The Future of AI in Audio Plugins: What It Means for Music Production

Hey y’all,

There’s no doubt we’re living in some wild times, and like many of you, I’ve been paying close attention to the conversations happening around AI- especially where it intersects with us as audio people.

From what I can tell, it still feels too early to say exactly what the future holds for AI in music production and audio engineering, but it’s a topic I’ve been really curious about and trying to learn more on. That curiosity inspired me to dedicate a blog unpack the topic a bit more.

AI in Audio Plugins: A Conversation with Juan Elias from Auribus

On that note, I recently had a blast chatting with Juan Elias from Auribus. If you’re not familiar, Auribus is behind Voice, an AI powered plugin that transforms a vocal recording’s timbre and style into that of a different, real human singer. Users can drag and drop their vocal takes and choose from a library of licensed artist voices. The plugin offers real time feedback and, importantly, ensures that the original singers receive royalties when their voices are used.

I asked him: "What do you think is the biggest advantage of bringing AI into the world of audio? what would you say to people who are skeptics?"

He said: “AI is certainly speeding up processes across all industries, audio and music included. I personally think we're privileged to witness such a leap in technology and culture, having known and lived in a world pre AI. I think such speed AI brings will ultimately allow us to focus more on the main goal and spend less mental and physical load with time consuming tasks. I think this will ultimately bring us to creative places we hadn't thought of before. 

Here's the thing though: the word AI encompasses A LOT of things. In the world of creativity and IP, it probably carries a negative connotation: creative laziness, exploitation, unfair use, lack of "spirit", et,. At the end of the day, it depends on your perspective. If you think about it, we've all been using incredible tools prior to AI that have certainly changed industries and those changes have been segmented into separate fields at different moments in time. By that, I mean that industries are bound to change until one day it feels sudden and dramatic, like when mp3 file sharing came into existence and disrupted an almost a century old industry overnight. With AI, changes seem to be happening across all industries at the SAME TIME. I get it, it feels scary. All industries are in shock, looking at each other like "whoah, where is this going?". 

The change happened too suddenly and it took everyone by surprise to the point of creating chaos in industries like ours (audio and music).

I don't think anyone 50 years ago would have believed they'd be humming to drum machine loops, samples and quantized music made with a computer. It might have sounded like science fiction and a dark reality until it happened. Not only electronic music can claim to say they do this, but also a lot of the mainstream music a lot of people love. You may be listening to a lot of songs that contain synthetic instrumentation and you would never notice it, therefore protest.

I think we are already sitting on hits made entirely with AI and most of us mortals couldn't tell the difference. Soon enough, there will be a critical mass that won't care and will dance, hum and get emotional with AI made music.

That said, there's different levels of AI involvement  in audio and music: you can have things made entirely for you with a text prompt or you can have AI help you move quicker and take no ownership in your creativity. For instance, Auribus needs a performance in order to get your results back. If you don't sing well, your outputs are going to sound equally not great, but with someone else's voice. 

The real fight shouldn't be against the technology itself but against exploitative behaviour and lack of protection around it. AI is a human achievement that will bring us great benefits, but it will need human empathy and touch to find an equilibrium

At Auribus you can find the best AI has to offer yet our greatest pride and effort lives in the fact that we are building a sustainable model moving forward by keeping human talent tied to revenue as a way to remind AI that this is a human first language. A human right to expression.

The need to be creative will never be replaced and humans will always find ways to express themselves. Because in the end, music is a human language. And it always will be.”

Embracing AI as a Creative Tool, Not a Threat

I really enjoyed reading Juan’s answer. As someone who’s generally a bit skeptical of AI, his perspective offered a refreshing take- framing AI as a tool rather than something to fear. I agree with his point that, much like when the industry was shaken by the rise of the MP3 and other major shifts, this is another wave we’ll need to ride out together. If we, as a creative community, can collectively keep human expression and artistic integrity at the forefront, I do believe we can find a meaningful balance between the old and the new.

Protecting Creativity and Building a Sustainable Future with AI

For me, the ethics and integrity of human creation and expression will always be paramount. I do appreciate Auribus’s approach of linking revenue back to original singers- it’s a great way to ensure this technology serves human creators, and doesn't  exploit them.

I’d love to hear what you think about the whole AI in music conversation. Feel free to write me at abi@safaripedals.com with your take!

Thanks Juan for your insightful answer!
Catch y'all next blog!