MARCO ANTONIO PÉREZ, Doctor engineer
Barcelona
LECTURE - April 29, 2017
NAU3 - Centre Cultural l'Escorxador, Badalona
Marco Antonio Pérez presented two interesting studies that he is carrying out: one related to the physical and acoustic properties of the guitar's soundboard and the other to the restoration of a historical guitar built by Antonio de Torres.
Applying scientific methods to study the acoustic response of a musical instrument is what Marco Antonio Pérez has been doing on the guitar for some years.
At the lecture he offered to us in Badalona during the 2017 Guitar Conference, we were able to see first-hand how he carries out his work and we became familiar with the tools, methods, and techniques he uses for.
This engineer doctor, who is also a guitarist, is currently directing a research project, in collaboration with the guitar-maker from Badalona Antonio Manjón, president of our Association, which aims to verify and quantify the relationship between the physical properties of the guitar's soundboard and its vibrational response and sound quality.
This close relationship between the material and its sound is something already known by all luthiers from their experience and the intuition that it provides, but only very few of them have tried to measure it objectively in a rigorous and exhaustive study like the one that Marco Antonio Pérez presented to us in this lecture, a very technical speech but also very entertaining.
At the second part of the lecture, he told us about the study he carried out on the guitar that belonged to Miquel Llobet, built by the great luthier Antonio de Torres in 1859. This guitar is kept in the Museum of Music of Barcelona and has cracks in the background. The study analysed the feasibility of its restoration and the influence that this intervention may have on the acoustics of the instrument.
Unfortunately, we do not keep the complete lecture since the camera drained its battery 10 minutes before the end. We are sorry and apologize for it, but we thought we still had to edit and publish the video because it's still worth it. Watch and enjoy!
VIDEO (41 min.)
MARCO ANTONIO PÉREZ LECTURE:
Marco Antonio Pérez
He's a Doctor of Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia - BarcelonaTech and a degree in Sonology from the Higher School of Music of Catalonia. He is currently Professor in the Department of Industrial Engineering at the IQS School of Engineering of the Ramón Llull University.
His research area focuses on experimental characterization and numerical modeling of the dynamic behavior of advanced materials and structures.
He participates in several national and international projects related to the study and characterization of musical instruments, in which well-known guitar makers and the main European music museums also collaborate.
