Why I Stopped Using Generative AI For Cover Images

Neon Notes — Week [6]

When I first started making music again in 2023, it was a whirlwind of excitement and rediscovered passion. I was completely absorbed in the process. Writing, arranging, producing. It took up most of my time and headspace in the best way possible.

Like I mentioned in an earlier post, I uploaded my first song to SoundCloud after about a week of producing. A few months later, I put it on YouTube. What I did not think about at all was artwork. Suddenly I needed a cover image for every single release.

At first, I took some pretty bad photos and used those. I didn’t care how they looked. I was just proud of the music and wanted people to hear it.

Around that time, I discovered an AI image generator website. I will not name it here, but it felt like an easy solution. I make music, not visual art… right? I convinced myself I just needed something that looked decent so I could upload my songs.

So I started generating image after image. I would edit them in Canva, add my artist name and the song title, and call it a day.

But I was never under the illusion that I created anything.

Whenever someone asked about the artwork, I was honest and told them it was AI generated. I was not pretending otherwise. Still, something felt off. The music was deeply personal. The artwork was not.

To be fair, I did use some real photos on a few releases back then. But most of my covers were AI generated until I did some real soul searching.

I asked myself a simple question. If I can learn how to produce a song from start to finish, including mixing and mastering, why can’t I learn how to create my own visuals? I used to paint. I used to draw. Creativity was never limited to one outlet for me.

So why was I outsourcing this part of my art?

Fast forward to March 2025 and the release of my single One More Time.

When I sat down to write that song, I made a decision. From that point forward, all my cover art would be built from licensed photos or photos I took myself. I would edit them. Shape them. Make them mine.

The working title of that song was A New Beginning.

It fit for two reasons. First, the lead synth in One More Time was the same lead I used in my very first song. Maybe slightly tweaked, but still there. A full circle moment.

Second, it marked a shift in how I approach my visuals. The music was always personal. Now the artwork would be too.

Now I am in the middle of the painstaking process of replacing all of my old AI generated images with real, genuine photos. Even my artist avatar and logo are getting a rebrand soon.

I am not against technology. AI can be a tool like anything else. But for me, it started to feel disconnected from the creative process that I care so much about.

I want every part of what I release to feel intentional.

Not perfect.
Not polished beyond recognition.

Just real.

Now Creating

• Rebuilding my catalog artwork with genuine photography
• Finishing songs for the next EP, Electric Skyline Volume 2
• Exploring new writing techniques

Thanks for reading.
If you have thoughts about any of this, I’d love to hear them.

This post is part of my weekly Neon Notes series. New posts go live every Wednesday.

How My Mixing Has Changed

Neon Notes — Week [6]

Lately, I’ve been thinking about how different my mixes sound compared to when I first started.

Back in 2023, I had a general idea of what mixing was supposed to be, but being a beginner brings beginner mistakes. I would write and arrange the song and then mix everything at the end. What I was left with were mixes that were way too loud, muddy, and lacked low-end clarity.

Now I mix on the fly.

As I write and arrange the song, I'm also making mixing decisions and getting problems out of the way sooner in the process. By the time the arrangement is done, most of the mixing is done, besides cleaning up sibilance in the vocal samples, that step always comes last, right before mastering. But mixing on the fly changed everything for me.

One of the biggest differences is what I listen for first.

Now, I listen for frequency clashes as soon as I start writing and deal with them right away. Back then, I would stack sounds that I really liked but that also clashed frequency-wise. I would try to force them to work, which just created a mess. Cleaning things up early keeps the mix tidy and makes later decisions easier.

Looking back, I realized that my mixes weren't bad because I lacked talent. They were rough because my ears weren't trained yet. By analyzing each song as I finished it, I started noticing patterns. I was beginning to understand why my mixes were off.

The funny thing I didn't realize back then is that mixing really is more about adjusting volume first. Getting the levels correct goes a long way before ever introducing plugins to the mix.

Knowing what fits is one of the biggest advantages when it comes to mixing.

Learning to mix properly has been one of the most rewarding things about this journey, other than actually making the music.

And like everything else in my music, my process is still evolving.

Now Creating

• 3 songs left to be released for the Electric Skyline EP
• 1 collaboration to be released soon
• Working on an instrumental synthwave style song

Thanks for reading.
If you have thoughts about any of this, I’d love to hear them.

This post is part of my weekly Neon Notes series. Look for new posts every Wednesday.

What I'm working on right now

Neon Notes — Week [5]

Working on my EP Electric Skyline has made me really think about where I'm heading creatively. I know that with EPs, they're usually just songs that didn't make the cut for an album, but I'm treating them like a mini album. I wanted to see if I could make a small collection of songs that sound a bit more cohesive, like they were meant to go together. I think I've accomplished that goal, but to be fair, I think a lot of my songs have a similar sound, so I think it was easy by default.

