[ The MIT Media Lab's Music Mind and Machine group is no longer active. This site provides background on some of the people and projects that were associated with this research.

The most current information about Media Lab research can be found in our Research section, here. ]

The Music, Mind, and Machine Group at the MIT Media Laboratory is a research group focusing on music and the cognitive investigations describing it. Ranging from the automatic detection of features in existing audio content to the future of efficient transmission over the internet, the group's mission is to determine and characterize music cognition on both micro and macroscopic scales. The wide variety of projects and research use empirical and theoretical methods to learn more about the structure of music (tempo, timbre, rhythm, etc.) as well as its effect on sociological groups (genre determination, human emotional response, prediction of human rhythm).

This group envisages a new future of audio technologies and interactive applications that will change the way music is conceived, created, transmitted and experienced, and we are active participants in every facet of this exciting future. Be sure to explore our web site, try out our demonstrations on site, and feel free to ask any questions about our research.

News September 8, 2009 Audio Processing by People and Machines - Final Time this Subject is Offered This course explores information processing by the human auditory system, from detection of frequency, intensity, and spectrum, to the development of their perceptual correlates as pitch, loudness and timbre. Machine models of the human auditory and musical experience using perceptually based sensor and interpretive constructs, sufficient to enable machines to experience sound and music in a manner similar to our own. Scripted control of these models using a Python API connected to virtual sound servers and audio processors. Interactive models of voice and instruments in realtime musical performance using networked platforms of PC, Mac, and OLPC Linux machines. Personal expression via bit-wise creativity. Each class is divided into three 40-minute segments concerning Neurons, Bits, and Expressive Control. November 12, 2008 New Website Design The Mind, Music, and Machine group has a new website design thanks to its UROP student Tammy. Please browse around for new additions and changes.