How singer used AI to produce 'out of the box' music

Dubai - Southern said being a YouTuber, she was always interested in looking for different tools to help make her job easier.

Popular YouTube singer Taryn Southern took the AI Everything summit audience by surprise with her live performance and demonstration of a song from her first artificial intelligence (AI) produced solo album.
Southern said being a YouTuber, she was always interested in looking for different tools to help make her job easier. "A couple of years ago, I read about how AI could compose music and that got me curious because being a YouTuber, one does not have a lot of time or money to spare. Having some kind of a tool to make the process easier, I started playing with AI tools and within a week, I realised I could make an album using these tools."
Southern decided to push the limits of AI composition, putting the sound of her new album into the hands of four AI programmes: Amper Music, IBM's Watson Beat, Google's Magenta and AIVA. Aptly titled I Am AI, the album was the first of its kind to be fully composed with and totally produced by AI.
Having a background of coding, Southern said it was easier for her to grasp the concept and decide to augment her abilities using AI.
"I used AI to substitute skill sets that I don't have, for example, I cannot play a musical instrument but I can write melodies and lyrics. So I take help of AI to play the instrument for me. I use AI as a collaborative tool and a partner and the difference is that AI never gets tired and works on my schedule."
On being asked by the moderator William Thompson, publisher Forbes AI, on how has using AI tools helped her learn about her own creative thought process, Southern said: "AI helped point out a lot of biases I had in my style preferences as a musician. I had released 60 singles prior to this AI process and I realised I certainly have a style heavily oriented towards pop music. AI introduced me to other types of music."
Likening the process of making her AI album to that of directing or editing a film, Southern said AI provides her with a huge amount of raw data. Southern ended her session by demonstrating to the audience how she creates music using AI, before belting out a foot-tapping number using AI music in the backdrop.
saman@khaleejtimes.com