Scientists found the secret behind the sweet sound of Stardivarius violin

News24xx.com - The violins made by Italian masters, Andrea Amati and Antonio Stradivari are known to be the best that have ever been made. They have sweet and perfect sound, surpassing other kinds of violin. However, the secret behind the perfect sound of Stradivarius violins were a mystery.

Now scientists in Taiwan believed they have found the secret. Using device that is usually used to analyze speech, they found out that the legendary violins mimic aspects of human voices. The researchers believed that this adds to the violins exceptional musical quality.

They recorded the performances using 15 of the antique instruments. Then, they compared the recordings of the performances with the recordings of 16 male and female vocalists, who sang English vowel sounds.

As reported by The Guardian, the researchers found that the Italian instruments produced human-like “formants” harmonic tones around particular frequency in speech wave. Amati violins produced formants similar to that of bass and baritone singers, while the Stradivari ones produced formants similar to tenor and contralto singers.

The sound from Stradivari violins are often said to be “sweet” and “bright.” Hwan-Ching Tai, an author on the study at the National Taiwan University believes that it is because the violins produce sound that is similar to female voices.

“Some Stradivari violins clearly possess female singing qualities, which may contribute to their perceived sweetness and brilliance,” he said, as cited from The Guardian.

Andrea Amati was the one who invented the modern violin, which became a success and copied for generations. His methods and designs were improved by Antonio Stradivari, 139 years later, who made the instruments that are now widely considered to be unsurpassed in their musical quality.

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