How AI helped us hear the "final" Beatles song: "It's the closest we'll ever come to having John back in the room"

[Social Media]

 

AI-powered stem separation software was used to lift John Lennon's vocals from a demo tape to create the new version of Now And Then, released yestertday.

 

 

The Beatles release their final song. 45 years in the making, Now And Then features vocals recorded by John Lennon in the '70s and extracted from a demo cassette using AI-powered stem separation technology. 

 

Thanks to advances in stem separation made over the past few years, Peter Jackson (maker of the Get Back documentary series) and a team of engineers were able to extract Lennon's vocal from the demo to be mixed into a new version of the song, featuring newly-recorded bass and drums from Paul and Ringo, and guitar parts George Harrison recorded in 1995.

 

Stem separation software separates recordings containing multiple instruments into their constituent parts, or stems; this made it possible for the producers to integrate Lennon's vocal with other musical elements when mixing the song's new version. When the remaining Beatles first considered recording the demo in 1995, this software didn't yet exist, so the song was shelved.

Stem separation tools utilize a form of machine learning wherein the software is trained using thousands of existing songs to understand and recognize the frequency bands that individual elements of a mix, such as vocals, guitars and drums, typically tend to occupy. 

 

ARTICLE

 

[Crossy]

Official music video here.

 

 

[Crossy]

I'm not a massive fan of the later Beatles stuff but this is obviously going to be a massive hit (and money maker).

 

 

[save the frogs]

song is just so-so for a beatles song with all the masterpieces they have. 

 

i don't know if this is really mccartney busking, but if it is, it's pretty funny.

 

 

[BigStar]

Song kinda meh, but we gotta be thankful. The AI did its job well.

I guess Free As A Bird will stand as the best from the cassette tapes. With the video, it was damn good.

[Celsius]

They did the better job over 20 years ago with Elvis.

[ballpoint]

A short documentary on how it came about...

 

The Beatles - Now And Then - The Last Beatles Song (Short Film) - YouTube

 

 

[thaibeachlovers]

Does anyone really care about a band that used to be famous now?

 

Personally I hated almost everything after they discovered LSD, and just about everything Lennon made after the Beatles died.

 

However, actors and singers  and artists should be marching on every AI machine with pitchforks as it's going to destroy their livelihood. Why bother putting up with petulant bands that think they are special, when a machine can make new songs that sound just like them- likewise for actors, and even painters, writers, glassblowers etc etc etc.

[JayClay]

4 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Does anyone really care about a band that used to be famous now?

 

Are you seriously asking if anybody cares about one of the most famous, if not the absolute most famous, bands to ever have existed?

[OneMoreFarang]

I guess it's about the money.

 

Do Beatle fans, who heard probably over hundred different songs from them, really need an AI version from another song?

Would a real fan be even interested is such thing? 

 

I think it sounds like the newest StarWars movies. They still have the same name but few people who enjoyed the original are interested in the new movies.

[hotandsticky]

5 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

I guess it's about the money.

 

Do Beatle fans, who heard probably over hundred different songs from them, really need an AI version from another song?

Would a real fan be even interested is such thing? 

 

I think it sounds like the newest StarWars movies. They still have the same name but few people who enjoyed the original are interested in the new movies.

 

 

I was/am a fan.

 

I enjoyed the new song, in a light sort of way.. I also enjoyed the film Yesterday.

[OneMoreFarang]

2 minutes ago, hotandsticky said:

I was/am a fan.

 

I enjoyed the new song, in a light sort of way.. I also enjoyed the film Yesterday.

Ok, interesting.

And do you consider it to be a Beatles song?

Or is it just a song which you like, and which maybe somehow sounds like the Beatles? 

[KannikaP]

On 11/4/2023 at 7:46 AM, Crossy said:

Official music video here.

 

 

Great video, except that Macca looks a plonker at 81 years old with bleached blonde hair. But at least he's still got some, as has Lord Starr.

Edited November 5, 2023 by KannikaP

[KannikaP]

9 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Ok, interesting.

And do you consider it to be a Beatles song?

Or is it just a song which you like, and which maybe somehow sounds like the Beatles? 

It 'somehow sounds like The Beatles' because all 4 of them are on it, and it was written by one of them.

The types of songs written by L&M, or individually is so vast.

How about comparing Yesterday and I'm Down, both Macca songs, and, believe it or not, Yesterday was recorded the afternoon after I'm Down.

Helter Skelter and For No One, Glass Onion and Goodnight.

