Data-Driven DJ and Other Examples

On a slight tangential note, this concept reminded me a bit of Brian Foo’s work— what he calls Data-Driven DJ. While your proposal, if I interpreted it correctly, is for an interactive experience among all users [dynamic], Brian has taken past data and represented it with music [static]. For example, the first piece he did was entitled “Sonification of Income Inequality on the NYC Subway’s #2 Train.”

For me, the best part of these pieces are not only the result but how it was created. For instance, his explanation for the piece above can be found here. It includes where he got the data from, the musical compositions and sounds involved, his particular choices relevant to each piece, the tools used to process the information and how exactly he represents the data through music. As someone who works with a lot of data, these pieces opened my eyes into a new method of representation and storytelling. It also means your idea is quite feasible. The other quick example I can think of is something I have seen in my computer music class years ago. Using sensors on a dancer’s body, the dancer’s movement defined the music as opposed to music defining a dancer’s choreography. I cannot find the video at this time. I can say one thing. It was beautiful. Personally, I have been working on an independent music project to represent my own experience during my Ph.D, using familiar sounds in my environment — inside the lab, outside the lab, and at home. I imagine if I had an app to map sounds to my heart rate and brain waves, it would probably be the most accurate representation!