AI vs the Audio Professional - Expert Panel

A.I. and machine learning have become components of our audio and music production tools. From simple functions to fully automated mixing and composition algorithms, the influence of A.I. in our projects has been getting deeper. Do these technologies make us more productive? More creative? Should we embrace or reject these new ways of producing? Will they replace our skills? Do they threaten our jobs?
On this AES San Francisco panel, leading designers and expert users of audio & music production tools share their experiences, ideas and views on the present and future of artificial intelligence and machine learning-based audio and music applications. Through this idea exchange, we hear from “both sides”: those who build and enjoy, and those who reject using A.I.-equipped tools.
Dr. Maya Ackerman is CEO/Co-founder of WaveAI and Computer Science & Engineering Professor at Santa Clara University. Named “Woman of influence” by the Silicon Valley Business Journal, Ackerman’s work has been widely showcased in the press, including NBC News, New Scientist, Grammy.com, and international television stations. Dr. Ackerman had been an invited speaker at the United Nations, Google, IBM Research, and Stanford University, amongst other venues. She earned her PhD from the University of Waterloo, and held postdoctoral fellowships at Caltech and UC San Diego. Maya is also an opera singer and music producer.
wave-ai.net/
Julius Dobos is an award-winning, platinum-album electronic music- and film composer, mastering engineer and sound synthesist, best known for his eleven album releases and film scores. Performing under his pseudonym, forgotten future, his digital installations and live multimedia performances, such as the 2019 Human Intelligence Control show, have featured audio experiences that promote human interaction and organic expression in electronic music. With a composition background, EE and MA degrees, Dobos has engineered records for over two decades and launched one of the first non-automated online music mastering services in 2010. He is a Distinguished Professor at the University of Silicon Valley and the founder of the AI-Free Organization. He enjoys beta-testing audio tools, connecting with Nature and speaking on the topic of electronic music and production culture.
ai-free.org
juliusdobos.com
Steve Albini was a recording engineer and member of the rock band Shellac of North America. He worked on several thousand records, for well-known bands (Pixies, Nirvana, Breeders, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant) and working bands for whom music means everything. He lived in Chicago, where he owned and ran Electrical Audio, a recording studio that had opened in 1997. He was married, liked to cook and had three cats and a bicycle.
en.wikipedia.o...
Jonathan Wyner, AES Governor and past President, is Chief Engineer at M Works Mastering, Technologist, Education Director for iZotope in Cambridge, MA, Professor at Berklee College of Music in Boston. A musician and performer, he’s mastered and produced more than 5000 recordings during the last 30 + years. Credits include James Taylor, David Bowie, Aerosmith, Kiri Te Kanawa, Aimee Mann, London Symphony, Miles Davis, Semisonic, Thelonius Monk, Pink Floyd, Cream, Bruce Springsteen and Nirvana. In 2012 he authored ‘Audio Mastering: Essential Practices’ published by Hal Leonard/Berklee Press. He’s authored undergraduate and graduate courses for Berkleemusic Online. Jonathan lectures on music and audio topics around the world having presented with George Massenburg, Doug Sax and Bob Ludwig among others.
izotope.com
Alex Wankhammer is one of the founders of sonible, an audio company from Austria best known for their AI powered plug-ins. He studied audio engineering with a focus on digital signal processing and Music Information Retrieval and is now responsible for product management, marketing and business development at sonible.
sonible.com
Shahan Nercessian is a senior research engineer at iZotope. He received his B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Tufts University in 2007, 2009, and 2012 respectively. His Ph.D. research was focused on multi-resolution algorithms for image processing inspired by human visual system phenomena. In 2012, he became a member of Technical Staff at MIT Lincoln Laboratory. In 2017, he joined iZotope, where he develops new audio DSP algorithms and machine learning techniques for their product line. He is an avid jazz musician, and continues to produce and play his own genre-bending original music.
izotope.com
Moderator: Brian (bt) Gibbs, AES San Francisco Chair (2020)
SkylineEP.com

[@Studio2105]

R.I.P Steve Albini

[@dougsiebum7092]

Is AI going to pay residuals every time it references someone's preexisting work?
And people DID stop buying as much music when the distribution systems went digital.

[@dougsiebum7092]

So if everyone can create music, why would you pay a musician enough to live on when everyone can do it for cheap? You're taking away the stepping stones for great musicians to sustain themselves long enough to become great. That's it, it's the death of music. No more greats like Michael Jackson, Prince, Madonna, or whoever else.