The Swinger


05.24.10

I frequently find myself saying, “Yeah, this track is good, but it would be better if it swung.” What can I say? When it’s in your blood, it’s in you.1 Like many saxophonists I was hooked on jazz at an early age and although I don’t play a lot of it now, I still have that sound in my ear. Like my high school band teacher said, “If it don’t swing, hang it from a rope.”2

Enter: The Swinger. The Swinger is a python script written by Dr. Tristan Jehan from MIT’s Hyperinstruments Group at their Media Laboratory.3 The code magically deduces the beats within any audio file, stretches the first part of each beat, and then shrinks the second.

So what? Let me tell you, dear reader, you have not lived until you listen to Guns ‘n Roses’s Sweet Child O’ Mine with a glorious backbeat.

Sweet Child O’ Mine (Swing Version) by plamere

Another favorite is Metallica’s Enter Sandman.4Enter Sandman- the Swing Version by plamere

I am not going to even try to tell you how to do this with your gear. Go here and here and if any of that makes any sense to you, email me at timothyrosenberg at the gmail with your awesome swinging songs. I’ll post them.

  1. Full disclosure: I actually prefer Kissin’s early recording of Schumann’s Études symphoniques because the young Kissin accidentally, ever-so-slightly swings the final movement. I’ll post it later today. ↩
  2. I hope that’s not racist. ↩
  3. Tristan also founded The Echo Nest which is a scary computer monster that learns music. Post forthcoming. But seriously, terrifying. In a good way. ↩
  4. Don’t sue me, Lars. ↩