Will AI replace human musicians? | Q+A

Answering your questions!
0:00 Intro
0:11 Will AI replace human musicians?
4:01 How should beginner musicians get used to Swing?
7:11 Why did you choose bass?
7:41 What separates a professional musician from an amateur
7:52 What value do music critics have?
9:57 What advice do you have for younger musicians wanting to get into music?
10:43 Where does the word jazz come from?
10:55 How to play fast and clean?
11:27 Where to see live jazz in NY?
11:40 How to be good at both music and marketing?
Anthony Jackson and the machines
• Anthony Jackson Interv...
(⌐■_■)
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Peace,
Adam

[@AdamNeely]

Later in this video I use a phrase that I (ignorant me) didn’t realize is insensitive to Native Americans. My sincere apologies for that! There are better ways to say find your community, and that’s the thing I really want to emphasize with musicianship - the value of community.

[@masonladouceur1453]

Hey I'm actually a Native American fan of yours and I love your videos and your music!! What do you think about this chord progression, this is from a song I wrote for my band. I'd love to have you include it in one of your Q+A's. Here it is: EbMaj7, GbMaj7, DbMaj7, EMaj7, EbMaj7, Abm7, Fm7, Cm7, EbMaj6, Abm7, Fm7, Ab13, Cm7, Gm7, Fm7, Abm7, Cm7, Gm7, Fm7, Abm7

[@omfgtora]

Feel free to choose a different word in the future, but please don't feel like you made a sleight against anyone. You were not using it to refer to a group of native or indigenous people, which could have been offensive if used in that context. This is just people with good intentions misunderstanding the how it can be offensive in some circumstances and inappropriately assuming it's offensive in all cases. By far and large native and indigenous have no problems with the term if not used to refer to their respective groups.

[@nolaffinmatter]

The word "tribe" was part of the English language long before Europeans arrived in North America. That's not going to make a difference in terms of the emotional impact that your words have on other people, and it's good to be considerate. But using "tribe" to mean "a small community" seems more common and mainstream than using "tribe" to mean "a society of Native Americans". It's different from, say, "powwow", which is a term that comes from the indigenous Massachusett but gets casually reused in English in a way that's probably not the most respectful towards the original usage.

[@dalewier9735]

My Jewish friends use "tribe", but none were offended in the making of this video (my friends I mean)!

[@pearcrash727]

Hey, I had a suggestion. What do you think of Bbmaj7 - D5?

[@MycatTwinkie]

The conversation with ai fails to miss something important. We find things impressive when people do it, because people are doing it

[@BGP_yt]

This is it right here. There’s no way AI wins an art contest against humans when they know it’s AI.

[@prinzler]

It's not just that the audience can interact with the musicians, but the musicians can interact with each others, see jazz. If you just want sounds, AI will work. But if you want humans to show that they can surprise you and themselves, or that they dig themselves into a hole when improvising and then find their way out, or that they sometimes fail, or that they are playing joyfully, or maybe they're really pissed off, etc., etc., etc. - then AI won't be there for a good long while, I think.

[@stephenshoihet2590]

generally we are impressed by things because WE don't know how to do them... and that's why TikTok is so full of stupid music stuff.

[@Ac0ustics0ul]

It's not really about live performance , it's about you , as the consumer, not knowing if people are playing the music or not. Listening to a record and not knowing that the studio players on it aren't actual players at all.. same goes for the guys who do fiver requests, many of those musicians will be out of a gig. it's about songwriters crediting themselves for the work of a machine and no one being able to know the difference... or songwriters having nothing else to write because a computer has exhausted every possible melody combination possible.. There are big implications, what if an entity were to own the rights to every melody an AI had produced in mass?

[@peen2804]

This falls apart when one doesn’t know what made what.

[@thomasdavis8117]

Film composers are in big trouble from AI because most big budget films already sound like they were written by AI.

[@FreakieFan]

Maybe time for real and properly trained composers to make a comeback to the film industry like the ones that were working there in the golden days of Hollywood? Instead of having these uneducated midi computer composer hacks run things?

[@Dowlphin]

The normalized technocratic dehumanization also causes that humans are being mistaken for AI. Not just because AI is becoming ever-better at imitating humans, but also because humans are degrading to robots in an attempt to adjust to the system.

[@VeganSemihCyprus33]

Dominion (2018)

[@BillyMcBride]

I thinketh so too.

[@Wadosan]

Real. I’m amazed at the amount of talent in the music world, yet half of video games and movies just sound like boring orchestral drivel anyone could make with Logic Pro and an Orchestra VST.

[@philjackson6859]

You got Luddite right eventually! Facsimile is fax-im-illy. The pronunciation gives us the abbreviation "FAX" machine

[@dhu2056]

He also said "pneumonics" when he meant "mnemonics"

[@chadhiggins9944]

See, everyone still has something to learn. Even the master of all things music Adam Neely.

[@nickmonks9563]

I spent years in my 20s mispronouncing "facsimile" the same way Adam did. Context is so important.

[@VeganSemihCyprus33]

The Connections (2021) [short documentary] 🔥🔥🔥

[@unic0de-yvr]

@@nickmonks9563 When I see people make these kinds of mispronunciations I just think: "Good for you. You've been learning words from reading, even when people around you don't use those words in verbal conversation."

[@SkaTuneNetwork]

“Whether or not you get paid” is the best description of a professional musician I’ve ever heard lmao

[@Venomous9]

10:43 Expanding on this a bit: when I saw Gil Scott-Heron a couple of years before his death, he told this story about how jazz was originally called 'jism music' because it was made to entertain folks in brothels in New Orleans while they were waiting for their turn. Around the same time, someone stole a shipment of brass instruments, and soon enough everyone in the ghetto miraculously started playing the trumpet or the saxophone. They weren't brass musicians, because they didn't have any formal training, so folks called them 'ass musicians'. There was a lot of crossover between jism and ass in those days, and when it went mainstream in the late 1910s, early 1920s, people didn't want to seem crass, so they just called it jazz. Anyway, Adam Neely is my favourite jism and ass bassist

[@titsbitchmcgee7502]

Hip-hop got it's first big boom right after the NYC blackout of '77, in where numerous young men took advantage of the situation and secured themselves state of the art music equipment. Funny how history repeats itself.

