The primary obstacle that prevented “Now And Then” from being finished for all these years was the difficulty in separating Lennon’s vocal track from the backing piano on the original demo tape. While the other band members were able to make their additions in the 90s, it didn’t sound natural with Lennon’s voice and the piano meshed together.
The secret weapon used to remedy this problem was an audio software system created in 2022 in part by prominent filmmaker Peter Jackson, used extensively in the documentary series “The Beatles: Get Back.” This audio software used AI algorithms to read Lennon’s vocal track from the demo and separate it from the backing piano to get a clear cut. Afterward, it could be properly synced up with the additions from the other members to create the finished track.
Back in June, in the face of concerns regarding the usage of Lennon’s voice with AI, Sir Paul McCartney offered some clarifications on how the algorithm was actually used.
“Can’t say too much at this stage but to be clear, nothing has been artificially or synthetically created,” McCartney wrote on his X (formerly Twitter) profile. “It’s all real and we all play on it. We cleaned up some existing recordings – a process which has gone on for years.”