Frequency Analysis using the DFT A practical example

%% Frequency Analysis using the DFT - A practical example

% This tutorial shows how to analyse the frequency content of a
% bass guitar to determine the fundamental frequencies of the
% notes being played.
% Youtube Video available at http://youtu.be/eg8eebQPfAo95
%
% Matlab code will be available at http://dadorran.wordpress.com
% First download http://eleceng.dit.ie/dorran/matlab/bass.wav

[ip fs] = wavread('bass.wav');

%%
% Now extract a short segment from the guitar signal
% which contains two notes being played over 0.45 seconds

seg = ip(670000:689000);
sound(seg, fs); %use this to hear the two notes being played
plot(seg);
xlabel('samples');
ylabel('Amplitude');
%%
% Annotate the figure to show where the two notes occur and
% indicate fundamental frequencies

annotation('doublearrow',[0.14 .45],[0.3 0.3]);

annotation('textbox',[0.14 .25 0.4 0.05],'string',...
{'Note 1' 'Fundamental approx 72 Hz'},...
'LineStyle', 'none', 'HorizontalAlignment','center');
annotation('doublearrow',[0.55 .85],[0.3 0.3]);
annotation('textbox',[0.55 .25 0.4 0.05],'string',...
{'Note 2' 'Fundamental approx 86 Hz'},...
'LineStyle', 'none', 'HorizontalAlignment','center');
%% Extract a frame/window of length 2000 samples from Note 1
% Analyse the frequency content of the frame.

N = 2000;
frame = seg(1:N-1); % this is a frame associated with Note 1
ft_mags = abs(fft(frame));
num_bins_to_display = 250;
figure
plot([0:num_bins_to_display-1], ft_mags(1:num_bins_to_display))
xlabel('Frequency Bins')
ylabel('Magnitude')
%%
% This plot shows that the signal has three 'strong' frequency
% componentsi.e. the fundamental and first two harmonics
%%
% Let's try to determine the fundamental frequency by analysing
% the DFT.
% The fundamental is the strongest frequency component present
% i.e. the maximum. By zooming in on the plot it can be seen that
% it is located at bin number 3. Alternatively we can use matlabs
% built-in max function.

[max_val fundamental_location] = max(ft_mags);

% NOTE : fundamental_location uses matlabs indexing which is
% different to bin number by 1
%%
% Each bin is separated by fs/N Hz so the fundamental frequency
% determined from analysis of this magnitude spectrum is 3(fs/N)
% NOTE : the fundamental_location variable obtained from the max
% function uses matlabs indexing which is different to the bin
% number by 1.

fundamental_frequency = (fundamental_location-1)*fs/N
%%

%
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%

This result of 66.15 Hz is inaccurate (the fundamental

frequency is actually about 72 Hz).
The inaccuracy arises due to the limitation of the DFT frequency
resolution.
We can only be sure that the result obtained using this type of
analysis is accurate to within fs/N = 22.05 Hz.

%% Extract a frame/window of length 5000 samples from Note 1

% This increases frequency resolution and improves the accuracy of
% the analysis.

N = 5000;
frame = seg(1:N-1);
ft_mags = abs(fft(frame));
num_bins_to_display = 250;
plot([0:num_bins_to_display-1], ft_mags(1:num_bins_to_display))
xlabel('Frequency Bins')
ylabel('Magnitude')
title('Magnitude of First 250 DFT bins of Note 1')
%%
% Notice that the fundamental and harmonics are separated by a
% greater number of DFT bins than for N = 2000.
%%
% Now, determine fundamental frequency using the same technique
% as before.

[max_val fundamental_location] = max(ft_mags);

fundamental_frequency = (fundamental_location-1)*fs/N
%%
% The result of 70.56 Hz is more accurate because the DFT
% frequency resolution is higher. For this case we can be sure
% that the result will be within fs/N = 8.82 Hz of the actual
% fundamental frequency.
%% Extract a frame/window of length 5000 samples from Note 2

N = 5000;
%extract

samples from the end of the segment

frame = seg(end-N:end);
ft_mags = abs(fft(frame));
num_bins_to_display = 250;
figure;
plot([0:num_bins_to_display-1], ft_mags(1:num_bins_to_display))
xlabel('Frequency Bins')
ylabel('Magnitude')
title('Magnitude of First 250 DFT bins of Note 2')
%%
% Determine fundamental frequency using the same technique as above

