Music Composer: Real Recordings with MIDI Annotations

We are looking for musicians, producers and audio engineers to supply real music recordings paired with note-level MIDI annotations, as part of an AI training dataset project. We are accepting existing or newly made tracks.

The work:
Each deliverable is one real music recording, 3 to 4 minutes long, plus a separate annotation track for every instrument in that recording, with each note carrying instrument, pitch, onset and offset. Annotations must reflect what was actually played, with timing matching the performance to within 10 to 20 ms.

The most practical route is capturing audio and MIDI in the same take, for example performing into Logic or Ableton via a microphone using a keyboard or piano, electric guitar, drum kit, saxophone, trumpet etc, recorded acoustically and as MIDI at the same time.

There are two tiers we need based on note-off accuracy: Standard delivers note-offs as captured (key-release timing), while Enhanced delivers note-offs corrected to the audible end of each note and verified against the audio. Please note which tier each recording is delivered to, as most DAWs default to Standard.

For each instrument track, please also note the capture method (performed, programmed or hybrid) alongside the instrument label. Partially programmed mixes are fine in any genre, real vocals or guitar over programmed drums included, but a good share of performed rhythm sections is preferred where possible.

There is more than one valid route, and we are open to whichever suits your setup:

Recording a live instrument into your DAW - Capturing audio and MIDI in the same take, for example performing into Logic or Ableton via a microphone using a keyboard or piano, electric guitar, drum kit, saxophone, trumpet etc, recorded acoustically and as MIDI at the same time. The acoustic or electric audio and the MIDI are captured in the same take, so timing lines up natively.
Existing multitrack or DAW project archives. Sessions of your own work where separate instrument stems and MIDI or note data already exist and can be exported, as long as it is from real instrument or vocal recordings.
Manual annotation or score alignment. Transcribing or aligning notes against an existing real recording, with human verification of timing and instrument labels.

Audio rendered from MIDI using virtual instruments is not suitable, and annotations must not be generated by running an automatic transcription tool over the audio.

Each recording is delivered as one lossless audio file (WAV or FLAC, 44.1 kHz or higher) plus one annotation file (MIDI/JSON). Full guidance and the agreed format, including the instrument label vocabulary, will be provided, so you will know exactly what is expected before you start.

Scope and opportunity:
We are looking for 20 individually different recordings in total, split across the two quality tiers described above.

Approximate Rates (Instrument tracks is how many instruments are present in the song):

1 to 2 instrument tracks: $50 per recording
3 to 5 instrument tracks: $75 per recording
6+ instrument tracks: $100 per recording

What we are looking for:

-Working musicians, producers, composers or audio engineers
-A setup that can capture real audio and MIDI together, or an existing archive of suitable material
-Genres beyond pop, rock and Western classical are especially valuable, as are recordings including singing. We’re aiming for a spread across: Non-Western (Asian/African), Jazz & Blues, Electronic & Hip Hop, Pop & Rock, Folk/Singer-songwriter, Heavy Metal & Rock, Contemporary & Classical
-A DAW such as Logic, Ableton or Pro Tools
-Comfortable working to a defined delivery format
-Rights to the material you supply, including permission for AI training and commercial use

To apply:
Send us your availability, a short note on what you could record or already hold (genres, instrumentation, and how the audio and annotations would be produced), along with a few examples of relevant work.

Budget range:
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