AI Insanity

[Gray Wolf]

I had an AI website create a song from a simple one sentence prompt. The lyrics, the music, the mix, all done automatically.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

 

[AAV]

I had an AI website create a song from a simple one sentence prompt. The lyrics, the music, the mix, all done automatically.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

Wow. Is it fair to feel envious? Jealous? Very sheeran-esque and formulaic but quite good. Beats my own stuff. Good lyrics for pop. Well suited to the theme. I would've worked for days/weeks or more likely left it unfinished at some point. Musicians, songwriters and music producers/engineers are in for an even tougher future. Imagine a filmmaker saying I need a theme song (no copyright, no royalties).
I enjoy making music as a hobby. My favourite pastime - but I have invested way too much money on what is really just a personal pleasure. I've been questioning the value and validity of those choices for a long time. All my "stuff" doesn't make my talent any better. (Thanks for posting an example of something I would have been proud to have done myself)

 

[chuckwow]

wow, i am speachless. and in a hopeless non speaking sort of way. WTF

 

[Craig Anderton]

I'm impressed it was done in 3/4 But zooming out...it indeed has the "look and feel" of music, and it's amazing all that came out of a one-line prompt. But I wonder how many people will listen to it more than once, or put it on a playlist. I can definitely see this kind of AI music being used to save money on Netflix movies. I'm just not sure it will produce any artistic breakthroughs. At least so far, AI can only work with what's been done before.

Reggae came about because the Miami AM radio stations faded in and out in Jamaica, and musicians adopted that kind of variation in the music. Would AI have come up with reggae after scraping a century of pop music? I don't know. At the current state of development, probably not.

 

[SwitchBack]

... I'm just not sure it will produce any artistic breakthroughs...

I don't think that should be the worry, for now. The imminent issue is that AI is perfectly capable of following through on an original idea. With the 90% hard work out of the way writers can be way more prolific, or have to be to make a living off it in a world which will see new music produced at rates unheard of in the past

 

[AAV]

I'm impressed it was done in 3/4 But zooming out...it indeed has the "look and feel" of music, and it's amazing all that came out of a one-line prompt. But I wonder how many people will listen to it more than once, or put it on a playlist. I can definitely see this kind of AI music being used to save money on Netflix movies. I'm just not sure it will produce any artistic breakthroughs. At least so far, AI can only work with what's been done before.

Reggae came about because the Miami AM radio stations faded in and out in Jamaica, and musicians adopted that kind of variation in the music. Would AI have come up with reggae after scraping a century of pop music? I don't know. At the current state of development, probably not.

Ed Sheeran's "Perfect" is 6/8 (maybe 12/8 in reality), but yes 3/4 was a bit of a surprise to me too. I think the way to gauge the "evolution" of AI progression when it comes to song creation is to try slightly dissimilar creation prompts to see how "creative" the algorithm can be. (Maybe every song is a waltz. ).Pop music by humans () can be very "samey" too and way too predictable.
As a Canadian I think I'll ask Songer for a blues song about tariffs.

 

[Craig Anderton]

I think one place where AI will hit a brick wall is wordplay. I wrote a song called "Beautiful Complication" and one of the choruses is:

Exploding galaxies, well that's bizarre
I'll be your planet, you're my supernova red star
Pulled inside by your force field too
Kind of...complicated
With the feel of a bloodless coup

Now, whether you think those lyrics suck or are great isn't the point. The point is that I just can't see AI as thinking that combination of words makes sense, and would therefore never string them together. I'm not even sure it would consider the concept of a "beautiful complication" as valid, unless that was part of a prompt.

 

[Gray Wolf]

Just try it out. I suspect that if you feed it the same prompt multiple times you may get multiple different results.

You can do that for free as much as you want and get a 1 minute preview of the results.

That thing, ChatGPT (which is also pretty good for song lyrics), and Elevenlabs for video voiceovers ... all of those AI tools are scary good. We're kinda living in the future.

I went back and used that same prompt but changed the genre to country / acoustic. https://songer.co/songs/fen8k0vrqrkripo7uk954wa3

 

[lokeyfly]

Just try it out.

Thanks but that won't be happening. I'm sure some will give it a whirl.

AI tools are scary good. We're kinda living in the future.

