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December 12, 2015 editorial: comments

  • 12 replies
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Topic December 12, 2015 editorial: comments

No Humans Need Apply

If you’re a regular reader of this column, you might remember that a little over a year ago, I wrote about a website that offers inexpensive mastering that’s done by a computer algorithm, rather than a human mastering engineer

I was reminded of that this week when I received a press release from a British company called Jukedeck, touting its new website, Jukedeck MAKE. According to the release, the site gives you access to “an artificially-intelligent music composer — a patent-pending system that writes original music, note-by-note, completely on its own.”

As someone who has made money over the years writing music for television and video, I was not thrilled to hear about a computer that composes and produces music for picture. The business has gotten difficult enough due to all the low-cost and free music that’s available online — music made by humans, I might add. If computers start generating quality tracks, the composition business will go from difficult to impossible. 

So I figured I’d better see what this was all about. I went to the Jukedeck MAKE home page and discovered that it lets you create free tracks to audition its abilities. If you sign up for a free account (it also offers paid accounts for corporate users), you can even download a limited number of MP3s of the tracks you create. 

Right now you get the choice of four different styles: Rock, Folk, Electronic and Ambient, and you can also pick a mood (mood options vary according to style) and a duration for each piece of music you create. Then you hit “Create My Track,” and in about a minute or so, your track appears in a little window with a related image attached and a stock-music-style name such as “Faithful Poetry,” or “Enchanting Illusions.” 

While it is impressive that Jukedeck MAKE composes, produces and mixes tracks in about the same amount of time as it would take you to put milk and sugar in your coffee, the music it generated for me was completely lacking in emotion. What's more, the compositional and arrangement choices made by the computer seemed random, and the instrumentation was odd, especially on the folk and rock tracks.

I felt better after hearing those rather lame results, but the concept is still disconcerting. To be fair, I use the Drummer feature in Logic Pro X that creates drum tracks in a similar way, and you could make the argument that Jukedeck MAKE is just a further extension of that kind of technology. But the difference is that I use those Drummer tracks in service of music created by me, a human being, and I edit them after they’ve been generated. But with a setup like Jukedeck MAKE, the human involvement is limited to the programming of the site. There are no people involved in the “creative side” of the music production. And if it’s coming from a computer can you even call it creative?

If you’re curious to check out what this music sounds like, go to the site and create some free tracks. I’d like to hear what you think.

 

 

[ Post last edited on 12/12/2015 at 11:27:14 ]

2
The link you posted just goes to Apple's site for me...

I googled Jukedeck and found the site, and tried to make a "melancholic" folk song (only 2 moods available for folk). They have a share URL available, so hopefully it works, but here it is (boringly called "Earthy Illusions")

The drums were obviously horrible. Even worse than the drum loops I often use.

The repetitive singularly-strummed acoustic was even worse. No emotion because it's the same strum and velocity/attack. No little arpeggios, no crescendo, no movement whatsoever. The arrangement wasn't necessarily bad, but I felt as if, if a human played the exact same song, it would sound much better, simply because of the little varieties in attack, picking technique, etc.

Also, the drums (ironically) seemed out of timing...

Needless to say, I don't think you have much to worry about :mdr:

3
In all fairness Mike, I was a drummer in the 80's when drum machines put many of us out of work because producers could get a "cheap fix" for drummers and make the most profit on their music. Like yourself, I spend way more time writing music to include authentic drum grooves but in my case, mostly fall on deaf ears because most listeners are satisfied with nothing more than 1/8 notes on a Hi Hat and what usually sounds like a ball bouncing on 1 and 3. Since those times we have seen VSTs replace literally every other instrument to the point where "musicians" do little more than cut up loops of other's creations, then call them original. Don't get me wrong, I never liked the direction the industry was going since I got involved in 1978 and am in complete agreement with your frustrations. But there's unfortunately, nothing we can or will do to stop it. When word gets out that a computer can write what the uneducated masses consider "music", Jukedeck will be cashing in while we're just stomping are feet in disagreement. "Lord help us all"
4
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The link you posted just goes to Apple's site for me...

