Conversations with expert users in music retrieval and research challenges for creative MIR

Abstract

Sample retrieval remains a central problem in the creative process of making electronic dance music. This paper describes the findings from a series of interview sessions involving users working creatively with electronic music. We conducted in-depth interviews with expert users on location at the Red Bull Music Academies in 2014 and 2015. When asked about their wishes and expectations for future technological developments in interfaces, most participants mentioned very practical requirements of storing and retrieving files. A central aspect of the desired systems is the need to provide increased flow and unbroken periods of concentration and creativity. From the interviews, it becomes clear that for Creative MIR, and in particular, for music interfaces for creative expression, traditional requirements and paradigms for music and audio retrieval differ to those from consumer-centered MIR tasks such as playlist generation and recommendation and that new paradigms need to be considered. Despite all technical aspects being controllable by the experts themselves, searching for sounds to use in composition remains a largely semantic process. From the outcomes of the interviews, we outline a series of possible conclusions and areas and pose two research challenges for future developments of sample retrieval interfaces in the creative domain.