Objective and Subjective Evaluations of Digital Audio Workstation Summing

Leonard B, Levine S, Buttner-Schnirer P. Objective and Subjective Evaluations of Digital Audio Workstation Summing. In: AES Convention 133. Audio Engineering Society; 2012. Paper 8776. Available from: https://aes.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=16518

@inproceedings{Leonard2012_16518,
  author = {Leonard, Brett and Levine, Scott and Buttner-Schnirer, Padraig},
  title = {{Objective and Subjective Evaluations of Digital Audio Workstation Summing}},
  booktitle = {AES Convention 133},
  note = {Paper 8776},
  year = {2012},
  month = oct,
  publisher = {Audio Engineering Society},
  url = {https://aes.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=16518}
}

TY  - CPAPER
TI  - Objective and Subjective Evaluations of Digital Audio Workstation Summing
AU  - Leonard, Brett
AU  - Levine, Scott
AU  - Buttner-Schnirer, Padraig
T2  - AES Convention 133
M1  - Paper 8776
PY  - 2012
DA  - 2012/10/06
UR  - https://aes.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=16518
PB  - Audio Engineering Society
LA  - en
AB  - Many recording professionals attest to a perceivable difference in sound quality between different digital audio workstations (DAWs), yet there is little in the way of quantifiable evidence to support these claims. To test these assertions, the internal summing of five different DAWs is tested. Multitrack stems are recorded into each DAW and summed to a single, stereo mix. This mix is evaluated objectively in reference to a purely mathematical sum generated in Matlab to avoid any system-specific limitations in the summing process. The stereo sums are also evaluated by highly trained listeners through a three-alternative forced-choice test focusing on three different DAWs. Results indicate that when panning is excluded from the mixing process, minimal objective and subjective differences exist between workstations.
ER  -