The noise around AI

In many ways the audio business was an early adopter of what could be described as artificial intelligence (AI). Sure, sound engineers like to be able to control and manipulate sounds, sometimes making minute adjustments in level and equalisation according to their ears and experience rather than what a meter or oscilloscope might be telling them. But there some jobs or processes that are time-consuming and dull so anything that can make life easier by taking over more mundane or repetitive tasks has been embraced. Total recall and Flying Faders became an integral part of music recording in the 1970s, allowing EQ settings and fader positions to be loaded into a computer attached to the mixing desk and called up at a later time when required. Less flashy and obvious is the work of the ubiquitous compressor, a unit that featured in every studio rack and now every digital audio workstation as a plug-in.