Methods for Pitch Analysis in Contemporary Popular Music: Multiphonic Tones Across Genres

TL;DR

The paper tackles how tones common in contemporary popular music, especially electronic bass and distorted power chords, can evoke multiple pitch percepts similar to multiphonics in contemporary classical music. Using isolated-tone listening tests with ten trained listeners and extensive signal analysis, it demonstrates cross-genre structural and perceptual parallels, and contrasts human pitch perception with monophonic trackers like CREPE and PESTO. Key contributions include comparing Western contemporary classical material with pop-production tones, focusing on isolated tones, and incorporating producer input to validate relevance. The findings imply that pitch ambiguity is a widespread feature of modern music production, with practical implications for Music Information Retrieval and the interpretation of tonal content in popular genres.

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.

Figures (22)

• 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 $f_0$.
• 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 the perceived pitches together with their associations. The label "h5-2", for example, indicates an association with harmonic 5, two octaves below. Here, C5 is not associated with harm. 6 but is described as one octave below C6 (harm. 12), as the C6 partial is salient in Fig. \ref{['fig:cello']}.
• Figure 3: Cello recordings, weighted audio. Power spectrum peaks corresponding to F2 (fundamental), F2+C4 (multiphonic), and C4 (harmonic 3). The dots highlight the partials corresponding to C4. The x-axis shows multiples of the F2 $f_0$.
• Figure 4: (a) F2+C4 and (b) C4 tones from Fig. \ref{['fig:dima']}, listening test results. In (b), "h27", the 27th harmonic of F2, is the 9th harmonic of C4.
• Figure 5: Fallowfield's "AudioEx11 III 3–5–8–13 EK" sample fallowfield2019cello, weighted audio. Power spectrum. Harmonic tones with fundamentals corresponding to partials 1, 3, 5, 8, and 13 are shown in blue, yellow, red, green, and white, respectively.