We have just learned that Sir Paul McCartney has used artificial intelligence to 'extricate' John Lennon's voice from an old demo to create what he calls 'the final Beatles record', Forbes reports.
Generative artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms are now capable of creating original songs and music, while machine learning-powered search, recognition, and recommendation engines are changing the way we listen.
Music Made By Robots
Computers have been involved with making music since their very earliest days. What’s changed recently, thanks to the development of deep learning and generative AI, is that they’re becoming increasingly good at doing it without human involvement.
Will This Change Music Forever?
In summary, it seems that while we may not be ready to entirely replace human musicians with music created by AI, AI will play an important part in creating the music we will all be listening to in the future. It can help musicians to streamline the creative process, as well as to come up with new ideas and concepts for them to express in their art. It will also continue to make it easier for listeners to find and connect with new music they will love and enable them to experience music in new and exciting ways.
Paul McCartney: "The Beatles are dropping one last track later this year." with the help of AI.
Paul McCartney has said that “the final Beatles song” will be released later this year, dedicated to The Beatles' fans. The track will feature vocals by McCartney as well as John Lennon. The track will feature vocals by McCartney as well as John Lennon, whose voice has been stripped from an old demo by artificial intelligence. Lennon was killed in December 1980.
How artificial intelligence is changing music
Irish musician Martin Clancy’s new book explores the implications of AI for our musical future
Machines have been facilitating music-making since instruments were invented, but computer technology is a seismic shift on a par with the advents of sound recording and electrical amplification. Gemma Tipton
The final round of this year’s AI Song Contest was contested by an oddly dissonant ode to coffee, some boppy Eurovision-esque ditties, a gently French melody, and a host of more genre-defying anthems. The competition is styled on the Eurovision, although it is open to entries from around the world, and the songs are entirely composed by computers. Listening to the finalists, and the ultimate winner – Thailand’s Yaboi Hanoi with Asura Deva Choom Noom (Enter Demons & Gods); at aisongcontest.com – I found myself wondering if anyone had cheated by adding a little helping human hand. I also found myself wondering where the boundaries blur.
Sting discusses AI’s songwriting: “It’s soul work, and machines don’t have souls”
Asked if he thinks computers are capable of making good songs in a new interview with Music Week, Sting replied, “The analogy for me is watching a movie with CGI."
"I tend to be bored very quickly, because I know the actors can’t see the monster. So I really feel the same way about AI being able to compose songs.”
Machines have been facilitating music-making since instruments were invented, but computer technology is a seismic shift on a par with the advents of sound recording and electrical amplification. While AI is currently causing future-shock rumblings, the influence of computers on our music has been felt for a while. People of the right vintage, myself included, will remember the camera teams on Top of the Pops trying to make two blokes at a pair of keyboards look exciting from the late 1970s on, as synth-pop started to dominate the charts including, memorably, Kraftwerk and Soft Cell, and, more forgettably, the likes of Howard Jones and Nik Kershaw.
The advent of Auto-Tune in 1996 meant anyone could become a pop star, and frequently did, as people with the most minor claims to celebrity could release tracks where it sounded like they could sing. Even singers of established talent use the pitch-correcting programme, either to help them out on off days, or to create a new vocal sound – such as Cher’s 1998 Believe, often credited with mainstreaming the software. Later, Radiohead would use it on their album Amnesiac to depersonalise the vocal sound in Packt Like Sardines.
