People - Francois Germain | Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories

Biography

During his graduate studies, François worked on advancing the state of the art in efficient modelling of analog audio systems. Concurrently, he made important contributions to audio signal processing and spatial audio rendering during internships at Adobe Research, Dolby Laboratories and Intel Labs. Before joining MERL, he led research on music source separation and speech enhancement at iZotope. His research interests focus on efficient and robust signal processing and machine learning methods applied to speech, music, and audio content in general.
Recent News & Events
- NEWS Members of the Speech & Audio team elected to IEEE Technical Committee
  Date: November 28, 2022
  MERL Contacts: Francois Germain; Gordon Wichern
  Research Area: Speech & Audio
  Brief
  - Gordon Wichern and François Germain have been elected for 3-year terms to the IEEE Audio and Acoustic Signal Processing Technical Committee (AASP TC) of the IEEE Signal Processing Society.
    
    The AASP TC's mission is to support, nourish, and lead scientific and technological development in all areas of audio and acoustic signal processing. It numbers 30 or so appointed volunteer members drawn roughly equally from leading academic and industrial organizations around the world, unified by the common aim to offer their expertise in the service of the scientific community.
MERL Publications
- Yen, H., Germain, F., Wichern, G., Le Roux, J., "Cold Diffusion for Speech Enhancement", arXiv, November 2022.
  BibTeX arXiv
  - @article{Yen2022nov,
  - author = {Yen, Hao and Germain, Francois and Wichern, Gordon and Le Roux, Jonathan},
  - title = {Cold Diffusion for Speech Enhancement},
  - journal = {arXiv},
  - year = 2022,
  - month = nov,
  - url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2211.02527}
  - }
- Pan, Z., Wichern, G., Germain, F., Subramanian, A.S., Le Roux, J., "Towards End-to-end Speaker Diarization in the Wild", arXiv, November 2022.
  BibTeX arXiv
  - @article{Pan2022nov,
  - author = {Pan, Zexu and Wichern, Gordon and Germain, Francois and Subramanian, Aswin Shanmugam and Le Roux, Jonathan},
  - title = {Towards End-to-end Speaker Diarization in the Wild},
  - journal = {arXiv},
  - year = 2022,
  - month = nov,
  - url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2211.01299}
  - }
Other Publications
- François G. Germain, "Periodic Analysis of Nonlinear Virtual Analog Models", IEEE Workshop on Applications of Signal Processing to Audio and Acoustics (WASPAA), October 2021, pp. 321-325.
  BibTeX
  - @Inproceedings{Germain:PeriodicAnalysisNonlinear:2021,
  - author = {Germain, Fran\c{c}ois G.},
  - title = {Periodic Analysis of Nonlinear Virtual Analog Models},
  - booktitle = {{IEEE} Workshop on Applications of Signal Processing to Audio and Acoustics (WASPAA)},
  - year = 2021,
  - pages = {321--325},
  - month = oct
  - }
- François G. Germain, "Practical Virtual Analog Modeling Using Möbius Transforms", International Conference on Digital Audio Effects (DAFx), September 2021, pp. 49-56.
  BibTeX
  - @Inproceedings{Germain:PracticalVirtualAnalog:2021,
  - author = {Germain, Fran\c{c}ois G.},
  - title = {Practical Virtual Analog Modeling Using Möbius Transforms},
  - booktitle = {International Conference on Digital Audio Effects (DAFx)},
  - year = 2021,
  - pages = {49--56},
  - month = sep
  - }
- Kurt James Werner, Francois G. Germain and Cory S. Goldsmith, "Energy-preserving Time-varying Schroeder Allpass Filters and Multichannel Extensions", Journal of the Audio Engineering Society (AES), Vol. 69, No. 7/8, pp. 465-485, 2021.
  BibTeX
  - @Article{WernerGermainGoldsmith:EnergypreservingTime:2021,
  - author = {Werner, Kurt James and Germain, Francois G. and Goldsmith, Cory S.},
  - title = {Energy-preserving Time-varying Schroeder Allpass Filters and Multichannel Extensions},
  - journal = {Journal of the Audio Engineering Society (AES)},
  - year = 2021,
  - volume = 69,
  - number = {7/8},
  - pages = {465--485}
  - }
- François G. Germain, "Non-oversampled Physical Modeling for Virtual Analog Simulations", 2019, Stanford University.
