After a decade since the stroke that took his voice, country music icon Randy Travis released a new song last week that took the entire world by surprise, and AI in good hands alongside a surrugate singer is the secret sauce.
Randy Travis in 1987. Photo: Mark Junge / Getty Images
I may not have been around yet when Randy Travis was at his prime, but listening through his hit songs and comparing them with the magical release of a new song in his voice in his condition tells me that, which is a powerful reminder of what AI in good hands can make possible. I can only imagine the surreal experience it would be for true fans and lovers of Randy to listen to "Where That Came From," Randy's new song.
The promise and perils of AI technology and what it can do may be uncanny and disruptive, but this experiment by Warner Music shows its potential in redefining what's possible with technology today and in the future. The experiment involved James DuPre, a fellow country singer, recording his voice to be transformed by AI under Travis' supervision alongside his career-long producer Kyle Lehning.
This is not the first time Travis' voice has been attempted to be replicated by AI. There are sites that claim to be able to reproduce his voice by transforming voice recordings, but according to true fans, "It doesn't sound good, and it doesn't sound real, because it's not." And that got Warner Music thinking, "What would AI for good look like for us?" And the first thing that came to their minds was to give Randy Travis his voice back.
They took forty-two of Travis's vocal-isolated recordings and put them into an unnamed AI model, the secret sauce, to train it. Then, they took a recording of James DuPre singing and fed it into the AI to process and transform it into Travis's voice with the training.
"It's not about how it sounds; it's about how it feels." Kyle, Travis' producer, says. "And that's not something AI can figure out. Not yet." He continued. And so he took the AI-processed voice of Travis and—being the one that knows Travis's voice almost better than Travis himself—gave it Randy's country heart and style.
"The result of Warner’s experiment is a gentle tune that captures Travis’ relaxed style, which rarely wavered far from its baritone foundation. It sounds like one of those singles that would’ve hung around the charts long enough for me to nervously sway to once after working up the gumption to ask a girl to dance at a middle school social. I wouldn’t say it’s a great Randy Travis song, but it’s certainly not the worst — I’d even say I like it." - The Verge
When the song was ready, Warner Music gathered fellow musicians, family, friends and colleagues—people that truly knew Randy's voice and music—and hit Play. The reactions were a mix of emotions, joy and amazement of listening to a new song by Randy Travis after a decade and in his condition. For some, there were tears, esepecially his wife, who does most of the talking for him.
With this feat that has now been achieved with AI in the music industry, it may seem like authentic music with actual music voices may eventually become a myth of some sorts as music can be, you generated. And AI will only get better with time. However, it can also be seen from the view point that of what AI voice cloning can do in good hands.
While it may seem straightforward, this type of result cannot be acheived by casual prompting. Just like how it is with making professional videos with AI, a whole lot more human intervention went into making this song. The AI may have been the magic to bring Randy's music back, but the real suace is Randy himself, Kyle his producer, James DuPre, and those that truly know the Randy Travis label.
Meanwhile...
Although Warner can’t really do much about AI clones that it feels don’t fall under the heading of “AI for good," Tennessee’s recently-passed ELVIS Act, which goes into effect on July 1st, would allow labels to take legal action against those using software to recreate an artists’ voice without permission.
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