Abstract

What is Old Italian violin timbre?
Anders Buen

During this presentation one should be able to hear and see what makes a violin sound more or less classic Italian. Additionally, some ideas how to increase the probability of making an instrument with such characteristics is presented.
Violin timbre is discussed and demonstrated in light of Heinrich Dünnwalds work on parameters for relative levels of certain frequency ranges of narrowband violin body spectra. He analyzed more than 700 violins and found some characteristic objective features in the spectra of Old Italian violins that differed from modern master and factory made violins.
Using data from my impact hammer data set of violins and hardangers I compare the spectra of instruments with low versus high values of these Dünnwald parameters and make “difference filters” between them. These filters are then used in modifications of a short played violin phrase demonstrating the effects as the Dünnwald parameters are varied. I will also present some preliminary results from a data mining project where I extract some simple significant correlations between construction details and these objective timbre parameters.