For those asking "Serato who?", here's a quick recap.
Serato is one of the most innovative and successful DJ and music technology companies in the world, born in New Zealand about 17 years ago. If you're a DJ, or in the music business, you'll probably know all about Scratch Live, Whitelabel, and Serato DJ - products created by Serato which have revolutionised DJing in the digital era.
If not, all you really need to know is that it's now the dominant DJ brand in the United States and used by DJs all over the world, like Jazzy Jeff, DJ Z-Trip, DJ Premier, Mix Master Mike, Steve Aoki, Diplo, and DJ Kentaro. It's become so ingrained in the DJ world that Kanye West even references Serato in the lyrics for his song Dark Fantasy.
But they're still a Kiwi company. Though Serato has contractors in Los Angeles, New York, London and Berlin, there are 105 staff in their central Auckland office and it just keeps growing (so much so that they recently took over another floor of the building).
So what are the mammoth DJ company doing making an app for your iPhone (or your iPad or Apple Watch)?
Apart from solving a personal problem for Bertenshaw, Serato also felt that it was time to make their technology useful to wide-ranging music lovers, not just DJs.
"Going consumer was a logical step for us. We actually had several possible consumer products in the pipeline, but then the idea for this came along and jumped the queue, so this ended up being our first foray into the consumer side."
So how does it work?
Pyro taps into all the music you have in your iTunes and, very simply, lets you create a playlist. You can add as many or few songs as you like, and Pyro will then keep selecting songs from your collection, based on what you've already chosen. It will also beat-match the songs, so that as one song comes to an end and the next one starts, you get a smooth mix, with no silence in between or clashing beats - like a DJ would.
It's very simple to add or remove tracks as you go, or re-order them without any disruption. If you want to skip part of a track, you can, and the app will keep the music playing on the beat. It also has a 'DJ Sort' function, which will sort your songs into a smoother sequence for a better mix, if you so desire.
"When you shuffle music on a normal music player, it puts it in a completely random order, but with Pyro, when you hit the button, it doesn't shuffle the songs randomly, it puts the songs in an order so that the tempos are compatible. It maintains variation so the tempos are still going up and down, but it tries to make them as compatible as possible."
So it's an app that will help to make you sound like a professional DJ, but will suit anyone who likes to have a bit of playlist for training, a party, a road trip, or while doing the gardening.
"If you're a really keen music buff and you want to choose every single song in your playlist, then you totally can and you don't have to know anything about mixing, or beats per minute, or any of the technical stuff - the app will make it sound good."
And if you'd rather just push a button and have the app DJ your party for you, with your music, then it can do that too.
"Sometimes no one necessarily wants to take on the task of DJing, sometimes you just want to drink with your friends."
Does that mean your average DJ will become obsolete, taken over by an app? Apparently not.
"An app is never going to DJ as well as a good human, so DJs aren't threatened by it" Bertenshaw explains. "I was talking to Jazzy Jeff about it yesterday, and he was excited because the way he sees it, if everyone starts using this app, then the world will be listening to music on the beat, being properly mixed, and it will raise the bar for DJs everywhere."
The app is launching exclusively in New Zealand today, and it's free, a reflection of the fact that Serato are keen to do something nice for their homeland, and increase their brand profile with the masses too.
"We've always been quite an international company because the DJ market is comparatively small in New Zealand, but this time we wanted to try something where we gave it to New Zealand first, let all the Kiwis have a go with it, and recognise that we're a New Zealand company - because I'm really proud of coming from New Zealand."
Dan Carter is a keen Serato fan. Along with a bunch of other All Blacks, he has been enjoying a beta-version of the app, so it sounds like they're on to a winner - particularly if your music from streaming services can also be integrated into the app in the future (they're working on it).
Here's to better house parties.
Who: A.J. Bertenshaw, co-founder of Serato
What: New Serato app Pyro
Where and when: Can be downloaded from the app store today for free