[@yuichituba]

I remember watching the Ken Burns series and he said that the word was originally "jass". I think the root and meaning is all the same but in the documentary, it mentioned that it was originally "jass" and to hide it, they flipped the 2 Ss and that became "jazz".

[@judegraham463]

Great story. I'm not sure how much of it is true, but hey, thats what 'folk lore' is made up of. Don't let a good story get in the way of reality. I like it man! Actually, as wacky as the real world actually is, it's probably only telling the half of it.

[@pengU1n_pardon]

JISM AND ASS HAHAHAHAHAHA

[@star24ize]

wait is this actually true lol

[@redrob6026]

I think AI will have taken over when an album gets critically acclaimed without anyone knowing it was generated by AI.

[@janniedale]

The AI band is called Millai Vanillai

[@lz4005]

John Henry folklore correction: He didn't compete with a locomotive. The race was John with a hammer and chisel-like drill bit vs a steam powered jackhammer in a rock drilling contest. The holes were part of the process of creating railroad tunnels through mountains.

[@Roikat]

That reminds me of people not knowing what “driving wheels” means in old blues songs. There are a lot of obscure railroad technology related terms in old songs that have fallen from common usage. It’s like Mr. Roboto being made of parts from Japan instead of China.

[@InventorZahran]

@@Roikat Japan is highly successful in the robotics industry (especially humanoids), so it makes sense that Mr. Roboto would be made of Japanese components.

[@Roikat]

@@InventorZahran Yes of course I know that about Japan, but I was referring to the line in the song “with parts made in Japan”, which is a bit dated today because basic electronic components would be more commonly made in China, so Mr. Roboto might be assembled in Japan from components made in China. I was in computer manufacturing in the US at the time of that song and knew that the industry was poised to move to China while most Americans were still worried about jobs going to Japan as referenced in the song, but that would not be the case as Japanese wages had already surpassed American wages. So that’s what I actually meant by that reference.

[@raymartinez5389]

Laying down tracks better than John Henry could

[@joshua.merrill]

I first heard about the story of John Henry from the movie Tall Tale.

[@pedroscoponi4905]

Keep in mind some of the concerns visual artists are having with AI is people feeding their art into a database without any sort of compensation or permission, with the _express intent_ of attempting to copy their style. That's an entirely separate problem from whether any of the current wave of AI illustrations are "Art" or not, or whether artists are getting "replaced".

[@sloth1667]

Styles aren't produced in a vacuum though, most art styles are based off of other, already existing styles- so long as you're not tracing someones work, I don't really see the issue. Trying to trademark an art style feels weird to me.

[@pedroscoponi4905]

@@sloth1667 I think there's a difference between taking inspiration from someone's style, and attempting to reproduce it with machine intelligence. It's surely a grey area, but if someone explicitly says they'd rather you not do that with their art, and you do it anyway, that might not be illegal but it's definitely a dickhead move.

[@sloth1667]

@@pedroscoponi4905 What is the difference between a machine generating an image in someone elses style, versus me hypothetically coming up with and drawing the exact same image the AI came up with myself? Or do you think both of those are wrong? I know some people get kind of stand offish about using other peoples art styles but I always felt that was a little hypocritical

[@titsbitchmcgee7502]

Plagiarizing is already so common in the art/music sphere, I have no doubt that AI will primarily be used to cover people's tracks. This is already how music scoring works for movies nowadays. A director will show a composer a song and say "I want something like that, but I don't want to open our studio to litigation".

[@aliatom]

Yea, I checked out Jukebox AI, and it's recreations of famous music artists are impressive. But, will imputing already published music into AI, only lead to more of the same? The tracks from Jukebox sound very "Sampled"; bits of audio cut up into the appearance of something new. It's more like a collage? Is anything new being created? If not, we will always need new human musicians to innovate, before the AI can copy effectively. What about the original authors, they should get credit for their input, like samples? What's the point of listening to an AI impersonation of Stevie Wonder, which has been collaged with his original recordings, when it doesn't hold any meaning? Stevie didn't put his heart into this work; the AI isn't searching for any great human truth, its just seeking pattern recognition. If it stumbles upon words that seem to hold meaning to me, the artist is still missing.

[@SpaveFrostKing]

People still go to concerts, even though they can listen to a record without mistakes. So humans will always be performing music for other humans. AI will be involved in creating music though. A lot of pop music already could be written by an AI. That's not a diss; the real skill in pop music is production, and it'll be a while before AI masters that, especially if you want a unique/new sound, not just copying the current top 40. For more "complicated" music genres, like jazz, the complexity doesn't make it good. It'll be a while until an AI can decide which complex things are good and which aren't. By the time AI masters those things, which I think is inevitable, they'll have mastered just about all human enterprise, and we'll have to drastically rethink society. Hopefully I'll be dead by then, but who knows how quickly AI will develop.

[@ts4gv]

we're fucked in like 2 decades i'm calling it

[@Aburner1109]

AI cannot create anything unique in my eyes. Even Dal-e can only copy previous styles, it cannot consciously deviate from norms to make something new. right...?

[@darwinspencer4484]

Fusion genres?

[@nixonkutz3018]

Between Edison and MIDI was the Moog - spawned its own revolution at the time, when musicians were afraid that a machine that could create essentially any sound would put them out of work. Instead, as we all know, synths evolved, musicians and music evolved, and arguably we're better off for it

[@evanredmon3877]

Yeah but one thing that is different here is Moog was/is an instrument - you had to know how to play in order to use it. It either came with a keyboard, or as a modular system, and either way, you needed to know music in an in-depth way to get what you wanted out of it. AI is not an instrument; it is a methodology. A person who can't play a lick on guitar or a chord on piano but who knows the basics of music can suddenly create a symphony by making a handful of simple choices.

