“If AI replaces musicians, we’re out of business”: D’Addario responds again to claims it used AI-generated music in a demo
D’Addario has again addressed accusations that it used AI-generated music in a recent promotional video for its new NYXL HD electric guitar strings, insisting the track was performed by a human musician and arguing that an unusually heavy production chain is what caused the misunderstanding.
Last week, the string and accessories giant came under fire after guitarists online claimed a demo for its new NYXL HD strings sounded suspiciously like it had been generated using AI. The company was also criticised after comments disappeared from the original post and some users claimed they had been blocked.
D’Addario initially denied the allegations, admitting only that the demo was “over-produced” but not AI-generated. In a statement to Guitar World, the company said it had “made a choice to demo these products in a fully produced mix” – a decision it conceded “backfired”.
In a follow-up post, D’Addario added, “Setting the record straight, this string demo was certainly over-produced. However, it was not created by AI. All guitars were tracked in real-life, drums and synths were MIDI programmed, plus a whole lot of plug-ins and production.”
It also shared a behind-the-scenes video showing the recording session and guitar tracks used to create the demo.
View this post on Instagram
That explanation, however, did little to settle the debate. YouTuber Danny Sapko and other users pointed to apparent differences between the original demo and the behind-the-scenes recording session, arguing the two didn’t appear to match.
Now, in a fresh statement posted to social media, D’Addario has offered a more detailed explanation of its stance as well as how the track was produced.
“We are a music company. Built by musicians for musicians,” the company writes. “So naturally, we share the growing alarm that generative AI can remove the musician from the creative process.”
“In a recent post featuring one of our products, many people questioned whether we employed generative AI in our demo track. The track was written and performed by one of our employees who was proud to create an original piece to show off a new string he helped to develop.”
According to D’Addario, it was the excessively complex production process – rather than generative AI – that gave the recording its artificial-sounding qualities.
The company says the guitar performance was processed with “an excess of plug-ins”, while the drums were created by blending Logic’s stock ‘So-Cal’ kit with EZ drummer, with all velocity set to the maximum value of 127 “to get a big sound”. It argues those production choices “subtracted all the dynamics and added a lot of digital noise”, creating many of the hallmarks listeners associated with AI-generated music.
“There were excessive non-AI tools used to make the original composition sound ‘more produced.’ This added a lot of extra noise and inorganic details to the mix, which people misunderstood as signs of AI generation.”
Addressing the discrepancies people spotted between the original promo and the later workflow video, D’Addario says the footage showed an unmastered collection of stems rather than the finished mix. “The video we posted last week… featured a DAW clip which was a pre-mix and pre-master pile of stems that did not sound like the finished product,” it explains.
The company also clarifies that while no generative AI was used to write or perform the music, AI-assisted mastering tools were used during the final production process.
“While generative AI was not used in the creation of the music, by virtue of using Logic’s ‘Mastering Assistant’ feature and LANDR’s Assisted Mastering, AI did assist with the mixing and mastering process post-DAW export.”
It adds that “most of the digital artifacts” highlighted by critics came from “an unusual take on modern production techniques”, including “4 compressors in series on the drums adding high-end fuzz” and auto-tune on the guitar introducing aliasing.
D’Addario says the delay in issuing a fuller explanation came as it tried to understand why so many listeners had interpreted the recording as AI-generated, adding that it will reconsider “what degree of production is appropriate” for future product demos.
The statement concludes with D’Addario reiterating its broader position on AI in music: “Remember, we are a company whose products can only be used by people. If AI replaces musicians making music, then we’re out of business. Of course, that’s nothing compared to the chilling thought of musical expression being co-opted by machines. As a company made of hundreds of people, we desperately want to preserve human expression through music.”
View this post on Instagram
The post “If AI replaces musicians, we’re out of business”: D’Addario responds again to claims it used AI-generated music in a demo appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Source: www.guitar-bass.net
