Masterchannel launched Wez Clarke AI on December 14 2023, a collaboration with Grammy Award-winning engineer Wez Clarke that is said to be the world's first AI clone of an engineer. Since the launch, Masterchannel have seen significant growth on the platform, with monthly sessions increasing from 19,000 to over 25,000 in December, hitting the milestone of having mastered 122,000 tracks in 2023. Simon Hestermann, Masterchannel's CTO, highlighted the success of the project, emphasising how top-tier engineers, like Wez Clarke, can now serve a broader range of artists in the industry.
Masterchannel CTO Simon Hestermann: We’re very proud of the surge in interest in Masterchannel thanks to Wez Clarke AI. But, numbers aside, the collaboration is also a great showcase on a business model where new tech and major players can thrive together. The AI clone shows how top-tier engineers can serve the long tail of artists in the industry, a market which previously was not considered profitable for top tier human engineers due to lack of time and ability to pay. With 100% of the extra revenue going back to the engineer, the AI clone provides revenue for both parties, which is important as creators need to be incentivised for providing their knowledge and effort when working with new technology. Due to Masterchannel’s unique technology and the agreement made with Wez Clarke, the Intellectual property has been preserved and no company or datasets have been exploited.”
Wez Clarke expressed excitement about the AI clone, pointing out its ability to provide a professional engineering experience to a wider audience.
Wez Clarke, Grammy Award-winning engineer: “The exciting thing about the clone is that it’s opening up what I can deliver to a much wider audience of bedroom artists and producers. It’s great that they can experience working with a major engineer - I would have loved to have had the opportunity to use something like this when I was just starting out, because it’s a perfect way to learn. Producers can get so used to the way their music sounds, and not realise how much better it could get. The clone gives everyone the chance to make their music sound as good as released music, and ultimately they’ll learn how to achieve that professional sound themselves.”
Masterchannel's approach aligns with recent research from the IFPI and aims to address concerns about AI cloning and impersonation in the music industry. Using state-of-the-art reinforcement learning, the service operates without extensive datasets of copyrighted material, which Masterchannel see as a template for integrating AI into music production. Masterchannel claim to have perfected what makes a well-engineered track and learnt how to mathematically encode that into technical criteria for the system to process. Masterchannel lets the AI follow its own purpose as it works on a track, rewarding it if it does something well.
Wez Clarke AI is said to allow users to learn and achieve professional sound quality by experiencing the unique skills of Wez Clarke. Clarke has mixed 13 UK Number 1 singles, with hits for artists including Beyoncé, Rudimental, Tinie Tempah, Naughty Boy and Little Mix. He mixed Clean Bandit and Jess Glynne’s ‘Rather Be’, which won a Grammy in 2015. The launch follows Masterchannel's introduction of SpatialAI, emphasising the platform's commitment to modernising audio engineering with high volume and high-quality solutions.
Masterchannel, based in Oslo, Norway, aim to offer professional-sounding music tools to a broad range of producers using artificial intelligence. Launched in 2022, the platform has gained popularity with Grammy-winning producers, offering an AI-driven mastering service that allows artists to focus on music creation while automating technical aspects.
Price & Availability
Wez Clarke AI is available now via an annual subscription, priced at either $15/month for an Unlimited subscription or $20/month for Unlimited Pro. More details are available on Masterchannel's website, where you can also upload your own track and listen to a mastering preview for free.
