def getSimilarSongSegments(audiofile, feature_type = 'rh'):

    samplerate, samplewidth, wavedata = audiofile_read(audiofile)

    # here we set the feature type for the analysis, but we need to put it in a list [.]
    fext = [feature_type]

    segment_features = rp_extract(wavedata,
                      samplerate,
                      extract_rp   = ('rp' in fext),          # extract Rhythm Patterns features
                      extract_ssd  = ('ssd' in fext),           # extract Statistical Spectrum Descriptor
                      extract_sh   = ('sh' in fext),          # extract Statistical Histograms
                      extract_tssd = ('tssd' in fext),          # extract temporal Statistical Spectrum Descriptor
                      extract_rh   = ('rh' in fext),           # extract Rhythm Histogram features
                      extract_trh  = ('trh' in fext),          # extract temporal Rhythm Histogram features
                      extract_mvd  = ('mvd' in fext),        # extract Modulation Frequency Variance Descriptor
                      skip_leadin_fadeout=0,
                      step_width=1,
                      return_segment_features = True)

    search_features = segment_features[feature_type]

    # IMPORTANT: we use query_features as a GLOBAL VARIABLE here
    # that means getSimilarSongs MUST ALWAYS BE CALLED BEFORE THIS FUNCTION
    query_feature_vector = query_features[feature_type]

    # Searching similar song segments

    sim_song_search = NearestNeighbors(n_neighbors = 1, metric='euclidean')

    # TODO proper Scaling (Normalization) (see above)

    sim_song_search.fit(search_features)

    # Get the most similar song SEGMENTS indices
    most_similar_segment_index = sim_song_search.kneighbors(query_feature_vector, return_distance=False)

    # here you get the segment's sample position
    # segment_features['segpos']

    # and time positions in seconds
    # segment_features['timepos']

    # print most_similar_segment_index

    # print segment_features['segpos'][most_similar_segment_index]

    most_similar_timestamp = segment_features['timepos'][most_similar_segment_index]

    # print most_similar_timestamp

    # quit the [[[]]] (we got a nested array for some reason)
    most_similar_timestamp = most_similar_timestamp[0][0]

    # print most_similar_timestamp

    # return tuple (start_pos, end_pos)
    return (most_similar_timestamp[0],most_similar_timestamp[1])
def get_feature_timbre_ssd(wav_dir):
    audiofile = wav_dir
    samplerate, samplewidth, wavedata = audiofile_read(audiofile)
    nsamples = wavedata.shape[0]
    nchannels = wavedata.shape[1]
    print "Successfully read audio file:", audiofile
    print samplerate, "Hz,", samplewidth * 8, "bit,", nchannels, "channel(s),", nsamples, "samples"

    features = rp_extract(wavedata,  # the two-channel wave-data of the audio-file
                          samplerate=11025,  # the samplerate of the audio-file
                          extract_ssd=True,  # <== extract this feature!
                          transform_db=True,  # apply psycho-accoustic transformation
                          transform_phon=True,  # apply psycho-accoustic transformation
                          transform_sone=True,  # apply psycho-accoustic transformation
                          fluctuation_strength_weighting=True,  # apply psycho-accoustic transformation
                          skip_leadin_fadeout=1,  # skip lead-in/fade-out. value = number of segments skipped
                          step_width=1)  #
    # plotssd(features['ssd'])
    print len(features['ssd'])
    return features
Example #3
0
def extract_all_files(filelist,
                      path,
                      out_file=None,
                      feature_types=['rp', 'ssd', 'rh'],
                      label=False,
                      append=False,
                      no_extension_check=False,
                      force_resampling=None,
                      out_HDF5=False,
                      log_AudioTypes=True,
                      log_Errors=True,
                      verbose=True):
    """
    finds all files of a certain type (e.g. .wav and/or .mp3) in a path and all sub-directories in it
    extracts selected RP feature types
    and saves them into separate CSV feature files (one per feature type)

    # filelist: list of files for features to be extracted
    # path: absolute path that will be added at beginning of filelist (can be '')
    # out_file: output file name stub for feature files to write (if omitted, features will be returned from function)
    # feature_types: RP feature types to extract. see rp_extract.py
    # label: use subdirectory name as class label
    # no_extension_check: does not check file format via extension. means that decoder is called on ALL files.
    # force_resampling: force a target sampling rate (provided in Hz) when decoding (works with FFMPEG only!)
    # out_HDF5: whether to store as HDF5 file format (otherwise CSV)
    """

    ext = feature_types

    n = 0  # counting the files being processed
    n_extracted = 0  # counting the files that were actually analyzed
    err = 0  # counting errors
    n_files = len(filelist)

