How AI was used to turn a raw demo into the Beatles' next (and last) record
We have seen people ask conversational AI chatbots ChatGPT and Bard to create a song in the style of the Beatles. Now, the surviving Beatles used AI themselves to help create what Paul McCartney says will be their last song. "We just finished it up and it'll be released this year," Sir Paul said. The song, called "Now and Then," was written in 1978 by the late John Lennon who was assassinated two years later.
AI allows John Lennon's voice to be heard on a raw demo that will be turned into a new Beatles classic
Back in 1995, George Harrison, McCartney, and Ringo Starr were working on the Anthology series which covered the group's amazing career. "Now and Then" was being considered for the album after a cassette containing three rough demos was given to Paul by Yoko Ono, Lennon's widow. The cassette was labeled by John "for Paul" before his death. Two of the songs on the cassette, "Free As A Bird" and "Real Love" were turned into completed Beatle songs by Paul, George, and Ringo.
The two songs fit perfectly into the Beatles' catalog and were their first songs in 25 years. At the time, George rejected "Now and Then" as a release because the quality of John's voice was, in his words, "rubbish." But with the capabilities of AI available these days, producer Jeff Lyne (former lead singer of ELO) was able to, as McCartney says, "extricate" John Lennon's voice from the demo. Lynne also produced "Free As A Bird" and "Real Love" 28 years ago before the technology existed to create what will be the last new Beatles record.
The technology was discovered during the creation of the Get Back documentary
The technology was discovered when Peter Jackson was creating his "Get Back" documentary for Disney+. Dialogue editor Emile de la Rey used AI to help computers recognize the individual voices of the Beatles allowing them to be separated from background noise and even the instruments they were playing. This technology not only helped with "Now and Then," but it also was used by Paul to sing a virtual duet with Lennon on his recent tour.
And the AI technology also was used to create a new surround sound mix of the group's groundbreaking "Revolver" album which was released last year. Paul gave a similar explanation about how AI was used to create the song. "We had John's voice and a piano and he could separate them with AI."
McCartney continued, "They tell the machine, 'That's the voice. This is a guitar. Lose the guitar'. So when we came to make what will be the last Beatles' record, it was a demo that John had [and] we were able to take John's voice and get it pure through this AI. Then we can mix the record, as you would normally do. So it gives you some sort of leeway." The song was like an itch that McCartney had to scratch. In 2012 he told the BBC, "That one's still lingering around. So I'm going to nick in with Jeff and do it. Finish it, one of these days."
The death of George Harrison from cancer back in 2001 left Paul and Ringo to finish the track themselves. The song is described by the BBC as an apologetic love song. "Now and Then" surfaced on a bootleg album in 2009.
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