Exciting advances in AI audio and image generation are poised to give musicians powerful new creative capabilities. Two systems from Stability AI - Stable Audio and Stable Diffusion XL demonstrate how musicians may soon be able to produce professional-grade songs and videos entirely on their own.
Stable Audio is a text-to-audio model that can generate high-quality music, sound effects, and audio stems from written descriptions in just seconds. This allows musicians to quickly create custom backing tracks, soundscapes, and more to suit their songs. Here’s a link to some production samples. Right now, it can only generate up to 90-second clips.
Stable Diffusion XL (SDXL) is a text-to-image model focused on generating ultra-detailed 1024x1024 pixel images from text prompts. Unlike Stable Audio, SDXL is not generating audio - it is an AI system for generating visual images and artwork. Musicians could use SDXL to automatically create cover art, music videos, concept art, and other graphics to accompany their music. The image below was generated using SDXL with the text command “create a female singer for a music video wearing a gown that one would wear to the Grammy Awards”.
Together, these AI tools lower the barriers for musicians to become fully self-sufficient one-person production teams. A musician could potentially use Stable Audio to generate a backing track, record vocals and instruments on top, use SDXL to create cover art and music videos, and release the finished song.
But to leverage these tools effectively, proper training in studio production, engineering, and creative AI will be essential. That's where institutions like the Atlanta Institute of Music and Media can empower musicians of the future. With the right education in both traditional production skills and emerging AI capabilities, musicians can utilize these technologies as an extension of their creativity rather than just a replacement for human talent.
The musicians who embrace both quality training and AI creativity will become tomorrow's one-person production powerhouses. AI expands what's possible for a single musician, but education will remain the key to mastering these new innovations.