Country singer Randy Travis suffered a stroke in 2013, paralyzing his right side and damaging an area of his brain that controls speech and language. While Randy is not yet able to sing, he and his longtime producer, Kyle Lehning, have collaborated on a new song, "Where That Came From," capturing his country heart with a song that incorporates James DuPre's voice and an artificial intelligence program.
Kyle Lehning decided to try AI technology with Randy's blessing. He and Warner Music began pulling 42 Randy Travis songs from the vault. They stripped away the music from one song from 1982, leaving only the vocal. This was half of the recipe, but another voice was needed for the other half. As for the other half, country music star James DuPre sang the lyrics. Using an AI program, Randy Travis' vocals for his original song were overlayed on top of James DuPre's singing, resulting in a powerful song.
Watch this video:
Based on the article link and video in this blog, Randy Travis and his wife were quite excited about this project. For Travis, it also reopens the door to the music world. For me, it would be like never being able to draw again due to some inability to use my hands. Drawing and writing are a big part of what I do as a writer, artist, and cartoonist. So, I can't imagine losing that ability. His voice was lost, so this is quite remarkable for him. In this way, he can re-enter the world of music. AI can be good and bad in some ways. For Randy Travis, AI is a positive thing.
Taken from Learning English (https://learningenglish.voanews.com/):
"Cris Lacy is co-president of Warner Music Nashville, the company that produces Travis’ music. Lacy said she contacted Travis’ wife Mary and asked “What if we could take Randy’s voice and recreate it using AI?”
"We were all over that, so we were so excited,” Mary Travis said about the chance to hear her husband’s voice in a new song. “All I ever wanted since the day of the stroke was to hear that voice again.”
Personally, I have mixed feelings about AI. I'm fine with AI as long as the artist is OK with it. But what if an artist isn't comfortable with it, and some AI song is generated using their vocals? In this case, there will undoubtedly be legal issues, since you cannot release music that uses someone else's voice. As long as the song is never released to the public and/or profited from, it's fine if you're at home playing around on a computer for fun. In the late 90's, I used an old music program called Multiquence to remix song samples. With a sound recorder, I also recorded clips from TV shows, movies, and radio shows and remixed them. All in good fun, of course. None of it was ever released.
Whenever an artist releases a new album, I expect it to be just that: brand new vocals, instrumentals, and everything in between. Overlaying old voice clips from songs over somebody else's singing is not what I expect. Although the song is newly recorded, it's not exactly "new" music. There's a difference. BUT Travis' new song hits all the right notes, sounding as if it was recorded yesterday. It didn't sound dated despite the clips being from 1982. Like the hologram concerts I discussed on this blog a while back, it all boils down to personal preference. Do people prefer something old being made into something new? It's all up to the listener. How do they feel about AI-generated music?
My old blog on hologram concerts: The importance of cover bands and the future of live music
Please see the source link below, as it thoroughly explains the making of Randy Travis' AI song.
Source: https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/country-singer-randy-travis-releases-ai-song-after-stroke/7603388.html
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