Music
-- A few notes on my musical creative process --
General Composition & Background Information:
1. The melody, harmony, rhythm as well as most of the structure of a piece are already in my mind before writing
2. I hear multiple instruments, most of the orchestration clearly before outputing to paper or voice
3. Given my training, I can and have written traditional scores both for solo instruments and full orchestra
4. I have spent 15 years training classically on piano and music theory, and more than 20 years improvising on piano, bass and voice.
Without access to my instruments kept in storage for various reasons, I continued practicing my vocal improvisational skills using scat singing but in various styles jazz, funk, and also classical (baroque to late romantic period)
My Current Process:
With changing personal conditions (having lost almost everything, unable to pay ever increasing storage rent) and with evolving music production technologies, my current workflow is as follows:
1. I record the complete composition in one take with my voice scat singing a blend of bass, melody, percussion, from which the harmony is deliberately implied.
2. I use AI tools to generate an initial instrumental draft that follows my voice recording and specific instrumental vision.
3. I add additional parts / counterpoint by transforming my voice into specific instruments and make corrections to existing parts as needed.
AI is not a perfect tool by far but I strive to use it as an augmentative tool, mostly transforming voice into single instruments. Right now it enables me to output my compositions. At a later time, once things improve, I would like to hire an orchestra, provide the score and have my compositions played and recorded.
Ps. I have seen a general trend to label anything made using AI tools as 'slop'. There is a range of possible use cases of AI technology and using a single blanket term is highly innacurate. In my case, I maintain full compositional authority, using AI as a sound rendering tool. Thus, I consider any such reductionist term directed at my work an insult. I work countless hours daily on my music starting very early each day, 7 days a week. I do recognise that there are lazy people out there flooding the market for an easy buck with cheap prompt music. Please use your ears and common sense when categorising what you hear.
Stefano Venkatachari
14/03/2026 (updated on 21/07/2026)
Performed at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, London
