Becoming robot through voice: training in artificial voices

Abstract

What if a computer, or a machine, teaches us to sing or talk? This photo essay (accompanied by audio files posted on the journal’s blog) presents the work undertaken, as part of a practice-as-research PhD, to train in sounding like an artificial voice, with an unusual coach: the computer itself. The project was worked on consistently for months, and this essay explains the pitfalls and frustrations involved in the process, and outlines future possibilities for performing machines differently.