Dom Tristram - On Music

In my last video yesterday about Al music and Suno I said, basically, if you don’t like doing the fun bits of music, why do you bother making it? I guess this is slightly dismissive of Al music, and a few people have basically said, “don’t knock it until you’ve tried it. I just use it to do some aspect of music. I come up with amazing melody, then I use Al to add bits, or I need Al to do vocals”I guess my point still stands. Part of the fun of music for me is I have something in my head - a melody, a chord sequence - and I figure that out. Then I think, “how do I want that to sound?” and I work that out. I think typing a prompt into Suno or uploading a melody and saying, “can you put some drums around this or put a vocal on this?” just takes away part of the fun. For me, at least.I’m not in any way a successful musician, but what I do like about writing music is the whole process. Part of that process is, “how do I make the sound that’s in my head? What do I sample? What can I play? I’ve got some instruments, I’ve got some synths and stuff. How do I make that sound? How do I write those lyrics? How do I sing? How do I set the key so that it matches my voice and I can actually sing it?”If I can’t sing it or play something I’ll occasionally get session musicians to play things I can’t play. Or let’s say I need to play an instrument I don’t have - l’ll borrow one or I’ll buy one. For example, I’ll get a ukulele and I’ll play a few chords. This is part of the fun for me.Perhaps it doesn’t sound as polished as if I’d asked Suno to do it, but the feeling of accomplishment is much stronger. And yes, I have tried Suno, so this isn’t coming from a point of, “I refuse to use it. I’ll never use it.” I’ve sat down with Suno and I’ve come up with some songs. I’ve played with prompts and I’ve made a number of songs from them and thought sure, they are pretty good.But I feel no connection with those songs. I’ve played with the prompts and I’ve seen what it can do and, yes, I’ve been impressed in a way, but those aren’t my songs. Even if I come it came up with the words or the melody, what comes out isn’t something I had to work out, practice and create. I haven’t had to get better at producing, I haven’t had to mix it, and I haven’t had to do all the things that give me a sense of accomplishment.If you want to come up with some words and then tell Suno to you make a tune, produce it and master it, then all power to you, I suppose. However, I don’t get any feeling of accomplishment from that. For me, making music is a learning experience, and every time I write something and come across a problem I can’t solve, I learn how to do it. Maybe I don’t do it very well, but I’ll be better next time, and then better the next time, Then eventually, maybe, I’ll be able to do a lot more stuff well and I’ll have a sense of having progressed.Suno can do almost anything - write, add instruments, add vocals… and yes, I could do all of that without learning anything about doing it myself. But then… where’s the progression and where’s the accomplishment? Where’s the fun? This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit domtristrammusic.substack.com