Mumbai-based musicians dissect the use of AI in Beatles' latest 'Now and then'

The Fab Four often acknowledged the pivotal role their sound engineer George Martin played in shaping the bandrsquos distinctive sound which earned him the title of the lsquofifth Beatlersquo Long after Martinrsquos passing a new contender for that title has emerged mdash Artificial Intelligence AIFrom left Harrison and Lennon in a still from the new music videoThe lsquofinalrsquo Beatles track Now and then released on November 2 Facilitated by AI technology it features late John Lennonrsquos vocals extracted from a lsquo70s demo tape Four citybased musicians share their thoughts on this futuristic experimentAI that inspiresAs a songwriter I am often faced with writerrsquos block and thatrsquos when I use ChatGPT to source ideas and inspiration for lyrics Additionally for musicians who record their music at home tools that help you refine the quality of your recordings are a boonVerdict Irsquom all for the confluence of technology and music If a tool facilitates the conception of a track like this I would love to hear more of itShreya Jain songwriter shreyajainmusicQuick tunesItrsquos the instantaneity that both concerns and interests me There are tools that can virtually create a song in minutes This might be great for casual enthusiasts but it is also going to create clutter in the market The shift from analogue to digital was a challenge to instrumentalists and engineers With AI itrsquos the vocalists who will face the heat But if you canrsquot escape the wave you might as well ride itVerdict Being a tech nerd and a Beatles fan who owns a shelf full of their LPs I look at it as a refreshing prospect I look forward to getting into the details to learn how it was achieved technicallyKJ Singh music producer and sound engineer kjpahjiVocals on demandI used AI tools on my track O beta ji from the Netflixoriginal Ludo 2020 where I tweaked Kishore Kumarrsquos original vocals to fit the modern rendition There are vocalists around the world who have uploaded their voices to AI platforms like Musicfy where they can be used by composers to synthesise vocals in varied accents and tonal qualities without having to call the artist into the studioVerdict I enjoyed the listening experience It might sound a tad off to people as though it were the first time they were listening to a Beatles song in high fidelity but the voice is still Lennonrsquos and for that I love the trackSunny MR music composer sunnymrOneman bandThe most intriguing usage that I have come across is the tool DDSP Differentiable Digital Signal Processing that morphs your vocals into the notations of various musical instruments I recently used it for the string section of a track that I was working on in collaboration with YouTube India The results are still not at par with how a trained musician would play but I think it is slowly getting thereVerdict Irsquom oldschool when it comes to classics I listened to the track and I could instantly tell it lacks the charm the older songs have I like my music when I know the artist was there and performed it with intentionMayur Jumani multiinstrumentalist mayurjumani