aachen, 2019.
The orchestra is simulated in a room model of the Concertgebouw concert hall in Amsterdam, which has an average of 2.4 sec Reverberation Time at mid frequencies.
Anechoic recordings (quartet)
Quartet in the room
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Demo sounds, conductor position
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Orchestra with 12 1st Violins, 12 2nd Violins, 12 Violas and 12 Cellos
To compare the colouration of the original quartet with the colouration of the full orchestra as in a A-B test, we choose to multiply each instrument by the same number, i.e. 12 times. Them we end up with the sections illustrated in the the picture below.
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Orchestra with 12 1st Violins, 12 2nd Violins, 12 Violas and 12 Cellos
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Orchestra with 12 1st Violins, 10 2nd Violins, 8 Violas and 6 Cellos
As a next step, we perform the same auralisation with the typical modern orchestra arrangement of 12 1st violins, 10 2nd violins, 8 violas and 6 cellos, as mentioned in the beginning of the section. Therefore, this time we deactivate part of the strings in each section. The result seems more balanced between low and high frequencies in this case.
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Demo sounds, audience position 2
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12 Violins using a professional performance
As a last example, we attempt to convert an anechoic file from a professional performance into a chorus. We apply the same settings for the chain of effects as for the previous example to generate a section of 12 violins. This time the file is an excerpt from the 1st violin of Mozart’s 40th Symphony. The recordings were performed at the Technical University of Denmark. See the following paper:
M.C. Vigeant, L.M. Wang, J.H. Rindel, “Investigations of orchestra auralizations using the multi-channel multi-source auralization technique,” Acta Acustica/Acustica, Vol. 94, pp. 866-882, 2008.
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Demo sounds, audience position 3
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