An introduction to pitch strength in contemporary popular music analysis and production

Abstract: Music information retrieval distinguishes between low- and high-level descriptions of music. Current generative AI models rely on text descriptions that are higher level than the controls familiar to studio musicians. Pitch strength, a low-level perceptual parameter of contemporary popular music, may be one feature that could make such AI models more suited to music production. Signal and perceptual analyses suggest that pitch strength (1) varies significantly across and inside songs; (2) contributes to both small- and large-scale structure; (3) contributes to the handling of polyphonic dissonance; and (4) may be a feature of upper harmonics made audible in a perspective of perceptual richness.