Musicological and Technological Perspectives on Computational Analysis of Electroacoustic Music

Analysing electroacoustic music remains challenging, leaving this artistic treasure somewhat out of reach of mainstream musicology and many music lovers. This chapter examines electroacoustic music analysis, covering musicological investigations and desires and technological challenges and potentials. The aim is to develop new technologies to overcome the current limitations. The compositional and musicological foundations of electroacoustic music analysis are based on Pierre Schaeffer’s Traité des objects musicaux. The chapter presents an overview of core analytical principles underpinning more recent musicological approaches, including R. Murray Schafer’s soundscape analysis, Denis Smalley’s spectro-morphology, and Lasse Thoresen’s graphical formalisation. Then the state of the art in computational analysis of electroacoustic music is compiled and organised along broad themes, from detecting sound objects to estimating dynamics, facture and grain, mass, motions, space, timbre and rhythm. Finally, I sketch the principles of what could be a Toolbox des objets sonores.