Cheshire, M., Stables, R., Hockman, J., 2020.

Investigating timbral differences of varied velocity snare drum strikes

Adjusting striking excitation velocity for percussion instruments changes characteristics of the sound output, most notably in loudness and timbre. In this study, a listening test is carried out to assess participant abilities in distinguishing between varied velocity snare strikes when the loudness disparity had been removed from recordings made with four common studio microphones. Results indicate that all participants are able to identify different velocities based on timbral differences alone. Temporal and spectral features were then extracted from the recordings to gain insight into which quantifiable differences are present between varied velocity recordings. Analysis revealed various features such as attack and decay time, fundamental frequency, and brightness to have significant differences for the varied velocity snare strikes.