But right now, I think I'm in the middle of something new.

Recently, I wrote a song called Don't Look Back that came from losing my mom. I won’t go too deep into it here, but making music has always been how I process things, and this one came straight from that place. Sometimes songs aren’t about chasing a sound, they’re just about getting something out.

The reason I bring this up is that this directly points to what I'm working on right now. Before her passing, my sound started to shift, still retro, but more refined. Creating Don't Look Back really cemented this new sound for me. I love the new dynamics and layers in this new direction. Right now, I think I have three distinctive periods in my very short music career.

The beginning was when I thought I wanted to make pure Synthwave. The songs were pure electronic and very rough. The second period is when I shifted to Retro Pop, a little bit more modern sounding, but still very retro. Someone described it as “Neon dreams for the broken hearted”,  they know who they are.

And now, this period is much more modern pop. Super polished production while still sounding retro. Hints of disco, ’90s freestyle, and ’90s RnB. Obviously, the Retro Pop is still in there, and I still make instrumental Synthwave songs, but this shift is organic just like the last one.

My new sound really started a few months ago. I was experimenting with the way I process and write my drums on an instrumental track I titled Journey. I guess you could describe it as Progressive Synthwave, it's very spacey, but almost has a live band feel. This new sound really hit me, so I started using it in more projects. Then I created a personal remix of Dua Lipa's song Break My Heart for fun, and it just fell into place. Now I'm going for more natural sounding drums, which in turn changes the way I process everything else.

Here's a rough snapshot of what's on my hard drive right now.

The titles of these songs could change, but Drown My Pain and Falling For Your Love have a very prominent disco sound, Release Me has a dark RnB sound.

Been On My Mind has a party vibe. I Surrender has a groovy bassline, very smooth overall, and Dangerous has a very dramatic sound with sexy vocals.

I have a few untitled songs as well as some other songs from my previous sound that I'm working on. I can't guarantee they will all see the light of day, but knowing me, they will.

I don’t know exactly where all of this will lead yet, but I do know I’m excited again. And right now, that feels like exactly where I’m supposed to be.

Now Creating

• Writing new material in this more polished, modern-retro direction

• Experimenting with more natural sounding drums and layered synths

• Letting ideas develop organically instead of forcing them

• Sitting with a few untitled tracks and seeing where they want to go

Thanks for reading.
If you have thoughts about any of this, I’d love to hear them.

This post is part of my weekly Neon Notes series. Look for new posts every Wednesday.

How I know when a song is finished.

Neon Notes — Week [4]

Knowing when a song is finished isn’t something that is absolute. Is a piece of art ever truly finished? Finished, to me, probably has a different meaning for you, so let’s look at how I know when a song is finished.

When I began this music journey in early January 2023, I had no idea where it was going to take me. I thought it was just going to be something I would do to pass the time when I was bored. That was not the case at all. Within an hour or two of messing around with Ableton, I was all in.

I spent the next several hours with my DAW open, watching YouTube videos on music production, and just learning everything about it. I “finished” my first song, which I called “Synthia,” on January 16, 2023.

At that time, I didn’t know if a song was finished. I just knew that I had no more to put into the song with my limited knowledge. So, with my limitations, I decided to give myself a two-week deadline for every song. This forced me to make deliberate decisions, and if I didn’t like something about the song when the deadline was up, I just made sure to fix that problem in the next song.

Fast forward to the present.

More knowledge, more confidence, more discipline. These things can only improve by doing, by pushing yourself, by showing up consistently. My workflow is faster, my sound design is streamlined, my decisions are deliberate. I still go into a new project with almost no idea what it’s going to be, but two things are for sure: it will have a retro sound, and it will have a lot of synths in it. Now I spend more time crafting the finished song instead of crafting the ingredients that make the song.

I hear a lot of talk about not being able to finish songs, and that’s totally understandable. Knowing when my song is done is not some clear-cut line in the sand; it’s more of a feeling. After all the hours put into my song, I could tweak it forever, trying to make every detail absolutely perfect, but I have to keep moving forward. So, when I think I’m close to finishing a song, I’ll put it on loop and listen to it over and over. If I let it loop and I don’t have the overpowering urge to change something, that’s the moment I know it’s done.

Someone once told me that their favorite part of creating music is when a song is done. For me, the song I’m working on at the time is my favorite song, so finishing a song is a bittersweet moment, because I can’t work on my favorite song anymore, but I also get to start my next favorite song.

Thanks for reading.
If you have thoughts about any of this, I’d love to hear them.

This post is part of my weekly Neon Notes series. Look for new posts every Wednesday.