• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, November 21, 2019

To help launch its new Pixel 4 Phone, Google tasked ad agency Swift with generating ideas to showcase some of the innovative technology that went into the new phone, including a feature called “Motion Sense.” It’s a technology that creates a radar bubble around the phone to capture hand movements and gestures.

To highlight the feature, the Swift team came up with the idea of creating a DJ rig capable of building a song using only the wave of a hand. The agency worked with Deep Local to create an audio mixing unit built with Pixel 4 phones and millions of tiny LED lights. Each phone had a different instrumental sound loaded into it--bass, drums, and strings among others. As DJs swipe over, they can build a track in real time. 

Swift and Google unveiled this “Motion Sense DJ Rig” in a TV spot that aired during last week’s Latin Grammys, partnering with Latin X music artists Karol G and DJ Felo to create a live experimental musical performance. See the spot here and a behind-the-scenes video here.