Identify the tunes in your head with Midomi

By Mark O’Neill
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

I’m sure you’ve all been in this particular nightmarish situation.   You get up in the morning, and as soon as your brain wakes up, a tune begins in your head.   What is the name of that tune?  Where does it come from?   Why the HELL does it not go away and leave you alone?

The not knowing the name of the song is the worst part of it.   I’ve had a tune in my head for several weeks going round and round in my brain in an endless loop driving me totally insane, but it wouldn’t be so bad if I knew the name of it and of the person who sang it (so I’d know where to send the hate mail)

Enter Midomi.   One of the free services they offer is for you to put on your headphones and hum that irritating tune into your microphone.   If you give them around 10 seconds of humming, they will search their database and see if they can identify the song for you.

But what is really cool is that you don’t have to just hum it.   You can bark it, burp it, fart it, moo it, cough it, whatever.   You can do it in a variety of noises and Midomi still manages to recognize the tune.    Yesterday, to really test it, I put my dignity and self respect to one side and oinked “How Much Is that Doggy In The Window?” (yeah I know, I was off my medication!).   Midomi recognized it right away (and probably also tagged me as a “nutcase” and alerted the authorities).   But hey, it’s scientific research, so you have to make sacrifices sometimes.   Is that men in white coats I see walking towards my front door?   Oh hell…

Some people might dismiss this particular web service as a stupid time-waster, but I found it rather amusing. After all, you’ve got to chill out sometimes and relax don’t you?

Just go to the Midomi website, and in the top left hand corner, click on “Click for singing search”.   When it indicates it is recording, start humming or whatever particular bodily noise you wish to make.   When you have stopped, it will eventually upload your audio and start searching.

It may not find your tune though.   It is dependent on users creating accounts, singing songs and uploading them to the database.   So if you are an American Idol wannabe, you might want to consider shredding whatever pride you have and doing that.

Oh and the tune that was in my head?   It turned out to be “Greensleeves” by Olivia Newton-John!   Aaaaghh!   Funnily enough, as soon as I found that out, the song disappeared from my head!

So there’s another reason to use Midomi!   For the first time in weeks, I have peace in my head.