Now and Then: How AI Enabled a Beatles Masterpiece Across Time
Image credits: Jayssan via Shutterstock
It’s easy to focus on the negatives of technology, including for machine learning and AI in all its flavors.
But I think it’s important that we recognize when technology help us achieve something that would otherwise be impossible. I was reminded of this as I sat in the sunshine on my couch and fired up Now and Then, what is likely to be the last “true” song from The Beatles.
The Enduring and Beloved Music of The Beatles
I’m a huge Beatles fan (take a look below at some AI art I created using iconic Beatles images and an avatar of myself). Where does my love come from? It’s not just those catchy hooks that acquire more depth as you come back to them year after year, as you age and the world changes around you. Or the way the relationships among the Fab Four bleed into the music, so that you’re hearing lives along with harmonies and lyricism. Or the transformation that happens when you play their guitar lines, their piano scores, and discover the physicality that roots the listening experience. Or even their endless risk taking, across genres and technologies, even to the point of questioning the very substance and reality of this thing we call “music”.
The Magic of Demixing: How AI Separated John's Voice from an Old Demo Track
In case you missed the headlines in late 2023, here’s the basic story. Beatle Paul McCartney tapped Peter Jackson (of Lord of the Rings movie fame) and his team to use AI to separate John Lennon’s voice from a problematic demo track that Lennon recorded back in the 1970s. That “demixing” AI technology had set the stage for Jackson’s Get Back miniseries from 2021. Then, McCartney and Ringo Starr, the other surviving member of The Beatles, used Lennon’s separated vocals to make a new recording of Now and Then.
A World Made Better by Music--and Tech: Why This New Beatles Song Matters
Did the world really need another Beatles song … particularly this one? Debatable.
But Jackson’s algorithm did more than drop a new track. It gave a son back his father’s voice. It gave Paul and Ringo a few more hours and days to be with the men who helped make their lives—and their lives’ work.
This algorithm also brought more love into the world. That’s why I cried as I listened to the song and watched the “making of” video. Our world—our messy, hurtful, terrifying, hopeful, awe-inspiring, and utterly unique world—is a little bit better with this bit of music in it. That’s thanks to the decades of efforts by the artists, musicians, family members, and friends. But it’s also thanks to the engineers, coders, and yes, bits and bytes that made possible the final resurrection of John’s voice.
Today, I’m grateful for algorithms.
