Advancing Music Source Separation for Indian Classical and Semi-Classical Cinema Compositions

This 27-minute conference talk from ADC (Audio Developer Conference) explores the challenges and solutions for music source separation specifically tailored to Indian classical and semi-classical cinema compositions. Learn how Dr. Balamurugan Varadarajan, Pawan G, and Dhayanithi Arumugam evaluate existing source separation models like Spleeter and Hybrid Demucs, identifying Spleeter's U-Net-based spectrogram architecture as optimal for Indian music's unique characteristics. Discover their approach to fine-tuning Spleeter on specialized datasets to better handle the tonal overlaps between instruments like violin and vocals, and instrumental bleed from percussion instruments like the Mridangam. The presentation demonstrates how this specialized tool can enhance workflows for composers, music directors, and analysts in Indian cinema, enabling more precise musicological analysis and creative experimentation when integrated into digital audio workstations (DAWs).