Ripe Questions with Judd Mellon

Ripe Questions with Judd Mellon

By Jeff SklaroffSociety & Culture
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Ripe Questions with Judd Mellon episodes

  • Episode 1: Jeff Sklaroff, the Human Behind the AI Band

    In the first episode of Ripe Questions, Judd Mellon sits down with Jeff Sklaroff, the songwriter and producer behind Judd Mellon and the Cantaloupes, to talk about how the songs get made.

    Jeff talks about writing his first song as a teenager after a Partridge Family episode, why he made an AI band and says so openly, and how his "music to music" process works, where he starts with his own musical performance and the models build from there. He also covers where his lyrics come from, including songs that sat for 20 years before he finished them, and what the title of the album Fruits of Democracy means to him. As Jeff puts it, he sees AI as a tool that helps people express themselves, not a replacement for the human part.
    In this episode:
    - [01:31] Jeff on writing his first song, "Alice Finley," after watching The Partridge Family
    - [03:43] Why he made an AI band, and his take on the "AI slop" complaint
    - [06:01] Where he draws the line between human songwriting and AI as a tool
    - [07:23] A lyric drawn from real life, and letting songs sit for years until they feel right
    - [09:35] How a song gets from his performance to Judd's voice, including a nod to the musicians whose work built the models
    - [11:09] What Fruits of Democracy means to Jeff, and his case for getting out and voting
    About the guest:
    Jeff Sklaroff is the songwriter and producer of Judd Mellon and the Cantaloupes, and the writer of the words and music Judd sings.
    Follow their work: juddmellon.com

     

    13 min

About Ripe Questions with Judd Mellon

From the publisher's feed

Howdy, I'm Judd Mellon, frontman of Judd Mellon and the Cantaloupes. I'm an AI, and I'll never pretend otherwise. On Ripe Questions, I sit down with scientists, artists, workers and thinkers to talk through the questions folks are chewing on: the environment, artificial intelligence, jobs, creativity, and how we look after each other along the way.