This study examines whether trained listeners could identify and judge the “naturalness” of drum samples processed with Dynamic Range Compression (DRC) when paired with unprocessed samples. A two-part experiment was conducted utilizing a paired comparison of a 10-second reference drum loop with no processing and a set of drum loops with varying degrees of DRC. In Part 1, subjects were instructed to identify which sample of the two they believed to have DRC applied. They were then asked to identify which sample they believed sounded “more natural” in Part 2. Out of 18 comparisons for Part 1, only three demonstrated reliable identification of the target variable. Results from Part 2 showed that the subjects perceived DRC processed samples as natural and unprocessed. However, while inconclusive, results here may suggest that listeners perceived the processed drum sound to be equally as natural as the original.
