music
Personal Use: How do you “takeout” your Spotify data?
Like many, I’ve built dozens of playlists in Spotify and truly enjoyed how the algorithm knows me. It was almost surreal finding Discover Weekly playlists where every single song fit my musical taste du jour.
However, probably also like many, it was eventually overwhelming to hear thousands of new songs a year – to the point where I could no longer remember when I first heard or song, or whether it was a remix or the original. I was happy with the static selection in my playlists, but couldn’t justify paying $10/month for what amounts to a CDN and .m3u host…
Subscription services are often inherently designed around user retention. How do you export your Spotify data?
- You can copy-paste from the desktop client to get a list of Spotify URLs – not useful without a subscription.
- You can pay for questionable “Spotify to MP3” utilities online.
- You keep paying.
I won’t get into DMCA, DRM, fair use, or other concepts here. Instead, let’s take a look at a cool script…
Rhythmind – Now Free!
Rhythmind was released a little over 3 months ago. I’ve decided to provide it free of charge, though of course you can still pay what you want for it.
Download it today from Bandcamp.
Daniel Joannis – Rhythmind
It has been 5 years and 2 days since the idea of Rhythmind was born. On November 16th, 2007, I recorded my first full-length song, “Dance Hall Dream”. It was exciting, seeing that I could write music, and knowing that I had the potential to make music I really liked.
I didn’t stop, and my Compositions folder is a testament to that, with over 100 project files, most incomplete. However, Rhythmind bundles up some of the finished songs, and presents them in an album format we are all familiar with.
All 13 songs are available, in their entirety, to be listened to at http://music.danjoannis.com. If you like them, $5 $0 or more will get you high-quality downloads in almost any format you wish. If you prefer a physical copy, send me a message.
Music has the power to alter perspective and change the way we feel, and to me, Rhythmind does both quite well. Listen for yourself.
Ottawa Pinball and Gameroom Show ’12
This year marked the second annual Ottawa Pinball and Gameroom Show (I tend to call it the Pinball Expo). On Friday, September 7th, 2012, over 50 pinball machines were installed at the Hilton Garden Inn by the Ottawa Airport, and by Saturday, there were around 60+ tables. The show spanned from September 8th to the 9th.
As per last year, I made a video of the show, but I was much more ambitious this year. I ended up creating something more documentary styled, incorporating multiple interviews, to find out the more personal side of pinball. The video is indeed a bit un-conventional, but I am pleased with it.
Daniel Joannis – Midnight Oil
A new song release, long overdue. Another production that really represents my musical style, this song makes much use of the lower frequencies. It is best heard with a good pair of headphones or speakers.
Modifying Bluetooth Headphones
Backstory
For Christmas, I asked my sister for a pair of Bluetooth headphones. I had wanted a pair for a while, but the biggest concern I had was quality, but hand in hand with that is price. I read many reviews about headsets in the $50-$80 range, and many of them complained of sound dropping, artifacting, tinny sound, empty bass. This was the highest I was willing to pay for BT headphones, and even at that, I wanted excellent quality for that price. Then I came across these:
These Nexxtech “Soaring” Bluetooth headphones were on sale for $19.99 at the time. I thought, “hey, these have the same kind of reviews as the $60 units. Since they are more affordable, and would be a great gift idea, I’ll try them out.” So, when Christmas came, these were the headphones I got.
I used them a few times, but it wasn’t until college resumed that they were getting more usage. I found they were fairly comfortable to wear (as long as you have hair that covers your ears), and that the sound quality was actually exceptional. Not as in, “I can tell it is Bluetooth but I don’t mind.” I mean, it sounded as close to wired headphones as it could get. My friends were equally impressed.
Unfortunately, clarity does not mean frequency response. The bass lacked punch, dubstep did not tickle my eardrums like other headphones. It suffered from Generic Driver Syndrome – standard, run of the mill, $10 headphone speakers.
Time for a solution…
Photo Blog – Cleaning out my Roland D-20
My uncle was kind enough to lend me his faithful but underused Roland D-20. For the last 4 years. The less feature-packed sibling of the D-50, the D-20 is still a very powerful keyboard. It is a “multi timbral linear synthesizer multi track sequencer”, according to the imprint on it’s face. I have used this keyboard in the studio and on stage, and despite being manufactured in 1988, it still sounds and performs as new.
Alas, it has not been used intensely for a long time, and dust had begun to accumulate. Today I felt the D-20 belonged on my desk, and once I’d moved it from the stand, I began to clean the keys. However, a bit of water trickled down in between the keys, and I was not going to turn it on for risk of there still being water down there. So I took it apart, and began a 3 hour journey to clean the D-20, from the inside out.
Ottawa Pinball Expo – 2011 (Video)
Here is my video of the first ever Ottawa Pinball Expo! We brought three machines to the show, and I am pleased to say I played every free-play machine there! It was great fun, and I can’t wait for next year!
Filmed, edited and soundtrack composed by myself.
Old Band Video
I can’t believe it – has it really been almost 2 months since my last post?! I haven’t been documenting my projects in much detail recently, but I should have some new material soon! (Class project, new pinball machine and more!)
In the meanwhile, check out this video from my band days, finally published with 3 separate angles. Unfortunately, one of the cameras uses a codec my video editing software doesn’t like, so it is a bit jerky, but otherwise it is a great film!
Daniel Joannis – Catharsis
It has been a little while, but here is another release. It was under the working title of “Mental Breakdown”, but in keeping with my tradition, I didn’t keep the working title and instead it has been named “Catharsis”. After you listen to it once on its own, I would suggest opening RainyMood in another tab and having this play at the same time : ).