Measurements and time-domain simulations of multiphonics in the trombone

Multiphonic sounds of brass instruments are studied in this article. They are produced by playing a note on a brass instrument while simultaneously singing another note in the mouthpiece. This results in a peculiar sound, heard as a chord or a cluster of more than two notes in most cases. This effect is used in different artistic contexts. Measurements of the mouth pressure, the pressure inside the mouthpiece, and the radiated sound are recorded while a trombone player performs a multiphonic, first by playing an F₃ and singing a C₄, then playing an F₃ and singing a note with a decreasing pitch. Results highlight the quasi-periodic nature of the multiphonic sound and the appearance of combination tones due to intermodulation between the played and the sung sounds. To assess the ability of a given brass instrument physical model to reproduce the measured phenomenon, time-domain simulations of multiphonics are carried out. A trombone model consisting in an exciter and a resonator nonlinearly coupled is forced while self-oscillating to reproduce simultaneous singing and playing. Comparison between simulated and measured signals is discussed. Spectral content of the simulated pressure match very well with the measured one, at the cost of a high forcing pressure.