Edited November 5, 2023 by KannikaP

[hotandsticky]

4 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Ok, interesting.

And do you consider it to be a Beatles song?

Or is it just a song which you like, and which maybe somehow sounds like the Beatles? 

 

 

The latter.

 

[save the frogs]

9 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Personally I hated almost everything after they discovered LSD, and just about everything Lennon made after the Beatles died.

No, I like a lot of Lennon's solo work.

 

Sgt Pepper's was basically a coded album trying to popularize LSD. Not a big fan of them pushing drugs on people. 

 

[MrPancake]

 

[BigStar]

A mostly appreciative analysis of technical aspects, including an AI demo, and the musicality of the song:

 

 

In the end he has an issue with the taking of a song belonging to an earlier era and then creating a modern anachronistic production of it. Fair point and a matter of taste, so he stays on the fence. Might be nice to hear what a retro production of it would sound like, but this'll do nicely. Call it a cover version. 😄

 

 

[thaibeachlovers]

On 11/5/2023 at 6:55 PM, JayClay said:

 

Are you seriously asking if anybody cares about one of the most famous, if not the absolute most famous, bands to ever have existed?

Famous means sod all. History is littered with famous people that no one knows or cares about now.

Does anyone offer thanks to Nelson atop his column now, or put flowers on Churchill's grave every year?

 

Anyway, famous or not I didn't like a lot of their stuff, and loathed quite a bit of it. IMO Fleetwood Mac was better, the Stones were better, along with many other bands. While I have Beatles CDs, I haven't actually listened to them in a long while, like 30 years.

The Beatles just happened to be at the right point of time to change popular music, but it was just popular music, not a cure for cancer.

 

You are welcome to care, and I'm sure I care about a lot of things you don't, but don't expect much of the rest of humanity to share your opinion.

[thaibeachlovers]

On 11/5/2023 at 7:25 PM, OneMoreFarang said:

I think it sounds like the newest StarWars movies. They still have the same name but few people who enjoyed the original are interested in the new movies.

That last one with Luke was rubbish as they didn't even obey the laws of the force. They also went woke- an automatic turn off.

However, the one where the two main characters were incinerated at the end was quite good. At least they didn't have Wookies or Jar Jar Binks.

 

The latest Dune movie was a lesson in how sci fi should be done. They seem to be taking too long to come up with the next installment though.

[murphybridget]

Do you like guitar with wooden flute accompaniment? I tried to learn wooden flute as a child and guitar as an adolescent.

[JayClay]

20 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

You are welcome to care, and I'm sure I care about a lot of things you don't, but don't expect much of the rest of humanity to share your opinion.

 

I don't particularly care for the Beatles personally; they were well before my time.

 

But my personal opinion of the band are irrelevant, as are yours, when dissecting the question "Does anyone really care about a band that used to be famous now?"

[thaibeachlovers]

2 hours ago, JayClay said:

 

I don't particularly care for the Beatles personally; they were well before my time.

 

But my personal opinion of the band are irrelevant, as are yours, when dissecting the question "Does anyone really care about a band that used to be famous now?"

IMO no.

[BigStar]

Peter Jackson Said More Beatles Music Is ‘Conceivable’ Via AI After Release Of ‘Now And Then’

 

Whenever anyone asks why I like the Beatles, I say they make me happy. With the world in the state it is, we need the Beatles to appear again, as if a flying saucer has touched down and they’ve got off and are providing us with their one last song to cheer us up.”

[bignok]

On 11/7/2023 at 3:25 PM, thaibeachlovers said:

Famous means sod all. History is littered with famous people that no one knows or cares about now.

Does anyone offer thanks to Nelson atop his column now, or put flowers on Churchill's grave every year?

 

Anyway, famous or not I didn't like a lot of their stuff, and loathed quite a bit of it. IMO Fleetwood Mac was better, the Stones were better, along with many other bands. While I have Beatles CDs, I haven't actually listened to them in a long while, like 30 years.

The Beatles just happened to be at the right point of time to change popular music, but it was just popular music, not a cure for cancer.

 

You are welcome to care, and I'm sure I care about a lot of things you don't, but don't expect much of the rest of humanity to share your opinion.

Hated them too. Maybe 2 or 3 good songs. Van Morrison and Stones miles better.

[BigStar]

On 11/5/2023 at 8:27 AM, thaibeachlovers said:

Does anyone really care about a band that used to be famous now?

 

 

The Beatles break UK chart records as ‘Now and Then’ becomes No. 1 single

 

WOT???

 

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