Music production has always been seen as a field that requires expertise. You had to know how to play an instrument, read sheet music and be fluent in production software. That is, until AI music tools came along. Now you can produce professional-quality songs by writing a few sentences. I know it sounds unbelievable. I didn't believe it either.
I have no musical training whatsoever. I tried playing the piano once and quit after three lessons. But after trying AI music tools, I produced my own podcast intro, my YouTube intro music and even a few full songs. Here's what I experienced along the way.
Suno: The Songwriting Machine
Suno is the most popular tool for AI music generation. You enter some text or specify a style, and within a few minutes it creates a complete song, vocals included.
My first attempt was an acoustic pop song. The prompt I wrote was: an acoustic guitar, male vocals, a pop song about a peaceful summer evening. Two minutes later, a genuinely listenable song came out. The melody was catchy, the vocals sounded natural and the production quality was above a home studio. My first reaction was that my jaw dropped.
Then I started pushing the limits. I tried generating a Turkish song. I wrote Turkish lyrics and asked for a song in an Anatolian rock style. The result was surprising. The Turkish pronunciation wasn't perfect, but the melody and instrumentation were genuinely good. After a few tries, I learned how to get satisfying results.
We used Suno for our YouTube channel's intro music. We asked for an energetic, tech-themed, 15-second jingle and found a perfect one among three options. A job that would have cost at least $200 and taken a week if we'd had a musician do it took five minutes and was nearly free.
Suno's strengths are these:
- Very high vocal quality
- Successful across different music genres
- You can write your own lyrics
- The free plan includes a certain number of generations per day
On the downside, song length is limited, and the fit between lyrics and melody can sometimes be a problem. You also need to be clear about the commercial usage rights of the music you generate.
Udio: Quality with an Instrumental Focus
Udio is a tool similar to Suno, but it steps ahead in instrumental quality. It's especially successful with instrumental tracks and film-score-style productions.
We used Udio to create background music for a client's product promo video. We submitted a request for something corporate and inspiring, with piano and strings. The result was as high in quality as if it had come from a professional music library. The client couldn't believe the music was generated by AI.
Another of Udio's strengths is its extend feature. You can extend a track you like or generate its continuation. If you like a one-minute piece, you can extend it to three minutes, and the transitions are natural.
A YouTuber friend of mine now produces the background music for all his videos with Udio. He used to pay royalty-free music sites $20 a month, and finding music in the style he wanted took hours. Now he generates exactly the music he needs in minutes.