ROBERT KRAMER

OUR STORY
The modern music world of the 21st century is filled with creator content of  more varying styles, genres and approaches than at any time in musical history. In addition, computer technology and the rapidly growing trend towards A.I. processing of musical works has added yet another controversial dimension to the massive catalog generated by what has been called “fake artistry”.

Much of the criticism surrounding this controversy has been called justified by creating what is termed “A.I. slop”, or high-volume, low-effort, and often low-quality digital content (text, images, video, audio) generated by artificial intelligence. It is designed to exploit algorithms for attention, engagement, and ad revenue, leading to a flood of spam and misinformation online.   Much of the musical content generated using this method has been said to possess an automated, creatively heartless feel, missing the “human” element, lacking in true artistic soul, and inspiration. 

In response to this, Grand Illusion Records was created specifically to positively support the idea of human-based creativity in music. We wholeheartedly agree that technology, however advanced, should not be allowed to take the place of the human element. 

  Any truthful examination of digital recording technology will show that the digital files of any recording system used in today's music processing is not the actual sound wave. Digital recording converts sound waves into binary data (1's and 0's) rather than storing the physical wave itself. It acts as a discrete "sampling" of the sound, capturing snapshots of amplitude at specific intervals, whereas analog captures the continuous wave directly. This has been the case for ALL music recorded digitally since the early 1970's till the modern day.

In the end, we feel the use of A.I. should be viewed as a processing tool rather than the single source of the artistry.  Pro-Tools, Logic Pro, or any computer-based platform that alters recorded music in tone or structure also sits inside of this classification.  Our core belief is that the human composer should always be the source of the content. 

 Recently revealed information shows the A.I. programs by SUNO, UDIO and other platforms that are being used to generate music today were all TRAINED BY SAMPLING REAL MUSIC AND ARTISTS from the major record label catalogs like Universal, Warner Bros, and many others. The programs being used by the A.I. companies would not exist in their current form without THE HUMAN ELEMENT.

The music profiled on this site are actual songs written by human music composers, using original analog & digital recordings combined with currently available processing technology to enhance and refine the original instrumentation and voices. Each “artist” displayed is a “model archetype” to showcase the different artistic ranges of material. 

The technology used is not a substitute for the underlying creativity.               

Moving forward, as our label develops further, we will be looking for other authentic music creators and composers who are truly dedicated to their own personal artistry, and are looking to bring their creations to life.

Our motto is “REAL MUSIC - REAL ARTISTS - RE-IMAGINED”.