Music made to measure
Project researchers developed a new application termed 'Virtual Mixer', which allows the manipulation of recordings in musically meaningful ways. Virtual Mixer essentially allows the user to control the volume of all instruments included in the recording, a process normally carried out during the recording by the sound engineer. The application allows for balance adjustments among instruments within recordings and further allows the listener to completely isolate certain instruments. It is expected that by increasing the listener's involvement in the quality of the output will make for a richer listening experience, primarily based on individual preference. The Virtual Mixer succeeds in isolating each instrument's sound and then manipulating it by attaching meta-data of precise time-pitch occurrences to musical recording. The technology behind the Virtual Mixer system includes two main components. The first of these is an algorithm for score alignment of polyphonic sounds combined with the second, a high-resolution filtering process. The applications developed within the CUIDADO project are expected to cater for the needs of music users and music creators as well as those of the record labels and copyright societies. The emerging technology does not only allow for new degrees of involvement (as in the case of the Virtual Mixer) but can also aid the information management process.
