Voice Analyser Vision

👀 The first challenge is the lack of visual feedback. An aspiring footballer can watch all of Messi’s brilliant moves on YouTube, even in slow motion, and then try to copy them. Watching Beyoncé videos and studying how she moves when she sings will not tell us much about what’s going on in her larynx.

Most of the muscles used in singing are not obviously visible from the outside. This makes it hard to copy the correct “moves” from others.

👂 The second challenge has to do with audio feedback. When you learn a new skill, you need to know if you are doing it correctly so that you can memorize the right way and repeat it. Imagine if a basketball player practising his shots couldn’t see if he was actually scoring after throwing the ball?!

Singers need to listen to themselves, but if the student’s ear is not trained yet how are they supposed to know what to listen for’ in that sound? Anyone who has ever recorded their voice for the first time may feel shocked at how different they sound. This is due to a lack of audio feedback that only comes with extensive training. ( hide )

✅ People mostly overcome these challenges with the help of a singing teacher. When you sing, the teacher listens carefully to the sound you produce. Based on what they hear, they can tell you which physical changes you need to make in order to improve.

💰 The average hourly price for a singing teacher in the US is $29. To see significant results you should have at least one session per week. That’s really a minimum, assuming you do your homework. One year of studies at this rate will cost you $1500.

🤹 You will have to figure out a lot of things by yourself. When you sing your vocal coach pays attention to a lot of sound qualities like being in tune, air pressure stability, resonance, and so forth. Based on what they hear they can decouple which muscles do you use to control the air pressure, how do you articulate and where do you project the sound.

Unfortunately, they will not be able to exactly tell you how to move your soft palate or to relax your tongue to change the quality of the sound. You will have to go through a time-consuming discovery process.

☯ Teachers come from various musical backgrounds. It might be opera, jazz, pop, folk, or any other musical genre. On top of that, naturally, every person has their own stylistic preferences. All of that will influence which aspects of singing technique the teacher will value more. ( hide )

👩‍💻 I believe these can be done with the help of modern computer technologies. This belief is backed up by my master’s degree in computer science and over a dozen years of experience in the IT industry.

🏁 Similar products already exist and can be used for good. For example, the Estill method offers a comprehensive solution. Sadly, it’s a bit too complex. After paying for their software you must attend a course to learn how to use it.

Yousician is another interesting company that moves towards that direction. They are trying to create a virtual music teacher, so you will not have to hire a real one.

I believe that having a real human interaction is crucial. The software should empower teachers and students to be more effective.

Both these companies have made valuable progress. There is already a niche in the market and existing businesses in this niche are profitable. I think that it can be improved further with the help of AI.

🧠 Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be used to analyze singing voice qualities. I know that this approach can work because it is exactly what vocal teachers do.

If a human can recognize nasality in the sound, then computers can be trained to do the same. Though, the process is not very simple. To teach AI you need to show it a lot of examples of how people do it. So the computer can copy.

This project is not an easy task to accomplish. It will require a lot of time and patience, a lot of research and development. Nevertheless, I’m convinced building this product will be useful for people and I’m determined to make it happen. ( hide )