[max_val fundamental_location] = max(ft_mags);

fundamental_frequency_note2 = (fundamental_location-1)*fs/N
%%
% This result is close to the actual fundamental frequency of 86Hz.
% Further improvement will be obtained if N is increased further
% (as shown in the next section)
%% Analyse the DFT of the entire segment
% The resolution is higher than previous analysis

N = length(seg);
ft_mags = abs(fft(seg));
num_bins_to_display = 250;
figure;
plot([0:num_bins_to_display-1], ft_mags(1:num_bins_to_display))
xlabel('Frequency Bins')
ylabel('Magnitude')
title('Magnitude of First 250 DFT bins of both notes')
%%
% This code might be tricky to follow - I'm just highlighting
% the fundamental and first two harmonics of each note in the plot.
% don't worry if this part of the code is confusing.

note1_fund_freq = 72;
note2_fund_freq = 86;
ft1 = ones(1, length(ft_mags))*NaN;
ft2 = ones(1, length(ft_mags))*NaN;
for k = 1: 3
ft1(round(note1_fund_freq*k/fs*N)...
+ 1 - 3:round(note1_fund_freq*k/fs*N)+ 1+ 3)...
= ft_mags(round(note1_fund_freq*k/fs*N)+1 - 3:...
round(note1_fund_freq*k/fs*N)+ 1+ 3);
ft2(round(note2_fund_freq*k/fs*N)...
+ 1 - 3:round(note2_fund_freq*k/fs*N)+ 1+ 3)...
= ft_mags(round(note2_fund_freq*k/fs*N)+1 - 3:...
round(note2_fund_freq*k/fs*N)+ 1+ 3);
end
hold on
plot([0:num_bins_to_display-1], ft1(1:num_bins_to_display),'r')
plot([0:num_bins_to_display-1], ft2(1:num_bins_to_display),'g')
legend('','Note 1 fundamental and harmonics',...
'Note 2 fundamental and harmonics')
%%
%Determine fundamental frequency using the same technique
% as above.

[max_val fundamental_location] = max(ft_mags);

fundamental_frequency_note1 = (fundamental_location-1)*fs/N
%%
% From the plot it can be seen that the frequency of the
% fundamental of the second note is associated with bin 37
% (no need to subtract 1 in equation below because the max
% function isn't being used).

fundamental_frequency_note2 = 37*fs/N
%% A 'Better' Approach to higher frequency resolution
%
% While improvements in results have been obtained using a longer
% window the plot of the magnitude spectrum is becoming more
% difficult to interpret as there is a lot of spectral energy in
% the signal (energy from two notes rather than one). It would be
% nicer to be able to get higher frequency resolution without the
% problem of the magnitude spectrum becoming more difficult to
% interpret.
%
% The way to get improved resolution without having a more
% complicated spectrum to deal with is to 'artificially' make
% the signal longer through a process known as zero padding
% (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_dxWuWw8yM for a tutorial
% on zero padding and windowing).
%
% We'll go back to the case where we extracted the first 5000
% samples of note 1 and then append 40,000 samples of zero
% amplitude to this signal.

N = 5000;
frame = seg(1:N-1);
% Make the frame 'longer' by zero-padding 40000 samples of
% amplitude zero

zpad_frame = [frame ;zeros(40000,1)];

new_frame_len = length(zpad_frame);
%%

figure
plot(zpad_frame)
xlabel('samples')
ylabel('Amplitude')
title(...
'First 5000 samples of Note 1 zero-padded by 40000 zero samples')
%%
% Now plot the magnitude spectrum as before

ft_mags = abs(fft(zpad_frame));
num_bins_to_display = 250;
figure
plot([0:num_bins_to_display-1], ft_mags(1:num_bins_to_display))
xlabel('Frequency Bins')
ylabel('Magnitude')
title('Magnitude of First 250 DFT bins of Note 1')
%%
% Now, determine fundamental frequency using the same technique
% as before.
% NOTICE that the frequency resolution is now fs/new_frame_len

[max_val fundamental_location] = max(ft_mags);

fundamental_frequency = (fundamental_location-1)*fs/new_frame_len
%%
% This result is accurate to fs/new_frame_len Hz

fs/new_frame_len
%%
% If the frame was zero padded by a greater amount then the
% frequency resolution would improve and therefore the accuracy of
% the frequency estimate would improve.
%% What happens if the frame length is too short??
% We've seen in the examples so far that the separation between
% fundamental and harmonics increases as the frequency resolution
% increases. It follows that the separation between harmonics will
% decrease as the the frequency resolution decreases. If the
% frequency resolution can be so low that the harmonics will not
% be separated.
%
% Let's see what happens if we take frame length of 1500 samples

