Kits and BandLab: Using AI In Music Production

Musicians and producers have always embraced the newest technology. Electric guitars, synthesizers, Autotune, and even DAWs went from cutting-edge gimmicks to the most basic elements of music production.

Now, creators in the music industry are embracing artificial intelligence as the latest innovation in music composition. Today’s AI music platforms can do mind bending things, like clone a singer’s voice, convert a song into a completely new sound, or generate starting points for song inspiration. Plus, AI is built into new mastering and stem splitting tools, making them far more powerful than existing versions.

Let’s take a look at Kits and Bandlab, two of the most popular music platforms with AI, to see how they fit into your workflow.

Introducing Kits AI Music Generators

Kits is an AI vocal platform, offering tools for creating high-quality singing voices with artificial intelligence. They sound so good, you won’t believe they’re not real human.

Voice Conversion

Kits’s killer application is Voice Conversion. With this tool, you can upload an existing song and change the singer’s voice for your own music -- even if the track is already finished and mixed. Just upload a file or record something directly into the web app. In a few minutes, your tune will have a brand new singer. And the results are so good, you’d never suspect they’re AI. 

Kits offers advanced controls to fine tune the Conversion:

• Remove instrumentals, reverb and delay, and/or backing vocals from your recording for better results.

• Pitch Shift: Raise or lower the pitch by up to 24 semitones.

• Conversion Strength: Adds more accent and articulation to the generation, but can cause unexpected results at high levels. 

• Volume Blend: Control the balance between the input volume and the model. Lower values reveal more of the original dynamics.

• Pre-Processing Effects: Cut noise, rumble, and harshness, smooth volume, and/or autotune before generation.

• Post-Processing Effects: Apply compressor, chorus, reverb, and/or delay to theresult. 

AI Voice Library

The Kits Voice Library contains 50+ royalty-free voices across genres, genders, and pitch ranges. There are even voices for different languages and world music styles. 

If those aren’t quite right, you can use the Voice Blender to combine two, using the Blend Ratio slider to customize how much of each comes through in the final generation. 

Plus, Kits offers instrument voices for guitar, bass, saxophone, and more. Just sing what you want them to play, convert the recording to that instrument, and you’ve got a great-sounding instrumental stem in seconds!

Voice Training

Kits’s most futuristic feature is Voice Training. Just upload an audio file and Kits trains an AI model to create a perfect clone of the singer’s voice. This new Voice can then be used instead of a stock or Blended voice for any conversion.

Kits recommends uploads of around 10 minutes to optimize speed and quality. For best results, use only clean vocals with no reverb, harmonies, or background noise. Use the highest-quality microphone you can and include as many vowels and pitches as possible. (Kits can also clean up vocals and remove instrumentals after upload if you need to.)

From there, just add a name and photo, then train your new voice! You can now use this voice for any Conversion. The only limit is your imagination.

Introducing BandLab

BandLab is a more complete music-making platform by comparison, offering a number of tools to use across the entire workflow, from production to distribution.

The centerpiece is Studio, a free web-based DAW. It offers all the key features you’d expect from something like Garageband, all within your web browser. 

A key advantage of Studio over other DAWs is that BandLab’s Sounds are built-in. The library includes thousands of instrumental and vocal loops and one shots created by real artists. You can sort by genre, instrument, mood, key, and more, then import them directly into Studio. Artist-created Effects are also included.

Bandlab SongStarter: AI-Powered Songwriting

BandLab offers just one feature built with AI: SongStarter. This tool generates entirely new, royalty-free snippets to spark your song idea inspiration. Choose from ten genres (or Random), and SongStarter will create three short pieces of music. You can also input a lyric to guide the process.

Once the music is generated, you can tweak the mood by selecting the Sun, Sunset, or Moon icon. Or roll the dice to regenerate. Note that the resulting stems can not be downloaded as audio, and can only be imported into Studio.

That said, many artists know BandLab mostly for their distribution services. With tools for promotion, streaming platform distribution, fan reach, licensing, and even focus grouping with audiences, BandLab is a complete package for getting your music out of the studio and into the world.

Comparing Music Creation Features

Kits and BandLab both offer mastering and stem splitting tools. Kits’s are geared specifically toward vocals and enhanced by AI, while BandLab’s are more general. 

Mastering

Mastering applies final touches to tracks with effects like EQ, compression, and limiting to make sure everything sounds great together. 

Exploring AI Mastering Styles: Lofi, RnB, Hip Hop, and more...

Kits offers a complete mastering tool enhanced by AI. There are six mastering presets on Kits: Light & Bright, Bass Heavy, Punch & Air, Lush, Tape Glue, and Analog Warmth. Plus, Kits can use a reference track to guide the process. Just upload a song you love as a reference file and Kits uses AI to match the overall sound.

BandLab’s mastering tool offers just four presets to choose from: Universal, Fire, Clarity, and Tape. You can download the mastered track as a .wav file, or import it to BandLab studio. Unlike Kits, BandLab does not offer the ability to master with a reference track. 

Stem Splitter

Both platforms also offer splitting tools, which separate the voice and instruments. Stem splitting is extremely useful for beginner and veteran producers alike in remixing, sampling, and creating practice tracks. 

Kits offers a Vocal Remover, reflecting its focus on free music and vocal tools. Upload a song and the Vocal Removers separates the vocals from the instrumentals. Advanced settings allow you to remove backing vocals, reverb, and echo. With AI built in, Kits’s Vocal Remover tends to do a better job at isolating vocals and extracting them precisely, even when similar sounds overlap.

BandLab’s version is Splitter, which separates vocals, drums, bass, and other instruments into four tracks. Afterwards, you can adjust the tempo and change the pitch. You can then download the stems or import them directly into BandLab Studio.

How To Choose: Kits Vs. BandLab

Ultimately, choosing between Kits AI and BandLab comes down to what you want to do, and what you’re looking for in a music creation platform.

If you’re looking for AI tools to create or enhance vocals, there’s no better option than Kits. Voice Conversions with Kits’s Voice Library give you the freedom and flexibility of AI-generated singers across a vast range of styles, making finding new voices for your track a cakewalk. And if the stock voices aren’t quite right for your musical ideas, you can Train a new voice or Blend two existing ones. Plus, Kits’s stem splitter and mastering tool are built specifically for vocals and get better results with AI.

BandLab, on the other hand, is a complete music production studio. You can start a project in Studio, finish it with sounds and effects from the BandLab library, then publish and promote the song, all within the BandLab ecosystem. Bandlab users will benefit from the all-in-one production solution offered by the site.

So, which one is best for you? The answer is… both! Kits and BandLab work great together, offering you the best in AI vocals, production, and distribution.