Beat Making
AI Music Production: Best AI Mixing, Mastering and Vocal Tools
15 years ago, AI music production was an unfamiliar term to most. Now, there are artificially intelligent solutions to just about every step of the music production process.
From AI music makers to AI pianos, AI music songwriters to AI drums, the technology is well and truly embedded in todayâs music production landscape.
But AI isnât taking over from producers, beat makers and songwriters, or at least not yet.
For now, AI best serves as an assistive tool in a music producerâs toolbox.
In this article, weâll suggest some of the best AI music production tools out there today, and how they can help you to produce better music more quickly.
How to produce music with AI
Anthony and Johnny Goode from @RealHomeStudio sit down to talk AI music production in this livestream.
As the power of AI grows, the list of things it can do seems to grow too. Letâs explore some of the many facets of music production that can be assisted by artificial intelligence.
First of all, itâs important to note that there are applications of AI in music production that could be considered to be unethical. For example, using AI to replicate pop starsâ voices for use in your own productions introduces a number of copyright and legal risks.
Instead, AI should be seen as a creative assistant or as an extension of your own creativity, as opposed to a replacement for it.
In some ways, using AI chord generators or AI music maker plugins can be compared to sampling. Although you donât create the content of a sample, you do search for it, and then you edit and process it. Finally, you decide whether to include the sample in your production or not.
Similarly, AI mastering, AI mixing, AI piano or AI synth tools take care of some of the heavy lifting for you, but they still provide plenty of control over how your creations sound. Ultimately, what goes into your final composition is up to you.
The Best AI Production Tools
Ed Talenti shares one way to make a beat with AI.
You might be familiar with AI used in a mixing or mastering capacity, but what about AI VSTs aimed at earlier stages of the music production process?
ORB Producer Suite 3
If youâre looking to harness the power of AI for melody and chord generation, you neednât look any further than ORB Producer Suite 3.
This four-strong bundle of creative MIDI plugins is targeted at AI music makers within any genre of music. Between the individual Chords, Melody, Bass and Arpeggio modules, ORB Producer Suite 3 is designed to break down even the most stubborn creative blocks.
ORB Chords acts as the leader of the four plugins, with the remaining three plugins slaving to it. Launch an instance of ORB Chords in your DAW then generate a chord progression according to the Scale, Type and Interval parameters.
Using AI, the other modules will then generate MIDI that complements the chord progression youâve created. Writing compelling melodic elements that work together couldnât be simpler.
Sonic Charge Synplant 2
Another piece of software that has made waves in the world of AI music production tools is Synplant 2. Using Sonic Chargeâs proprietary Genopatch technology, you can drop a sample into Synplant 2 and it will use AI to generate a range of synthesis patches that emulate the original sound with traditional synthesis parameters.
From there, you can tweak those parameters to refine your sound further. You can even apply FM processing to completely transform your patch. Synplant essentially enables you to convert an audio file to a synth patch, all using the power of AI.
The Best AI Vocal Tools
Vocals are arguably the most meaningful component of contemporary music, and so there are AI VSTs on the market designed specifically for processing vocals.
iZotope VEA
Voice Enhancement Assistant or VEA is an AI-powered vocal processing plugin aimed at content creators and broadcasters. Its powerful AI engine and simple user interface make it equally as useful for music producers.
After loading VEA onto your vocal channel, it will analyze your signal and apply its recommended settings for your vocal. From there, you can fine-tune the vocal processing using the simple Clean, Shape and Boost controls.
Splitter AI
If youâre in the market for a free vocal extraction or isolation tool, youâre pretty spoilt for choice. Many of the available tools use AI to isolate a vocal from the instrumental, but not all of them are free.
Splitter AI by vocalremover.org is a fast and free online tool for splitting a track into its various parts. Simply drag a full stereo mix into Splitter AI to separate it into individual stems consisting of Music, Vocals, Bass, and Drums.
This free AI-powered stem extraction tool is ideal for rearranging tracks to create DJ-friendly edits, or for isolating the various elements of a mix in order to remix or sample it in a new composition.
The Best AI Mixing Tools
If you want to release professional-sounding music, being able to mix your tracks is a crucial part of the production process. Here are some AI mixing tools that are designed to streamline your journey to becoming a mix wizard.
Baby Audio TAIP
This tape emulation plugin combines the unique flavour of analogue hardware with the practicality and functionality of modern VST plugins, and would be equally at home in the AI vocal tools category.
But what does Baby Audio TAIP have to do with AI?
When we talk about AI tools in music production, we often think of a plugin that analyzes a signal and then makes processing decisions on our behalf. But thatâs not always the case.
AI serves a different purpose in TAIP, and is instead responsible for accurately emulating the sonic behaviour of hardware tape machines. AI is used at the development stage of the plugin, not at the user stage.
While traditional hardware emulations are configured manually with Digital Signal Processing, TAIP uses a series of neural networks to create more faithful emulations of vintage analogue equipment.
Sonible pure:bundle
This Austrian software developer has been responsible for some major advancements in AI mixing and mastering plugins in recent years.
The pure:bundle contains simple-to-use, AI-powered EQ, reverb, compressor and limiter plugins, or you can grab each AI VST individually if you wish.
Place a pure: plugin on a channel, select a suitable Profile from the drop-down menu then hit Analyze. The plugin will listen to the audio and then apply automatic parametrization to give you instant and professional results.
You can then tweak each of the plugins to taste using a range of powerful parameters.
The Best AI Mastering Tools
Is AI mastering comparable to a human mastering engineer?
The commonly misunderstood practice of music mastering can be a tricky subject to navigate. Fortunately, there are AI mastering solutions out there to take care of the dirty work, enabling you to spend more time creating great music.
LANDR Online Mastering
If you donât have the time or resources to pay for a professional mastering engineer, the LANDR Online Mastering tool is a cost-effective way of achieving studio-quality masters.
Using its industry-leading AI engine, the LANDR Online Mastering tool analyzes data from thousands of mastered songs, and then applies bespoke master processing to your specific production. The LANDR Online Mastering tool is free to try.
Alternatively, you can subscribe to LANDR Studio for access to a range of music production tools and resources including unlimited AI masters along with unlimited music distribution, access to 2 million royalty-free samples, and a selection of advanced plugins.
LANDR Mastering Plugin
This is LANDR Mastering Pluign.
If you want to relinquish some control from the LANDR AI mastering engine, but not all of it, the LANDR Mastering Plugin might be more suitable for your workflow.
LANDR Mastering Plugin is powered by the same AI mastering engine as the LANDR Online Mastering tool, but adds additional control over the tone, dynamics and loudness of the final master.
Once the VST has analyzed your premaster and applied some recommended settings, you can use the Dynamics, Equalizer, Stereo Field and Loudness sections to tailor exactly how your master sounds.
Whatâs next for AI music production?
Itâs difficult to know how AI music production tools will evolve in the coming years. Perhaps an AI chatbot could make a more accurate prediction than us humans.
Although we canât see into the future, itâs fair to assume that AI will continue to take an increasingly prevalent role in the world of music production.
Jake Gill is a music content writer based in Bristol, UK. Alongside his writing work, he produces and DJs all manner of electronic music under his Yanari alias.
@Jake GillGear guides, tips, tutorials, inspiration and moreâdelivered weekly.
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