AI as a co-writer
Tools that suggest chords, separate stems and clone style — used in public, with the producer in charge. Today we show what works and what we refuse to ship.
Day 3Tuesday · 17 June 2026
Music Production & Technology
From beat-making to AI — the tools, studios and platforms shaping how Mauritian music is made, mixed and released to the world.
Discipline
Production · Sound design
Theme
AI x Creole sound
Output
Live releases on NOUZIK
Streaming
Studio cam · 12h
Today's narrative
The story of Day 3.
If Heritage Day was about where the sound comes from, Production Day is about where it goes next. Studios open their doors, producers open their sessions, and the question on the table is honest: how do we make Mauritian music that travels — without losing what makes it ours?
The day runs in two parallel tracks. In the labs, beat-makers move from a blank DAW to a finished séga-tipik-flavoured loop in a single afternoon, with mentors looking over shoulders. In the talks, the conversation gets bigger: AI as a co-writer, not a replacement; sample ethics with traditional material; what a NOUZIK release actually looks like from upload to royalty.
By evening, the work is heard. Producers play unreleased tracks on big monitors, the resident BerTz takes the decks, and the first AI x Creole Sound showcase puts machine-assisted compositions on stage next to live percussion — same room, same audience, no apology.
Full Schedule
From morning workshops to the late-night set.
- 09:30Lab
Beat-Making Lab — Beginners
NOUZIK Studio, EbèneFrom empty session to first loop. Bring a laptop with any DAW. Mentors rotate every 45 minutes.
- 11:00Masterclass
Advanced Producers Roundtable
NOUZIK Studio, EbèneMixing low-end for séga and seggae, sidechaining ravanne samples, mastering for streaming.
- 13:00Live · NOUZIK
Studio Cam goes live
Broadcast on NOUZIKSix-hour open-studio livestream — three producers working in real time. Viewers vote on the final mix.
- 14:00Talk
Introduction to AI in Music
Caudan Arts Centre · Talk HallStems separation, voice modelling, MIDI co-writing, and the line between tool and author. Ethics included.
- 15:30Talk
Sample Ethics with Traditional Material
Caudan Arts Centre · Talk HallWorking with field recordings, family archives and the Heritage Archive — credit, consent, royalties.
- 17:00Demo
NOUZIK Platform Demo
NOUZIK Studio · Demo roomFrom upload to release in 30 minutes. Royalty splits, playlists, analytics, livestream tooling — walkthrough by the team.
- 19:00Listening
Producers' Listening Session
Caudan Arts Centre · Main HallEight producers play one track each on the big system. Honest feedback from the room. No phones.
- 21:00Headliner
AI × Creole Sound Showcase
Caudan Arts Centre · Main HallBerTz headlines a hybrid set: live ravanne, vocals from Melanie Amboule, AI-assisted production on stage.
From session to release
Every track polished today can be uploaded to NOUZIK before midnight. Distribution, splits and analytics handled in the same room.
Open studio, all day
The Studio Cam livestream means anyone, anywhere can watch producers work — chat is open, the mix is interactive, the music is real.
On stage today
Featured artists.
- BerTzDJ · Producer · Lecturer · In-house resident
- Melanie AmbouleLive vocals & instrumentation
- Rémi BeaugendrePercussion · session
- Damien PontilGuitar · session
Voices of the day
Speakers & mentors.
- BerTzProducer & Lecturer
Leads the advanced roundtable and headlines the AI × Creole Sound showcase with an exclusive live set.
- NOUZIK Platform TeamDistribution & rights
Walking through the full release flow — upload, splits, livestream, royalties — with real artist accounts on screen.
Quick tutorials
Take this home. Try it tonight.
Compact, step-by-step walk-throughs distilled from today's sessions.
Build your first séga-tipik flavoured loop
- 01Open your DAW at 100 bpm, 6/8 time signature.
- 02Drop a ravanne sample on beat 1 of bar 1 — that's your anchor 'dab'.
- 03Layer a maravanne shaker on every off-pulse — washing, continuous, sidechained -3 dB to the ravanne.
- 04Add a triangle hit on the last pulse of bar 2 — that's your accent.
- 05Loop 8 bars. Add a vocal chop or a guitar skank on bars 5–8 only. Bounce. You have your first sketch.
Use AI as a co-writer (without losing your voice)
- 01Hum your idea into a voice memo first. Always start with your sound.
- 02Use a tool like Suno / Udio only to expand the idea — never to start it.
- 03Generate variations, then keep only the elements you'd have written anyway.
- 04Re-record every kept element yourself, with real instruments or vocals.
- 05Document the prompts and outputs you used. Future you needs receipts.
