A short presentation
I am currently a lecturer (Maître de Conférences) in the area of Acoustics and Mechanics in the Université du Maine. My research work in the Acoustics Laboratory focuses on the physics of musical instruments. I am particularly interested on wind instruments and the action of the musicians in transient states (while attacking or switching to a new note).
As a post-doctoral researcher in
the Music Acoustics
team in the University of New South
Wales, Sydney, Australia I studied the physical details of the
interaction between a wind instrument player and its instrument, for
instance, trying to discover to which extent a good playing can be
measured, and to describe the patterns of the action of the musician
on the instrument (time evolutions of blowing pressures, forces upon
reeds, etc). This will be investigated among wind instrument players
with different levels of training. I am still collaborating in a few
research projects that are also related to my new research interests.
Previously, I completed a PhD at
IRCAM, in Paris, about the physics
of double-reed instruments, such as oboes or bassoons. Most of my
experiments were focused on the reed of the instrument, its mechanical
behavior, and the interaction with the acoustics wave that is formed
in the bore. One of the objectives of this study was to propose a
physical model for the complete instrument.
Further research focused on the flute and on physics of the jet oscillations on the head of the flute, and the way the jet changes its dynamic characteristics as the musician plays louder or softer. This work was part of a post-doctoral program at the Laboratoire d'acoustique musicale of the University Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris.
I also worked twice on industrial projects aiming to use the
results from these studies to simulate the physical behavior of the
whole instrument, including the sound it produces. One of this
projects eventually became a software plugin called Arturia
Brass. This method of synthesising sound is is know as
physical modelling.