Vocal vibrato, a naturally occurring pitch oscillation in singing, requires careful analysis in the vicinity of portamento transitions from one pitch to another. Measurements show that singers manage to align pitch transitions to the natural shape of the vibrato cycle. Vibrato continuity is preferred to timing accuracy. Although singers do not report being conscious of this subtlety, the characteristic is quite consistent. These results show that in order to mimic natural vocal vibrato, a vocal synthesizer must synchronize the main pitch transition and the phase of the vibrato oscillator.

Author: Maher, Robert C.
Affiliation: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT 59717, USA
JAES Volume 56 Issue 1/2 pp. 18-27; January 2008
Publication Date: January 15, 2008

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