A few weeks ago when I started this blog, I confidently claimed that AI would soon outshine me in music creation, yet it wouldn't detract from the joy of making music myself. Today, I'm thrilled to let you know that reality has surpassed my predictions sooner than expected. It turns out, the technology has already been here, reshaping music creation in ways that I didn’t realize were possible.
Last weekend, I played around with an AI music tool called Suno, which shocked me with its ability to bring my musical vision to life. This experience wasn't just about the technology's ability to generate catchy tunes, it was a brief preview into what our future is going to look like.
Imagine you're planning a dinner party and need a playlist. Soon, you might just prompt an AI, as easily as you use Spotify, to craft a soundtrack that evolves with the evening's ambiance.
Think of it: a soundtrack that not only matches the mood perfectly but is also filled with entirely new, never-before-heard music. This is rapidly becoming possible.
In this post, I'll share how my weekend with Suno turned into a fascinating exploration of what it means to be a creator in the age of artificial intelligence. Join me as I delve into a world where technology elevates our creative spirit, making musicians of us all.
The best part of Suno, is that while the instructions available right now are rudimentary, I can immediately see how this could elevate human music creation to levels never before. Now, the music that’s produced doesn’t need to be limited by someone’s technical ability! You can start a song with a simple idea, and iterate on that and refine it with the AI. It took me less than 3 hours to make 6 great songs. Every once in a while, I find myself listening to them in the car and just enjoying myself.
It’s a bit of a unique experience. While I didn’t write the songs, not exactly, it was very close to what I had envisioned for the pieces. It was a way to put my ideas to soundwaves and just enjoy that.
It was as if the AI had stepped into my mind and illuminated its hidden corners with melody.
Will this cancel out musicians around the world, who do this for work? I doubt it. Humans love watching humans. If you look at Chess, computers have been the undisputed champion of the game for several decades, and yet viewership for chess streams has only been climbing. In the same way, there will always be music made by humans that just “hits different”.
Not only that, but if I was able to come up with some music that I really enjoyed, then imagine what professional musicians will be able to do? Once the tools become a bit more sophisticated, you might be able to hear new albums from your favourite band or artist coming out monthly!
Maybe professionals will be able to permanently tour at a relaxed pace, while they spend a couple hours working with AI every week on some new stuff. It wouldn’t be any less their work, it would just be enabled and streamlined by AI.
Or maybe there will start being great music coming from people with no musical background, but plenty of creativity and passion.
Will that be you?
I can’t emphasize enough how excited I am to keep playing with this and see what I can come up with. It’s an awesome way for me to connect with music while I’m not able to practice as much as I’d like.
How did I make these pieces? Well, it’s simple.
I took a few of the posts that I’ve written, and I put them into Claude. I asked it to generate some lyrics for the song, tweaked what it came up with, and put those piece by piece into Suno. I told Suno that I wanted a particular genre, and off it went. Each generation gives two outputs, and you can refine the instructions to try and get a different feeling as you go.
With each continuation, the AI maintains the themes, melodies and phrasing of the previous parts, until you have a complete song. At the end you just hit “get full song” and you’re done.
I did a few of these, in a bunch of genres.
Feel like being inspired? Listen to what I did for the article “I want”. I normally can’t stand country music, and yet here I am singing along with the chorus.
Feel like people aren’t paying enough attention to the AI arms race? Check this out. I love metal, and the instrumentation in this one is just so damn fun.
Wondering what it would be like to be an AI, coming alive for the first time? This one’s a bop, and done entirely by AI.
Normally for the other pieces I would take lyrics and refine them and then work on the music with Suno for a while. This one, Claude generated every prompt. Every direction for the song to take, and it was even able to listen to the outputs from Suno and choose which one it wanted to go with.
In all of these, I had a general idea at the start, but as I worked with it, Suno came up with musical ideas that I would not have thought of. It enhanced the music, it enhanced my vision. Most importantly, it allowed me to do something that I physically could not do until I found Suno.
What music will you create?
What styles will you mix?
What will you bring to life?