Society for Music Theory

The Color of Sound: A Theoretical Study in Musical Timbre

Author(s): Wayne Slawson
Source: Music Theory Spectrum, Vol. 3 (Spring, 1981), pp. 132-141
Published by: University of California Press on behalf of the Society for Music Theory
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/746139 .
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The Color of Sound: A Theoretical Study
in Musical Timbre

Wayne Slawson

Introduction
Musical timbre (or instrumentalcolor, Klangfarbe, sound Formy own contributionto the subject,I have chosen to limit
quality-there are many terms each with its own shade of the rangeof my claims to a subsetof timbreI call sound color.
meaning) has resisted the efforts of music theorists. Writers Sound color as I am using the term is a psychoacoustic
such as Pierre Schaeffer (1966), Cogan and Escot (1976) and "attribute"or set of attributesof sound, joining such familiar
Robert Erickson (1975) have contributedvaluable insights. attributesas pitchand loudness. Soundcolor does not necessar-
However, we do not yet have a theory that is consistent with ily referto musicalinstruments;it is, rather,an abstractproperty
whatis known aboutthe auditorysystem, thatdescribesmusical of auditorysensation. By definition it has no temporalaspect.
practice well, and that defines a rich set of operationsthrough Soundsmay varyin color over time, butthe variationin a sound
which new music can be structured. is not itself a color. Thus, for example, the "graininess" of a
The difficulty lies partlywith the termitelf. Timbrehas been sound, its degree of vibrato,and the characteristicsof its attack
used in too many contextsto mean too manydifferentthings. If are not aspects of sound color.
it is used to refer to the identifying sound of a musical instru- The term is not meant in any synesthetic sense, but the
ment, as it is in the originalFrenchusage, it would seem thatwe analogy with visual color is a good one. Visual color is a
would have to concludethatan instrument-say a clarinet-has psychological attribute.It is multidimensionaland it has no
a single timbre.But of course instrumentshave different"qual- temporalaspect. Lights thatappearto vary in color are not said
ities" or "colors" in theirdifferentregisters-the clarineteven to have a single color, but a succession of different colors.
has names for its various registers. The American Standards I am treatingsound color as an abstractauditoryphenome-
Association definition is flawed in the opposite way; it assigns non, but the concept grows out of a model of the way certain
the termto any differencebetweensoundsof the same loudness, kinds of naturalsounds arise. This model is called the source-
pitch, and duration. Theorists who take as their subject this filter model of sound production.
catch-all meaning of the term-notably Schaeffer and
Erickson-are faced with an enormous range of phenomena.
Theirresponse, to catalog what they considersignificanttypes
of timbres, is about the only possible approach.
 The Colorof Sound 133