N = 1500;
frame = seg(1:N-1); % this is a frame associated with Note 1
ft_mags = abs(fft(frame));
num_bins_to_display = 100;
figure
plot([0:num_bins_to_display-1], ft_mags(1:num_bins_to_display))
xlabel('Frequency Bins')
ylabel('Magnitude')
title('Magnitude of First 100 DFT bins of Note 1')
%%
% Notice that only the first 50 bins are shown in this case
% - this is to make it easier to see the harmonics.
%
% It can be seen that the harmonics are very close together
% - in fact they are only separated by 1 bin!
%
% If a lower frequency resolution analysis is performed the
% harmonics will not be separated at all.
%%
%
% Let's see what happens if we take frame length of 1200 samples

N = 1200;
frame = seg(1:N-1); % this is a frame associated with Note 1
ft_mags = abs(fft(frame));
num_bins_to_display = 100;
figure
plot([0:num_bins_to_display-1], ft_mags(1:num_bins_to_display))
xlabel('Frequency Bins')
ylabel('Magnitude')
title('Magnitude of First 100 DFT bins of Note 1')
%%
% At this stage there is now separation between the higher
% harmonics
%

% Let's see what happens if we take frame length of 1000 samples

N = 1000;
frame = seg(1:N-1); % this is a frame associated with Note 1
ft_mags = abs(fft(frame));
num_bins_to_display = 100;
figure
plot([0:num_bins_to_display-1], ft_mags(1:num_bins_to_display))
xlabel('Frequency Bins')
ylabel('Magnitude')
title('Magnitude of First 100 DFT bins of Note 1')
%%
% There is no separation between fundamental or harmonics
% - the frequency resolution is too low. Looking at this magnitude
% spectrum you would probably interpret it to mean that there was
% one sinusoidal component present in the signal (or perhaps two
% given the small peak at bin 10)
%%
% To the uninitiated the solution to this problem might be to zero
% pad the frame in order to improve the frequency resolution.
% However, this doesn't work. An indepth discussion as to reason
% why it doesn't work is beyond the scope of this tutorial (as it
% requires a very good understanding of how the DFT works) but a
% basic conceptual understanding can be obtained by considering
% an extreme case whereby you extracted a frame of which is just
% of length 1 sample. If you only have only sample it would be
% impossible to determine any frequency domain information since
% frequency relates to the rate of change of samples. Even if you
% had two samples you still have a very limited view of the
% frequency of the signal and no amount of zero padding will help.
% Hopefully you can appreciate that you need some number of
% time-domain samples in order to extract out useful frequency
% content. As a general rule you need at least one cycle of a
% periodic signal to in order to be able to extract 'useful'
% frequency content associated with the signal. It is only when
% you have a sufficient amount of time-domain data that
% zero-padding can be used to obtain more accurate frequency
% estimates.

Zero Padding Tutorial M-file

% This tutorial attempts to explain how zero-padding works.

% You should already have some exposure to how the DFT works and
% be have seen the effects of zero paddding and windowing.
%

fs = 1000;
T = 1/fs;
N = 1000; % Create a signal with N samples = 1 second
n = 0:N-1; % sample numbers
t = n*T; % sampling times over a one second duration.
x = cos(2*pi*3*t);
%plot the magnitude spectrum

X_mags = abs(fft(x));
subplot(2,1,1)
plot(x)
xlabel('Samples');
ylabel('Amplitude')
title('Time-Domain Signal');
num_disp_bins = 15;
subplot(2,1,2)
plot([0:num_disp_bins-1], X_mags(1:num_disp_bins));
hold on
plot([0:num_disp_bins-1], X_mags(1:num_disp_bins),'k.');
hold off
xlabel('Frequency Bins');
ylabel('Magnitude');
title('Frequency Content Magnitudes');
%Illustrate Basis functions

plot(n,x,'k')
xlabel('Samples');
ylabel('Amplitude')
for k = 0 : 20
plot(x,'kx')
hold on
cos_basis = cos(2*pi*k*n/N);
sin_basis = sin(2*pi*k*n/N);
plot(n,cos_basis,'r')
plot(n,sin_basis,'g')
title({['Signal being anlaysed (black) with basis functions'...
' that have ' num2str(k) ' cyles over ' ...
num2str(N) ' samples']...
['Cosine basis function shown in red, Sine in green']})
hold off
pause
end