 The Timbre and Acoustics of Sheng, from the Perspective of Listening and Audio Signal Analysis 
The aim of the research described in this paper is to understand and analyse the timbre of sheng, through recordings made by sheng musician Li Li-Chin at Ircam on three different sheng models. The objective is to verify whether the behaviours observed during preliminary studies of sheng acoustics can be heard and found in the resulting sounds, and to find ways to explore and better understand the interaction between sheng musicians and their instruments. Sheng timbral properties were studied through the analysis of spectrograms obtained from recorded sound samples, and through the compilation of computational descriptors of timbre extracted from the sounds. Aspects such as peculiarities of the attack, sound quality through registers, and general spectral characteristics will be discussed, as well as the role played by the metallic extensions fixed on the bamboo pipes of some sheng models.