Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA.
J Acoust Soc Am. 2012 Aug;132(2):1177-88. doi: 10.1121/1.4730881.
Dynamic-range compression (DRC) is used in the music industry to maximize loudness. The amount of compression applied to commercial recordings has increased over time due to a motivating perspective that louder music is always preferred. In contrast to this viewpoint, artists and consumers have argued that using large amounts of DRC negatively affects the quality of music. However, little research evidence has supported the claims of either position. The present study investigated how DRC affects the perceived loudness and sound quality of recorded music. Rock and classical music samples were peak-normalized and then processed using different amounts of DRC. Normal-hearing listeners rated the processed and unprocessed samples on overall loudness, dynamic range, pleasantness, and preference, using a scaled paired-comparison procedure in two conditions: un-equalized, in which the loudness of the music samples varied, and loudness-equalized, in which loudness differences were minimized. Results indicated that a small amount of compression was preferred in the un-equalized condition, but the highest levels of compression were generally detrimental to quality, whether loudness was equalized or varied. These findings are contrary to the "louder is better" mentality in the music industry and suggest that more conservative use of DRC may be preferred for commercial music.
动态范围压缩（DRC）在音乐行业中用于最大化响度。由于一种激励性的观点认为更响亮的音乐总是更受欢迎，因此商业录音中应用的压缩量随着时间的推移而增加。与这种观点相反，艺术家和消费者认为大量使用 DRC 会降低音乐质量。然而，很少有研究证据支持这两种观点的主张。本研究探讨了 DRC 如何影响录制音乐的感知响度和声音质量。摇滚和古典音乐样本被峰值归一化，然后使用不同量的 DRC 进行处理。正常听力的听众使用比例配对比较程序在两种条件下对处理过和未处理过的样本进行整体响度、动态范围、愉悦度和偏好度的评分：未均衡，其中音乐样本的响度不同；和响度均衡，其中最大限度地减少了响度差异。结果表明，在未均衡条件下，少量压缩更受欢迎，但无论响度是否均衡或变化，最高水平的压缩通常都不利于质量。这些发现与音乐行业中的“更响亮更好”的心态相反，表明商业音乐可能更倾向于更保守地使用 DRC。
