Steve Aoki has seen the future and is not afraid. The world famous DJ/producer and cake boss says Advertising sign on this week's cover that while he's still a bit of a “newbie” to using AI to create music, he believes AI is here to stay and we'll all just have to find a way to drive this digital sandworm.
“I use it mostly for lyric generation. It really helped me a lot,” says Aoki, 46, of incorporating AI into his studio routine. “If I have an idea for lyrics that I want to put on a record, I'll work on it with AI, and if I have a songwriting team in my house and we get confused, we can always use AI. In terms of sampling, I've used AI to get a specific female sound using specific words and that's been fantastic.”
Aoki, however, is clear and confident that AI is not the solution to all our musical conundrums. For example, when asked if his creativity is based more on experience or data, he says you can't type “What's Steve Aoki's biggest song on the festival circuit?” in a database and get the correct answer. “[Artificial intelligence] can't create that,” he says, noting that his 2011 collaboration with Afrojack “No Beef” was released before streaming was a big thing, “but everyone knows the vocals on it at my concerts.”
As for the possible worst-case scenario that AI could replace producers and DJs in the future, Aoki says he's confident the powers that be are stepping up “safeguards” to avoid such a situation now that the digital genie is completely out of the bottle . “You can't stop AI. It’s not like, “Oh, f–k. Artificial intelligence will take our jobs away. F–k technology, it’s going to take away jobs,” he says. “Can not. You just have to ride the wave with it and just start building security as we go along. We did that all the time with the Internet.”
Elsewhere in the conversation, Japanese American Aoki also talked about the importance of AAPI representation in music and how his years behind the decks have changed him. “I remember when I first got into music in high school, the first thing I did was sing. You just didn't see Asian singers,” he says. “You just didn't see Asians in music, period, and if you did, they were very quiet, like the lead singer of Hoobastank [Doug Robb]whom I looked upon.'
In fact, in a full-circle moment, Aoki reveals on the cover that he's currently working on a remake of the band's 2004 hit “The Reason,” which he's very excited about. “There's a Steve Aoki-Hoobastank record coming soon,” he says. “But it was nice to actually work with this guy [Robb] because I remember looking at him when I was in high school.”
Another artist he remembers admiring around 2003, when he first started producing, was Chad Hugo of the Neptunes. “I was in Los Angeles and I remember hiring someone on Craigslist to teach me how to use Pro Tools because I was just getting into computers,” he says. “And I said, 'Chad Hugo, that's my hero because he's Asian, but he's also quiet.' I always say “Where are the strong?” I wanted to see someone Asian who is just strong and in charge and commanding audiences.”
See the full story and cover photos here.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/steve-aoki-using-artificial-intelligence-music-asian-representation-1235667403/
