Skynet is here

In case you missed the 1991 blockbuster Terminator 2: Judgment day; the theme is a super intelligent Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) known as Skynet sends another A.I back from the future to kill the leader of the human resistance in the future. Do yourself a favour if you haven't seen the film treat yourself to this Academy Award wining film (1992).

(IMDb, 2017)

(Turbosomething1, 2010)

A.I.Mastering

Now I'm not saying the robots are taking over the world but at the moment they are taking over the Audio Mastering Industry. There are 2 main entities battling it out in the online clouds for audio supremecy and they are Landr and Cloudbounce.

Both these platforms utilise current AI technology and have the potential to revolutionise an industry. At the time of writing this they are gaining a foothold. These A.I.'s learn from each experience they get and the morr we use them the better they will become.

"Keep in mind that a learning AI system that can evolve based upon many thousands of experiences is impossible to compete with on the basis of experience alone. AI can recall exact details about every experience it has, forever." Rob Stewart

(Stewart, 2016)

(Recordingrevolution, 2016)

The Future

So what are my predictions for the future. With this rise of A.I. penetrating the mastering industry and the technology only improving. The the next 5 years will see an explosion in A.I. platforms for all areas of the creative industries and especially the music industry. However; I don't believe we will have a "Judgement Day" where the robots take over. Our rebellion has already started.

The first thing that will happen is everyone will jump onto these platforms and create a mass of experience for these A.I. machines. Without the creativity of the human touch everything will begin to sound the same. In other words the computer will decide what sounds best and everything will start to merge into the same sound.

In three to five years this blandness will reach peak levels and even the end consumer will notice that all songs on the radio sound the same. Oddly however sales will go up as the A.I. will have perfected its formula for the perfect pop song and will be able to churn them out at will. These pop songs will appeal to the new generation coming through as it is the new sound artificially engineered for them and they will consume it without a second thought.

In five to seven years the generation will change which will lead to the rise of rebel factions. Rogue music producers and mastering engineers will band together and rise up with new and exciting sounds. Born of creativity and that essential human trait of freedom and rage against the machine. They will show the world there is more to sound than ones and zeroes. You can't create something that touches the soul without the creator having one.

References

IMDb. (2017). Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) - IMDb. Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103064/

Inglis, S. (2016, September). LANDR, CloudBounce & The Future Of Mastering |. Retrieved from http://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/landr-cloudbounce-future-mastering

Izotope Inc. (n.d.). What is Mastering? Why Is It Important? | Audio Mastering. Retrieved from https://www.izotope.com/en/community/blog/tips-tutorials/2014/06/what-is-mastering.html

Landr. (2017). LANDR. Retrieved from https://www.landr.com/en/about

Recordingrevolution. (2016, December 5). Mastering Shootout: LANDR vs Pro

Master - TheRecordingRevolution.com [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xSd1pln3iI

Stewart, R. (2016, July 31). LANDR: The End of Traditional Audio Mastering? | JustMastering.com. Retrieved from https://www.justmastering.com/article-landr-audio-mastering.php

Turbosomething1. (2010, December 2). The Genesis of Skynet [Terminator 2] [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DQsG3TKQ0I