Paul McCartney says AI got John Lennon’s voice on ‘last Beatle record’

LONDON – The Beatles’ singer-songwriter Paul McCartney told the BBC that artificial intelligence is being used to “exfoliate” and clean former bandmate John Lennon’s vocals from an old recording, allowing them to appear on an upcoming track.

McCartney told the BBC “Today” program When asked about artificial intelligence.

McCartney said that “Lord of the Rings” director Peter Jackson — who in 2021 released an eight-hour documentary called “The Beatles: Get Back” featuring color and curated archive footage of the band — managed to “extract Lennon’s voice” from a small tape of cassette tape. “.

Artificial intelligence was used to identify Lennon’s vocals as distinct from instrumentals and background interference.

McCartney said: “So when we came in to do what would be the last Beatles record, it was a demo that John had worked on, and we had just finished it. It will be released this year”.

“We were able to take John’s voice and make it pure with this AI, so we can then mix the record like you normally would. It gives you kind of leeway.”

The BBC said it was expected to be Lennon’s song from 1978’s “Now And Then”, which McCartney had in the past expressed his desire to “finish”. Lennon was killed in 1980.

On his latest tour, which included a headline at Glastonbury Festival, McCartney performed songs with a clean vocal track from Lennon, as well as a video of the artist on stage with him.

Industry experts have been considering the potential of the latest technological developments in the music industry, along with the ethics of posthumously recreating artists.

ABBA’s Bjorn Ulpheus, whose “ABBA Voyage” software uses motion capture and advanced real-time graphics to make the band perform as digital avatars that never age, previously told CNBC he had concerns about creating “deep fakes.”

“There’s a good side and then a scary side, and we’ll just have to see where that leads,” McCartney told the BBC.