Generate AI music and sound effects

Generate your own music or sound effects directly in Descript from a text prompt.

the AI tools panel in the Descript editor, with a cursor pointing at the Generate audio item

Usage note

Generate audio uses AI credits and media minutes: music ~1 credit per 10 seconds, sound effects ~1 credit per 3 seconds. Learn more about tracking your media minutes and AI credits.

How to generate music and sound effects

  1. Open the AI Tools panel in the right sidebar and select Generate audio.
  2. Select the Music or Sound Effects tab at the top of the panel.
  3. Type a prompt describing the audio you want. Avoid prompts that try to recreate a specific artist's voice or style, or that reproduce someone else's copyrighted music or lyrics.
  4. Choose your advanced settings.
    • For music, adjust parameters such as Duration and Tempo.
    • For sound effects, adjust Duration and whether the sound should Loop.
  5. If you're generating music, choose whether to include lyrics. Leave the lyrics field blank to let Descript generate vocals and lyrics from your prompt, or enter your own.
  6. Click Generate.

Once you add generated audio to your composition, it behaves like any other audio layer. Move it, trim it, adjust its volume, or apply effects the same way you would with imported audio.

Generate audio is also available from the Media panel

Click Media in the right sidebar, select the music note icon, then click Generate with AI.

Descript doesn't claim ownership of the music or sound effects you generate in Descript. However, the copyright treatment of AI-generated audio is uncertain, so some or all of that music or those sound effects may not be eligible for copyright protection.

Copyright rules can vary by country, and outcomes can change depending on the specific facts and circumstances surrounding the creation of the work. Consult a legal advisor if you need guidance for a specific project.

Always respect third-party intellectual property. Generated audio is screened for copyright and content protections, and some requests may be blocked. Using Descript to infringe third-party intellectual property rights violates our Terms of Service, and may result in corrective action, up to and including suspension or termination of your account.

Review generated audio before publishing. If you upload your finished content to another platform, that platform may still run its own copyright or policy checks.