How Shankar Mahadevan Experimented With Music AI Sandbox To Create The Song Rubaroo
Quick Take
Summary is AI generated, newsroom reviewed.
Google collaborates with Shankar Mahadevan to explore AI in music.
The Music AI Sandbox was used to innovate within Indian musical traditions.
Mahadevan employed text prompts to create musical samples with AI tools.
New Delhi:
With the gradual developments in the world of technology, one of the most interesting things to have come to the surface is the progressive use of AI.
In Google’s recent Lab session, which is a series of collaborations with visionaries, they teamed up with Grammy Award-winning Indian music sensation Shankar Mahadevan to explore the fascinating fusion of AI and India’s musical traditions.
India is known for its soul-stirring music, which is a melange of Bollywood and regional film industries and sees a blend of Carnatic, Hindustani, Folk, Dance, and Devotional genres. This led to a befitting exploration of using the Music AI Sandbox.
The Lab Session took place in Shankar Mahadevan’s music studio, for over 30 hours, and led to delving into his creative process. In the presence of Shankar’s producer, lyricist, and sound engineer, it was an experience of witnessing how Music AI Sandbox plays a pivotal role in creating film soundtracks. This eventually led to the creation of the song Rubaroo.
Shankar Mahadevan said, “I strongly believe that music happens because of some trigger. It can be a physical trigger, a visual trigger, an audio trigger – it may be anything. Sandbox prods you and makes your brain think in a particular direction, whether it be creating a melody or transforming a particular piece that you have in the genre you want to hear.”
As for the process, Mahadevan used simple text prompts in the Music AI Sandbox to formulate musical samples. This incorporated various Indian instruments namely tabla and dholak. Then, he looped those music samples in his digital audio workstation, riffing on vocal melodies. This was then followed by the integration of Music AI Sandbox for generating additional instrumental elements.
Furthermore, TestFX, which is a Google Labs experiment, was used for lyrical inspiration. The word “Rubaroo” was used as an input to the “Simile” and “Scene” tools, which then resulted in metaphors and descriptions that served as the correct inspiration for the lyrics.
This whole experiment offers us a futuristic glimpse of where technology can be implemented for human creativity and advancement. It is a source for artists to break barriers while they don’t compromise their artistic visions. It paints a canvas of boundless possibilities where music meets AI.
