Detailed description of the musical tracks of EMMA 2024 competition music
The timings mentioned below may not be exact and can be affected by the playback equipment,please regard them as approximate only.
Track 8: Auf den Flügeln des Gesangs
Japanese opera singer accompanied by piano.
Very balanced track where the singer and piano are always in harmony. The song emits a feeling oftranquility and melancholy. There is a lot of dynamic range and from 1:16 an unbalanced system canpossibly overmodulate.
Until 0:57 it is sung in Japanese, after that in German. Use this track for judging midrange and highfrequencies.
This track contains only a female voice and a piano. The piano stands in a big room with a great
depth and far behind and a little bit below the singer. The voice is not fixed in the center position. It
wanders slightly around the center to the left and right and in periodic intervals.
The recording is well balanced and contains very good information to judge midrange and uppermidrange/lower highs. Listen for the naturalness of the voice and the body of the piano. The voice
should sound clear and powerful without any harshness. The relaxed sound of the grand pianosounds always smooth and supports the powerful voice. The track is perfect to look for precision anddetails.
Track 9: Hungry Bird
This jazz-like track is good for scoring Subbass, Midbass, Midrange and Highs.
There are a lot of instruments and sounds playing:
Vocals (Female and one male) and backing Vocals, Jazz Drums (played with Brushes and Sticks),
Electric Bass, Grand Piano (Yamaha C7), Harpsichord, Jaw-Harp, Percussion, Ukulele, Resonator
Guitar, Electric Guitar, Tuba, Trumpet, Flute, whistling, Clarinet and Birdy Flute.
Every instrument, sound and especially the female voice should sound very natural and distinct,
without affecting the sound of the other. In this track, the Yamaha C7 Grand Piano used has adifferent sound-character than the Steinway B, which is used in Track 8. It also has microphones
placed closer.
Try to separate and identify all voices, sounds and instruments. For the Bass-section it´s important,that you can hear the different music-lines of the electric bass, the lower tones of the grand piano
and the tuba (in the beginning of the track).
This track contains all musical information needed to judge all 4 sections of tonal accuracy. The
separation of all instruments must be spot on.
In the beginning (sec. 3-4) listen to the Jaw-Harp on the right side. It plays 2 tones on slightly two
different positions nearby on the right side. After sec. 20 many instruments step in. The piano plays
over the complete width from left to right. From 0:28 to 0.34 high flute, harpsichord and piano play
the same notes/melody unison/harmonious sound. The Clarinet (during Chorus) in the background ismostly at the right center position whilst the flute is on the opposite side in left center position.
Electric Guitar on left center position with a hall effect. The female voice is in the center position
sometimes with a chorus effect from left to right. The male voice at sec. 38 stands a little bit to theleft and behind the female singer. The drum kit sounds smooth. For the snare drum a brush is used.
The bass drum is not punchy but soft and deep. All instruments except the resonator guitar sounds
always clean and not distorted.

Track 10: Carrero
Latin influenced track with many percussion instruments, a male voice and a dynamic piano sound.
Good for judging all 4 sections of tonal accuracy.
From 0:10 to 0.15 In the beginning the Organ (slightly distorted synth) is panned from left to rightcenter.
0:10 -20 Piano Intro melody played in Octaves (the same melody is played an octave higher). Pianooverdub (in the mix a second piano track) is added to the recording and plays a 2nd voice also inoctaves.
Male voice is always in center position and in front of the other instruments. Backing vocals (10Voices) spread in different panning positions from left to right.
Electric guitar (distorted) is way back and between right center and right position.
All percussion instruments and the piano sounds clean, dynamic, and fast.
The electric bass sounds soft and big. The trumpet at the end sounds powerful and slightly distorted.
Track 11: Mama Nature
Soulful and rocking track. Good for judging all 4 sections of tonal accuracy and for overall spectral
balance.
The drum kit in this track sounds powerful and punchy. The female voice is mostly in center position,
sometimes with sound effects and a big chorus. Electric bass goes deep and has a bigger width. On agood sound system, the voice, the chorus, and the background voices never sound angry/harsh or
distorted but very powerful and strong. At 0:46, 1:25 and 2:00 the background voices must be clearly
separated over the whole soundstage from left to right.
At Min. 2:52 the snare drum and the tambourine must sound on different soundstage levels.