[論文レビュー] Methods for Pitch Analysis in Contemporary Popular Music: Multiphonic Tones Across Genres

Emmanuel Deruty, David Meredith+4 more|arXiv (Cornell University)|Feb 20, 2026

Neuroscience and Music Perception被引用数 0

ひとこと要約

この研究は、現代のポピュラーミュージックにおける電子音（例：808ベース、パワーコード）が、現代クラシック音楽のマルチフォニクスと構造的にも知覚的にも同等であり、聴者依存のピッチ知覚を引き起こすことを示している。

ABSTRACT

This study argues that electronic tones routinely used in contemporary popular music - including 808-style bass and power chords - are structurally and perceptually equivalent to multiphonics in contemporary classical music. Using listening tests (n=10) and signal analysis, we show that both types of tones elicit multiple, listener-dependent pitch percepts arising from similar spectral and temporal features. These findings suggest that pitch ambiguity is not confined to experimental classical contexts but is also a feature of mainstream music production.

研究の動機と目的

• Motivate and justify applying multiphonics concepts from contemporary classical music to contemporary popular music tones.
• Demonstrate structural and perceptual equivalence between electronic tones and multiphonics.
• Compare human pitch perception with monophonic pitch trackers on isolated tones from both genres.
• Include Western contemporary classical material alongside electronic tones to broaden the scope of pitch analysis.
• Highlight implications for Music Information Retrieval practices that assume a single pitch per harmonic complex tone.

提案手法

• Use listening tests with musically trained listeners (n=10) where participants match perceived pitches to a piano.
• Analyze single-tone samples (isolated tones) spanning quasi-harmonic, inharmonic, and specified versus unspecified pitch targets.
• Perform signal analysis incorporating spectral and temporal modeling to infer possible pitch associations (f0, upper partials, octave transpositions).
• Apply psychoacoustic weighting via equal-loudness contours (ISO226:2023 50-phon) to weight spectral components.
• Compare human pitch-perception outputs with monophonic pitch trackers (CREPE, PESTO) to assess convergence/divergence.
• Include input from electronic musician Vitalic and Hyper Music production to validate producer perspectives.

Figure 1: Cello tone, F2 on the C string, weighted audio. Power spectrum. The dot’s size reflects the energy. The x-axis shows multiples of the $f_{0}$ .

実験結果

リサーチクエスチョン

• RQ1 Do electronic tones used in popular music elicit multiple listener-perceived pitches like classical multiphonics?
• RQ2 How do spectral/temporal features relate to the perceived pitch sets across quasi-harmonic and inharmonic tones?
• RQ3 To what extent do monophonic pitch trackers align with human perceptual responses for these tones?
• RQ4 Are there cross-genre consistencies in how pitches are perceived from isolated tones versus sequences?
• RQ5 What are the implications for Music Information Retrieval assuming a single pitch per tone?

主な発見

• Electronic tones in popular music elicit multiple listener-perceived pitches, comparable in number to multiphonics observed in contemporary classical tones.
• Perceived pitches are generally harmonically related and often derive from subsets of salient partials, even for tones that are inharmonic.
• Tones intended to convey a single pitch still produce a weaker but similar multiphonic perception, suggesting a perceptual continuum rather than a strict dichotomy.
• Monophonic pitch trackers (CREPE, PESTO) frequently predict pitches corresponding to partials and show octave jumps, indicating the trackers reflect underlying spectral/temporal structure rather than failure alone.
• The study shows cross-genre applicability of multiphonics concepts and supports rethinking pitch representation in Music Information Retrieval for harmonic tones.
• Producer perspectives corroborate the relevance of multiphonic perception in mainstream production.

Figure 2: Cello tone, F2 on the C string, listening test results. In white, pitches for which $d=0$ ; in green, $d=1$ ; in orange, $d=2$ ; in red, no association with the signal. The same protocol will be used in the subsequent figures. The bar graph to the left of the pitch-tracker results compiles