Beat and backing track: instrumentals with a neural network

Not all music is a song with vocals. Often you need exactly the instrumental: a beat to rap over, a backing track for karaoke, a bed for a video or clip. A neural network does all of this as easily as a song — just without the voice.

Beat, backing track, instrumental — what's the difference

The words are close, but not the same:

• Instrumental — any music without vocals: a bed, ambient, orchestra.
• Beat — the rhythmic foundation (usually for rap/hip-hop): drums, bass, a melody loop to rap over.
• Backing track — a version of a specific song without vocals, to sing or rap over it (karaoke).

A neural network can both generate an instrumental from scratch from a description and strip the vocals off a finished song, turning it into a backing track.

Describe a beat or a bed — get an instrumental without vocals. Tip: "dark trap beat, 140 bpm, heavy bass, a gloomy piano loop". Your first generations are free after signing up.

How to describe a beat precisely

An instrumental is driven by specifics more than a song is:

• Tempo (BPM). "140 bpm" sets the speed more precisely than any words. For lo-fi — 70–90, for trap — 130–150, for dance — 120–128.
• Genre and grid. Trap, boom-bap, drum & bass, house — each has its own rhythmic pattern.
• Instruments. What bass, what drums, is there a melody (piano, guitar, synth).
• Mood and structure. Dark/bright; is there a build-up, a drop, a calm section.

Backing tracks from a finished song (and covers)

A separate scenario — strip the vocals off an existing track:

• Karaoke backing — remove the voice, keep the music.
• Cover — the opposite: replace the instrumental or re-sing with another / synthesized voice.
• Samples and loops — isolate individual stems.

Important about covers and backing tracks of others' songs: the original composition is protected by copyright. Making a backing track for yourself is one thing; publishing or monetizing a cover of someone else's song is another. More on this in the chapter on copyright.

What's next

You can make both songs and instrumentals. Now it's worth meeting the most popular tool people do this with — Suno.

In the Twelver chat you can generate a beat or make a backing track right in the conversation. A few generations are free after signing up.