I’ve started to go through my archives and upload music I created over 10 years ago, I have a few things to go up but here is the first. Please subscribe and help support the channel.
Category: music
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IK Multimedia are a great company and this release could be good timing for me looking at different ways to record for YouTube.
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I’m so impressed with the start Andor has gotten off to. The music is particularly great, here’s the link to Apple Music. It’ll update as the series moves along.
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I’ve been using Apple Music for ages now and I like it, it’s my favourite music streaming service but there’s one area I’d improve – discovery.
When looking at the app this morning I’m struck with how difficult it is to find all the new releases from my favourite artists.
Correct me if I’m wrong here but I don’t see any way to show me a list of all artists in my library that have a new release.
Is this really the case?
That’s an area Spotify does better, it feels a bit more of an active service and I’d always be in new music whereas Apple Music feels a bit more like just listening to your favourite music – if this makes sense.
Am I missing a trick here?
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I’ve not really talked much about Star Wars here now I’ve got a little newsletter but I had to share this link. The official soundtracks have just come out on your favourite streaming service of choice. If you haven’t watched this series yet you need to stop what you’re doing and watch it now.
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I’ve been testing different music app subscriptions for the last 6 months going between the main three.
- Apple Music
- Spotify
- Amazon Music Unlimited
What I’ve found is that there’s one difference with Spotify that makes the difference for me – playlist curation.
The available library and costs are pretty much on par between them all but only Spotify has me discovering more new music to listen to. I really like their curated playlists and whilst Apple are doing something similar they seem a bit more random and don’t the songs don’t always match the playlist theme.
After using them all now I feel that Spotify offers the best discovery of them all.
If you just listen to the same library over and over then you can go with whichever app you like the most but if you’re into discovering new music then Spotify is the way to go.
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I’ve recently switched over to the Amazon Music and finding to be a good cheaper alternative to Apple Music. The iOS app is straightforward and intuitive, the selection is just as good and downloads seem faster to me.
Check it out here (you will be supporting the site with this link)
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Ludovico Einaudi is one of my favourite artists of all time and I recently discovered that he has recorded an album at his home with an iPhone whilst in lockdown.
Check it out on Apple Music here.
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I’ve enjoyed The Witcher Netflix series and today the soundtrack got added to Apple Music. Here’s the link.
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It’s been quiet on the blog but I have been thinking about what I can do for creative projects to have a bit of a change. I think I’m going to start to look at getting back into my guitar and making music but this time it’ll be with an iPad focus. Recording an EP has been on my mind for a while so I’m going to plan out some projects that allow me to do this and take iOS along with me, all produced on the iPad. I need to work out how I am going to record and the MIC etc, but digging out my setup has been fun – watch this space.
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Along with one of my favourite documentaries I’ve seen in a while the soundtrack is great, especially to work to.
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Today’s the day, the new Tool album releases on Apple Music. Looking forward to listening to this one.
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When shopping for noise cancelling headphones it seemed like these two were the clear choices but which one? I tested both headphones and ended up with the Bose, here’s why.
Comfort
The ear cups on the Bose are larger so my ears fit well within them. The Sony are smaller so the cushion sat on my ear and meant that they got a bit hot after only a few minutes. I find that the Bose don’t get hot as there’s more air circulating. You definitely need to try on both to see which suit you best here. I forgot I was wearing them after a while but with the Sony as these cups are smaller my ears would just get sweaty and I’d be wanting to take them off.
Sound
The Sony are definitely leaning more towards being good for hip hop and electronic. I listen to all kinds of music so wanted something that sounded good for all of it. I go from listening to Nine Inch Nails to John Williams in a day and found that the Bose to my ears had the most flexibility. With the Sony you do have the ability to tweak your sound via their app however and with Bose you don’t, something that I’d like to see via an app update.
Noise Cancelling
When testing this in a crowded store I felt that the Sony did a better job of filtering out chatter. On using the Bose at home it does a great job of cutting out background TV noise and sounds from outside.
Price and build quality
I’m not sure Bose justify their cost over the Sony (£100!) in noise cancelling but the build of them is superb. They definitely (to me) feel more premium and a more thoughtful design.
There seems to be a divide on the Bose but personally I love how they look. They aren’t much different in weight but they Bose felt more balanced on my head.
Bluetooth
Both connected ok via settings on my iPhone. The advantage that the Bose has here is you can pair them to more than one device at a time meaning you can seamlessly move between iOS devices, for me that’s my iPad Mini and iPhone. They also support a newer Bluetooth standard so the range will be better than the Sony.
Conclusion
Headphone choice is very personal and the only way to be sure is to try both. If you live in the UK the best place I’ve found to do this is John Lewis as they have them all setup for you to test. I picked mine up from the Apple Store as their generous return policy extends to headphones so you can test in the safety of knowing you can return them if it doesn’t work out for you.
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I had this experience once I’d updated to the latest firmware. If you find the touchpad no longer works once it’s been updated then do the following.
- Take the USB cable that came with the headphones and plug it into a usb charging plug
- Turn on the plug
- Press and hold the power/Bluetooth button and plug the other end of the cable into your headphones (connector is on the right cup)
- Keep holding for a few seconds then let go and disconnect the cable
Turn the headset on again by pressing the power/Bluetooth button. With mine the touchpad started working again straight away.
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Been wanting a pair of noise cancelling headphones for a while so was wanting to try the QC-35 replacements since they came out. I’ve only just started playing with them but thought I’d post some images of what you get.
LJPUK 