AI IN MUSICAL COMPOSITIONS

Advancements in machine learning point towards human-lead musical compositions using AI

Musical compositions are one of the oldest and most intrinsically human forms of expression. Scientists believe that humans are the only animals that can feel rhythm. While the earliest known instruments are only 40,000 years old, research suggests that music was used in early human and even pre-human societies to provide the social glue of communication before languages were fully developed.

This raises the question: How can something that is so deeply human possibly be mastered by a machine? Artificial intelligence has been evolving quickly over the past decade, and is entering various spaces in arts and music. One of the most exciting new spaces we are seeing in machine learning advancements is in musical compositions, especially music compositions online.

This track, Ground Level Cloud, was created with the AI Studio app. Saxophone and synths combine in futuristic ways we didn’t know were possible, smoothing melancholic notes over deep pads for a jazzy and bass-heavy sonic experience. Thundering SFX echo throughout the background of the track for a gorgeous ambient track co-created by AI Studio.

The most successful projects in machine learning in music come when the human, rather than the machine, is still in a directing role of creating the musical compositions. There are two primary reasons for the increase in quality of song composition when a human is directing the project.

One trait of humans that is nonexistent in machines is the ability to feel emotion. Human emotions are complex, sensitive, and nuanced. They cannot be adequately mimicked by a machine when it comes to a form of human communication so intrinsic, unique, and omnipresent as music. In order for a musical composition to ‘strike the right chords’ emotionally, it needs to be directed by a human seeking to communicate certain feelings.

Another trait of humans that machines lack awareness for whilst creating music are the cultural and social norms of the human society of the current times. You can look at this on the deep, emotional scale of the global subconscious: mass fear, hope, or anxiety depending on the global social situation, as witnessed during the COVID-19 pandemic, for example. However, you can also look at it in the more tangible, physical scale of global music trends, as proven by the top radio charts in each country. For example, while the UK used to partially rely on US exports for their pop charts, influences from Nigeria started to take over in recent years with the rise in popularity of afrobeats artists like WizKid and Burna Boy.

However, AI music compositions can serve a key purpose for music requirements that are less creative by nature. For example background music and music for commercial use. It also serves a great purpose in allowing people who are not trained in music production to have the chance to create their own original pieces of music. Neither of these uses of AI in music reduces music’s intrinsic value, or the value created by ground-breaking new artists, it simply creates new value in areas that were previously overlooked.

AI Music Studio offers music composition online, but it maintains a stance that the human is the leader in the song composition process. When the AI is creating composition on music, it analyzes various inputs given by the creator and uses them to build a track from loops and samples that suit those inputs. The loops and samples in the AI Music Studio have been tagged by hand by a team of music experts, so that the musical compositions can perfectly suit the various moods, energy level, and genre nuances that only a human ear can truly distinguish. Get started with the AI Music Studio app to discover how you can create AI music compositions online!