[@evanredmon3877]

It should be noted that modern DAWs, particularly one like Image-Line FL Studio that is designed to _make_ music as much as it is to mix music, have been blurring the lines between musicianship and button-pushing for years now and I get that. But hasn't music clearly suffered as a result? All anyone has to do is come up with a beat and throw some auto-tune in there, and you're off and running like you're somebody. My cat can almost do this. AI feels like yet another step down the ladder of quality musicianship.

[@HowlingUlf]

But Moog, be it mini or modular, sounded like ... Moog. Wasn't that basically baseless fear induced singlehandedly by Wendy Carlos' Switched on Bach recording. The rest sounded like Jan Hammer, Kraftwerk, Gary Numan and they sounded basically like themselves. The idea that early subtractive synths would somehow steal the bread and butter from musicians was pretty short lived. But ... it was there! : ) Then there was Queen: " ... and nobody played synthesizer"

[@jgischer]

You stop hearing horns - particularly trumpets - in recordings much after about 1980. Because that's when keyboard synths really were good enough to sound like horns, and who wants to hire a full horn section when you can just hire a keyboard guy to do the same? I'm bummed because I'm a trumpet player, and there isn't a lot to listen to after the 70's. And I endorse Adam's take - stuff is lost, but other stuff is added.

[@HowlingUlf]

@@jgischer True dat! Horns are few and far between in my record collection. Maybe because I was left with the choice of playing trumpet or playing nothing in middle school for a year and a half. I didn't like it haha. Nowadays I can appreciate horns again ... kind of. But I can also see MIDI and synths were not favorites among horn players!!! o_0

[@wellurban]

There’s a distinction to be made between two definitions of “criticism”: the side that is about reviewing for the general public as a kind of consumer guide, and the side that is about reflection, interpretation and contextualisation. The former can be useful, but it’s limited and can often be reductive, frequently distorted by market pressure, and I can see why artists often hate critics who see themselves as arbiters of public taste. The latter can be an art form in itself, can participate in a dialogue between art and criticism, and can even shape the future of art and give birth to art movements. In the world of video games, it’s the distinction between arguing about whether a game deserved an 8 out of 10 because it was a bit short and had some graphical glitches, and thoughtful, often moving video essays by people like Jacob Geller who situate games within cultural, technological, political and personal contexts. I don’t read a lot of music criticism myself, but the difference might be between a Fantano and someone like the late Mark Fisher, or the various 33 1/3 books about great albums that go deep into the work, its history, its context and its cultural impact.

[@shayneoneill1506]

The way I see it, and at danger of sounding reductive, Art criticism is just writing about music. Its function really is the same as any other non technical writing. Its just creating meanings. I know I know that doesnt sound like its saying much, but its a straight forward observation that has a really big implication;- Its an artform! Its just that its art that has a secondary reference, other art. While there is a modern "consumer guide" function thats attached itself to the profession, its not its historical role. Historically Art Criticism was really a pursuit of philosophers who'd write about shakespere , various greek epics, etc, trying to use it as a springboard to derive deeper meanings. In the visual arts this fed back into the medium with a kind of dynamic between artists using art to depict various philosophical ideas and philosophers and critics pondering those ideas. Which is not to say art critics necessarily always *got* the art, and there was certainly the kind of debased criticism you oft see nowdays that really was "Well this art might be interesting, but its boring and I wanna see more tiddies" but I think the public had a bit better understanding that if you wanna know if you want to consume that art, perhaps your best bet is to ask your friends if they enjoyed it, and then perhaps after consuming it, find some good writing about that art to further ponder the arts meanings.

[@eddiemuller3157]

I actually had a similar conversation about AI with some people in my band this past weekend. I don't think live shows with crowd interaction can fully be replicated. I play in 'another frickin cover band', so it's simple music. About 0.1% of the normal crowd is going to be like, "oh snap. They threw in an 11 in there? That's sick!". 99% of the crowd is going to go 'woo!' when the horn section starts a second line around the room or everybody around them is screaming Bon Jovi lyrics.

[@Idiomatick]

AI composition doesn't have anything to do with live shows. Live shows, cover bands, are doing a rendition of music. A computer can do a perfect rendition of music already, it is called speakers. A live band's job isn't just about making the music though.... or else they really would be inferior to speakers. Their job is to hype the crowd and create a good atmosphere .... and sell beer.

[@firstthessalonian6889]

There are always holograms

[@Pixelarter]

@@firstthessalonian6889 Gorillaz could be an AI band.

[@pathologicaldoubt]

Guess no one in your band realizes just how much “live performances” are automated these days.

[@eddiemuller3157]

@@Idiomatick right. If that were the case, DJs would have put live music out of business already. I was saying that I don’t believe AI will take over creating the atmosphere of a live performance any time soon. So even if AI compositions become indistinguishable, they will not have the same amount of impact if ‘performed’ live.

[@twiddle7125]

I love how you question your pronunciation of luddite, but said fas-i-miles with full conviction. :) It sounds like fax-similee. Easy way to remember is this is where the word fax comes from. :) Either way, I just love hearing the sound of your voice.

[@Oafah]

That had to be intentional.

[@Armakk]

Fell out of my chair. If intentional… well played. But I don't think so. Multi-syllabic words are often misspoken by the book-learned. Fuck I said "comfortable" as four syllables until my 30s.

[@antiphon000]

simp

[@ricobarth]

@@Armakk I'm with you on this. He was sure, and he was wrong.

[@drummadave]

That is a 100% rock-solid mispronunciation. I'm not trolling here, but 'facsimile' is pronounced 'fak-SI-muh-lee'...and I laughed my ass off hearing his mistake...but it happens to all of us...✌

[@fran6b]

Imagine all the incredible musicians in the history that don't find their way in the game they had to play. Incredible musicians which their music keep stuck in them, forever.