Release a track on NOUZIK in 30 minutes
- 01Have a stereo master (WAV, -14 LUFS integrated), cover art (3000×3000 px), and your split sheet ready.
- 02Open NOUZIK Studio → New Release → upload audio + art.
- 03Add metadata: title, ISRC (auto-assigned if you don't have one), genre, language.
- 04Enter the splits exactly as they appear on the signed split sheet. Each collaborator confirms by email.
- 05Pick a release date (minimum +7 days for editorial pitching), submit. You're live.
Resources
Keep going after the room empties.
BerTz · advanced production roundtable (recording)
VideoFull session published on NOUZIK the morning after Day 3.
Open resourceStudio Cam · 6-hour producer livestream archive
VideoThe full open-studio livestream, with chat replay.
Open resourceFree DAW — Cakewalk by BandLab
SoftwareFree, fully-featured DAW recommended for the beginners' lab. Windows.
Open resourceFree DAW — GarageBand
SoftwaremacOS / iPadOS — the recommended starting DAW on Apple devices.
Heritage Archive — public sample pack
DownloadCleared ravanne, maravanne and triangle one-shots from the Heritage Archive. Free for personal & non-commercial use.
LUFS / loudness reference
ReferenceWhy streaming masters target -14 LUFS integrated and how to measure it free.
Open resourceSample ethics — clearance checklist
TemplateDistributed at the 15:30 talk. One-page checklist before you sample any field or traditional recording.
Glossary
The words you heard today.
- DAW (Digital Audio Workstation)
- Software you record, arrange, mix and produce in. Free options: GarageBand (Mac/iOS), Cakewalk by BandLab (Windows). Paid: Ableton Live, FL Studio, Logic Pro.
- Audio interface
- Hardware that converts analogue sound (voice, guitar) into digital audio your computer can record — and back to analogue for monitoring. Usually the single biggest quality upgrade from a laptop's built-in jack.
- Studio monitors
- Speakers built for flat, honest reproduction. Consumer speakers are tuned to sound 'exciting' — they hide mix problems.
- MIDI controller
- A keyboard or pad controller that sends performance data (not audio) into the DAW. Lets you program drums and melodies without recording real sound.
- Signal flow
- The path sound takes: source → microphone → preamp / interface → DAW → mix bus → master → file. Knowing the chain is how you debug any problem.
- Sample rate
- How many times per second audio is measured in digital form (44.1 kHz or 48 kHz). Streaming delivery standard is 44.1 kHz / 16-bit.
- Bit depth
- How much detail is captured in each digital audio measurement (16-bit or 24-bit). Higher = more headroom while mixing.
- EQ (Equalisation)
- Boosting or cutting specific frequency ranges to shape tone or carve space for each element in a mix.
- Compressor
- Evens out volume. Four controls: threshold (level it starts working), ratio (how strongly it reduces), attack (how fast it reacts), release (how fast it stops).
- Sidechain
- Routing one signal to control the volume of another — most commonly, a kick drum ducks the bass for clarity on every beat.
- Stem
- An isolated track of one element (vocal, drums, bass…). Used for mixing, remixing, or extracted with AI separation.
- LUFS
- Loudness Units Full Scale — the perceptual loudness measurement streaming platforms use. Streaming targets ≈ -14 LUFS integrated.
- Mastering
- The final polish stage — loudness, EQ balance and format export for distribution across phones, clubs and headphones alike.
- BPM (Beats Per Minute)
- A precise numerical measure of tempo. Central to both production (project tempo) and DJing (beatmatching).
- Beatmatching
- The foundational DJ skill: adjusting the tempo and timing of one track to align with another for a seamless transition.
- Phrasing
- The structural grouping of music into recognisable blocks (e.g. 8 or 16-bar sections). DJs mix on phrase boundaries, not random beats.
- Plugin / VST
- Software add-ons used within a DAW to process or generate sound (an EQ plugin, a virtual instrument).
- Sample
- A pre-recorded piece of audio reused inside a new track. Always requires clearance if it comes from someone else's recording.
- MIDI
- Musical Instrument Digital Interface — note data (not audio) you can edit and re-assign to any instrument.
- Voice modelling / cloning
- AI that learns a voice's characteristics and generates new audio in that voice. Without the performer's explicit consent, this is a hard ethical boundary — not a grey area.
- Stems separation (AI)
- AI tool that splits a finished mix back into vocals / drums / bass / other. Useful for remixes and educational analysis.
- Royalty split
- Agreed division of future income from a track between all contributors. Should be locked before release — covered in detail on Day 4.
"Technology is not the destination. It is a new instrument. The song is still ours to write."
— BerTz · Production Day Keynote