{"683440":{"#nid":"683440","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Sound Meets Code: Aleksandra Ma\u2019s Music Tech Summer at MIT and Bose","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWalk into any room Aleksandra Teng Ma\u2019s been working in this summer, and you\u2019ll probably hear a mix of experimental sounds, snippets of Amy Winehouse vocals, and the occasional Animal Crossing tune playing in the background. That\u2019s just how her brain works\u2014blending tech, artistry, and everyday play into something entirely her own.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAleksandra is a master\u2019s student in Music Technology at Georgia Tech, but \u201cstudent\u201d barely scratches the surface. This summer, she\u2019s been everywhere\u2014physically in Massachusetts and intellectually somewhere between a Pride performance and a human-AI jam session at MIT.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI\u2019m always with my microphone and MIDI keyboard,\u201d she says, like it\u2019s just second nature. \u201cI love singing and coming up with tunes.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ELive from MIT \u2014 It\u2019s Human + AI Jamming\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EForget dusty textbooks and silent labs\u2014Aleksandra\u2019s research life is about real-time musical interactions between humans and AI. As a visiting researcher at MIT this summer, she\u2019s digging into what it looks like when musicians \u0022jam\u0022 with intelligent systems. Think futuristic band practice, but with algorithms joining in.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIt\u2019s giving me a lot of exposure to co-design methodologies,\u201d she explains, \u201cand letting me observe how musicians respond to each other\u2014and to AI.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIt\u2019s not just code and theory, either. The insights come alive when she brings them to the stage. This summer, Aleksandra\u2019s band performed at The Music Porch in Reading, MA for Pride Month. Their cover of \u003Cem\u003EPink Pony Club\u003C\/em\u003E turned into a moment she won\u2019t forget.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIt was so fun seeing people\u2014especially teenagers\u2014singing and dancing together,\u201d she says. \u201cThat\u2019s one of those moments where I just thought, yep, this is why I picked music tech.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EFrom Winehouse Covers to Ableton Experiments\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EDespite her research chops, Aleksandra hasn\u2019t lost touch with the joy of just making music. She sings and plays keyboard in a band, covers Amy Winehouse songs, and occasionally writes music just for fun. (Her dream studio partner? You guessed it: Amy herself.)\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EShe\u2019s also been expanding her technical toolkit this summer, diving deeper into sound design with Ableton and Serum.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cStill learning,\u201d she says, \u201cbut I\u2019m using them for sound design in songs\u2014and loving it.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAnd then there are the unexpected \u201cwhoa\u201d moments. Like when she built a vocal patch for the Pixies\u2019 \u003Cem\u003EWhere Is My Mind?\u003C\/em\u003E to use live during a performance.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIt was haunting,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd it worked so well live.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EDream Tech and Georgia Tech\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EAsk Aleksandra what she\u2019d invent if she could mash up two instruments, and she already has an idea:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cAutomatic vocal effects through a microphone with a built-in amplifier,\u201d she says, laughing. \u201cHonestly, someone probably already made this, but I want it anyway.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThat kind of thinking is exactly what her time at Georgia Tech has sparked. Before the program, she saw music mostly through the lens of conventional instruments. Now? She\u2019s all about how software and hardware can expand what music even is.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EHer Summer, in Sound\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EIf Aleksandra\u2019s summer had a vibe, it\u2019d be:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003EA creek bubbling in the background\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003EA long, ghostly reverb trail on a siren vocal\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003EAnd the ever-cozy tones of Animal Crossing\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E\u003Cp\u003ENot exactly your typical lab soundtrack\u2014but that\u2019s the beauty of it.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis fall, she\u2019s heading back to Georgia Tech after a gap year at Bose, ready to jump into research on multimodal music source separation (AKA teaching machines to pick apart and understand layers in music the way humans do).\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAnd yes, she\u2019ll still be singing.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EHits with Aleksandra\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003ECurrent summer jams: \u003Cem\u003ERosebud\u003C\/em\u003E by Oklou \u0026amp; the new Lorde album\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003EWhat people don\u2019t \u201cget\u201d about her work: \u201cHow music signals work on a granular level\u201d\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAleksandra Ma doesn\u2019t just study music tech\u2014she lives it. Whether she\u2019s tweaking reverb patches, performing under porch lights, or teaching AI how to groove, she\u2019s showing what it really means to be a 21st-century musician.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EFrom human-AI jam sessions at MIT to live performances for Pride Month, for Georgia Tech\u0027s Music Technology student Aleksandra Ma, summer bridged music research, technology, and creative expression.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Georgia Tech Music Technology student Aleksandra Ma spent the summer researching human-AI jamming, performing live, and building new sounds."}],"uid":"36761","created_gmt":"2025-07-31 20:04:46","changed_gmt":"2025-07-31 20:06:48","author":"malonso35","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-07-31T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2025-07-31T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[{"id":"42941","name":"Art Research"},{"id":"194606","name":"Artificial Intelligence"},{"id":"194568","name":"Arts and Performance"},{"id":"143","name":"Digital Media and Entertainment"},{"id":"42891","name":"Georgia Tech Arts"},{"id":"148","name":"Music and Music Technology"},{"id":"42931","name":"Performances"},{"id":"42951","name":"Student Art"}],"keywords":[{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"1309","name":"music technology"},{"id":"1621","name":"georgia tech music technology"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"193655","name":"Artificial Intelligence at Georgia Tech"},{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":["Melissa.Alonso@design.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}