Spotify has a nifty feature called Canvas that allows you to add a short visual loop to your music. When someone listens to your song on mobile, they’ll see your animated video full screen in the mobile app. It’s a good idea to use things like this in Spotify. Your songs are more interesting and…… Continue reading How to add animated visuals to your Spotify tracks with Vuo
Playlists are not spreadsheets
I love discovering new music, even though it can be tiring. When streaming services have such deep catalogues, everything is within reach. You don’t need to track down albums and buy it all – you’re free to explore! Consequently I love Spotify, which even has cool features like Discover Weekly that are designed to help…… Continue reading Playlists are not spreadsheets
How to get custom ringtones & text alerts on your iPhone
Play This page has a musical soundtrack – click the Play button to hear it as you scroll. Haszari – Redline Train Rubadub (chords & strings) I like default settings .. but I also like to customise things. Especially my sound world. It’s quite possible to get a custom ringtone on an iPhone, though it’s…… Continue reading How to get custom ringtones & text alerts on your iPhone
Daniel Crooks – time & space from a different angle
In 2019 I gave a talk at my first ever WordCamp (in Brisbane). Looking back I’m feeling lucky to have travelled and attended in person. Like so many other communities, WordCamps are now pretty much 100% online & distributed. Whenever I find myself in a new place there are a couple of things that I’ll…… Continue reading Daniel Crooks – time & space from a different angle
Darryl Baser “Second Selfie” launch party
I played a little gig on the weekend – had a great time. The show was the release party for Dunedin songwriter and local media personality Darryl Baser’s Second Selfie album. An assortment of local songwriters played. A particular favourite for me was the Dragonfly Rustlers. Tight folk-blues harmonies, and a unique ability to trade…… Continue reading Darryl Baser “Second Selfie” launch party
Eggs for Tea
I’ve just released some new music! This one has been percolating for a while. The story begins with a remix contest and a piece of left-field “indie” audio workstation software known as EnergyXT. I’m constantly looking for different tools and techniques to help me make music. To produce music more fluidly and expressively, and to…… Continue reading Eggs for Tea
How to sync the Web Audio API with Web MIDI
The Web Audio API is an incredibly fun audio playground, widely supported in most browsers. You can quite easily do things like build synthesisers and sound effects, or slice up audio samples – in JavaScript code, in your web browser. There’s also a companion API for sending and receiving MIDI events. This allows you to…… Continue reading How to sync the Web Audio API with Web MIDI
Padded Landscape
a loop-based generative audio-visual experiment A while ago I decided to relax a bit more with my music production. The idea was to remove the pressure to finish and release tracks, and just noodle around and make loops. If I had fun jamming, I’d render the parts as a loop, archive it, and move on.…… Continue reading Padded Landscape
Manhole Covers
Play Click play to listen to an evolving soundtrack as you scroll through the post. Anunaku – Teleported If you read this blog you might already know I like taking photos of tiles. This post is about another photographic hobby of mine – manhole covers. Here’s one from Amsterdam which (to my eyes) evokes a…… Continue reading Manhole Covers
Computer & Nerd Boxes
First stop on our summer holiday was Sunnyvale. The first thing to do in silicon valley – the Computer History Museum. So much historical computer info and hardware all housed in Silicon Graphics’s old headquarters. After the CHM we visited ex-colleague Aidan at his new workplace – one of the many Apple campuses dotted around.…… Continue reading Computer & Nerd Boxes