Creative Music Collaboration with AI

Week of June 15-June 21

Hello everybody! Apologies for the slightly delayed weekly roundup. My family and I are knee-deep in Italy, having already explored Rome and a small coastal town called Pualo just outside of Sorrento. Yesterday we checked into our place in Florence and the taxi ride to our place entranced me. This is one incredibly unique city. It felt unreal, almost like a video game. Anyway, that’s a story for another time. Here’s a quick recap of everything that has come out in my absence!

I Uploaded My Music to Udio... And I'm Impressed!

I hear a lot of talk and fear about AI replacing the work of humans, and I’m not saying that I don’t think that will happen to some degree. Sometimes, however, I feel like the conversation becomes so focused on that aspect that the part that gets lost is that the technological progress of AI is practically impossible to stop dead in its tracks. That the pursuit becomes “stop AI before it does all these things” and yet, technology is always an evolution and through that evolution is always the risk that certain things become easier, thereby potentially replacing or better yet evolving the needs of human effort in the new paradigm. Anyway, I know that can be a touchy subject and we can argue that all day long.

When it comes to creativity, and in my interest, music production, you have the folks who look at AI as some kind of instant music creation system. They see services like Udio and Suno as tools that will someday create the music we hear on the radio, eliminating the need for human musicians. I just don’t see it. Sure, there will be AI music that ends up on the radio, I’m certain of that. But in my opinion, the human touch will ALWAYS be desired.

I spent some time with Udio, recognizing that as a musician, I have the chance to witness what it might be like to COLLABORATE with the AI to help me create new ideas, and new parts to songs I’ve already made. I recorded my very first attempts at this type of collaboration, and I’m even more convinced that these tools will become highly desirable for the modern music producer. Not because they do things for us, but because they offer new ideas that can help us work out of a rut.

It’s quite literally like having a production partner sitting next to you in the studio to say “What do you think about maybe adding a layer on top that sounds like this?” Then I can say “Yeah that’s a great idea” and work it into the production.

Anyway, I’m VERY hyped on this approach, and this video is a great way to see and hear why that is.

• SUBSCRIBE TO THE TECHSPLODER YOUTUBE CHANNEL

• BECOME A PATRON OF TECHSPLODER

Techsploder Podcast #8 - Liam Spradlin

I’ve known Liam Spradlin for many years, our paths having crossed primarily through our shared interest in the Android operating system. Liam was one of my favorite writers for Android Police back in the day and I always appreciated his insight into the world of design, particularly as it applied to Android. Anyone who has been following Android long enough knows full well that good design wasn’t always at the top of the OS’s strengths list.

Liam has worked for Google now for several years, focused on improving its design from the inside, and he even hosts his podcast focused on design topics called Design Notes which is well worth checking out. I enjoyed having the chance to invite Liam to discuss not only what he thinks makes “good design”, but also the endearing qualities of bad design, and the more intangible aspects of design like the emotional connection we all feel when faced with the choices of design teams of the products we use and rely upon every day. We also talk about what it takes to create a typeface from scratch!

• SUBSCRIBE TO THE TECHSPLODER PODCAST

• BECOME A PATRON OF THE TECHSPLODER PODCAST

AI Inside #23 - Why AI Literacy in Newsrooms Matters

A topic that comes up regularly on the AI Inside podcast is how Artificial Intelligence is shaping the news we read and consume every day. On one hand, certain news agencies are operating from a position of fear, restricting the use of their high-quality information as data sets for LLMs. On the other hand, news agencies are looking toward the opportunities that this moment presents for the vast library of information that they’ve cultivated over time. How can newsrooms put that catalog of information to use? How can they empower their readers and most ardent fans to be even more engaged with their reporting? What happens when you open up to possibilities instead of collapse under the weight of uncertainty?

Nikita Roy hosts a weekly podcast called Newsroom Robots that focuses on exactly these kinds of topics and joined Jeff and me in this episode of AI Inside to talk about the many ways that AI is being used as a tool to squeeze even more juice out of the digital assets of modern news agencies. She shares specific examples as well as some services that anyone can use to modernize and stay up to date with the advancements of AI.

• SUBSCRIBE TO THE AI INSIDE PODCAST

• BECOME A PATRON OF AI INSIDE