You are correct. My bad. icon_facepalm.gifHere's the link: https://www.jukedeck.com
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Needless to say, I don't think you have much to worry about :mdr:

I agree, not yet.
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I was a drummer in the 80's when drum machines put many of us out of work because producers could get a "cheap fix" for drummers and make the most profit on their music.

I've always felt bad about using loops and drum machines instead of real drummers, but from a practical standpoint, I'm mostly working on projects for which I have no budget for a drummer, nor the time to deal with miking up a drum kit. Certainly, whenever I have the opportunity to use a drummer, I do. I wish it was more often.
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When word gets out that a computer can write what the uneducated masses consider "music", Jukedeck will be cashing in while we're just stomping are feet in disagreement. "Lord help us all"

I certainly hope you're wrong. We shall see what the future brings.
7
There is also a site similar that is really good called LANDR.
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There is also a site similar that is really good called LANDR.

Thanks. LANDR is a mastering site, though, not a composition site like Jukedeck. But it too is lacking the "human element." :mdr:

[ Post last edited on 12/12/2015 at 15:04:43 ]

9
After reading your editorial, I checked out the site. I think Band in a Box has more feel than the compositions generated by their system. I don't think the current generation of composers and musicians have anything to worry about. Fifty years from now, when AI is more developed, things may be different.
10
Interesting view on jukedeck. I tried it on folk melancholic and it just sounded like folk elevator/reception/hotel bar music.
Funnily enough, the rock uplifting came across as equally ambient. No emotional content. That said, if someone wanted to produce a low budget video that needed some background music to avoid watching a video or photo montage in silence, then it is probably okay. As a songwriter, I don't feel threatened by it. In time, I suspect that it could get a whole lot better with more emotion and humanising. It may well replace human creativity in the medium to long term, but it won't stop me composing until I am decomposing ;)
11
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It may well replace human creativity in the medium to long term, but it won't stop me composing until I am decomposing ;)

Well said! :bravo: I do agree that some low-budget productions might find the Jukedeck music to be acceptable, especially if mixed down really low. My concern is more for down the road, when AI gets better. Imagine Toontrack EZ-Score: The Hans Zimmer Pack. Yikes! I still don't think AI-composed music could ever be as creative as human-composed music, but I bet that in the future, it will be able to imitate creatively-composed music in a credible way.
12
Very interesting piece, Mike. Thank goodness there are many other factors to creating music other than drums. As a pianist (Jazz mainly) my compositions generally do not follow a distinct beginning, middle and ending pattern. Sometimes, I have been known to start from from what musically would usually be perceived as the so-called "ending" of a song and work backwards from there. If I can't get a hold of other musicians to accompany me (which is usually the case these days) I'll fire up my trusty DAW and grab a few Kontakt instruments to complete the arrangement. Drums and other percussion instruments are always introduced into my compositions later. I've also been known to mix several different music genres into my pieces. So, I don't think computer-generated algorithms would do justice for me.

'True' musicians know that no machine can ever replace the raw, emotional and oftentimes unpredictable nuances of human creativeness. Unfortunately, far too often, the 'casual' listener (comprising vast amounts of revenue for the industry) rarely hear the intricate layers beyond the rhythm section. Regrettably, as "music" becomes more and more electronically based, the horrific notion of "computer-generated" music being embraced by legions of the club-addicted public appears to be already happening to a degree. If computers ever take over music creativity, I'll be among the first volunteers on that "Earth-To-Mars" flight. <lol>

[ Post last edited on 12/14/2015 at 07:11:42 ]

13
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Sometimes, I have been known to start from from what musically would usually be perceived as the so-called "ending" of a song and work backwards from there.

Hi Griff--that's cool that you can write that way. It's hard for me to conceive of working backwards like that. I'm very linear in the way I approach writing music. I usually start with the "A" part and go from there.
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I'll be among the first volunteers on that "Earth-To-Mars" flight. <lol>

I'm hoping to get a gig in the house band on that space ship. :mdr: