If you’re into music production, Digital Audio Workspaces (DAWs) have become an instrumental (no pun intended) tool in your operation. When it comes to projects involving all phases of production, from recording to editing, mixing, and mastering, AI is making things easier for producers by integrating with AI solutions.
Let AI lighten the workload and save hours of studio time, and big dollars, that you can use in other projects. Let’s look at how to bring AI into your DAW workflows to add a new layer of creativity and efficiency to your projects.
DAWs and AI – What’s the Big Deal and How Does It Work?
These apps are readily available from the app stores, with titles like Ableton Live, Logic Pro X, FL Studio, and Pro Tools being industry leaders. They’re fully compatible with VAT, AU, and AAX plugins, and focus on simplifying the labor involved in basic production tasks like generating ideas, creating beats and unique soundscapes, and adding extra features to your sound design and editing tasks.
These tools work on a similar models to LLMs like ChatGPT. They access and crawl billions of tracks in your genre in seconds, giving you results that match the prompts you enter. AI can analyze musical data and patterns, replicating them in a new creative paradigm that boosts artistic creativity, without swamping you in technical details.
Step #1: Choosing Your AI Music Tools
We’ve already touched base on some of the awesome AI music tools out there, but here’s a closer look at some of the others that deserve your attention. All of them are ready to integrate into your DAW, and you can start using them to create your first AI-enhanced beats in minutes thanks to their user-friendly interfaces.
SOUNDRAW: Create & edit beats with SOUNDRAW's AI music generator. Easily download the stems and integrate what you make into your DAW to tweak it even further.
AIVA: “Artificial Intelligence Virtual Artist,” is a model capable of composing entire tracks, and supports multiple genres. It’s in demand for its ability to create fresh compositions.
LANDR: Although mostly renowned for its AI mastering service, LANDR also provides automated mixing. For DAWs, it’s easy to integrate, and the mastering results are high-quality and quick.
Endlesss: This AI-powered collaboration platform lets you create loops and riff ideas.
WavTool: A browser-based DAW, WavTool creates, mixes, and masters music with its easy-to-use, powerful plugins.
Step #2: Brainstorm Music Ideas with AI
Probably the single biggest advantage of having AI is generating ideas. It can be anything from generating unique melodies and chord progressions, all the way to generating sections of a song based on your prompt criteria.
Some of these AI tools create generative melodies and chord progressions in particular genres, moods, and keys. Create multiple variations, drag those fitting best into your DAW, and make modifications to the parts that really speak to you.
AI looks at rhythmic patterns from different styles of music and delivers beats appropriate for the tempo and feel of the song. With apps like SOUNDRAW, you can create rhythmic patterns easily, which you then export into a DAW.
AI tools break down samples into bits and reassemble them in ingenious ways. You can work out new loop ideas that you layer into your DAW. AI music generation can really save you hours and offer inspiration when you’re dealing with a creative block and can’t come up with new ideas.
Step #3: Streamline Mixing with AI
When it comes to analyzing the most time-intensive tasks in the music production process, mixing has to be right at the top. AI-driven mixing tools slash the hours you spend analyzing your tracks, and mastering EQ and compression. It also gives you mixing suggestions based on genre and style to improve the final master.
AI-powered plug-ins like iZotope's Neutron analyze the frequency spectrum of tracks, giving you suggestions on EQ, compression, and panning adjustments. Add Neutron to your plug-in library in your DAW and apply it to individual tracks or as part of your main mix.
AI can help with front-end gain staging and volume leveling, an integral part of making a mix balanced. Examples include Sonible's smart intelligent equalization applied to individual tracks automatically balances levels for a cleaner mix.
Some AI plugins will even give you real-time mixing suggestions based on the musical elements in your track. That might be more helpful for a beginner, or for anybody that just wants an unbiased second opinion on mixing decisions.
AI-assisted mixing tools help you work more efficiently by avoiding all the trial and error so that you spend your time on making creative choices in your mix.
Step #4: Enhancing Mastery with AI
Mastering represents that critical production stage that puts a professional sheen on your tracks, but traditional mastering can be cumbersome and costly. In essence, AI mastering tools take your mix, analyze it, and make the right mastering adjustments to industry standards.
Export automated mastering functionality into your DAW with online cloud-based platforms like LANDR and eMastered. Just export your track to the platform and the algorithm analyzes the frequency balance, stereo image, and sound dynamics to create a pristine master that sounds amazing.
Do-it-yourself mastering plugins like iZotope's Ozone sport AI mastering controls that master your tracks from the comfort of your DAW. Meanwhile, Ozone's Master Assistant will go ahead and make suggestions based on a track's genre and tonal balance for an easily radio-ready final product.
AI mastering lets you try a lot of different masters fast, save various mastering settings, and then compare them to find what works best for your track. Independent producers will find the accessibility and functionality of AI-powered mastering tools nothing short of game-changing for their careers. There’s no need to work with mastering engineers who charge a fortune in studio time.
The Final Note: AI Is Democratizing Music Production to the Masses
AI production tools that integrate seamlessly with DAWs are fast becoming a must-have app for independent and professional artists and producers. Don’t assume AI will take over music, reducing its originality and authentic appeal. Instead, AI tools will make it easier for artists to fast-track production projects, giving them more time to be creative.
Get started with AI tools today and improve your workflow!