With our regular columnist, local musician Dr Michael Whiticker
I’VE recently stumbled into something that’s quietly (and not so quietly) reshaping the way I approach music: Artificial Intelligence.
It’s still early days for me, but the impact it’s already having on my creative process is too interesting not to share.
AI is now part of just about every corner of music-making.
Whether you’re working in pop, folk, jazz, film scoring, or more experimental styles, it’s there, reshaping how things are done. The interesting part is that there’s no rulebook.
Each artist decides how much they want AI involved in their process. Up until recently, many of us only used it in fairly limited ways—tuning a vocal, tightening a mix, or helping with mastering.
All helpful, of course, but fairly behind-the-scenes. That’s changing quickly. The tools are becoming more creative, and so are the expectations.
In my home studio, I’ve started to notice a shift.
Artists I work with are now asking for AI to be part of the process. It’s no longer a novelty—it’s becoming a standard option.
I’ll hear things like, “Can you add a duelling banjo part to this track?” or “Can you turn this acoustic song into a rap version?”
These kinds of requests used to mean hours of arranging, recording, and experimenting.
Now, AI can jump in as a creative partner and help bring those ideas to life much more quickly.
Perhaps to some it is replacing the works of musicians—but a positive way of imagining it is as an expanding of what’s possible.
Coming from a background as a trained composer and producer, but being new to AI, I’ve found the last few days especially fascinating.
One exercise I’ve been enjoying is revisiting older pieces of mine—tracks I’d to a large degree finished with—and feeding them into an AI system to be reimagined.
Asking for a remix, a cover, or even a style shift has produced some surprisingly fresh results.
It’s like collaborating with a new artist who hears your music in a completely different way.
Suddenly, ideas I had put aside or others that I thought were “done”, feel alive again.
For anyone thinking of exploring this space, one approach that seems promising is to create a distinct sound or identity.
You could even give it a name—treat it like a musical persona.
Some AI tools allow you to generate a singer or train a voice model based on your own voice.
For singer-songwriters, that’s an exciting development.
Imagine being able to experiment with different vocal styles while still keeping something uniquely yours at the core.
Of course, it’s not all upside. Cost is something to consider.
The program I’ve started using is $50 a month, and if you start adding other tools (which is tempting, given their different strengths), it can add up quickly. Like any new technology, there’s an investment involved.
That said, I’m genuinely excited to see where this goes. I’m still opening doors and figuring things out, but it feels like a creative space worth exploring.
If you’re experimenting with AI in music too—or even just curious—I’d love to hear your thoughts.