This episode is a discussion on how AI is impacting the music industry, hosted by Stu Watts and features guests Joe Carra (Grammy nominated mastering engineer) and Simon Moro (producer/engineer/mixer).
Joe Carra is the chief mastering engineer and owner of Crystal Mastering. With over 3 decades of experience, Joe has mastered for cassette, vinyl, CD, and in recent times, embraced the immersive audio of Dolby Atmos. In 2020 Joe received a Grammy nomination for Best Engineered Album, for the Teskey Brothers ‘Run Home Slow’ album. Joe has mastered various ARIA award winning albums and in 2023, was recognised with a nomination in the MPEG Awards for 'Mastering Engineer of the Year’. Joe’s credits include Pond, The Slingers, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Courtney Barnett, Amyl & The Sniffers, Genesis Owusu, The Murlocs, San Cisco, Babe Rainbow, Bliss N Eso, The Waifs and many more.
Simon Moro is a music producer, sound engineer, mixer and co-owner of The Avenue Recording Studio and has over 25 years of experience. His unique ability to empathetically connect with an artist and understand their vision was born out of training under Michael Brauer (Coldplay, The Kooks, Grizzly Bear) which taught him that capturing the essence of the artist is paramount to creating the best mix. Having worked with labels such as Sony and Mushroom, artists such as Anthony Callea and Allday, mixed and produced ARIA nominated albums, live albums, and television shows, he knows that no project is too bold and ambitious, and no detail is too minute to matter.
Chapters:
00:00 Intro
02:25 Joe's Client's AI-Generated Album
07:10 The Evolution of AI Music Generation
12:59 AI's Role in Music Production
20:43 Why Human Mastering Still Thrives Against AI
33:35 The Risk of Homogenised Music vs. Authentic Human Art
40:53 The Fight for Fair Credits and Royalties in AI Music
49:04 Using AI Tools Without Losing Creative Human Skills
01:01:15 Final Thoughts: AI, Copyright, and the Value of Human Effort
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