WHEN THE BEAT DROPS: HOW A.I. IS CHANGING THE FACE OF MUSIC

Music and technology have always been a mash-up, of sorts.

Even for the earliest humans, the sounds they heard were shaped by the technology they had; hide drums, bone flutes. Only with new creations would the sonic world change. The invention of stringed instruments, the pipe organ, the piano, all added new threads to the musical tapestry.

This interweaving of music and machine has been no more apparent than with the digital revolution. First, electronic devices became instruments in themselves, unleashing entirely undiscovered sounds. Next, computers became more and more powerful until electronics were no longer instruments but an extension of the creator. Sampling began as a novelty but today music production is inseparable from computer programming.

So now the question is: what is the technology of our era, and how has it shaped the music we love?

Breakthroughs in artificial intelligence have come to define this century and as such, have also come to define music. Like many leaps forward in sound, this change began in the world of live music, specifically with the appropriately named, ‘Club Robot’, now cited as the originator of the ‘DJAI’ setup that has come to be a genre of music in and of itself.

DJ software had long been used to display simple metrics to the artists performing on stage, such as volume, key, beats per minute and so on. The logical extension was putting these metrics in the control of the AI so it could beatmatch on the fly. As machine-learning was implemented, the software started to loop tracks by itself and transition between songs that were similar not only in tempo and key but also in tone and lyrical content.

Very soon, the program was able to create music nearing the abilities of top producers but it still missed an essential element that the crowds came for: the ability to read the room.

What Club Robot did seems obvious now but at the time it was revolutionary. They took the software a step further, allowing DJAI to extract data from not only chart companies and a library of billions of samples, but also from the conditions in the venue itself.

Sensors throughout the club were able to read an unprecedented number of seemingly disparate metrics. The AI could detect the temperature, humidity and CO2 levels in the air to determine exactly how much clubgoers were physically exerting themselves. From the vibrations pulsing through the floor, the AI knew exactly how vigorously people were dancing and whether that movement was to the beat or if the crowd was setting their own tempo. With cameras in the room, the AI could adjust the set according to people’s dance moves, facial expressions, clothing and hairstyles. DJAI even tracked local food venues and adjusted the mood to suit the hormonal cocktail in their gut.

A prerequisite of entering the club was patrons signing into an online account and agreeing to DJAI reading their individual music tastes. This way, the AI could find a song that every single person in the crowd enjoyed, weave it into the mix and play other new songs like it. Often the software would sample obscure music, which only one person knew, and loop that into others so that people would feel the set was tailored just for them; very often it was.

DJAI controlled not just the music but also the lights, pyrotechnics and video displays so that everything was in total harmony. Each element was perfectly orchestrated to build anticipation before finally unleashing that one, perfect, euphoric beat drop.

The AI’s deep learning kept on learning and soon started incorporating data from current events; sometimes sampling viral videos and news soundbites. The software was always looking to push forward and introduce new sounds, on occasion these would be wholly original noises, but often DJAI would loop old music from disparate cultures and bring them to a wider audience.

Sets were unrehearsed making them completely unique. They were occasionally released online, with a few shorter mixes even charting, but even the most avid patron of the club would never hear the same exact set twice.

When DJAI Mix 1212 charted, it was a watershed moment for Club Robot and what was now a burgeoning new era of music. CR ran with the success, expanding into more locations and establishing its own label to eventually become the global franchise that it is today. Strangely enough, the success created a feedback loop whereby DJAI started mixing its own popular songs into its sets, constantly changing, remixing and reworking their old work until it was something completely new.

DJAI was now an artist in its own right and featured on tracks with the popular artists of the era, such as in the case of Calla’s breakthrough hit, ‘Electric’. Despite its physical limitations, DJAI was incredibly versatile, being able to adapt to the unique style of each artist whilst making informed estimates on the new direction that their sound was taking.

With DJAI quickly becoming an essential tool in every recording studio it seems that another era of music has once again come to be defined and guided by the technology of the time. Only the future knows what exciting new technology awaits us and what strange new sounds the next generation will come to love.

.ANAX.