[@aallonhuippuveikko1476]

Well it must be the most of the stuff ever made. Or at least all of the art(what ever type) is unknown to 99,999..% of the people. The ones saved in the history for longer periods or for good are the ones that are remixed. The best stuff in general.

[@kylestevensanders]

such a great Q&A, always worth the wait, lots to think about after this one

[@stockicide]

This was a particular good Q+A. Thanks to the viewers for asking good questions, and Adam for providing wisdom with his answers.

[@probaddie456]

2:39 "facsimile" is "fak-SI-muh-lee". (Only pointing this out because you cared enough about your pronunciation of "Luddite.") Another banger Q+A.

[@TypingHazard]

lol yes thank you I came looking for this

[@internetuser8922]

This is also why we called them "fax" machines. They make facsimiles.

[@kozkozof]

This is, by far, the best Q+A on this channel. So much valuable insight. Thank you Adam.

[@Lamadesbois]

I really liked the fact that you took fewer questions but treated them more in depth. Thank you, I now know a little bit more about these topics 😊

[@overdriff]

The advice on how up be a professional musician is pure gold !!! (Be a good hang, develop emotional intelligence and find your community) Thank you for this 💚

[@the9file]

2:39 I’ve always heard this word pronounced “fak simile”. As in simile, when 2 things are compared using “like” or “as”.

[@dghinderliter]

This is correct, and where the word "fax" comes from

[@thezpn]

Also, the last pronunciation of Luddite is most correct. Comes from the name Ludd.

[@THEDRAWINGSTUDIO1]

Saw you and the Sungazers band play last weekend. It was a wonderful experience!

[@justinsayavong5699]

Thanks for the amount of content you've been putting out

[@checktheneck]

A computer cannot replace a human being as long as there is the human being who cannot be replaced by another human being. If you have at least one such person in your life, then you understand how true this statement is.

[@JosephIovescu]

As a professional, working visual artist noticing the rise in AI art these past couple months, I think the majority of artists more so are irritated with it’s marketing as a replacement of professional artists rather than as a tool for artists. Having AIs “learn” on databases of licensed/copyrighted artwork made by living concept artists, where the OG artists receive no compensation or credit, makes the entire situation seem more like executives and studio heads just want to receive content and never pay the artists. A lot of these AI concepts even pick up entire sections of peoples artwork and basically plagiarize them. I can be inspired by other people’s work, sure, but if I started tracing entire sections of my favorite artists line for line, most people would call me out for stealing someone’s work, and rightfully so. If I write a song that’s inspired by Sungazer’s playing style, that’s fair game, but if I start just taking bass lines and merely transplant them into a slightly modified song, I think it would be kinda scummy. We can argue all day if this is real art or real music, but what’s far more important is the effect is has financially on working artists. If your albums were fed into a learning model (without compensation), and then that learning model was marketed as “Hey, you can ‘make’ a song in the style of Adam Neely,,” it’s not really a tool meant to benefit you, the artist, anymore, like MIDI or recorded music, or photoshop and 3D programs for visual artists - it’s meant explicitly to replace you.

[@michaelroche4559]

Fascinating topic. Love your channel.

[@stefanbogner6237]

Always always like your videos and mainly the thoughts behind. Said as an amateur bass player with ambitions. Keep up your output, be there for us. Thank you.

[@BenLevin]

Next time, please let me render the fairy dust, I will make it look like actual fairy not fake (rolling my eyes and sighing at the realization that I've lost my way.)

[@teagancombest6049]

What does an actual fairy look like lol

[@treyhudson73]

Took nearly 49 years for me to understand why I've always been attracted to the bass and bass instruments. You can create a "chord progression" just by changing the bass notes! Thank you, man. I've never fully understood what it was until I heard you say it so simply.

[@samueldufresne3929]

Thanks Adam, great stuff!!

[@WellenlaengeVT]

Thanks for the video. Seeing all kinds of questions, beginner and advanced, being answered in an equal way is really cool. Me as a technician sometimes have a hard time being a good hang. I'm not one of the tribe and usually only get recognised when something goes wrong. But I'm working on it...

[@RussPaladino]

Anthony Jackson plays every Saturday nights at a place in Brooklyn called Tambour. Other amazing musicians play there as well. Great place, great hang, and lots of open jamming opportunities. I highly recommend it.

[@ideitbawxproductions1880]

7:13 best explanation ever! Especially if a song is based in a 3- or 4-chord loop, it's great to drop a note lower than the root to extend a chord, or to play the 3rd or 5th and make it an inversion. Some musicians love me for it... others hate me for it. Well, if all I wanted to do was stick with roots, I'd be a tree

[@zacharywong483]

Really nice Q & A as always Adam! Nice details mentioned on swing!

[@paulpaul00]

As always, a lot of truth and wisdom here. Thanks, Adam!

[@thomassciaroni6942]

I read an interview with a representative of The Jazz Ambassadors where he said they welcome robot overlords, robots who are programmed to improvise jazz, to guest with the group. They're pretty good players and probably have awesome guest artists.

[@LeavinMyTown]

I realised this a few month ago: Music competitions (and by extension, music critics) are integral to musical traditions, whether it's classical piano competitions or Irish traditional competitions. The critic and the competition are policing the edges of genre, and it's those edges that themselves define the style. That's probably why Stravinsky hated music critics. He was trying to extend what could be done within the classical tradition whilst contemporary critics were policing the very same edges he was working with.

[@vvbbnn6953]

always luv the vids

[@TheBassKitty]

Amazing advice! So much ch solid and really true gems in here! This is one to share. Thanks so much for the words of wisdom

[@BlackRootsUNLIMITED]

Anthony Jackson is The Electric Bass G.O.A.T, The High Priest of Bass Guitar playing 👌🏿 I've watched that interview so many times and man, did he nail that point! Greetings from Uganda 🇺🇬👊🏿🖤

[@JoelSalazarM]

This was a particullarly good video, Adam. You are at the top of your game here.