The Source-FilterModel of Sound Production There are many examples of such sounds. The mainrequire-
ment is simply that the excitationbe independentof the sound-
Accordingto this model, soundis producedwhen mechanical
or acoustic energy excites vibration in an object or cavity ing object. Naturalsounds in our environmentoften meet this
requirementquite well. The model is particularlygood at de-
(Huggins, 1952; Fant, 1960). The excitationis the "source" in
the model and it is affected only negligibly by the object or scribing the productionof speech. In vowels the excitation is
generatedby the vocal folds in the larynx;the filter is the throat
cavity that it excites (see Figure 1). Typically the temporal and mouth. The tension of the vocal folds andthe volume of air
featuresof the sound-the time of its occurrence,its envelope,
we force throughthem control the pitch and intensity of the
and its frequencies and overall intensity-can be attributedto
vowel. The shapeof the vocal tractcontrolsthe vowel qualityor
the source. The spectrumof the sourcemightbe as illustratedin
color. As we all know, the excitationand the "filter" in vowels
Figure 1. The influence of the object or cavity on the sound is are independent.We can uttera soft, low-pitched [a] or a loud,
representedby the spectrum envelope-a characteristicshape high-pitched[a] or we can utter an [a] and an [e] at the same
(like the dotted curve in Figure 1) that is imposed on the moderateintensityandpitch. The source-filtermodel also fits a
spectrumof the excitation, modifyingthe intensitiesbut not the
very common means of sound production in the electronic
frequenciesof the componentsof the excitation. The spectrum studio: the "treatment"of a complex sound by an independ-
envelope is the "filter" in the source-filtermodel. Withinbroad
ently controlledfilter. Seldom indeeddo we encountera piece of
limits, the excitation can be of almost any form-noise, a electronicmusic thatmakesno significantuse of this technique.
low-pitched sound, a higher pitched sound, a series of Musical instruments,by and large, are not very well de-
impulses-in each case the spectrumenvelope "colors" the scribedby the model, becausein most of themthe excitationand
source spectrum.
the filter are "strongly coupled." The resonances in the air
column or string-the "filter" -react back on the buzzinglips,
the vibratingreed, or the moving bow hairs-the source. This
"strong coupling" causes the source to be driven at one of the
modelof soundproduction
Figure1. The source-filter resonance frequencies of the filter. In these cases the filter
controlsthe pitch and indirectlythe loudness of the sound. The
situation is complex, however, for there are additionalreso-
nances in musical instrumentsthat act much like those in the
SOURCE
H FILTER -SOUND humanvocal tractand in the electronicstudio. In fact, although
the source-filter model is not intended to apply to musical
instruments,it is consistentwith certainof the ideas of scholars
AmpPLI like Cogan and Escot (1976) who theorize about the color of
instrumentalcombinations.
1 r-RLT r-- Keeping in mind these ratherelaboratefair warningsabout
FREQ
REU LTANT
what sound color is and is not about, let us turnto the central
SOURCE SPECTRUM
SPECTRUM E NVELOPE SPECTRUM questions that a theory of sound color must address. They are
concernedwith invariances.In orderfrom the simple and gen-
134 MusicTheorySpectrum

eral to the more complex and specifically musical, these ques- Figure2. Alternativetransformations
of thespectrumof a sound.When
tions are: the fundamental frequencyof a sound(X) is raisedby anoctave,the
spectrum envelopecanbeheldconstant(A)ortherelativeintensitiesof
1. How do we hold color invariantwhen otherparametersof the partialscan be heldconstant(B).
sound are changed?
2. How do we hold one aspectof soundcolor invariantwhen
other aspects are changed? This is equivalent to asking for a
descriptionof the dimensions of color.
3. What operations can we define that preserve invariant
relationsamongdifferentsoundcolors?Ormoregenerally,how X i
I
a.
can color be structuredin a musical context?
m
:
-I I
It
I 2 3 4 5 b 7 8 bo
9
I
11 .
-i-Tf1'1''
FREQVENCY

Invariance of Sound Color

The answer to the first question is somewhat deceptively A
simple. It is the following rule:To keep sound color constantas
other parameters (such as pitch and loudness) are changed, 2 3 4 S 7 a 9
keep the spectrumenvelope constant. Figure 2 illustratesthis
claim and a popularalternative.When we raise the pitch of a
sound(X in Figure2) by an octave, we can eitherkeep the "hills
and valleys" in the spectrumat the same places (alternativeA),
or we can keep the relative intensities of the partialsconstant
z 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 /o
(alternativeB). The firstalternativeis the resultof following the
ruleI havejust stated.The second alternativeis the resultof such
operationsas doublingthe speed of a tape recorderor of repro-
ducing the shape of a single cycle of the waveform in half the
time.
Helmholtz (1885) seems, in one place (pp. 19-25), to favor with the "brightening"of recordingsplayedbacktoo fast andof
the latteralternativeas a meansof keepingKlangfarbeconstant. the invariance of vowel qualities supportsthe first over the
His endorsementis by no means unequivocal,however, and in second alternativeas well. A few studies suggest even that
othercontexts he can be interpretedas favoringthe first alterna- certainmusicalinstrumentscan be identifiedon thebasis of their
tive (e.g., p. 128). A number of scholars since Helmholtz's invariantresonances(e.g., Grey, 1978). Just how the auditory
pioneeringwork have also tended to favor the first alternative system handles these sensory invariances is not at all well
(e.g., Stumpf, 1926; Chiba and Kajiyama, 1941). understoodby physiologists. But be thatas it may, psychologi-
Recently a number of psychoacoustic studies (Slawson, cal evidence, our everyday experiences, and certain kinds of
1968; Plomp and Steeneken, 1971) have strongly favored the invariancesin the soundsof musicalinstruments,all supportthe
fixed spectrumenvelope paradigm. Our everyday experience first basic claim of the theory.
 The Colorof Sound 135

