Moises AI Mastering

[K-dub]

I don't know if folks have heard about Moises, but it is an AI site for musicians to access such tools. I signed up because I heard that they could do stem separation of various AI identification of instruments. It's like what they did w/ the Beatles recordings to modernize the mixes. It worked, but not flawlessly. Still, the technology is impressive. I had a couple of old mixes where the project files for my DAW got corrupted and the program allowed me to extract individual tracks for a remix. It's not perfect, but it is still impressive.

Another thing offered is AI mastering. Weirdly, I not use Izotope's AI mastering plug in my mixes, so I wondered if this was a superfluous offering I didn't need. Still, curious, I uploaded a file to Moises and let it do its thing. The results are below. Which of the two mixes appear more polished and professional sounding to you?

 

[Slouching Raymond]

There's not much in it. It was well done to start with.

 

[K-dub]

There's not much in it. It was well done to start with.

Thanks Ray! I do agree, in general, but when I experiment with such things, I ask myself a very simple question: Did it improve it or not?

Personally I was, at first, skeptical, but though the difference is slight (as noted), it IS better. What changed?

It's eq'd a little brighter. There's ever so slightly better definition in the bottom end. It's more gently compressed, so details like reverb tails stick out better. It's a smidge wider and deeper on the sonic stage as well.

SOME of that is, IMO, taste. I'm not sure I'd have made it more bright overall. But the other parts (wider/deeper/more detailed) are a slight step up from where I had it.

I will cede improvements where I hear them, even if slight.

But what the AI does that I really like is it can adhere easily to loudness standards. This example is mixed to -14 dbfs, which Soundcloud, Youtube et al set their digital preference to. -16dbfs is what AES recommends for general purpose loudness (broadcast spec). Apple Music and Spotify also want -16dbfs levels as well. To my ear, -14 is borderline overload. -16dbfs sounds more natural.

I had both levels printed so I can submit the right level out of the gate. If I'm attaching to a video that's going to Youtube, I can put their preferred audio format right in the product I upload to their site.

 

[VomitHatSteve]

I would be cautious of generative AI mastering. Unless it's using AI to generate an effects chain and applying that to your mix, it's actually generating an entirely new copy of the recording from scratch.

And the copyright precedent isn't firmly established yet. It's entirely possible that you are inadvertently signing your IP over to a) Moises themselves b) the public domain or c) whichever large music publisher most successfully sues the AI companies for illegally using their library for training

 

[K-dub]

I would be cautious of generative AI mastering. Unless it's using AI to generate an effects chain and applying that to your mix, it's actually generating an entirely new copy of the recording from scratch.

And the copyright precedent isn't firmly established yet. It's entirely possible that you are inadvertently signing your IP over to a) Moises themselves b) the public domain or c) whichever large music publisher most successfully sues the AI companies for illegally using their library for training

That's an interesting point, and frankly I have no idea what the answer would be. I'll have to look it up. Most companies prevent suit against themselves for usage, but I've never seen where the copyright is turned over. That would be a death knell for any business that engaged in that practice. No one sane would do business with them.