Music-mixing technology could assist with music production

The new software-based system — currently referred to as an ‘Automatic Music Production System’ — can run on a standard computer and could replace a sound engineer, who typically has to physically adjust the characteristics of each individual instrument to generate a coherent piece of music.

‘We’ve developed a system that will automatically mix musical content in real time in much the same way that a sound engineer would on a mixing desk,’ said Joshua Reiss, project leader from Queen Mary University’s electronic engineering and computer science department. ‘We wanted to get the computer to listen to music and embed it with some knowledge of the human hearing system and the best practices when it comes to sound engineering.’

Reiss believes that the software can be used to create high-quality live recordings or, in the post-production phase, to combine different audio sources. He envisages that these recordings, likely to be popular with up-and-coming bands, will then be uploaded onto the internet through social media channels such as Audioboo and SoundCloud. He hopes eventually to turn the concept into a web-based platform that mixes the audio as it is uploaded.