The Dimensions of Sound Color Figure 3. The sound color space. The dimension of OPENNESSvaries
roughly with the frequencyof the first resonance;ACUTENESS,
with the
With the "fixed spectrumenvelope rule" we can preservea frequencyof thesecond.Themiddleof thespace(atthe[ne]sound)is
particularsoundcolor, but can we say somethingmoreaboutthe themaximally LAXsound;around
theperipheryaretheleastLAXsounds.
color itself? In whatways does it differ fromothercolors?What
kindof world does it reside in? These questionslead, of course,
to the second of the centralquestions I have posed concerning
the dimensions of sound color.
Of the severaldimensionsof soundcolor, I shall discuss three
that seem to be the most salient and musically useful. They are -j 2.5-- l
I2.
called LAXNESS,OPENNESS,and ACUTENESS. In order to explain what 4, e
these dimensionsare I shall have to interjecta brief tutorialhere
about the acoustics of vowels. > 0 -

As illustratedin Figure 3, vowel sounds can be associated bit* bet

with certain combinations of frequencies of the lowest two
resonancesin theirspectrumenvelopes. The "long" vowels are
located aroundthe peripheryof the space. Moving towardthe L:L
center of the space we encounterthe "short" vowels, which Ly 1.5'- oem
occur in words like "bit," "bet," and "but." In the center is
the neutralvowel, the color to which most vowels deteriorate,in
Lii /. Ji.-)
Oe,
it: a~ a

English and many other languages, when they are in unstressed

syllables.
The dimensions of color are defined in terms of these spec-
trumenvelope peaks as well. As a firstapproximation,OPENNESS
varies with the frequency of the first resonance; ACUTENESSwith
the frequencyof the second. Thuswhen bothresonancesarelow LU
S
i 0-
in frequency, we have the non-ACUTE, non-OPEN vowel, [u]. A
high second resonance and a low first resonance produces an
non-OPEN sound. A high first resonance with a
[i]-like, ACUTE, LT) 0O
low second resonancesproduces [aw] as in "maudlin"-OPEN
andnon-AcuTE. When both resonancesare high, we get the OPEN
andACUTE [ae] as in "bad."'I shouldpointout herethatthe name
of the OPENNESSdimension is derived from the shapes of tubes 0.4 0.8 /.O
0.2 o.6
thatproduceOPENsounds. These tubes have no significant nar-
rowing; they are relatively "open." Tubes associated with FIRST RESONANCEFREQUENCY
(KHZ)
non-oPEN sounds, on the otherhand, all have at least one region
136 MusicTheorySpectrum

