Google Lyria Guide: Tips for Pro AI Music & Game Soundtracks

Google’s AI music maker allowed me to create the perfect soundtracks for my pixel art, online monster taming game, Fantasy Brawls. It took some tweaks and some creative prompt engineering but I finally settled on the perfect music for both my home page and in-game battles. To get a truly professional and catchy song, you can’t just use a generic prompt. Instead, get specific, reference other songs for inspiration (just be careful of copyright), and include the lyrics you want included in your final piece.

Start With Some Reference Tracks

In my case, I wanted something 90s themed, reminiscent of battle music from early Pokemon games. But, I also wanted to infuse themes from popular R & B and Hip Hop songs from that era. This lead me to asking Lyria to combine these two tracks:

• Wu-Tang Clan - C.R.E.A.M
• Pokemon Crystal - Entei Battle Theme

Of course due to copyright restrictions it cannot literally combine the tracks, and it’ll inform you of this. Instead, the instrumentals from those tracks will be used to guide Lyria in its song creation process. Also, be sure to tell it explicitly, and more than once, to exclude lyrics from the song if you are looking for instrumentals only.

I’ve had to do this multiple times when generating music. If you find that it keeps adding lyrics, try opening another chat and starting from scratch. Hallucinations happen but opening new chats seems to give Gemini the refresh it needs to focus again.

Use Your Own Lyrics

You don’t need to be an expert song writer here, in fact, you can use Gemini or ChatGPT to create the words for you. Just keep in mind that you are limited to 30 second clips. So, try to trim the lyrics to fit this timeslot or it’ll be cut off. To build song lyrics, here’s the prompt structure I use.

Ensure you use the tag, Lyrics:, in your prompt. And if you want to have background vocals, encapsulate them in parenthesis. For example, Lyric: Open the door (but close it after). I didn’t have any lyrics in mind, I know I just wanted the words Fantasy Brawls repeated a couple times and in dramatic fashion. So, instead of full fledged lyrics I instructed Lyria to include these keywords: Pixel, Knockout, Stamina, Apex (brawler variants, like Shinies in Pokemon), Battle.

Build The Vocal Profile

If you don’t tell Gemini what your artist needs to sound like, it’ll choose for you. To fine tune your output, get specific in how you want the voice behind your song to sound. Mention qualities like "raspy," "high-pitched," "soulful," or "monotone."

For my project, I wanted the voice to sound like a combination of myself and artists I grew up listening to. Here’s a sample vocal profile you can borrow.

For my project, I found that describing the vocalists as "energetic 90s hype-man" or "smooth R&B mezzo-soprano" helped bridge the gap between the gritty hip-hop beats and the melodic nature of the game.

Start Mastering Tracks Today

Fortunately, you don’t have to drop thousands of dollars for your next marketing piece or theme song for your game. With some creative, specific prompt engineering, you can build memorable music for your project for free. If you’re interested in learning more about Gemini’s capabilities and to figure out how you use AI agents to generate songs automatically, check out our write up on Google Workspace Studio Automations: Google Workspace Studio Automations

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Gemini Lyria free?

Yes, Gemini Lyria is free to use.

Is Gemini Lyria better than Suno?

If you’re working on a project similar to mine and only need 30 second clips, the Lyria is superior to Suno. However, for longer, more complex projects, Suno is the way to go.

Can you use Gemini Lyria commercially?

No. In the standard Gemini app, Lyria 3 is restricted to personal, non-commercial use. This means you cannot use it for paid advertisements, monetize it on streaming platforms (like Spotify), or sell the tracks.

BUT…if you use your Vertex AI developer account to generate music via the Lyria API (lyria-002), you are granted commercial exploitation rights under the Google Cloud Platform terms.

Can you use it for personal projects?

Yes. You are free to use Lyria for hobby websites, school presentations, birthday cards, social media posts (that aren't ads), and sharing with friends.

Does Gemini Lyria integrate with Google Workspace?

If you are a business user and utilize the Workspace Studio platform, it is possible to use triggers, such as a form submission or an email to pass a prompt to Gemini to create a track in Lyria.