  BibTeX
  - @Phdthesis{Germain:NonoversampledPhysical:2019,
  - author = {Germain, Fran\c{c}ois G.},
  - title = {Non-oversampled Physical Modeling for Virtual Analog Simulations},
  - school = {{S}tanford University},
  - year = 2019
  - }
- Francois G. Germain, Qifeng Chen and Vladlen Koltun, "Speech Denoising with Deep Feature Losses", INTERSPEECH Conference, September 2018, pp. 2723-2727.
  BibTeX
  - @Inproceedings{GermainChenKoltun:SpeechDenoisingDeep:2018,
  - author = {Germain, Francois G. and Chen, Qifeng and Koltun, Vladlen},
  - title = {Speech Denoising with Deep Feature Losses},
  - booktitle = {{INTERSPEECH} Conference},
  - year = 2018,
  - pages = {2723--2727},
  - month = sep
  - }
- François G. Germain and Kurt James Werner, "Optimizing Differentiated Discretization for Audio Circuits beyond Driving Point Transfer Functions", IEEE Workshop on Applications of Signal Processing to Audio and Acoustics (WASPAA), October 2017, pp. 384-388.
  BibTeX
  - @Inproceedings{GermainWerner:OptimizingDifferentiatedDiscretization:2017,
  - author = {Germain, Fran\c{c}ois G. and Werner, Kurt James},
  - title = {Optimizing Differentiated Discretization for Audio Circuits beyond Driving Point Transfer Functions},
  - booktitle = {{IEEE} Workshop on Applications of Signal Processing to Audio and Acoustics (WASPAA)},
  - year = 2017,
  - pages = {384--388},
  - month = oct
  - }
- François G. Germain, "Fixed-rate Modeling of Audio Lumped Systems: A Comparison between Trapezoidal and Implicit Midpoint Methods", International Conference on Digital Audio Effects (DAFx), September 2017, pp. 168-75.
  BibTeX
  - @Inproceedings{Germain:FixedrateModeling:2017,
  - author = {Germain, Fran\c{c}ois G.},
  - title = {Fixed-rate Modeling of Audio Lumped Systems: A Comparison between Trapezoidal and Implicit Midpoint Methods},
  - booktitle = {International Conference on Digital Audio Effects (DAFx)},
  - year = 2017,
  - pages = {168--75},
  - month = sep
  - }
- Michael Jørgen Olsen, Kurt James Werner and François G. Germain, "Network Variable Preserving Step-size Control in Wave Digital Filters", International Conference on Digital Audio Effects (DAFx), September 2017, pp. 200-207.
  BibTeX
  - @Inproceedings{OlsenWernerGermain:NetworkVariablePreserving:2017,
  - author = {Olsen, Michael J{\o}rgen and Werner, Kurt James and Germain, Fran{\c{c}}ois G.},
  - title = {Network Variable Preserving Step-size Control in Wave Digital Filters},
  - booktitle = {International Conference on Digital Audio Effects (DAFx)},
  - year = 2017,
  - pages = {200--207},
  - month = sep
  - }
- François G. Germain and Kurt James Werner, "Joint Parameter Optimization of Differentiated Discretization Schemes for Audio Circuits", Audio Engineering Society (AES) Convention, May 2017.
  BibTeX
  - @Inproceedings{GermainWerner:JointParameterOptimization:2017,
  - author = {Germain, Fran\c{c}ois G. and Werner, Kurt James},
  - title = {Joint Parameter Optimization of Differentiated Discretization Schemes for Audio Circuits},
  - booktitle = {Audio Engineering Society (AES) Convention},
  - year = 2017,
  - month = may
  - }
- Kurt James Werner, W. Ross Dunkel and François G. Germain, "A Computational Model of the Hammond Organ Vibrato/chorus Using Wave Digital Filters", International Conference on Digital Audio Effects (DAFx), September 2016, pp. 271-278.
  BibTeX
  - @Inproceedings{WernerDunkelGermain:ComputationalModelHammond:2016,
  - author = {Werner, Kurt James and Dunkel, W. Ross and Germain, Fran{\c{c}}ois G.},
  - title = {A Computational Model of the Hammond Organ Vibrato/chorus Using Wave Digital Filters},
  - booktitle = {International Conference on Digital Audio Effects (DAFx)},
  - year = 2016,
  - pages = {271--278},
  - month = sep
  - }
- François G. Germain, Gautham J. Mysore and Takako Fujioka, "Equalization Matching of Speech Recordings in Real-world Environments", IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing (ICASSP), March 2016, pp. 609-613.