of small cross-sectionalarea. In the vowel [u], the narrowingis LAXNESS can be applied to non-speech sounds. But the most
between the lips; in [i], it is between the tongue and the hard compelling evidence is musical. It is necessary, I believe, to
palette. The OPEN vowels [aw], [a], and [ae] have no such appeal to something like the dimensions I have postulatedto
narrowings.The color in the middleof the space, corresponding describe adequatelythe ways in which sound color has been
to the neutral vowel, is maximally LAX. The colors located structuredin a numberof electronic compositions.
aroundthe middle are less lax and the colors in the peripheryof One example is both brief and particularlystriking. The
the space are least LAX. introduction of Milton Babbitt's Ensembles for Synthesizer
I can be morespecific aboutthe dimensionsby drawingequal consists of four phases each ending in a complex, nearlystatic
value contours for each of them. All configurationsof the first sound. These four static sounds serve to expose the color world
two resonancesthatfall on a single contourhave the same value of the piece. (They are most easily comparedif they areisolated
with respectto the dimensionin question.To locate the contours andjuxtaposed.) The first sound is roughly [i]-like, the second
exactly would demanda good deal of psychoacousticresearch, [aw]-like, the third [ae]-like, and the fourth [u]-like. But the
but I can at least suggest what theirapproximateshapes will be. sounds are more than simple vowels. They are complex mix-
In Figure 4 are plotted hypothetical equal-LAXNESS,
equal- tures of sounds that include what I have called LAXsounds as
OPENNESS, contours.
and equal-ACUTENESS well. Eachsoundseems to fill a quadrantof the two-dimensional
Notice that the contours tell us how to hold one aspect of space whose axes are OPENNESS
and ACUTENESS. Notice that it
sound color constantwhile varying other aspects. Suppose for would not be possible to fit them into a single high/low,
example, we want to hold LAXNESSinvariant in the face of "brightness" dimension. The two-dimensional space is re-
changes in OPENNESSand ACUTENESS.We would select one of the quired.This is only one of a numberof examplesfromworksby
equal-LAXNESScontours and then move along it with the proper a varety of composers in which one or the other of the two
variationsin the resonancefrequencies.Similarlywe can move are exploited in signifi-
and OPENNESS
dimensions of ACUTENESS
along an equal-oPENNESS contour by changing mostly the fre- cant ways.
quency of the second resonance while holding the first almost
constant. In general this kind of transformationproduces Operationson Sound Color
but not in OPENNESS.
and LAXNESS
changes in ACUTENESS In the pieces I have studied, I have found no unequivocaluse
Now, these dimensions are not plucked full-blown from the of the LAXNESS dimension by itself. It is of great importance
air. They are extensions of what is known as the "distinctive
theoretically,however, for the maximallyLAXpoint is a singu-
feature" theory in phonetics (Jakobsonet al., 1951). This the- of operationson soundcolors can be
larityupon which a number
ory is held in high regardby linguists because, among other defined. But LAXNESS appearsto have musical potential in its
things, it provides a basis for understandingthe propertiesthat own right for it too possesses a degree of sensory naturalness.
all languages have in common (Chomsky and Halle, 1968).
This is best demonstratedin terms of the first operationI shall
WhatI have done is to treatthreeof the most fundamentalof the
describe: the sound color analogy to transposition.
"features" as continuous dimensions and to apply them to
sound in general. While this may seem an audaciousstep, it is
not a terribly large one. There are grounds both rational and
and possibly
and ACUTENESS
empirical to hold that OPENNESS
 The Color of Sound 137

Figure 4. The dimensions of sound color. Loci of equal value for each
of the dimensions of LAXNESS, OPENNESS are plotted in terms
and ACUTENESS
of the frequencies of the first two resonances. The approximate posi-
tions of some representative vowels are indicated.

EQUALLAXNESS
CONTOURS
w ZS. L
uJ
2.0-
0
u,

z0, I
us -

2L O~I,(I /

2'0 / 5

o,6-
Li
0.2
FRE>UEI
RE S
EQUALOPENNESS ACUTENESS
EQUAL
CONTOURS CONTOURS
138 Music Theory Spectrum

