NCJ Number
143551
Journal
Journal of the Forensic Science Society Volume: 33 Issue: 1 Dated: (January-March 1993) Pages: 33-37
Date Published
1993
Length
5 pages
Annotation
A recent dispute over the ownership of original material in a commercial music recording was settled as a direct result of comparative acoustic analysis specifically formulated to deal with the demands of the case.
Abstract
The dispute centered on whether a given piece of popular music was a rerecording by a session musician of the original score or a remix from an original recording. Direct comparisons based on waveforms and spectra were not possible because the new recording included other instruments in its mix. The application of a novel acoustic methodology led to results which suggested that the new recording was in fact a remix of the original recording and not a copy performance by a session musician. The robustness of temporal relations in the investigation indicated that apparently variable surface phenomena may conceal a common progenitor. This discovery will not only be significant in the forensic analysis of music, but it will also be significant in the analysis of speech. The report also includes 6 references, 1 table, and 3 figures.