Signal + Noise

Sonic Identity In The Time of AI

I. Democratization and Dilution

Digital tools have democratized the ability to do anything that technology can affect, and simultaneously diluted the results.

Arguably this begins with the printing press.
Mass production seems to correlate with mediocrity or average.

In the age of Splice loops, cheap DAWs, and memetic audio, it has never been easier to “connect” with one another.

This begs the question: if a copy of a copy of a copy still circulates, is it still a message worth hearing?

II. Monolithic Models

From the megaphone in ancient Greece to today’s algorithmically-shaped platforms, expression has gradually flattened into messaging.

Expression vs Messaging

  • The Forum was about discourse.

  • The Megaphone was about broadcast.

Now, music platforms do both — but mainly for messaging scale, not creative dialogue.

Recorded Media and Ephemera

  • Live performance: ephemeral, communal, unrepeatable

  • Phonograph: preserved, analog memory

  • Tape / Vinyl / CD: tactile and ownable

  • Digital Streaming: compressed, fragmented, licensed access

Streaming literally chops the audio into byte-sized buffers.
Music becomes fluid again — but now in a system that profits from its disposability.

III. The Signal, the Interpreter, and the Programmed Organism

The Signal

Raw expression. Unmediated intent.
Before interpretation, before replication.

The Interpreter

Human or machine. Listener, DJ, remix artist, algorithm.
Decides what’s amplified, cut, reshaped.

The Programmed Organism

Us.
Creators shaped by feedback loops, prompted workflows, algorithmic incentive.
Taught to make what machines can recognize.

Everyone’s a node.
Everyone’s training data.

(Optional) Where This Leaves Us

A place to explore:

  • What does authorship mean in this context?

  • Is there value in permanence anymore?

  • Does making something worth keeping even matter when nothing is kept?

(Optional) Enter Techne.fm

This isn’t a rebellion.
It’s not “against AI.”
It’s with full awareness of what these tools are — and what they erase.

Techne.fm is a lab. A toolkit. A provocation.
We’re using digital tools deliberately, not passively.

Starting with Tech Utility Vol. 1
drum sounds designed with intention, made for producers who don’t want to sound like everyone else.

Not just more content.
Infrastructure for sonic identity.

“Advertising is the greatest art form of the 20th century.”

Marshall McLuhan