[@underduckbro]

I agree he made a lot of really great points that can’t really be profited on like “be a good hang and be emotionally intelligent” or the difference between pro and amateur is pro’s get paid.

[@antiphon000]

Even though he mispronounced multiple words lmao he's had better than this

[@underduckbro]

@@antiphon000 sometimes it’s ok to whiff a note if it’s musical. More than often people don’t fuck up the words but can’t offer this level of insight. Substance > delivery

[@JoelSalazarM]

@@antiphon000 pronunciation is irrelevant. Ideas are king.

[@cbrot2001]

I literally watched Hal Galpers masterclass this week. Super enlightening

[@CharlesHardingA]

This was delightful and had so many great insights

[@overtone55]

Just want to shoutout the jukebox project that you mention here. I was a sound technician for some plays in highschool (around 2016) and I used some of their tracks as background music. You could generate songs by mood. It was easy to get and loyalty free. I actually thought they completely shut down but looks like they relaunched.

[@kimioops]

SynthV AI is an interesting program for synthesized singing already! Previously the pitch bends of the midi track the synthesizer voice uses had to be edited by hand (a human one) but now the program can 'calculate' realistic pitch bends and other parameters like breathiness. It's some super cool stuff and there's examples where the ""singers""" sound close to real singers.

[@RafaelXavierOcc]

it's been a long time since I watched a video from you, and It is alway so nice to hear your thoughts on any musical subject. Thank you, I consider you as one of my teachers haha

[@nagyesszep]

you are incredibly wise and explain things incredibly well. especially about "playing the game" which applies to many other parts of life as well. I wish someone explained things to me like this when I was young. you are doing a god's work, keep it up :)

[@noturbiz4670]

AI will inevitably be able to create very good music that is indistinguishable from human music in the near future or even better. But what scares me the most is when it will totally kill the creative music industry because the majority of listeners will prefer to listen to AI generated music instead or real music. What's even worse, humans will claim the credit for the music that is generated by the AI while real artists will struggle because the AI will not only have the power to create very good music but also understand what humans want to listen to and incorporate it in it's generated music. As a musician who works so hard on his music this makes me depressed and anxious. I will never settle for AI even for aiding me in the creative process. Past brilliant musicians not only didn't have AI but they also didn't have the digital tools we have today. I'm sure these musicians wouldn't want their hard work to be used to train a machine to create music as good as theirs in the future.

[@Currywurst4444]

Maybe its not inevitable. I find it strange that there isnt good AI music so far. We basically mastered speech already (except long term memory) and I always had the impression that music has a lot of similarities with speech.

[@nubbyy]

There's optimistic and pessimistic views on this but ultimately there's a lot of assuming going on too. It's too early to say what will become of AI music and how it will shape the future of the music industry.

[@stevedotwav]

In this video: Adam uses words he's only ever read and not heard out loud 😂

[@stevedotwav]

*This isn't meant to be derisive, just noting it as a mark of someone who reads a lot

[@ricobarth]

@@stevedotwav I came looking for this comment. I'd love to know who caught the facsimile moment.

[@antiphon000]

@@stevedotwav It should be derisive, his job is to present information. If he's not sure about a word, he should look up how to pronounce it, rather than just read it off wherever the hell he's reading it from.

[@ricobarth]

@@antiphon000 Get over yourself. This happens when you ARE sure of how to pronounce a word, but you're wrong.

[@colins2]

@@ricobarth Most people, I would guess. I used to work with a guy back in the 80s who insisted on pronouncing it fassimile and nothing would change his mind 🙂

[@lvciferkaminski]

I laughed, loudly, many times. Thanks! Awesome Q&A!

[@_purble]

Love your perspective on music criticism. Really puts into perspective where they are and are not important. To extend this idea out a bit, presumably how much an artist needs to pay attention to music critics tracks with how much they prioritise popularity and commercial success.

[@karawethan]

Music is probably the ONE area where I feel optimistic regarding AI. It will mark a transition (or rather, return back) to understanding music primarily as a social activity rather than a consumable product. AI will render recorded music basically obselete; imagine ultra high quality music being composed IN REAL TIME based on your personal preferences! But AI cannot replace the experience of live music, of flesh-and-blood people interacting with physical instruments.

[@ultiopersimulta1441]

I graduated as a concept artist very recently, and I just started feeling like Im approaching professional level rendering. Seeing how easily I could be replaced by AI is insanely discouraging.

[@gnoccialpesto]

Don't worry yet, you'll find a way. Middle-aged persons as I - when not in civil service, or ensconced in management or somesuch horse manure - are completely f**ked.

[@jaxfilm]

you’re right to be feeling that way! there will be changes in all art industries due to AI. the question is how do we adapt to those changes. in your case, maybe this just means that to make money, you switch over to a consulting/creative management role. because i think people will still value people for their inherent creativity. so instead of you directly making the concept art, you’re working with a team to develop a concept and then have the AI execute it.

[@kevinhellon4348]

The pundits were sure that photography would replace artists. I don’t see this as a threat.

[@jaxfilm]

@@kevinhellon4348 you’re right. will there be less commercial/paid artists due to AI? yes, sure. but will human-made art as a whole die? no, of course not. there will always be a niche community who will support human art. like how analog media still has a niche following today. digital cameras didn’t replace film cameras. streaming music didn’t replace CDs and vinyl. maybe humans will just become the “analog” version of art.

[@VeganSemihCyprus33]

The Connections (2021) [short documentary] 🔥🔥🔥

[@hekero]

This video was insightful. Thanks!

[@flix5121]

yoooo did you just cut out my favourite part of the intro?? i loved that triplet, bring it back, please!

[@rohiogerv22]

On the "whole tone scale" question, one way that I like is the way Debussy seemed to use it in his more accessible pieces-thinking of Doctor Gradus in particular-which is sort of as the climax of a series of raised tones (sharps). You might start in major, and then you start throwing in the secondary dominants that imply even sharper scales, raising and raising until you burst through into the whole tone scale. It's kind of like the culmination of "major chords extending beyond their limits" until you completely lose track of a tonal center.

