Making background music for meditation and sleep apps with AI

You can create background music for meditation and sleep apps using AI music generators like Suno. These tools help you generate custom tracks that fit the specific needs of your app, controlling elements like length, style, and instrumentation. AI offers a fast way to get unique, ambient soundscapes.

What makes good meditation and sleep music?

Meditation and sleep apps need music that supports relaxation without distracting the user. The best tracks are often subtle, ambient, and consistent. They avoid sudden changes in volume or tempo and typically feature minimal or no vocals.

Length and Looping

Meditation and sleep sessions vary in duration. Apps often need tracks that can play for an extended period, or loop seamlessly. When you generate music with AI, you can specify the desired length, usually up to several minutes. For longer sessions, you can generate a base track and then loop it in your app, ensuring the start and end points of the loop are smooth. Suno allows you to generate tracks up to a specific duration, which helps in creating suitable background audio.

Loudness and Dynamic Range

Consistency in loudness is key for relaxation. Music for meditation and sleep should have a low dynamic range; this means there are no big differences between the quietest and loudest parts. Sudden loud sounds can disrupt focus or sleep. When prompting, you can describe the desired energy level to guide the AI, often using terms like "calm," "gentle," or "subtle." After generation, you can use audio editing software to normalize the volume and compress the dynamic range further if needed.

Vocals: To include or not to include?

Most meditation and sleep music benefits from being instrumental. Vocals, even wordless ones, can draw attention and interfere with guided meditations or the process of falling asleep. It's best to specify "instrumental" in your prompt if you want to avoid vocals. If you do want vocals, you can ask for specific types, such as "wordless humming" or "ambient choir," but use these sparingly and ensure they do not become a focal point.

Example prompt for instrumental track: "Ambient soundscape, 10 minutes, calm, flowing synth pads, gentle piano, no drums, instrumental, very low energy, for deep sleep."

Example prompt for subtle vocals: "Relaxing meditation music, 5 minutes, sustained string chords, soft atmospheric pads, subtle wordless female vocalizations, instrumental focus."

Genres and Instrumentation

Certain genres and instruments are naturally more suitable for relaxation. Think ambient, new age, or classical-inspired pieces. Instruments like soft synthesizers, piano, acoustic guitar, flutes, and gentle strings often work well. Avoid genres known for high energy, complex rhythms, or sharp percussive elements.

Example prompt for genre and instrumentation: "New age ambient track, 7 minutes, flowing synth pads, delicate harp arpeggios, soft bells, very slow tempo, for guided meditation."

Licensing and Commercial Use

Understanding the licensing for AI-generated music is crucial, especially if your app will be commercial. The legal landscape for copyright in AI-generated output is currently unsettled and varies by country. Some copyright offices, including the US Copyright Office, have stated that works without human authorship may not be eligible for registration. Always check the specific rules and guidelines in your jurisdiction regarding AI-generated content.

If you plan to use Suno-generated tracks commercially in your app, such as in a subscription service or a paid app, you will need a paid plan. Suno's free plan does not include commercial usage rights. Please refer to Suno's terms of service for the most up-to-date information on usage rights and licensing.

Platforms like YouTube or Spotify have their own policies regarding AI-generated content and its monetization. These policies can change, so it is always a good practice to check their current terms of service directly if you plan to upload your app's content to these platforms.

Ethical Considerations and Watermarking

Suno uses Google's Lyria 3 models, which embed an inaudible SynthID watermark into every generated track. This watermark helps to identify the audio as AI-generated. Being transparent about the use of AI in your app's music can build user trust, especially as AI-generated content becomes more common.

Experimentation and Iteration

AI music generation is a probabilistic process; the same prompt can yield different results each time. This means you might need to generate several tracks and refine your prompts to get exactly what you need. Experiment with different descriptive words, lengths, and instrumentation. Don't be afraid to try multiple variations of a prompt until you achieve the perfect background music for your meditation or sleep app.