"Melatonin": A Case Study on AI-induced Musical Style

TL;DR

This paper presents a case study analyzing how AI tools, specifically BassNet, influence musical style in a song called 'Melatonin', providing insights into AI's impact on music production.

Contribution

It offers a detailed analysis of AI-assisted music creation, highlighting style characteristics and the influence of AI tool affordances on musical idiom and sound.

Findings

Identification of style features linked to AI tool usage

Insights into AI's role in shaping musical idiom and sound

Analysis of artist workflow with AI tools

Abstract

Although the use of AI tools in music composition and production is steadily increasing, as witnessed by the newly founded AI song contest, analysis of music produced using these tools is still relatively uncommon as a mean to gain insight in the ways AI tools impact music production. In this paper we present a case study of "Melatonin", a song produced by extensive use of BassNet, an AI tool originally designed to generate bass lines. Through analysis of the artists' work flow and song project, we identify style characteristics of the song in relation to the affordances of the tool, highlighting manifestations of style in terms of both idiom and sound.