Lyrics, Songwriting, and Vocal Production

Words and Music Together

🔄 Quick Recall: In the previous lesson, you explored sound design and stem separation — creating unique sounds and isolating elements from existing audio. Now you’ll focus on the human side of music: writing lyrics that connect emotionally and producing vocal tracks that bring those lyrics to life.

AI can generate a complete song with lyrics in seconds. And those lyrics will almost always be generic. “Heart on fire,” “lost in the night,” “we can make it through” — the AI reaches for what it’s seen a million times.

The producers and songwriters getting real results use AI differently. They treat it as a brainstorming partner and structural editor, not as a finished lyricist. The raw emotion and unique perspective come from you. The organization and refinement come from AI.

The AI Songwriting Workflow

Step 1: The Brain Dump

Before touching any AI tool, write 500-1,000 words of stream-of-consciousness thoughts about your song’s topic. Don’t edit. Don’t structure. Just pour out:

• Specific memories (not “love” — the exact moment)
• Unique phrases you’ve said or heard
• Sensory details (what did it smell like, sound like, feel like?)
• The emotions you want the listener to feel
• Contradictions (the best songs live in complexity, not simplicity)

Step 2: AI Structuring

Feed your brain dump to ChatGPT or Claude with this approach:

Here are my raw, unfiltered thoughts about a song I want to write:

[paste your 500-1000 word brain dump]

Help me turn this into a song:
1. Identify the strongest emotional thread
2. Suggest a song structure (verse-chorus-bridge) that builds toward the most powerful moment
3. Pull out my most vivid, specific phrases — those should survive into the final lyrics
4. Suggest a rhyme scheme for each section
5. Write a first draft using MY language and imagery, not generic phrases
6. Highlight any lines that feel too cliché — I want to rewrite those myself

The genre is [genre] and the mood is [mood].
Keep it conversational — I don't want it to sound like a poem.

Step 3: Human Refinement

Read the AI’s draft aloud. Sing it if you can. Replace every line that doesn’t sound like something you’d actually say. The goal: when someone hears these lyrics, they should feel like a real person wrote them about a real experience.

Lines to always replace:

• Anything with “fire,” “heart,” “soul,” or “night” used as metaphors
• Any line you’ve heard in another song
• Anything that describes feelings in abstract terms instead of concrete images

✅ Quick Check: Why does the brain dump method produce better lyrics than asking AI to “write a song about love”? Because generic prompts produce generic output. When you feed AI your specific memories, unique phrases, and concrete sensory details, the AI has authentic raw material to structure. It organizes your genuine experiences into verse-chorus form rather than generating stock phrases about stock feelings.

Advanced Lyric Techniques with AI

Rhyme and Rhythm Assistance

AI excels at finding rhymes and maintaining syllable patterns:

I have these lyrics for my verse, but I need help with rhyming:

Line 1: [your line]
Line 2: [needs to rhyme with line 1]

Suggest 5 options for line 2 that:
- Maintain the same syllable count and rhythm
- Rhyme with line 1 (full rhyme, slant rhyme, or internal rhyme)
- Continue the story/emotion from line 1
- Sound conversational, not forced

Rewriting Weak Lines

When specific lines feel flat, AI can help you find alternatives:

This line in my chorus doesn't hit hard enough:
"[your weak line]"

The emotion I'm going for: [what feeling]
The context in the song: [what comes before and after]

Give me 5 alternative lines that:
- Hit the same meaning but with more impact
- Use concrete imagery instead of abstract emotion
- Fit the same syllable/rhythm pattern
- Sound like something a real person would say, not a greeting card

Song Structure Analysis

Use AI to analyze the structure of songs you admire:

Analyze the structure of [song name] by [artist]:
1. Map the sections (intro, verse, pre-chorus, chorus, bridge, outro)
2. How many bars is each section?
3. Where is the emotional peak?
4. What makes the chorus feel different from the verse?
5. How does the bridge create contrast?
6. What can I steal from this structure for my own song?

Vocal Production with AI

Generating Vocals with Suno and Udio

When generating complete songs with AI, vocal specifications make an enormous difference:

Vocal parameters to specify:

• Gender and register: “female alto,” “male tenor,” “androgynous”
• Delivery: “breathy,” “powerful,” “raspy,” “smooth,” “spoken word”
• Processing: “dry and upfront,” “reverb-drenched,” “doubled,” “harmonized”
• Energy: “understated,” “building,” “explosive,” “whispered”

Example vocal prompts:

Working with AI-Generated Vocals

Once you have AI-generated vocals, you can refine them:

1. Isolate the vocal using stem separation (Lalal.ai)
2. Import the isolated vocal into your DAW
3. Layer with your own instrumental arrangement
4. Process: Add EQ, compression, reverb, and delay to taste
5. Double: Generate the same lyrics again for a slightly different vocal take, layer both for a thicker sound

✅ Quick Check: Why should you isolate AI-generated vocals from their original instrumental? Because you may want to pair those vocals with a different instrumental arrangement — one you built yourself or generated separately. Stem separation lets you keep the best vocal performance and place it in the production context that serves the song best.

Key Takeaways

• Use AI for song structure and brainstorming, not finished lyrics — your raw ideas plus AI organization beats AI-only lyrics every time
• The brain dump method (500+ words of raw thoughts) gives AI authentic material to structure
• Always replace cliché lines and generic imagery — if you’ve heard it in another song, rewrite it
• Specify vocal style in AI generation prompts: gender, register, delivery, processing, and energy
• AI-generated vocals can be isolated via stem separation and re-combined with different instrumentals
• The best songwriting workflow: human emotion → AI structure → human refinement

Up Next: You’ll navigate the legal landscape of AI music — copyright rules, distribution policies, and how to release your tracks on streaming platforms legally.