Updated: the video stream is over, but we have archived audio and video:
Listen to/watch the entire discussion
Today is Social Media Week in Berlin and various other cities across the world. I’m fortunate to get to join Gerhard Behles, co-founder and CEO of Ableton, and Matt Black, co-founder of Coldcut and Ninja Tune, in discussion. If you’re in Berlin, you can join us in person; the event is free. But we’re also live streaming from 14:05 Berlin time (08:05 over your cup of morning coffee New York, or California… uh, you might wait for the recording if you aren’t an early riser, that’s 05:05.) We expect to have higher-quality audio after the event.
It’s a great chance to get these two in a room together, because of where they’ve been, what they’re doing, and where we’re all going. Description:
It’s impossible to talk about music today without talking about production. If recording robbed music of its democratic aspect, digital production has made it democratic and performative again. But how do you cope with that new-found global overabundance? To answer that question, we’re joined by two of the people who have been deeply involved with the evolution of modern audiovisual performance on machines.
Gerhard Behles and Matt Black have each had a hand both as artists and technologists in the way in which music today is made. Behles was co-founder of the musical act Monolake, ground-breaking artists who would even release a Max patches alongside a record, before becoming co-founder and CEO of Ableton. With millions of users, Ableton Live (and now Push) have helped transform the use of computers in music making and performance.
Matt Black’s own career has parallels – half of the music duo Coldcut, his VJamm software pioneered live computer visuals. He is co-founder of NinjaTune, and on both the artist and label side has had enormous influence on music and technology alike. One of the first to make use of games and interactive media, he’s again challenging the notion of what makes a record with iOS remix app Ninja Jamm.
Black and Behles are hosted by Peter Kirn, editor of CDM (createdigitalmusic.com), which has chronicled the shifting relationship of tech and creativity over the past ten years.