  BibTeX
  - @Inproceedings{GermainMysoreFujioka:EqualizationMatchingSpeech:2016,
  - author = {Germain, Fran\c{c}ois G. and Mysore, Gautham J. and Fujioka, Takako},
  - title = {Equalization Matching of Speech Recordings in Real-world Environments},
  - booktitle = {{IEEE} International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing (ICASSP)},
  - year = 2016,
  - pages = {609--613},
  - month = mar
  - }
- Kurt James Werner and François Georges Germain, "Sinusoidal Parameter Estimation Using Quadratic Interpolation around Power-scaled Magnitude Spectrum Peaks", Applied Sciences, Vol. 6, No. 10, pp. 306, 2016.
  BibTeX
  - @Article{WernerGermain:SinusoidalParameterEstimation:2016,
  - author = {Werner, Kurt James and Germain, Fran{\c{c}}ois Georges},
  - title = {Sinusoidal Parameter Estimation Using Quadratic Interpolation around Power-scaled Magnitude Spectrum Peaks},
  - journal = {Applied Sciences},
  - year = 2016,
  - volume = 6,
  - number = 10,
  - pages = 306,
  - publisher = {MDPI}
  - }
- François G. Germain and Kurt James Werner, "Design Principles for Lumped Model Discretization Using Möbius Transforms", International Conference on Digital Audio Effects (DAFx), December 2015, pp. 371-378.
  BibTeX
  - @Inproceedings{GermainWerner:DesignPrinciplesLumped:2015,
  - author = {Germain, Fran\c{c}ois G. and Werner, Kurt James},
  - title = {Design Principles for Lumped Model Discretization Using Möbius Transforms},
  - booktitle = {International Conference on Digital Audio Effects (DAFx)},
  - year = 2015,
  - pages = {371--378},
  - month = dec
  - }
- François G. Germain and Gautham J. Mysore, "Speaker and Noise Independent Online Single-channel Speech Enhancement", IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing (ICASSP), April 2015, pp. 71-75.
  BibTeX
  - @Inproceedings{GermainMysore:SpeakerNoiseIndependent:2015,
  - author = {Germain, Fran{\c{c}}ois G. and Mysore, Gautham J.},
  - title = {Speaker and Noise Independent Online Single-channel Speech Enhancement},
  - booktitle = {{IEEE} International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing (ICASSP)},
  - year = 2015,
  - pages = {71--75},
  - month = apr
  - }
- Francois G. Germain, Iretiayo A. Akinola, Qiyuan Tian, Steven P. Lansel and Brian A. Wandell, "Efficient Illuminant Correction in the Local, Linear, Learned (L3) Method", Digital Photography XI, February 2015, vol. 9404, pp. 24-30.
  BibTeX
  - @Inproceedings{GermainAkinolaTianEtAl:EfficientIlluminantCorrection:2015,
  - author = {Germain, Francois G. and Akinola, Iretiayo A. and Tian, Qiyuan and Lansel, Steven P. and Wandell, Brian A.},
  - title = {Efficient Illuminant Correction in the Local, Linear, Learned (L3) Method},
  - booktitle = {Digital Photography XI},
  - year = 2015,
  - volume = 9404,
  - pages = {24--30},
  - month = feb
  - }
- François G. Germain and Gautham J. Mysore, "Stopping Criteria for Non-negative Matrix Factorization Based Supervised and Semi-supervised Source Separation", IEEE Signal Processing Letters, Vol. 21, No. 10, pp. 1284-1288, 2014.
  BibTeX
  - @Article{GermainMysore:StoppingCriteriaNon:2014,
  - author = {Germain, Fran\c{c}ois G. and Mysore, Gautham J.},
  - title = {Stopping Criteria for Non-negative Matrix Factorization Based Supervised and Semi-supervised Source Separation},
  - journal = {{IEEE} Signal Processing Letters},
  - year = 2014,
  - volume = 21,
  - number = 10,
  - pages = {1284--1288},
  - publisher = {IEEE}
  - }
- Zafar Rafii, François G. Germain, Dennis L. Sun and Gautham J. Mysore, "Combining Modeling of Singing Voice and Background Music for Automatic Separation of Musical Mixtures", Internation Society for Music Information Retrieval (ISMIR) Conference, November 2013, pp. 41-46.
