At The Controls

 

The way we think about artificial intelligence can inform how we use artificial intelligence. What would be interesting is a system where you’d have separate channels on a mixing board and then use those as random elements to introduce into the music at various points—similar to opening a book or turning on the radio. In terms of an interface, you’d have some kind of a control that would control the degree of randomness in the music with axis points labeled “Less Improvisation>More Improvisation”. 

The way I work as a composer is to work at mostly manual levels including working in a score. I’ve always just used an instrument (guitar or bass) and pen and paper. Notation software allows me to map out how the piece unfolds over time, disabusing me of having to write it out manually. In terms of the randomness control, that’s “less improvisation”. But once the piece is composed, you can turn up that improvisation every time you play the piece or record it. What I like to hear is a good song structure that also has stylistic or production elements contributed by individual players and a producer’s influence. That’s “more improvisational” in terms of how the outside of the music gets decorated. For me, that’s the sweet spot. Using lyrics changes the structure again where the rest of the music has to respond to it—which sometimes means re-doing a whole piece. In pop music, the words are (or should be) a top-level control, although a good vocalist with a strong sense for meaning in the words can use almost any lyrics with emotion. That’s also the turning up of the volume on improvisation. If AI can reshape existing music with that kind of envelope I think it might be interesting. The metaphor is strings and string bending: you can play things without any articulation (less improv) to where every note has an ornament (more improv). The problem continues to be how it does that. Humans seem to do that kind of thing better, rather than being quantized by clunky algorithms. AI might call that “more improvisation” but really isn’t. Knobs and faders only go so far. 

6/26/2021 

[6/26/2025:  “Using lyrics changes the structure again where the rest of the music has to respond to it—which sometimes means re-doing a whole piece.” This is also a point of frustration in AI music. Recently, I had to re-run lyrics after I had changed a lyric in a bridge. I liked the last mix, but changing the lyric made the music more elusive. It’s never the same river twice. It’s an example where you don’t want music you never heard before. I want the one I had before, but I have to decide whether I want better lyrics or better music].