How to create effective prompts with Lyria

How prompting in Lyria 3 works

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Simple prompts

Get started with something basic. Request “a rock song” with a chosen lyrical theme and vocal style. Lyria 3 will generate a track with instruments and vocals.

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Image-to-music prompts

Upload an image to generate music to match. Try uploading holiday snaps, photos of your dog – or add a musical dimension to your visual art.

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Detailed, structured prompts

Think about the tempo, dynamics, and instruments you want in your track. The more detail you add, the more control you have over the music.

What to think about while creating prompts

Think about your genre, tempo, and the instruments you want to hear. Experiment by adding details to shape the mood and dynamics.

Genre – or a mix of genres

Pick a genre and era, like early 90s hip-hop, or 2000s pop. Or blend different genres within one song. Do you want a catchy K-pop tune with a Motown edge? Or merge classical violins into a funk track? It’s up to you.

Tempo

Ask for a fast or slow song. Or set a rough tempo by asking for a certain type of music – like a slow ballad, modern pop, or drum and bass.

Instruments

Add unexpected instruments into your chosen genre. “1950s jazz” will likely feature saxophones and trumpets. But you can add other instruments—like an 80s synth—to round out your sound. Or, if you don’t specify instruments, Lyria will automatically choose instruments to suit the genre.

Dynamics

Think about how music flows between sections. Maybe a quiet piano builds into an explosive chorus. Perhaps there’s an instrumental section. Or the vocals might get calmer and quieter as the track progresses.

An image showing a user interface element for a music generation tool. The interface is a rounded, grey text input box containing a detailed prompt:

An image of a music generation interface featuring a prompt that emphasizes rhythmic complexity and mood:

An image of a grey music generation interface, this time highlighting specific instruments and effects:

An image of a grey music generation interface. A complex prompt for a rock anthem:

Prompting with images

Upload images to capture their musical mood. Use your own photos and images, or create new ones with Nano Banana.

Who’s in the image?

Do they look happy or sad? What poses are they striking? What are they wearing? Are they human, animal, or alien?

What’s the location?

What can you see in the background? Inner city streets, or an exotic landscape? Are there people or wildlife in the background?

What’s going on?

Is it a posed family portrait? A hockey match? Or one man and his dog on a wilderness adventure? Lyria will interpret the setting to set the musical mood.

Prompting vocals and lyrics

Define your desired vocal style in detail. Share your own lyrics, or get help from Lyria by describing a theme.

Create a vocal profile

Do you want a male or female singer? Do they have commanding baritone vocals, or a clear and high soprano range? Is their voice rich, gravelly, soulful, breathy? And are they singing in English – or another language?

Use your own lyrics

Add specific lyrics by writing Lyrics: before the lines you’d like to hear. If you want backing singers to echo the main vocals, add that in round brackets. Like this: “Lyrics: Let’s go (go)”.

Get lyrical help from Lyria 3

If you want Lyria 3 to generate lyrics for you, it’s best to make the theme clear with your prompt. You might want “a love song”, or “a song about success”. Or perhaps you want to write a “new happy birthday song” for your best friend.

Experimenting with prompts

Lyria 3 can create a wide range of music – here are a few more ideas to explore. But these are only thought-starters – keep experimenting with your prompts to shape your tracks.

Experimenting with musicality

Prompt harmonies and counterpoints. Layer dense instrumental pieces – with unusual instruments. Keep trying new things, and see what Lyria creates for you.

Experimenting with vocals

Try describing specific vocal patterns you want to hear – like a “fast-paced”, or “laid-back” groove. Or you might want phrases or words repeated by backing vocals. See how you can layer different styles together.

Experimenting with images

Holiday snaps, or historical paintings. Friends, family – or your pet fish. Cartoons, illustrations, or scientific diagrams. Try out all sorts of images, to create all sorts of tracks.

Lyria 3

Explore new genres, play with soundscapes, and find musical inspiration.