WIMP2: Philosophy of Human and Machine Creativity in Audio — Andy Farnell
Channel: aesuksection
Date: 06/10/2016

Lecture given by Andy Farnell for the 2nd AES Workshop on Intelligent Music Production at the Centre for Digital Music at Queen Mary University of London on 13th September 2016.
http://www.aes-uk/wimp

Machine learning increasingly impacts digital media products, and the field of audio engineering is no exception. Intelligent mixing, mastering, composition, and music information retrieval are hot topics for research. Even while these enabling tools speed up production and lower the bar for excellent outcomes, objections from practitioners are naturally raised. Particularly in the creative industries, a tension exists around the deployment of AI and automation. A mature and broad view of research and development for “smart” digital media products must take this into account, and thus we are forced to revisit difficult philosophical and moral problems around the nature of creativity, artistic values, and our research motives.

Andy Farnell is a computer scientist from the UK with specialisations in signal processing, modelling and synthesis. Pioneer of procedural audio and the author of MIT textbook “Designing Sound”, Andy is visiting professor at several European institutions and consultant to interactive media companies. He is a senior lecturer in Audio Engineering at SAE London and also currently works as Head of R&D at Mogees Ltd. Andy is also an enthusiastic advocate and hacker of Free open source software, who believes in educational opportunities and access to enabling tools and knowledge for all.

This lecture was organised by the UK section of the Audio Engineering Society, which holds lectures on the second Tuesday of every month in the London area. For more information, please go to http://www.aes-uk.org/