  BibTeX
  - @Inproceedings{RafiiGermainSunEtAl:CombiningModelingSinging:2013,
  - author = {Rafii, Zafar and Germain, Fran{\c{c}}ois G. and Sun, Dennis L. and Mysore, Gautham J.},
  - title = {Combining Modeling of Singing Voice and Background Music for Automatic Separation of Musical Mixtures},
  - booktitle = {Internation Society for Music Information Retrieval (ISMIR) Conference},
  - year = 2013,
  - pages = {41--46},
  - month = nov
  - }
- François G. Germain, Dennis L. Sun and Gautham J. Mysore, "Speaker and Noise Independent Voice Activity Detection", INTERSPEECH Conference, August 2013, pp. 732-736.
  BibTeX
  - @Inproceedings{GermainSunMysore:SpeakerNoiseIndependent:2013,
  - author = {Germain, François G. and Sun, Dennis L. and Mysore, Gautham J.},
  - title = {Speaker and Noise Independent Voice Activity Detection},
  - booktitle = {{INTERSPEECH} Conference},
  - year = 2013,
  - pages = {732--736},
  - month = aug
  - }
- François G. Germain, Jonathan S. Abel, Philippe Depalle and Marcelo M. Wanderley, "Uniform Noise Sequencers for Nonlinear System Identification", International Conference on Digital Audio Effects (DAFx), September 2012, pp. 241-244.
  BibTeX
  - @Inproceedings{GermainAbelDepalleEtAl:UniformNoiseSequencers:2012,
  - author = {Germain, Fran\c{c}ois G. and Abel, Jonathan S. and Depalle, Philippe and Wanderley, Marcelo M.},
  - title = {Uniform Noise Sequencers for Nonlinear System Identification},
  - booktitle = {International Conference on Digital Audio Effects (DAFx)},
  - year = 2012,
  - pages = {241--244},
  - address = {York, United Kingdom},
  - month = sep
  - }
- François Georges Germain, "A Nonlinear Analysis Framework for Electronic Synthesizer Circuits", October 2011, McGill University.
  BibTeX
  - @Mastersthesis{Germain:NonlinearAnalysisFramework:2011,
  - author = {Germain, Fran\c{c}ois Georges},
  - title = {A Nonlinear Analysis Framework for Electronic Synthesizer Circuits},
  - school = {McGill University},
  - year = 2011,
  - address = {Montr{\'e}al, Canada},
  - month = oct
  - }
- Vincent Freour, Gary P. Scavone, Antoine Lefebvre and François Germain, "Acoustical Properties of the Vocal-tract in Trombone Performance", Forum Acusticum, June 2011, pp. 625-630.
  BibTeX
  - @Inproceedings{FreourScavoneLefebvreEtAl:AcousticalPropertiesVocal:2011,
  - author = {Freour, Vincent and Scavone, Gary P. and Lefebvre, Antoine and Germain, Fran{\c{c}}ois},
  - title = {Acoustical Properties of the Vocal-tract in Trombone Performance},
  - booktitle = {Forum Acusticum},
  - year = 2011,
  - pages = {625--630},
  - month = jun
  - }
- François Germain and Gianpaolo Evangelista, "Synthesis of Guitar by Digital Waveguides: Modeling the Plectrum in the Physical Interaction of the Player with the Instrument", IEEE Workshop on Applications of Signal Processing to Audio and Acoustics (WASPAA), October 2009, pp. 25-28.
  BibTeX
  - @Inproceedings{GermainEvangelista:SynthesisGuitarDigital:2009,
  - author = {Germain, Fran{\c{c}}ois and Evangelista, Gianpaolo},
  - title = {Synthesis of Guitar by Digital Waveguides: Modeling the Plectrum in the Physical Interaction of the Player with the Instrument},
  - booktitle = {{IEEE} Workshop on Applications of Signal Processing to Audio and Acoustics (WASPAA)},
  - year = 2009,
  - pages = {25--28},
  - month = oct
  - }

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