Freshness rule
Suno changes quickly. Do not hardcode an old model as current. When operating the UI, capture it and select the newest stable model available to the logged-in account unless the user requests another. Treat exact character limits and feature names as UI facts to verify, not memory.
Translate intent into seven musical layers
- Form: song length, section sequence, bar/energy proportions.
- Rhythm: BPM range, meter, pocket, swing/syncopation, density.
- Harmony: tonal center/mode, harmonic tension, cadence character, rate of change.
- Melody: register, contour, motif behavior, hook interval/mouthfeel.
- Timbre: focal instruments, supporting textures, negative space.
- Performance: vocal persona, articulation, dynamics, ensemble behavior.
- Production: era without trademarks, spatial image, saturation/clarity, transient character, dynamic arc.
A prompt is not a keyword dump. It is an arrangement brief compressed into natural language.
Style prompt order
Use this order so the model receives priorities clearly:
Genre/fusion; emotional state and energy; tempo/meter/pocket; focal instrumentation; vocal persona and delivery; section-to-section dynamic journey; production and spatial character; ending behavior.
Name 3–6 important instruments. Over-specification makes arrangements muddy and generic.
No named-artist shortcuts
Do not write "in the style of", "sounds like", or named-voice references. Translate a reference into attributes:
- decade or production era;
- vocal range, grain, intimacy, articulation;
- drum pocket and bass behavior;
- harmonic vocabulary;
- arrangement density;
- spatial and saturation choices;
- emotional/dynamic movement.
This produces more original work and avoids imitation/voice-clone requests.
Vocal persona
Specify a person-like performance, not only gender:
- range: contralto, alto, tenor, baritone, etc.;
- grain: clear, smoky, weathered, breath-edged, dry;
- placement: close-mic, room-present, distant, choir-backed;
- articulation: conversational, legato, clipped, melismatic, restrained;
- arc: almost spoken → sung → open belt → fragile close;
- harmony behavior: unison, thirds, octave doubles, call-response.
Avoid "perfect" or celebrity voice language. Human detail beats generic power.
Dynamic architecture
Map energy by section. A useful default is not a rule:
Intro 2 → Verse 4 → Pre 6 → Chorus 8 → Verse 5 → Bridge 3/7 → Final Chorus 9 → Outro 2
Contrast is the engine: sparse/dense, dry/wet, low/high register, solo/stacked, held/pulsed, silence/impact. The final chorus should change because the story changed.
Structural and performance tags
Use only high-value tags in lyrics:
[Intro],[Verse 1],[Pre-Chorus],[Chorus],[Bridge],[Outro];- one performance cue such as
intimate,harmonized,spoken,stripped,full lift; - an instrumental cue only when arrangement depends on it.
Keep 1–3 cues per section. Contradictory or crowded tags reduce control.
Exclusions
Use Exclude Styles to protect the thesis. Typical exclusions:
- unwanted vocal type or choir;
- genre drift;
- excessive distortion, trap hats, festival drops, cinematic swells;
- spoken samples;
- long intro/outro;
- abrupt ending;
- dense midrange for narration beds.
Do not use exclusions to negate half the prompt. If the positive direction is unclear, rewrite it.
Controlled iteration
- One Create action yields the initial take pair.
- Review both against the same brief; do not move the goalposts.
- Name the strongest 15–30 seconds and the single largest failure.
- Choose one operation: regenerate prompt, replace section, extend, cover, or remaster.
- Change one dominant variable at a time so learning compounds.
For extensions, restate the core genre, vocal persona, and ending target to reduce drift.
Troubleshooting
- Generic output: strengthen premise, focal instrument, rhythmic pocket, and dynamic contradiction; remove adjectives.
- Muddy vocal: reduce instrumentation, request close/dry vocal and restrained midrange, use a sparse verse.
- Flat song: define section jobs and explicit energy contrast; add a silence or stripped bridge.
- Wrong tempo/feel: state BPM plus pocket (half-time, swung, straight, syncopated).
- Mispronunciation: spell out numbers/acronyms and respell the problem word phonetically.
- Overlong intro: state immediate vocal entry or exact short intro behavior; exclude long intro.
- Weak ending: specify hard stop, final held chord, unresolved cutoff, or long fade.
Output
Provide one recommended production direction and, only when useful, one deliberate alternate that changes a single thesis variable. Include why the recommendation best serves the emotional contract.