David Battino – Project Bar-B-Q

2019 Workgroup Topic Proposals

Audio Visualizers 2025: Extracting emotional information from audio

Posted on July 16, 2019

Why are music visualizers so artless? Most look like hardware spectrum analyzers or jiggling oscilloscopes. Perhaps it’s because the input data is limited to snapshots of bass and treble levels.

Let’s explore ideas for extracting emotionally meaningful information from audio to produce next-gen visual experiences. Imagine if a screen, garment, or virtual-reality experience could react to chord quality (e.g., major/minor/augmented), subtle tempo changes, solos, or even lyrics. A combination of deeper audio analysis and metadata could create experiences as exciting as movies and live dancers.

Bog-Standard Visualizer — There’s gotta be more than this.

2018 Workgroup Topic Proposals

SETI for Audio

Posted on October 2, 2018

Untold millions of Internet-connected devices are slacking off when they could be working together to solve Big Audio Problems. The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) program harnessed unused cycles on thousands of computers to hunt for aliens. What kinds of audio problems could we solve by networking millions of underused devices? What new sonic experiences could we create?

Now imagine extending the processing pool to mobile devices with microphones and location sensors. What are the opportunities for Massively Multiplayer Music? What incentives would inspire people to share access to their processors and I/O?

—David Battino

2017 Workgroup Topic Proposals

Calling Joe Six-Track

Posted on September 5, 2017

How can we help the average Joe record and distribute immersive audio?

360° cameras are on the rise; let’s spec out some affordable and easy-to-use 360° (or even spherical) audio systems.

Some components to explore:

The listening experience: What is the thriller app?
Playback systems: Binaural? Multichannel? Head-tracking? Vibration enhanced? Scaled?
Transmission systems: What are the file/transport format requirements?
Mixing systems
Composing and synthesizing systems
Recording systems

I’ve listed these in reverse to imagine the payoff so we can identify ways to get there.

As a background question, what are some Joe-friendly ways to record and distribute immersive audio today? I’ve tried software to make “AC3” DVDs and DTS CDs, the Zoom H2N 5-mic recorder’s stereo mixdown, in-ear mics, and spatializer plugins, but none has really curled my mustache.

—David Battino

Sound Egg Joe — *A $2,000 Sound Egg seems to do the trick, but there’s gotta be a better way.*

2016 Workgroup Topic Proposals

From Audinary to Visionary

Posted on September 1, 2016

YouTube is now the largest music-streaming service. Facebook lets you post videos, but not audio. Many musicians get around this by posting non-moving movies consisting of a stereo music track and a picture of an album cover. But what if music could become the foundation for dynamic, compelling video? That could make the whole audio chain more popular.

Imagine a visualizer driven by a combination of audio metadata, DSP, and artificial intelligence…perhaps even influenced by other sensor inputs. Instead of wiggling wireframes, this system could approach cinematic storytelling. And not just in video, but AR and VR as well.

What hooks could we add to audio files to generate more immersive visuals? What are the opportunities in production and delivery? And why are people who imagine the future called visionaries?

Footnote: Creative Labs did some groundbreaking work on music visualization back in 1999 with Lava/Oozic. The system used a proprietary file format and web player, and it died around the dot-com crash, but there were some ambitious ideas in there.

2015 Workgroup Topic Proposals

Singing with Your Thumbs

Posted on September 24, 2015

What could replace ringtones as the next big personalized audio upgrade?

I think Peter Drescher heard the future back in 2007 when he wrote “Singing With Your Thumbs: How To Make User Interfaces Musical.” (If you’re lucky, the little JavaScript audio player I wrote to present his examples will still work.)

In the article, Peter, who’s also a two-time BBQ speaker, shares his insights on adding warmth and personality to devices through evocative sound. In the emerging Internet of Things, imagine how much further that could go if devices not only sung beautifully, but also harmonized with each other and the environment.

2015 Workgroup Topic Proposals

That Droning Sound

Posted on September 3, 2015

What’s the hottest new consumer technology? Helicopter drone video. What’s the worst thing about helicopter drone video? That droning sound. (Or no sound at all.) Imagine…

A drone-mounted mic that cancels the propeller sound, producing pristine soundtracks
A ring of drone-mounted speakers that follow you around, for mobile surround sound (“wingtones”)
An app that synthesizes music from silent drone video

More practically, future noise cancellation algorithms will offer numerous opportunities for adding sound and music to previously hostile environments. What are some scenarios that would encourage that development?

Party Drone — The 450-watt flying party speaker. Just need four more. (Click for video.)

2014 Workgroup Topic Proposals

The Sound of 612 Kittens

Posted on September 10, 2014

The New York Times reported that Google Fiber “is so fast, it’s hard to know what to do with it.” After downloading 612 kitten photos in one second, researchers wondered what to do next with the gigabit connection.

Could the killer app involve audio? As gigabit speeds roll out across America, what are the audio opportunities?

Kitties