The question is, is it good for you? Is it something you'll use? Feel you created? Personally, and MMV of course, I'm not a fan of AI in this manner. Making life easier and more efficient with AI is one thing. Thinking AI can produce anything artistic is horse$#/+. Its contrived.

I agree with Anderton, that AI can also be word played. As to the phrasing, this example sounded extremely synthetic to me. Not in a good way. Cookie cutter comes to mind.

I should follow up by saying in no way am I stating you couldn't do better than AI. I'm quite convinced you either have, or can. In a small way, I hope AI stimulates the senses for you to carry on with your truly own creativity. Something imagined that is far, far better. Far more imaginative.

 

[lokeyfly]

I think one place where AI will hit a brick wall is wordplay.

.......Now, whether you think those lyrics suck or are great isn't the point. The point is that I just can't see AI as thinking that combination of words makes sense, and would therefore never string them together. I'm not even sure it would consider the concept of a "beautiful complication" as valid, unless that was part of a prompt.

Amen brother.

 

[Craig Anderton]

I'm not interested in AI to do music, because I have too much fun coming up with the music myself! I'm not going to let a machine have an affair with my muse.

Now, equal time, here's where AI was awesome for me. I needed a cover for the Mic'ing for Musicians book. I wanted a cover with a circular array of a huge number of microphones. But, I didn't want to use real mics because 1) I would have needed too many, 2) the photo session would have cost more than 10 years of book sales, and 2) I didn't want to deal with manfacturers coming after me with pitchforks at the next NAMM show saying "Why didn't you put OUR mic on your book cover?" So AI came up with the perfect cover. There were a bunch of mics, but they weren't identifiable as specific models and they looked cool in an impressionistic kind of way. It saved me time, effort, and money, and it produced something that would have been hellishly difficult for a graphic artist to design. So, props for that.

But keep your hands of my keyboards, guitars, and harmonicas

 

[ianaeillo]

I think the song and technology are cringey and weird. It feels like it's good in a "focus grouped hold music for a cable company" sort of way. Music a recently divorced guy would post in a high school reunion Facebook group trying to impress classmates before the 20th reunion. No offense to you or anyone who posted it, but I really hate what AI music stands for and how it achieves the final product.

Craig and Lokey are 100% correct here.

 

[Gerran]

So AI came up with the perfect cover. There were a bunch of mics, but they weren't identifiable as specific models and they looked cool in an impressionistic kind of way. It saved me time, effort, and money, and it produced something that would have been hellishly difficult for a graphic artist to design.

One might argue a graphics designer views this differently. Not willing to be the one to spoil the party here, but a lot comes down to point of view. Don't get me wrong, I'm not fond of AI, but I think a graphics designer has as much a valid point with a variation on your arguments against the use of AI for the creation of a piece of artwork.

 

[Craig Anderton]

Well, I do a lot of graphic design. So to me, it was another tool, like Getty stock photos or photoshop. There are many times one has to make decisions about the desired quality tier. Cassette or CD. Lexus or Toyota. Sample library or the Czech Philharmonic. To quote myself, "I can definitely see this kind of AI music being used to save money on Netflix movies." With my audio-for-video projects, sometimes clients are willing to pay for a meticulous soundtrack with a zillion hit points, but sometimes all they want is a bunch of loops slapped together that play at -20 dB behind a corporate presentation. I get it, that's fine too.

AI is great for the lower-tier stuff. My reality is that a tech book's cover isn't Van Gogh. It's there to put the title in big type and not get lost on a web page. The real art and discipline is inside the book. I don't think anyone spends time looking at a tech book's cover with the same intensity that they listen to music.

And to be fair, it still took me a couple days to put together. First was making multiple attempts with ever-more detailed prompts, but then after getting close, it was time to create a background gradient that would work with a title, mask against the background, hire a designer to choose the typeface and strip it in (AI can't do titles, subheads, etc. and he does a better job than I do anyway), figure out an optimum layout, do the brightness/contrast/saturation dance for different parts of the image, retouch some of the mic hallucinations, and so on. So it wasn't like just pressing a button and a cover popped out. Come to think of it, the cover probably took more time than the one I did without AI for "How to Record and Mix Great Vocals in Studio One." But I had a specific visual in mind, and Ai was the only practical way to realize it.

 

[Gray Wolf]

Strong reactions. I just like technology in general so I will demo various tech just to see where it is. For me it has nothing at all to do with any original art I may or may not create or any notion that AI will create a hit song for me. That's ridiculous.

