AI Helps Make a Beatles 'Last Record'
2023-06-17
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1Beatles' cofounder Paul McCartney said this week that artificial intelligence (AI) has recaptured the voice of former Beatles member John Lennon from old recordings. Lennon was murdered in 1980.
2Music that includes Lennon's voice from the past will become what McCartney calls "the last Beatles record."
3The 80 year-old artist spoke to the BBC.
4He said the AI technology was used to separate the band members' voices from background sounds in an old recording.
5Film director Peter Jackson was making a documentary series about the band at the time.
6The series, The Beatles: Get Back, came out in 2021.
7McCartney told BBC radio that Jackson was able to separate Lennon's voice from the musical sounds in the recording.
8"He could separate them with AI, he'd tell the machine 'That's a voice, this is a guitar, lose the guitar'."
9He added, "We were able to take John's voice and get it pure through this AI so then we could mix the record as you would do.
10McCartney did not identify the name of the demo song that Jackson used for the process.
11But the BBC and others said it was likely to be an unfinished 1978 love song by Lennon called Now and Then.
12The demo was included on a cassette with the words "For Paul."
13The BBC reported that McCartney had gotten the cassette from Lennon's wife, Yoko Ono.
14McCartney described AI technology as "kind of scary but exciting."
15Last year, the same technology permitted McCartney to sing a virtual duet with Lennon.
16The performance took place at the Glastonbury Festival in Britain.
17Holly Herndon is an artist with a doctorate in composition from Stanford University in California.
18She used AI machine technology on her last album, 2019's Proto.
19She suggested that the Beatles' recording was likely created using a process called "source separation."
20"Source separation has become easier to do with machine learning," Herndon said.
21The process lets a user take a voice from a recording and isolate it so that it can be paired with new music, she explained.
22That differs from a deepfake vocal.
23"A deepfake is an entirely new vocal line," she said.
24It comes from a machine learning model trained on old vocal lines, Herndon said.
25McCartney is set to open a show later this month at the National Portrait Gallery in London of his private photographs.
26He took them took during the early days of the Beatles at the start of "Beatlemania," when the band rose to worldwide fame.
27The show is called Eyes of the Storm.
28It includes more than 250 photos McCartney took between 1963 and 1964.
29They include pictures of Ringo Starr, George Harrison and Lennon, as well as Beatles manager Brian Epstein.
30I'm Caty Weaver.
1Beatles' cofounder Paul McCartney said this week that artificial intelligence (AI) has recaptured the voice of former Beatles member John Lennon from old recordings. Lennon was murdered in 1980. 2Music that includes Lennon's voice from the past will become what McCartney calls "the last Beatles record." 3The 80 year-old artist spoke to the BBC. He said the AI technology was used to separate the band members' voices from background sounds in an old recording. Film director Peter Jackson was making a documentary series about the band at the time. The series, The Beatles: Get Back, came out in 2021. 4McCartney told BBC radio that Jackson was able to separate Lennon's voice from the musical sounds in the recording. "He could separate them with AI, he'd tell the machine 'That's a voice, this is a guitar, lose the guitar'." 5He added, "We were able to take John's voice and get it pure through this AI so then we could mix the record as you would do. 6McCartney did not identify the name of the demo song that Jackson used for the process. But the BBC and others said it was likely to be an unfinished 1978 love song by Lennon called Now and Then. The demo was included on a cassette with the words "For Paul." The BBC reported that McCartney had gotten the cassette from Lennon's wife, Yoko Ono. 7McCartney described AI technology as "kind of scary but exciting." 8Last year, the same technology permitted McCartney to sing a virtual duet with Lennon. The performance took place at the Glastonbury Festival in Britain. 9Holly Herndon is an artist with a doctorate in composition from Stanford University in California. She used AI machine technology on her last album, 2019's Proto. She suggested that the Beatles' recording was likely created using a process called "source separation." 10"Source separation has become easier to do with machine learning," Herndon said. The process lets a user take a voice from a recording and isolate it so that it can be paired with new music, she explained. 11That differs from a deepfake vocal. "A deepfake is an entirely new vocal line," she said. It comes from a machine learning model trained on old vocal lines, Herndon said. 12McCartney is set to open a show later this month at the National Portrait Gallery in London of his private photographs. He took them took during the early days of the Beatles at the start of "Beatlemania," when the band rose to worldwide fame. 13The show is called Eyes of the Storm. It includes more than 250 photos McCartney took between 1963 and 1964. They include pictures of Ringo Starr, George Harrison and Lennon, as well as Beatles manager Brian Epstein. 14I'm Caty Weaver. 15The Associated Press reported this story. Caty Weaver adapted the report for VOA Learning English. 16_______________________________________________________________ 17Words in This Story 18demo -n. a recording intended to show off a song or performer to a record producer 19cassette -n. a container holding film, photographic plates, or magnetic tape 20scary -adj. causing fright 21exciting -adj. producing excitement 22virtual -adj. being on or simulated through a computer or computer network 23duet -n. a composition for two performers 24composition -n. the writing of music 25___________________________________________________________________ 26What do you think of this story? 27We want to hear from you. We have a new comment system. Here is how it works: 28Each time you return to comment on the Learning English site, you can use your account and see your comments and replies to them. Our comment policy is here.