Casey Harris, keyboardist for X Ambassadors, told us that for him, “watching” music videos is basically just like listening to the track. As a blind person, he’d never had the experience of being immersed in the world of a music video. So, we worked with him and Microsoft technologists to change that, creating a “music video without video” for their track “Boom” that Casey and XA fans who are also blind or have low vision could enjoy. Using binaural field recordings in Bushwick, Brooklyn and Ithaca, NY (both meaningful places to the band) and sound effects recorded in-studio, we created 2 distinct sonic narratives for fans to choose from. All recordings were layered over and under the stems of the existing XA track, and mixed using Windows Sonic to create a 3D, spatialized audio experience that responded to mobile devices’ internal gyroscopes, creating a listening experience analogous to music videos.

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Platinum-selling rockers X Ambassadors (XA) have wide appeal among international alt-rock fans. The band contains two brothers, Sam (frontman) and Casey Harris (keyboard), who grew up in Ithaca, NY before getting their break while living in Bushwick, Brooklyn, NYC. Casey is blind. As for the technical aspects of the project: Binaural audio is a method of recording using two microphones, which results in a 3D stereo sound for listeners, when they use headphones. Windows Sonic is Microsoft’s spatialized audio platform, which allows for recordings to be mixed in 3D. Mobile phones and tablets have internal gyroscopes that can be used to create responsive, spatialized audio experiences.

To our knowledge, this is the first “music video without video” — a piece of content that treats audio the same way we treat visuals in our storytelling. With Windows Sonic, we used existing technology that powers a different Microsoft app (Soundscape; used to help the blind navigate the world around them) and mobile devices’ internal gyroscopes to help create a rich narrative. We allowed users to choose from two different versions of the “video,” adding a “Choose Your Own Adventure” feeling to the exploration; they could also customize their listening experience by choosing how loud they wanted the ambient sounds to be in the final mix. A fader bar in the app gave them control over their experience. The “Boom” app is the first creative content from a band that specifically caters to blind fans, and explodes the concept of what a music video can be.