AI: IBM Says the Quiet Part Out Loud

[MathOfInsects]

Here's my social media post about this from last week:
 

Just to recast the AI-music equation for the sake of argument: The problem isn't really that the robots are starting to sound so much like people. It's that people have started to sound so much like robots. That's entirely what makes these new AI approaches so effective--we are already playing with unwavering temporal precision on a grid, with perfectly tuned software instruments, and Melodyned voices literally dialed into robot mode, with lyrics generally tending toward first-order and away from the paradoxical or figurative. All good and fine, that's where we are.

 

But now that the robots have begun to learn our stupid robot tricks, my optimistic spin is that we are going to start wanting to hear stupid human tricks from our pop songs--just enough inaccuracy and peculiarity and lyrical paradox to satisfy us that that we're still a step ahead of the singularity. It is the only way most listeners will feel secure that they can tell the difference between what people do and what robots-doing-people do.
 

Yes, I said robots-doing-people, I already made the Hitachi joke in my head, just move on.
 

This same rebound dynamic launched punk, grunge and the pretend Unplugged movement. They were all rebuffs of the slick sounds of mainstream rock, pop, and the thing funk became, which starts with a D and ends with "-isco Duck." And in each case, the prevailing aesthetic of those rebuffs was the overt "human" element, either in badly tuned/played instruments, growly atonal vocals, or lonely voice-and-guitar from artists usually bathed in Strat-and-Marshall goo.

AI is not a warning that we're replaceable. It's encouragement that we have within us the irreplaceable. The human-sounding-robots can have a slice of the airwaves. I actually think that's going to be pretty cool. But they will also spawn the return of human-sounding-humans, IMO, and I don't mind this prospect one bit.

[KuruPrionz]

Great post MOI!!!

[Anderton]

As I said in my Mixonline column from September 2022:

 

As to what this means for our industry, let’s be honest: We sowed the seeds of our own destruction. We aimed for “perfect” recordings that prioritized timing and focus group reactions over lightning in a bottle. We acclimated people to thinking that composite, phoned-in parts by groups that never existed are music.

 

One-hundred-percent synthesized music soundtracks support CGI-based movies (sometimes with re-animated dead actors). We’ve accepted software that analyzes mixes and makes edits based on a database of hit music. We have mastering services that master via algorithm, and singers who chase unattainable standards of beauty through botox and body shaping. We sent the message that perfection is the goal. And now, machines can deliver that perfection. So, revise your resume, because you’ll never be as perfect as what AI can produce.

 

Except…we have one big advantage over AI because of something it can’t do: Fail.

 

Yes, fail. Failure can spur pushing the envelope, innovating and questioning the status quo. Starting with perfection eliminates the crucial process of pursuing perfection. That process includes failures, which lead to learning. Strings of failures can put in motion successes that would never have happened otherwise. Failures of old models give birth to new models.

 

Sure, AI can refine conclusions it makes that aren’t perfect and “learn” from them. But it can’t fail in the way humans can, or understand the ramifications of the resulting unpredictable consequences.

 

So, the only way to beat artificial intelligence is with artificial stupidity. Do dumb human things just to see what happens. Make mistakes, embrace your flaws and fall down. So what if you fail? Only then does the interesting part happen: You climb your way back up.

 

Over time, the sum total of those mistakes, flaws, overreaching attempts that became epic fails, and ultimate redemption, will coalesce into something uniquely fascinating…and human.

[KuruPrionz]

Now we are getting somewhere!!!!!

 

[KuruPrionz]

I've felt and thought things similar to what Math of Insects and Craig have posted above but I didn't really have a way to express it that might inspire.

Thank you, both of you!!!!

 

FWIW, when I am recording I try to do everything as complete first takes. And I do fail. As Craig points out, failure often leads us in another direction towards success. 

There have been many times when I've recorded multiple takes that are not similar to each other, new ideas come and I allow them. 

 

Sometimes I end up solving a problem by doing something I've never done before. Recently I was working on a song that I used to do in E but the vocal was either too high or too low. The signature lick requires an open string and the rest of the lick is played 7 frets higher. I tried it in A and it just didn't come together the way I feel it and want it. I want the 6th string to be the open string, that makes the chords I want to use very easy to play. I thought of putting a capo on the 3rd fret and it worked well on guitar. I've NEVER considered putting a capo on a bass guitar but I did it anyway. It works, I got the recording to sound how I wanted it in the key that I need it in now. 

I wrote that song in 1976 and never got a good recording of it until very recently. Not quite done with the vocals but soon I hope. 

 

Progress through error, it's the human way of doing things. 

[OG_Dave]

Homer...the Simpsons were solely responsible for me breaking an 8 year TV boycott whenever it was they came out. "It's funny 'cause it's true!"

 

But as far as AI goes, it's one of the more spectacularly imbecilic grifts yet. Right up there with bit coin and expanding NATO. I know that most people will fall in line with AI with nary a thought. I will simply wait until the inevitable catastrophe results and wait to see what affect that has. None I suppose. Fortunately, I am too old to be put in a goo filled pod to live out my life as a battery.

 

I also happen to believe that the constraints of reality will burst that little bubble before much time passes. Sorry dystopian AI future, your hand is a dud.

 

[David Emm]

Long-time Simpsons producer/writer Mike Reiss wrote a wonderful book about it called "Springfield Confidential." Its always a plum when a staff writer gets a good joke or two into a 22 minute program. The competition can get weird. He speaks of his pride and joy, a moment from "The Simpsons Movie:" the government is sealing off the polluted town with a giant glass dome. As its lowered, you see a church and a bar side by side. People in each place run out screaming... and right into the other building. Its so short, its a finger snap, but the statement is immediate & hilarious. I busted out laughing in the theater. 

 

Music, books and questionable humor are the pillars of my sanity. As Moe the bartender once said, "I ain't done much I'm proud of and what I am proud of is disgusting." Well, I'm proud of the Simpsons. If you care to make it far worse, we can discuss "American Dad."       

[Notes_Norton]

When the band I was in was working for Motown, Berry Gordy gave us the same advice that he is famous for giving other bands. I'll paraphrase –  “Don't try to write something new and different, write songs similar to those that are already hits."  Now AI is following the same advice.

 

Music evolves slowly. The early rock songs are closer to the Big Band Swing, R&B, and Country songs that came before it.

 

Nashville music has evolved quite a bit from the Hank Williams Sr and Buck Owens days.

 

Jazz today has evolved quite a bit from the Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman days.

 

And all this was done gradually.

 

We write and record something that is similar enough to what came before so we don't disorient the listeners, and perhaps add just a little bit new. And as we add a little more and more, over the years, it's evolved quite a bit.

 

I'm doing 15-20 gigs per week playing music the audience knows by heart. Our competitors that play a lot of original or deep cut music are working 3-4 gigs a month if they are lucky.

 

 

 

Notes ♫

[ProfD]

On 5/5/2023 at 9:41 PM, Notes_Norton said:

I play music live to an audience.

 

If live bands go out of style, I've had a good run since I went pro in the 1960s. I don't see that happening soon. People like to see musicians playing music.

Agreed.  This will never go out of style.

 

@MathOfInsects and @Anderton articulated it very well too.

 

The rest of my diatribe is in another thread.😎