Having already tackled AI generated images and video, I thought I’d turn my attention to AI generated music.
A little about my music backround: I have none. My dad, though a 9th grade dropout, could play any instrument you handed him. He was the 1957 Alabama State Fiddle champion. I don’t know / remember if he could read music, but the man could play music like nothing else. When the topic of music came up, I just always shrugged and said, “I can play the radio.”
So: I can’t play any instruments. I can’t read music. I don’t know the difference between chords, keys, and notes. I’m frustrated that I can’t find an answer to how long a measure is. (“It depends” seems to be the standard answer.) I don’t get 2/4, 4/4, 6/8 as it relates to music . . . since it doesn’t seem to relate to fractions as I understand them.
I do understand beats per minute. And that’s about it. In other words, I am the furthest thing from a musician. I’ve had to update my response: “I can play an MP3.”
Which is a good segue . . . because while I can’t do anything musical, I am pretty damned good when it comes to creating things with computers.
I wanted to see if I could create music for square dancing that was (1) danceable and (2) call-able, despite my not knowing anything about music.
‘Cuz think about it: I can create art with AI generated images though I’m not an artist. I can create cinematic videos with AI generated video technology though I’m not a cinematographer.
For AI generated media, you generally give the computer a text prompt, describing what you’d like. For example:
A gentle country instrumental. Use only piano, drums, violin, and acoustic guitar — no banjo, Keep it steady, warm, and inviting with clear timing, Violin carries a light melodic line, while guitar and piano provide rhythm, and drums keep a soft beat.
And, frankly, you hope for the best. You never know what you’re going to get out of AI generators.
Using ChatGPT, I asked it to craft some of those descriptions specifically for the AI music generator Suno. I even uploaded a few square dance patter records to ChatGPT for it to analyze the music and provide me with a Suno text prompt that would generate “something similar.”
Suno generates music pieces that are usually between 2 minutes and 4 minutes in length. But most patter music goes on for about 5 minutes.
I took the Suno music I liked best, double checked that it was all between 124 and 128 BPM (through another online portal, believe it or not), and brought the music into my . . . video editing software.
Isn’t that weird? I’m going to edit audio files with my video editing software.
My video editing software is the studio (paid) version of Davinci Resolve. It’s powerful, professional grade stuff. And one of the extras to the paid version is . . . an AI tool to modify the length of audio input.
All I have to do is click the audio file and tell the Resolve software: Make this X length. The software evaluates the music, then through what can only be described as PFM — Pure Fuckin’ Magic — it lengthens or shortens the music . . . and you can’t tell where it’s been edited. (Even though the software shows you where it was edited. Seamless edits.)
And that’s it. There’s nothing more to that. Type a prompt. Get a piece of music that you like. Extend it to 5 minutes. Done. No bands. No rehearsals. No mastering. No musicians to hire. No studio to rent. Outside of my time, the hard cost (for Suno membership) is about 3 cents per one piece of music.
Now, there are significant limitations to AI Music: I can’t take an existing song and remake it into a square dance recording. Suno and other music generators will shut you down in a heartbeat if you start messing around with copyrighted music. Plus, frankly, I don’t have the music skills to do it anyway. We’re always going to need to have real musicians in order to do those kinds of adaptations.
The upside: the stuff I’m creating is original. It’s never existed before. It’s fresh. It’s viable music. The fixed costs of AI generated patter are so low . . . that I believe it’s going to fundamentally change the entire music industry — and not just square dancing music. AI generated music cannot be ignored.
My self-appointed job is to get out in front of this reality. And help square dancing adapt these new technologies to our advantage.