For me it's just fascinating how far along technology in general has come. As a coder of sorts, ChatGPT, while certainly not perfect for every language, is an invaluable tool that I use often. I don't avoid it because I have some idea that I need to be a purist and only have good code come from my brain. I use it to assist me in getting where I need to go and actually learn some things along the way. Same with Eleven Labs. At certain times, rather than worrying about using my mic in a bad room and post editing and all that I just type up my words and use a near perfect AI voiceover.

Moral? I don't recall suggesting to anyone here that they should stop making music and let AI do it for them. I'm a little surprised by some of the defensive reactions. My only point was ..."That's crazy, how far along that's come in a few years."

But at least it did start a discussion.

 

[sintil8]

I don't think that should be the worry, for now. The imminent issue is that AI is perfectly capable of following through on an original idea. With the 90% hard work out of the way writers can be way more prolific, or have to be to make a living off it in a world which will see new music produced at rates unheard of in the past

Just a thought but, interestingly when actual intelligence meets artificial intelligence do you get something like this...

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

Regards

 

[Gerran]

Thank you @Craig Anderton to clarify this. English is not my native language, although I like to think I'm capable enough to participate in this discussion. I couldn't have expressed it more clearly than you did. Generative AI is a tool, whether it being used for text, graphics or sound. As a tool, it can work wonders for the craftsmen that use the tool to create something rather than generate. It wasn't my intention to bash your book cover and luckily you explained quite clearly that you used the tool to generate something that helped you create your book cover. That is, I think, the way to look at generative AI. It can generate some sounds musicians can use to create music. And indeed, if the order is "get me something, anything and let it be ready yesterday", of course you'll use the tool that gets you there quick and dirty. But the client should realize the result will be "quick and dirty" as well.

 

[lokeyfly]

Strong reactions. I just like technology in general so I will demo various tech just to see where it is.

That's good. They'll be various reactions. You brought what you feel can be a good thing for others to try, or see how it's going. You also brought the subject of a doughnut machine into a cooking club. Opinions will be supportive, sometimes dismissive, in general......opinions.

Moral? I don't recall suggesting to anyone here that they should stop making music and let AI do it for them.

No you didn't. You were respectful and perfectly clear. No one here has stated what you are suggesting.

I'm a little surprised by some of the defensive reactions. My only point was ..."That's crazy, how far along that's come in a few years."

It wasn't your only point. Among other things you stated " AI is scary good". That's your opinion. Scary good as an artist? Obviously not. We get that. Scary good as a tool like a skill saw for a carpenter, or tradesman? Hmmm, for some. Some may need AI as a time saver, or fill the background for narration.... whatever. Your points are made, and we are simply delivering on ours. I made a very clear effort to state I'm sure you have or can do better. It's your post. Live with the opinions of others. Hopefully someday (undoubtedly, really) AI can allow us the time to spend more time doing the things we would rather explore. With art, passion is of the essence.

But at least it did start a discussion.

Yep. all good on all sides.

 

[Gray Wolf]

Scary good as an artist?

Scary good as in if I hadn't broadcast that it was completely done by AI, nobody here would have even known that.

That's all I meant by 'scary good'.

 

[Craig Anderton]

Moral? I don't recall suggesting to anyone here that they should stop making music and let AI do it for them.

I didn't get that from what you said. I think the reason for divisive reactions is because of the larger hoopla involving AI. So as soon as anyone mentions AI, it opens the door to all that's being said about it. Speaking for myself, my opinions deal with the broader topic of AI, not someone playing with cool new toys. Hey, I'm the one who wrote the Studio One tip about how to use Studio One's robot bass player

That said...I've tried playing with some music-generating AI programs, and always come away disappointed. So I'm just not a fan, because it feels like a waste of time. Now, if AI could analyze a comped vocal and immediately toss out the takes that aren't as good, then I would definitely be a fan!

And I do think it's important to have discussions about all this. People will lose gigs because of AI, but people lost gigs because of sampling, home recording, loop libraries, mastering plugins, and other technological changes. The difference is that AI isn't something on the periphery of music. Like I said to one person who was ranting about synthesizers taking away jobs from musicians, "Who do you think plays them? Accountants?" But with AI, we may end up with a situation where the accountants do in fact create the music. We'll see how it plays out.