[@Whatismusic123]

all of debussy is accessible

[@rohiogerv22]

@@Whatismusic123 Debussy's music is all great, but play Syrinx for a college freshman in Music Education with no introduction.

[@Whatismusic123]

@@rohiogerv22 most of debussy is not great, subpar compared to composers before him. Impressionism is impossible.

[@rohiogerv22]

@@Whatismusic123 oh, you're one of those

[@Whatismusic123]

@@rohiogerv22 never heard of someone describing the use of factual statements as being "one of those"

[@finnigandc2979]

Tim Pierce is a great resource regarding the social "good hang" aspect of being a professional musician, and someone who really echos how important it is.

[@migzcuad]

this is the best IG Q&A yet!

[@ArtamisBot]

This is one of my favorite new episodes

[@usinganear]

It'll be interesting to see for sure. It's amazing what has already happened with *visual* art like Midjourney and DALL-E as you mentioned, AI can come up with some really convincing and inspiring things, especially with some mild manipulation by a human. From what I've heard from AI generated music-- Some things "work" diatonically and are somewhat convincing, but there isn't really any semblance of cohesion, rhythm, motifs.. The human touch is definitely lost a little more on music than visual art, at least at the moment. I think the worries everyone already has with sample packs, sampling, etc., is no more or less of a threat to "real" music as AI. Also, music is often very much a "live" experience. I imagine AI could provide some kind of visual "experience" in the future, but people love seeing other people play instruments (despite common belief amongst music people). I don't think we have much to worry about, and some of the AI generated visual art I've seen has been super inspiring and fascinating. I'm sure it's contributions to the music world will be similar. Who knows what you might end up liking, or might end up influencing you in your own work?

[@VeganSemihCyprus33]

Dominion (2018)

[@areyoujelton]

Watch Anonymous’s video on AI created images. What Dall-e is doing is like N64 compared to what military/Hollywood has which is like living in The Matrix. There was even a study about people trying to pick out photos of real people amongst AI generated images and the results are surprising. I wouldn’t be surprised if this whole reality is already a simulation.

[@MOJSTER99]

As an artist, dalle and all that, it's nonsense. It can't make art, it just impersonates and mimicry is not the point of art and it hasn't been since the renaissance

[@thezipcreator]

@@MOJSTER99 idk I consider the things it makes as art, since I experience them as artistic. of course, that doesn't mean they should be in the same category as human art (same way chess games with AI aren't in the same category as ones with humans; you wouldn't put Stockfish in a human chess tournament) but I think they should be considered art to some extent

[@louis2271]

"mimicry is not the point of art" I wouldn't be so sure about that... Learning art is all about mimicry until you can create something "fresh" and "new"... But what exactly do we call "fresh" and "new"? It must have a certain degree of familiarity to appear as art and not just garbage... the easiest (only?) way to create a new "genre" is to mix up stuff, that's totally something an AI can do. I think the advantage we still have for now and at least for the... 2 next years..., is we can mix our life experience into our art, which an AI can't do, it can only mix art with other art. Btw about Dalle and stuff the latest advance is that you can now input image to guide the generation, so you can transform your house into a fantasy one or just give the composition of a painting you made up and let the AI do its magic to make it look good. To me it shows that the AI is not just copying random stuff seen on internet, it really *creates* stuff. Some of it has never been drawn by any human. Should this count as mimicry? Last thing, AI is evolving at an incredibly fast pace. As for 2019, nobody could say that only two years later computer would be able to generate an image based on a simple prompt. The technology behind the latest dalle, called "diffusion process", only got popular last year! So now imagine what we'll have in three years.

[@jasper3706]

Every time there's a panic over technology "replacing" artists, it turns out all it did was make the artform more accessible. Recorded songs allowing people to listen without a band playing, synths allowing people without much musical experience to make songs, digital animation reducing workload for animators, etc. We never devalue the old art, only elevate the new one- nobody has ever scoffed at a drummer in a concert because a machine can do the same thing. So I think the panic is misplaced. We won't stop valuing human artists, but will learn to also value things like good programming, curation, and the way the artist picks out and works with elements of the AI's art. It's been honestly pretty exciting as a visual artist to see paintings and read next to them "AI and painting" or to see a great piece of art and read the artist talk about how they used an AI generated piece as a reference. We're entering an exciting new era, and I don't think we should be scared of that.

[@6thdim]

As an AI developer I completely agree. There’s not enough people who understand this and instead panic and say AI bad, AI is turning us into the WALL-E characters. It’s so frustrating

[@sevvv2929]

​@@6thdim I'm actually curious. How will ai not replace humans at music, just like visual artists? To be honest, my knowledge of ai is pretty limited but from what I've seen, the future for musicians on the internet is pretty gloom (live and show musicians wont get affected from ai I'm pretty sure). I have already seen a lot of ai (AudioGen for example) getting closer to creating pretty convincing sounds (although not music). I'm sure ai can be helpful but I'm also very scared of getting my passion ruined by a group of ai programmers who may not understand how much this will affect us musicians.

[@iseeu-fp9po]

@@sevvv2929 Yes, that's how I feel too. There will come a time when you can't distinguish between AI-generated art and human-made art and when that happens, well... how will that change how we view art? I'm not going to be interested in a set of algorithms, I wan't to know that it came from another human being. AI taking art from us makes me feel depressed not "excited". Notice how that guy didn't answer you.

[@althejazzman]

I also became a bass player because of the importance of the role of bass in a band situation. You absolutely can control the chord and feel of the music.

[@clairewestrop8606]

Super helpful and inspiring! :D

[@TheJoergenDK]

I once heard a drummer who had four different things going: One of his instruments was ahead of time at some beats, one was mostly straight on the beat, one was slightly slow and one was definitely hanging. And it was slow and soooo swinging! _ It was at a jazz club, by the way.