Transpositionof Sound Color Unlike transpositionin the pitch domain, color transposition
is not closed in the algebraic sense. If for example we had
Transpositionof soundcolor is simply a shift of the resonance
attemptedto transposethe [u] soundin the directionof negative
peaksin a directionperpendicularto the equal-valuecontoursof we would have required physically unrealizable
ACUTENESS,
Figure4. It is definedfor each of the dimensionsandconsists of
negative frequencies for the second resonance. Similarly, a
addingor subtractingsome constantfromthe value of a color on on the [u] sound
a particulardimension. Suppose we have a sequence of sound negative transposition constant for OPENNESS
would produce an impossible value for the first resonance.
colors that we can associate with the vowels [u], [ne], [o] (see
Clearly, transpositionis not definedfor certaincombinationsof
Figure 5). A transposition in ACUTENESS
of this sequence would
transpositionconstants and color values. The situation is a
produce somethinglike the sequence [oe], [e], [ne]. A subse-
complex one in whichquestionsof the metricof the space andan
quent transposition in OPENNESS of the ACUTENESS transposed
additionaldimension, not discussed here, are involved.
sequence would producethe sequence [ne], [ae], [a]. One theoretically"clean" solution is to define anotherkind
of transposition-call it translation-in which the generationof
impermissiblecolors is avoidedby a kindof "wrap-around."'A
negative constant of translation in ACUTENESS
on the color asso-
and OPENNESS
Figure 5. Transpositionsin ACUTENESS ciated with [u] would result in, not some kind of impossibly
"super"-[u], but an [i]-like sound. By the same token, a posi-
tive translationin ACUTENESS of an [i] sound would result in
i
[u]. Unfortunately,there is no psychoacousticjustificationfor
2.5 _
this more theoreticallysatisfyingoperation.Regularitiesbased
atr cuevess$
c
e on it would have to dependon a learningprocess;a dependency,
L?J .r,n~tm(
i I
incidently,thatis not withoutprecedentin otherareasof music.
z
7-
__ *oe ' oe.465 is a somewhat different kind of
Transposition in LAXNESS
4:
z operation.As in the case of the otherdimensions, certaintrans-
0
positions are ruled out. Since maximal LAXNESS is the neutral
LU
A / position in the center of the sound color space, LAXNESS values
c/
. d crtig;nal seqi
beyond that maximal value are undefined.Similarly, sounds can
0
V0
C-,
uJ
be only so non-LAX. Within the permissiblerange of transposi-
.0.- A/ ' a/ tion in this dimension, however, we have what I believe are
musically compelling possibilities. I have synthesized a se-
o0. 4 . 0.8 . quence of four soundcolors repeatedseveraltimes, each time at
a differentpitch. The sequencebegins at the neutral,maximally
FIRST- RESONA0UNCE
(KHZ)
LAXposition and the four colors are undifferentiated.Then a
transpositionin LAXNESS is imposed andthe sequenceis heardto
become gradually less LAX.Then from the greatest non-LAX
positions, the sequence is transposedonce more with respectto
 The Colorof Sound 139

LAXNESS in the opposite direction, returningstep by step to the To invert a color with respect to one of the dimensions, we
undifferentiatedneutral position. The shifts in the resonance simply negate the value of the color in termsof the zero pointon
frequencies that accomplish these two transpositionsare quite that dimension's axis. Thus the OPEN [a] sound inverted with
complex. The soundof the operation,to my earsat least, is quite respect to OPENNESS
becomes the non-opEN[oe]. An ACUTENESS
simple and natural. I have resynthesizedthe sequence with a inversionof the ACUTE
[i]-like soundbecomes an [u]-like sound.
complex, frequencymodulatedsource and with a noise source Inversion with respect to OPENNESS
of the same [i]-like color
with no deteriorationin the perceivedsimplicityandnaturalness resultsin the OPEN
[ae]-like color. All colors have inverses with
of the operations. respect to OPENNESS
and ACUTENESS,
SOthe inversion operation,
unlike transposition,producesclosure in the space; inversionis
Inversion of Sound Color a group operation.
To illustrateinversionlet us considera sequenceof colors we
The neutral position is a key to the definition of another
may representby the vowels [aw], [a], [o], [e], [u] (see Figure
importanttransformationof soundcolor, inversion. This opera-
tion is best understoodby visualizing a projectionof the maxi- 7). Inverting the sequence with respect to ACUTENESS
produces
the sequence [ae], [a], [e], [o], [i]. Inversion with respect to
mally lax point onto each of the othertwo dimensions. The loci
of the original sequence ([aw], [a], [o], [e], [u]) pro-
OPENNESS
of points where this projectionintersectsthe equal value con-
toursof one dimensiondefines arbitraryzero pointson the other duces the sequence [u], [oe], [o], [e], [aw]. Figure8 illustrates
the operation. Since the maximally LAXpoint defines the axis
dimension. Figure 6 illustratesthis projection.
about which inversion in OPENNESS
and ACUTENESS
takes place, no
inversion with respect to LAXNESS
itself is permittedin the the-
Figure6. Axes of inversionprojectedfromthe neutralpoint ory.
Open Questions
N
2.5- - ( One of the dimensionsof soundcolor thatI have omittedfrom
-
i2. - e this discussionprovidesa meansof extendingthe realmof sound
color beyondthe rangeof vowel-like colors. I thinkI know how
to treatthatdimension, but I have changedmy mind aboutit at
Z PLU
e . least once in recent months and it requiresa bit more study.
: au) Soundcolor mixtureis anothertopic thatI am not surehow to
deal with. I suspect something more interestingthan treating
two or more simultaneouscolors as some kind of sum of the
individualcolors is possible, but I have not yet found anything
J? 03H
LU \ / _
that is really satisfactory.
Needless to say, many, many empirical questions remain
unanswered. Where exactly are the equal-OPENNESS, equal-
ACUTENESS, and equal-LAXNESS contours?Can the counterintui-
FIRST RESONANCE
(KAZ7) tive operationof translationproduce psychologically realistic
140 MusicTheorySpectrum