    # initialize filelist_extracted and dict containing all accumulated feature arrays
    filelist_extracted = []
    feat_array = {}
    audio_logwriter = None
    error_logwriter = None
    audio_logwriter_wrote_header = False

    start_time = time.time()

    if out_file:  # only if out_file is specified

        if log_AudioTypes:
            log_filename = out_file + '.audiotypes.log'
            audio_logfile = open(log_filename,
                                 'w')  # TODO allow append mode 'a'
            audio_logwriter = unicsv.UnicodeCSVWriter(
                audio_logfile)  #, quoting=csv.QUOTE_ALL)

        if log_Errors:
            err_log_filename = out_file + '.errors.log'
            error_logfile = open(err_log_filename,
                                 'w')  # TODO allow append mode 'a'
            error_logwriter = unicsv.UnicodeCSVWriter(
                error_logfile)  #, quoting=csv.QUOTE_ALL)

        if out_HDF5:
            FeatureWriter = HDF5FeatureWriter()
        else:
            FeatureWriter = CSVFeatureWriter()
            FeatureWriter.open(out_file, ext, append=append)

    for fil in filelist:  # iterate over all files
        try:
            if n > 0:
                elaps_time = time.time() - start_time
                remain_time = elaps_time * n_files / n - elaps_time  # n is the number of files done here
            else:
                remain_time = None

            n += 1

            if path:
                filename = path + os.sep + fil
            else:
                filename = fil
            if verbose:
                print '#', n, '/', n_files, '(ETA: ' + timestr(
                    remain_time) + "):", filename

            # read audio file (wav or mp3)
            samplerate, samplewidth, data, decoder = audiofile_read(
                filename,
                verbose=verbose,
                include_decoder=True,
                no_extension_check=no_extension_check,
                force_resampling=force_resampling)

            # audio file info
            if verbose:
                print samplerate, "Hz,", data.shape[
                    1], "channel(s),", data.shape[0], "samples"

            # extract features
            # Note: the True/False flags are determined by checking if a feature is listed in 'ext' (see settings above)

            feat = rp.rp_extract(
                data,
                samplerate,
                extract_rp=('rp' in ext),  # extract Rhythm Patterns features
                extract_ssd=(
                    'ssd' in ext),  # extract Statistical Spectrum Descriptor
                extract_tssd=(
                    'tssd' in ext
                ),  # extract temporal Statistical Spectrum Descriptor
                extract_rh=('rh' in ext),  # extract Rhythm Histogram features
                extract_trh=(
                    'trh'
                    in ext),  # extract temporal Rhythm Histogram features
                extract_mvd=(
                    'mvd' in ext
                ),  # extract Modulation Frequency Variance Descriptor
                spectral_masking=True,
                transform_db=True,
                transform_phon=True,
                transform_sone=True,
                fluctuation_strength_weighting=True,
                skip_leadin_fadeout=1,
                step_width=1,
                verbose=verbose)

            # TODO check if ext and feat.keys are consistent

            # WHAT TO USE AS ID (based on filename): 3 choices:
            id = fil  # rel. filename as from find_files
            # id = filename   # full filename incl. full path
            # id = filename[len(path)+1:] # relative filename only (extracted from path)

            if out_file:
                # WRITE each feature set to a CSV or HDF5 file

                id2 = None

                if label:
                    id2 = id.replace("\\", "/").split("/")[-2].strip()

                if out_HDF5 and n_extracted == 0:
                    # for HDF5 we need to know the vector dimension
                    # thats why we cannot open the file earlier
                    FeatureWriter.open(
                        out_file, ext, feat, append=append
                    )  # append not working for now but possibly in future

                FeatureWriter.write_features(id, feat, id2)
            else:
                # IN MEMORY: add the extracted features for 1 file to the array dict accumulating all files
                # TODO: only if we don't have out_file? maybe we want this as a general option

                if feat_array == {}:  # for first file, initialize empty array with dimension of the feature set
                    for e in feat.keys():
                        feat_array[e] = np.empty((0, feat[e].shape[0]))

                # store features in array
                for e in feat.keys():
                    feat_array[e] = np.append(
                        feat_array[e], feat[e].reshape(1, -1), axis=0
                    )  # 1 for horizontal vector, -1 means take original dimension

                filelist_extracted.append(id)

            n_extracted += 1

            # write list of analyzed audio files alongsize audio metadata (kHz, bit, etc.)
            if audio_logwriter:
                if not audio_logwriter_wrote_header:  # write CSV header
                    log_info = [
                        "filename", "decoder", "samplerate (kHz)",
                        "samplewidth (bit)", "n channels", "n samples"
                    ]
                    audio_logwriter.writerow(log_info)
                    audio_logwriter_wrote_header = True

                log_info = [
                    filename, decoder, samplerate, samplewidth * 8,
                    data.shape[1], data.shape[0]
                ]
                audio_logwriter.writerow(log_info)