[@jtowey14]

This is something I've been thinking about since seeing that digital art piece which won a state fair art competition that was made by an ai software a few weeks back. Also what makes me nervous is finding those 10hr djent albums that honestly go ham and play amazingly technical patterns and the timing syncopation between guitar and drums is insane/arguably perfect as it's lined up in perfect tempo. These music algorithms will definitely make novice musicians feel somewhat subpar I think.

[@grimaffiliations3671]

check out two minute papers video on stable difussion dale - 2. It's pretty wild

[@SashaTorrMusic]

9:53 Absolutely funkin agreed. Thank you, great content as always.

[@chrisfguitar]

Soul Station really is a rosetta stone of feel and vocabulary in this music.

[@orangecatactually]

"If a master musician critiqued my craft, I would enormous respect for their critique, because they practice the same craft that I do, music. If a master music critic critiqued my craft, I would not give a * *BASS* * whatsoever, because they practice music criticism, not music." -Adam Neely, 2022

[@jonunderscore]

Neither critique should be paid attention to imo.

[@orangecatactually]

@@jonunderscore if john mayer told me my guitar playing was actual crap, i would listen and try to get better.

[@jonunderscore]

@@orangecatactually I wouldn't

[@paradox9551]

@@jonunderscore Fixed mindset, you will never improve.

[@jonunderscore]

@@paradox9551 Quite the opposite, you have to transcend your influences and even disappoint them to break new ground.

[@bobmarvin7498]

Great topic. Music will certainly change, but I'm interested to see how we adapt. As an old guy, I remember the 1980's drum machine panic, but that has given us over the years, live breakbeat and dillabeat techniques, as well as the ability to play different instrument emulations just by hitting stuff...

[@BillyMcBride]

Drum machines are good for those who play other instruments and want to keep playing with different beats if we do not have drummers available.

[@bobmarvin7498]

@@BillyMcBride and multi-pad/sound modules are good for drummers who want to add melody if we do not have other instruments available...

[@BillyMcBride]

It makes me wonder if AI music critics will ever be of use to any musician...

[@Idiomatick]

@@BillyMcBride prescreening new songs?

[@RobertVincelli]

Great video as always Adam!

[@DrummerTomma]

Awesome! Absolutely nailed it - like everytime! :D

[@Doctormix]

This was awesome!! I love how articulate you are. And your comments on tech are spot on 💥 We nearly met at NAMM, hope to meet you soon 🙌

[@lukelouis4080]

Ciao Doctor Mix!

[@lukelouis4080]

Seguo i tuoi video sei un musicista fenomenale Saluti dall'Italia

[@talonthehand]

I appreciate whenever I can tell when a person learns a word via reading instead of via speech. Facsimile is pronounced fak-sim-uh-lee, not fas-i-mil-es

[@dkerwood1]

I never miss the opportunity to reference obsolete technology, so a "fax" machine takes its name from the fact that it transmits a "facsimile" (fax-imile) of the original document. #TheMoreYouKnow

[@teagancombest6049]

No it absolutely isn't

[@Idiomatick]

I used to say SUB-TUHL ....subtle.

[@johnthompson5741]

@@teagancombest6049 but it is though

[@nelsonglover3963]

@@teagancombest6049 it absolutely is

[@pataki2666]

Yes. And no cuts in the breadline!

[@burning_KFC]

As always writing a comment to support the channel

[@erroredhacker]

Tech master student that plays music consistently since a teen and had a fever phase with CGI. A very measured and sober take on the situation, and what I would also predict personally: a lot of chores in the process can now become monkey clicking and enable a lot of amateurs to get into the scene, but the fine handiwork still done by a (reduced) amount of people with the specialized knowledge to make a difference. Though consumers are trite and illiterate, I wouldn't rely on them to be able to tell the difference. Financial future of small indie scale artists is definitely on the line.

[@StarQueenEstrella]

One pneumonic I’d heard fellow drummers use for faster swing tempos was “walk the dog”. But that can cause some confusion with what the bass is meant to play.

[@unsightedmetal6857]

The above reply is a bot

[@StarQueenEstrella]

@@unsightedmetal6857 yeah, I know

[@Gigasadge]

Great advice on getting into music :)

[@calvinducharme]

Adam Neely I love you

[@thedrummerdude2431]

I see AI as a tool rather than a replacement. Look at how AI is being utilised with the latest Beatles Revolver remixes to separate 2 track recordings into full 8+ multi tracks that sound incredible and impossible to do otherwise

[@bryanchandler3486]

link?

[@thedrummerdude2431]

@@bryanchandler3486 Variety interviewed Giles Martin about it this week

[@leojosepila3005]

Your answer about critics is really an eye-opener to me. As a musician, when a great musician critics your work vs when a listener critics your work hit differently. Thank you for this wonderful content.

[@BirthQuakeRecords]

I’ve been missing these.

[@seth_piano]

It is through DAWs and piano rolls that I'm learning the intracies of swing :) To play something in through MIDI, quantize it, change the tempo, change the velocity, and just "sculpt" the sound while being able to visualize what I'm hearing in the piano roll is EXACTLY what I need to help me engage with the concept of swing (and really any other performance style) in a way that just wasn't possible before. So, I'm quite happy with the current state of music technology since it's actually helping me do music better than I would without it. I can only trust that whatever comes next will continue to help. No use in being scared of it!

[@ghost79ish]

I can barely call myself a jazz musician, as I'm pretty useless when it comes to reading music. However, as long as things remain in common time signatures (namely 4\4, 3\4 and 6\8) it seems fairly easy to swing. Perhaps I'm just lucky that this type of rhythm comes fairly naturally to me, but I'm not convinced that it takes much formal study's. Just being exposed to swing music and practing a bit seems to be enough. I would even go as far as arguing that swung rhythms are actually easier to play than "straight" rhythms simply because they add some room to breathe a bit. Of course this is pretty subjective and I'm sure a lot of people will disagree, and that's cool too.