Figure 7. Inversion with respect to ACUTENESS Figure 8. Inversion with respect to OPENNESS

[ I , I

~\ ,. 2.S- l
N

LJ
U d e
z < 15- oe V
0
2z
V)

2 2 i
0
0
,O
u) V. -
0-a6w
0.2 o04 0,6 0.8a.o o.Z 0.4 o.b 0.8 ,.o
FIRST RESONANCE(KHZ) FIRST RESONANC (KHZ)

invariances?Can we learnto hearas invariantsthe transforma- References

tions of that operation?
Chiba, T. and M. Kajiyama.The Vowel: Its Nature and Structure. Tokyo:
The empiricalquestion that is most important,of course, is
Tokyo-Kaiseikan, 1941.
whether or not composers can apply the theory successfully. Chomsky,N. andM. Halle. TheSoundPatternof English. New York:Harper
Because composers have alreadycontrolledcolor in ways that and Row, 1968.
are consistent with the theory there are some groundsfor opti- Cogan, R. and P. Escot. Sonic Design: The Nature of Sound and Music.
mism. My own experience with a piece in progressleads me to Englewood Cliffs, N. J.: Prentice-Hall, 1976.
Erickson, R. Sound Structurein Music. Berkeley: University of California
suspectthatthe most troublesomeproblemswill have to do with Press, 1975.
the integrationof soundcolor with the more traditionalmusical
elements. I suppose it is not necessary to add that I find such
problems very interestingand provocative. I hope other com-
posers will be attractedto them as well. me to my presentchoice. The work reportedin this paperwas supportedby a
Fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies, the National
I am indebted to Robert Morris and John Peel for suggestions that have Endowmentfor the Arts-a federalagency, the A. W. Mellon Educationaland
improved the theory and this papersignificantly. RobertCogan's objection to CharitableTrust, the WestinghouseCorporation,and the University of Pitts-
the counterintuitivename I had adoptedfor the OPENNESSdimensionguided burgh.
 The Color of Sound 141

Fant, G. Acoustic Theoryof Speech Production. The Hague:Mouton, 1960.

Grey, J. M. "Timbre Discriminationin Musical Patterns."J. Acoust. Soc.
Am., 64 (1978), 467-72.
Helmholtz, H. von. On the Sensations of Tone. London: Longmans 1885.
The original English translationhas been reprintedby Dover, 1954.
Huggins, W. H. "A PhasePrinciplefor Complex-FrequencyAnalysis andIts
Implicationsin AuditoryTheory." J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 24 (1952), 582-89.
Jakobson,R., G. Fant, and M. Halle. Preliminariesto Speech Analysis: The
Distinctive Features and Their Correlates. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press,
1951.
Plomp, R., andH. J. Steeneken. "Place Dependenceof Timbrein Reverber-
ant Sound Fields." Acustica, 28 (1971), 50-59.
Schaeffer, P. Traite des objets musicaux. Paris:Editions du Seuil, 1966.
Slawson, A. W. "Vowel Qualityand Musical Timbreas Functionsof Spec-
trumEnvelope and FundamentalFrequency."J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 43 (1968),
87-101.
Stumpf, C. Die Sprachlaute. Berlin: Springer, 1926.