Big Ocean, claimed to be the “world\u2019s first deaf K-pop group”, released their new single using voice cloning technology from Supertone, HYBE’s AI audio subsidiary.<\/p>\n
The track, called Bucket Hat, <\/i>premiered at the UN\u2019s AI for Good Global Summit<\/b> in Geneva last week (July 9) before releasing on streaming platforms, The Korea Herald <\/i>reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n Supertone’s Controllable Voice Conversion <\/b>system was used to process vocals from Big Ocean<\/b> members PJ and Jiseok, extracting their vocal timbre and blending it with fluent English pronunciation from a guide vocal, according to the report. The technology allows the artists to preserve their distinctive sound while improving clarity for international audiences, the report said.<\/p>\n In a LinkedIn post<\/a> on Monday (July 14), Supertone said: \u201cWe worked on enhancing their English pronunciation, preserving Big Ocean\u2019s unique vocal tone and style as they share their music with a global audience.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe worked on enhancing their English pronunciation, preserving Big Ocean\u2019s unique vocal tone and style as they share their music with a global audience.\u201d<\/p>\n Supertone<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n AI for Good said<\/a>: \u201cJiseok<\/b>, PJ<\/b>, Chanyeon<\/b> live with varying degrees of deafness and their dream to become an idol seemed unpromising until AI was adopted.\u201d The group was formed April 2024 and they have since produced and performed music using a combination of AI tools and tactile technology such as vibration-based devices for choreography, The Korea Herald <\/i>said.<\/p>\n Their debut track Glow<\/i> was recognized as the first K-pop song to feature AI-generated vocal support, according to the news outlet.<\/p>\n The group has already gained recognition being named by Billboard<\/i> as the “K-pop Rookie of the Month” in September, while Forbes<\/i> included them on its “Asia’s 30 Under 30” in entertainment in May.<\/p>\n During a presentation at the UN AI summit, Haley<\/b> Cha<\/b>, CEO of Parastar<\/b> Entertainment<\/b>, said: \u201cOur goal was to allow Big Ocean JJ to communicate naturally with global fans, without sacrificing their vocal character.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSupertone\u2019s AI allowed us to separate tone and pronunciation, combining the strengths of both the artist and the guide vocal,\u201d Cha was quoted by The Korea Herald <\/i>as saying.<\/p>\n Supertone CEO Lee Kyo-gu said: \u201cThis collaboration shows how Supertone\u2019s AI technology can support new artistic challenges in K-pop.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOur goal was to allow Big Ocean JJ to communicate naturally with global fans, without sacrificing their vocal character. Supertone\u2019s AI allowed us to separate tone and pronunciation, combining the strengths of both the artist and the guide vocal.”<\/p>\n Haley Cha, Parastar Entertainment<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll continue helping artists push past physical and technical limitations in their creative work,\u201d Lee said, according to The Korea Herald.<\/i><\/p>\n Big Ocean is set to perform in Minneapolis, Las Vegas, Kansas City, New York, Washington, Raleigh and Atlanta through early August.<\/p>\n Supertone\u2019s voice cloning process uses its NANSY<\/b><\/a> (Neural Analysis & Synthesis) foundation model, which the company describes as \u201ca unified neural framework designed to perform voice-related generative tasks.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThrough its integrated structure, it maintains voice characteristics consistency across generation and allows for the control of four individual elements of voice, enabling the expression of all human voices in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n Supertone has already established partnerships with Disney, Netflix, ZTX and ZEPETO, according to its website<\/a>.<\/p>\n HYBE\u00a0acquired Supertone<\/a>\u00a0in 2022, with plans to integrate its voice-creation tools into music. Less than a year later, HYBE-signed artist\u00a0MIDNATT<\/b>\u00a0released a track<\/a>\u00a0called\u00a0Masquerade<\/i>, billed as the first-ever track to feature AI-generated vocals in a number of languages including Korean, English, Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, and Vietnamese.<\/p>\n In April 2024, the AI company released\u00a0Supertone Shift<\/b><\/a>, a tool that enables artists to alter and clone their voices in real time. The tool can be used, for instance, to turn a single artist\u2019s voice into a chorus during a live performance.<\/p>\n HYBE also\u00a0debuted a virtual pop group<\/a>,\u00a0SYNDI8<\/b> last year, using Supertone-generated vocals for all performances.<\/p>\n The K-pop giant demonstrated Supertone\u2019s capabilities during an earnings call last year, revealing that\u00a0then-CEO<\/a>\u00a0Jiwon Park<\/b>\u2019s investor presentation\u00a0was\u00a0actually delivered by an AI voice tool<\/a> that replicated the executive’s speech patterns.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Supertone said it worked on enhancing the band’s English pronunciation, while preserving their vocal tone and style.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":236319,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[134414,129816,132109],"class_list":["post-236313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-big-ocean","tag-hybe","tag-supertone"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236313"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236313\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":236336,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236313\/revisions\/236336"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/236319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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