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-- Does A Song Have DNA?

Does A Song Have DNA?

From: http://sciencesowhat.direct.gov.uk/...havedna?Itemid=

Professor Armand Leroi is an evolutionary developmental biologist at Imperial College in London. He is using evolutionary algorithms to trace the history of song styles. By analysing thousands of songs from around the world, he hopes to find out how they are related to each other. The project is a collaboration with musician Brian Eno, after they met by chance at a dinner party.

Individual characteristics of each song (such as the pitch and timbre of the vocals) are measured, a practice known as cantometrics . These measurements are then fed into a bank of 30 computers that look for patterns within the information and compare it to other songs. The results are surprising. You can watch a lecture by Leroi on the project here.

Another experiment is allowing songs to evolve right in front of our eyes � or ears! The DarwinTunes website stores a library of music and allows people to listen to them and rate them. So far, so like Spotify. But the difference is that all the songs on DarwinTunes are completely computer-generated, and get better over time.

Each song in DarwinTunes is based on a bit of computer code. These bits of code combine and create new, different songs. By providing feedback on which songs are good and which are not worth listening to, users slowly guide the code toward better and better music. This mimics evolution in the real world, where natural selection guides changes to living creatures � gradually making cheetahs faster or giraffes taller.

From Monday 23 to Friday 27 November 2009, over 100 first year biology students at Imperial College will each spend 10 minutes per day rating music for DarwinTunes. The scientists behind the project - Professor Armand Leroi and Dr Bob MacCallum - hope that this will be enough time to develop a collection of songs that are far more musical than the ones they began with.

You can take part in the experiment yourself, and help create the first artificially evolved chart buster � just go to www.DarwinTunes.org and get listening!


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Thoughts?

No. It doesn't have DNA.

I've thought about this a few times.

With the billions of tunes that have been made, there have to be some commonalities that would make the majority of the people say "oh yes, i enjoy this, it sounds great"
-discounting the people who just go along because something is popular, of course

You mean does DNA in a certain way affect what music you like? Of course it does.

quote:

Originally posted by Fledz You mean does DNA in a certain way affect what music you like? Of course it does.

Nah, they're talking about metaphorical DNA.
Survival of the fittest, etc. but related to music.

there's certainly structure (in quite a few electronic instances bordering on formulaic). but that's hardly "DNA".

any moron can read on wikipedia that DNA is a nucleic acid. music has nothing of the sort.

quote:

Originally posted by denys envy any moron can read on wikipedia that DNA is a nucleic acid. music has nothing of the sort.

Totally missing the point

No.

Re: Re: Does A Song Have DNA?

quote:

Originally posted by ******** The world is fucked up.

Wow.

No.

quote:

Originally posted by Mr.Mystery No.

What.

No.

Interesting. But the headline is the stupidest thing ever. Almost made me not read this.

quote:

Originally posted by skip Interesting. But the headline is the stupidest thing ever. Almost made me not read this.

Its almost as stupid as when someone posts a single-word response withoun even reading the original post. I personally liked the thread-title since its cleverly metaphorical. Read the original post you lazy dumbfucks!




Very interesting project thought! I always have thought that music is comprised not by genes but-as dawkins and blackmore would say- by "memes". Hundreds of possible rhythms,pitches and timbres arise, but only particural configurations are more or less "successful", leading to various genres.

quote:

Originally posted by PETRAN Its almost as stupid as when someone posts a single-word response withoun even reading the original post. I personally liked the thread-title since its cleverly metaphorical. Read the original post you lazy dumbfucks!

Huh? I did read the original post and didn't find the headline clever at all. I found it stupid, like I said before. I didn't comment more as I don't have time to look into the DarwinTunes website that well right now, but it definitely seems like an interesting project.

In fact there was a research team a few years ago that researched in which type of music does people like. They tried all kinds of genres on a big population. They narrowed it down to one single tune.
Guess which one?

Yes, according to the reasearch the tune that most people tend to like of all kinds of genres is Boney M - By The River of Babylon.

Re: Re: Does A Song Have DNA?

quote:

Originally posted by ******** The world is fucked up.

As for the title, it's a mere copy+paste. Relax, folks.

quote:

Originally posted by PETRAN Very interesting project thought! I always have thought that music is comprised not by genes but-as dawkins and blackmore would say- by "memes". Hundreds of possible rhythms,pitches and timbres arise, but only particural configurations are more or less "successful", leading to various genres.

Yes, this is exactly what I was talking about when I was talking about 'african' influence in that minimal/tech house thread

http://www.tranceaddict.com/forums/...threadid=544737

quote:

I don't buy the notion that techno was completely sterile. As Derrick May, I believe, described it himself, techno was like 'george clinton and kraftwerk stuck in an elevator with only a synthesizer to keep them company'. In other words, the originators of techno were highly influenced by music that carried this 'germ' or 'seed', this 'code', and so it is congenital in their own music. (Both 'george clinton' seed and 'kraftwerk' seed) So I hope you see that I am not arguing that techno is a 'restatement' of anything african, which wrongly presupposes motive. I am arguing that there is some cultural germ or code (not biological) that threads together music either consciously, or unconsciously, simply because of the compounded effect of the musical influences and listening habits of of a group of people handed down over time.

I completely believe that there is such encoded information. DNA or gene is a stupid word though, since it is not biological in nature.

I also believe that the way this germ is transmitted is social/cultural and I am working on a little research project about this, basically an interactive web application, a social graph of musicians, projects, tracks, labels, etc. The connections are all concrete and social in nature (eg 'is located in', 'is friends with', 'is a collaborator on', 'is a member of', 'is owned by', etc)

quote:

Originally posted by RebeL9 In fact there was a research team a few years ago that researched in which type of music does people like. They tried all kinds of genres on a big population. They narrowed it down to one single tune. Guess which one? Yes, according to the reasearch the tune that most people tend to like of all kinds of genres is Boney M - By The River of Babylon.

But everyone likes Darude-Sandstorm

im starting to not like this computer age stuff

For those interested, check out the book called "This is your Brain on Music"

Explains EVERYTHING about the psychology behind music and why we like what we like.

quote:

Originally posted by skip Interesting. But the headline is the stupidest thing ever. Almost made me not read this.

+1

Until I read that Brian Eno was involved, I have a lot of respect for him.

It looks like what they're looking into, is essentially music evolution, which yeah, of course it evolves. But "Music DNA"......Na.

quote:

Originally posted by PETRAN Read the original post you lazy dumbfucks!

I noticed a tiny bit more aggression in your posts lately.


Interesting, wonder if at the end the outcome will be something average. Average still can be something most people don't like, not?

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