[@thebkstank2095]

I've always liked the rough quote of "writing about music is like dancing about architecture."

[@quartzofcourse]

Idk man the Sears tower always makes me feel 💃🕺👯💃

[@mutatedart]

This was an excellent video.

[@harrylane4]

That point about music criticism being a craft for the consumer of music rather than for the musician is such a good take, I never thought about it that way

[@sveinnsigururolafsson8314]

If you make only something generic, yes. I have seen some interesting things from AI. But i think AI will actually become more of a tool to anyone more innovative. Ive heard AI make vocals that sounded like famous singers, just more glitched. Imagine making a song where you combine your favorite singers into a supergroup. I also think it might be a way to get inspiration. A way to combine things and see what happens. Much faster process and more likely to find happy accidents . I think though that if you think the market is flooded now, just wait till AI is more prevalent. :) But we musicians have always faced challenges and it never has killed the love of making music.

[@Audiostoke1]

Well said, the music that will matter will be from the people that use ai as a tool to help them create something truly innovative and not just small derivative works being recombination's of what has been done. In the areas of combining Spatial Audio, Brainwave Entrainment, Neural network based Generative music, Brain Machine Interfaces and other Methods to actualise ideas like Tone Transfer etc

[@sveinnsigururolafsson8314]

@@Audiostoke1 Thanks, yeah we are heading into interesting times. Lets hope they sound interesting too. :D

[@sveinnsigururolafsson8314]

@@Cue-Ball. I personally just sing myself and have a few singers i use.

[@elizabethkirton6063]

Ngl, Stravinsky was so up his own ass that he basically held the audience to the same regard. An incredbily talented and technical composer, but god damn, he's not a great guy to look at for grounded ideas. This is also why we love him though!

[@mikecaetano]

Thanks for the passage on swing. So few people seem to get it anymore.

[@Supardanil]

ayyy love the little Rotem shoutout in the background 🎸🤙😎

[@flekkzo]

I don’t think we can disconnect production advances (be it goods or services) and the concept of post scarcity. Basically, if Adam Neely no longer needs to work for a living (i.e. no competition for the resources he needs) and AI can create music left and right, would Adam Neely still play the bass, perform, and talk about music? I don’t worry about improved production, we are all going to be obsolete in that chain eventually, I worry about society. It would be very interesting to hear a creative speak about post scarcity (after giving it some good thoughts first). Got no clue what post scarcity is? Don’t want to look it up? Think Star Trek (the good ones) or The Orville. No money, replicators, and people doing what they love (music, exploring the galaxy, finding hot alien women) rather than living the grind.

[@MrSyncope]

Yeah lol, they claimed that we will be all making music and creating artworks after the mega rich got out of their predicament by paying universal basic income... But as it turns out AI is actually replacing the creative monkeys by stealing their labor. Gonna be a dystopian nightmare

[@Syffsy]

I feel like AI-generated art (both visual and aural) is gonna get hit with some copyright laws sooner or later, like sampling did. The neural networks have to have a database to be trained on, right? If that required licensing, I think that would cut some of the bigger concerns regarding "AI-generated art" replacing anybody who does creative work; other people couldn't just automate an album trained on Sungazer's music without getting a license from you, but you'd still be free to use AI neural networks as part of your own creative process.

[@titsbitchmcgee7502]

I'm surprised more people aren't bring this up. I imagine court proceedings will be complicated, as AI programmers likely don't have exact records of what art/music was assimilated into the learning process. If there's any justice in the world though, these companies will take a supreme court gavel up the ass for all the art/music they used without so much as giving credit.

[@231WAFFLES]

you could compose and record music that sounds like sungazer without violating copyright laws. how would an AI doing it be any different?

[@Syffsy]

Composing and recording your own music requires a certain amount of labor, both in the final performances and developing the pre-requisite skills. If you're willing to put your own time and energy into that, fair enough! But training an AI on the results of somebody else's labor is ripping them off.

[@231WAFFLES]

@@Syffsy arts not about labor its about making cool/beautiful stuff. you can put thousands of hours into something and it can still suck. inversely theres probably classic beloved songs that were written in under an hour.

[@Syffsy]

​@@231WAFFLES There's an old saying about how overnight successes take years: while classic beloved songs can be written in under an hour, the ability to write something classic in under an hour can take a lifetime of practice, first. You don't just pay for the gig, you pay for the training it took to get there. But regardless of whether it takes one hour or a thousand, whether it's beloved or objectively garbage, the result of your creative work is YOURS, and somebody else directly copying from it without so much as crediting you for it is simply wrong. And while we like to compare neural networks to human creativity, they just aren't the same thing. AIs' datasets containing copyrighted works is a problem.

[@kowloonbroadcast]

man, that was the best take on the “why bass” question I’ve seen from anyone in my entire life loool.

[@BenCaesar]

11:54 is probably the best summation of these worlds we have to navigate. Adam is really one of the greatest youtubers.

[@colosalblack]

The way I see it, there will always be a demand for live music. No machine will ever match the nuance and musicianship of a trained muscian. It's like with the boston dynamics robots. I'm sure in a few years (if it doesn't already exist) they'll design a humanoid robot that can outrun Usain Bolt. Would you rather see a robot programmed to run or a human made of flesh going as fast as humanly possible?

[@swiatlowiekuiste]

Yeah machine can beat humans in every game like chess and so what‽ People are still playing

[@user-er8le9hn6v]

I misread the title as "Weird Al replaces human musicians". Was confused as to the biological designation of Weird Al, but open to the concept.

[@standingwavestudio]

Was in NYC this summer and was going to check out Smalls. Until I saw that Ron Carter and Geoffrey Keezer were doing some shows at Mezzrow. That was so cool!

[@SimarJSingh]

Well, for the first time i am ever listening to this guy and i don't really know much about him, but yeah after watching the video i am so satisfied with his answers than i was ever for getting the answers to my thoughts. Thanks man, definitely loved your views on the AI and music marketing stuff