            gc.collect(
            )  # after every file we do garbage collection, otherwise our memory is used up quickly for some reason

        except Exception as e:
            print "ERROR analysing file: " + fil + ": " + str(e)
            err += 1
            if error_logwriter:
                error_logwriter.writerow([fil, str(e)])

    try:
        if out_file:  # close all output files
            FeatureWriter.close()

            if audio_logwriter:
                audio_logfile.close()

        if error_logwriter:
            error_logfile.close()

    except Exception as e:
        print "ERROR closing the output or log files: " + str(e)

    end_time = time.time()

    if verbose:
        print "FEATURE EXTRACTION FINISHED.", n, "file(s) processed,", n_extracted, "successful. Duration:", timestr(
            end_time - start_time)
        if err > 0:
            print err, "file(s) had ERRORs during feature extraction.",
            if log_Errors:
                print "See", err_log_filename
            else:
                print
        if out_file:
            opt_ext = '.h5' if out_HDF5 else ''
            print "Feature file(s):", out_file + "." + str(ext) + opt_ext

    if out_file is None:
        return filelist_extracted, feat_array
Example #4
0
def extract_all_files_in_path(path,out_file,feature_types,audiofile_types=('.wav','.mp3')):

    ext = feature_types

    # get file list of all files in a path (filtered by audiofile_types)
    filelist = find_files(path,audiofile_types,relative_path=True)

    n = 0  # counting the files that were actually analyzed
    err = 0 # counting errors
    n_files = len(filelist)

    start_abs = time.time()

    files, writer = initialize_feature_files(out_file,ext)

    for fil in filelist:  # iterate over all files
        try:

            n += 1
            filename = path + os.sep + fil
            print '#',n,'/',n_files,':', filename

            start = time.time()

            # read audio file (wav or mp3)
            samplerate, samplewidth, data = audiofile_read(filename)

            end = time.time()
            print end - start, "sec"

            # audio file info
            print samplerate, "Hz,", data.shape[1], "channels,", data.shape[0], "samples"

            # extract features
            # Note: the True/False flags are determined by checking if a feature is listed in 'ext' (see settings above)

            start = time.time()

            feat = rp.rp_extract(data,
                              samplerate,
                              extract_rp   = ('rp' in ext),          # extract Rhythm Patterns features
                              extract_ssd  = ('ssd' in ext),           # extract Statistical Spectrum Descriptor
                              extract_sh   = ('sh' in ext),          # extract Statistical Histograms
                              extract_tssd = ('tssd' in ext),          # extract temporal Statistical Spectrum Descriptor
                              extract_rh   = ('rh' in ext),           # extract Rhythm Histogram features
                              extract_trh  = ('trh' in ext),          # extract temporal Rhythm Histogram features
                              extract_mvd  = ('mvd' in ext),        # extract Modulation Frequency Variance Descriptor
                              spectral_masking=True,
                              transform_db=True,
                              transform_phon=True,
                              transform_sone=True,
                              fluctuation_strength_weighting=True,
                              skip_leadin_fadeout=1,
                              step_width=1)

            end = time.time()

            print "Features extracted:", feat.keys(), end - start, "sec"

            # WRITE each feature set to a CSV

            # TODO check if ext and feat.keys are consistent

            start = time.time()

            # add filename before vector. 3 choices:

            id = fil  # filename only
            # id = filename   # full filename incl. full path
            # id = filename[len(path)+1:] # relative filename only
            write_feature_files(id,feat,writer)

            end = time.time()

            print "Data written." #, end-start
        except:
            print "ERROR analysing file: " + fil
            err += 1

    # close all output files

    close_feature_files(files,ext)

    end = time.time()

    print "FEATURE EXTRACTION FINISHED.", n, "files,", end-start_abs, "sec"
    if err > 0:
        print err, "files had ERRORs during feature extraction."
Example #5
0
    if len(sys.argv) > 1:
        if sys.argv[1] == '-test':  # RUN DOCSTRING SELF TEST
            print("Doing self test. If nothing is printed, it is ok.")
            import doctest
            doctest.run_docstring_examples(rp_extract,
                                           globals())  #, verbose=True)
            exit()  # Note: no output means that everything went fine
        else:
            audiofile = sys.argv[1]
    else:
        audiofile = "music/BoxCat_Games_-_10_-_Epic_Song.mp3"

    # Read audio file and extract features
    try:

        samplerate, samplewidth, wavedata = audiofile_read(audiofile)

        np.set_printoptions(suppress=True)

        bark_bands = 24  # choose the number of Bark bands (2..24)
        mod_ampl_limit = 60  # number modulation frequencies on x-axis

        feat = rp_extract(wavedata,
                          samplerate,
                          extract_rp=True,
                          extract_ssd=True,
                          extract_tssd=False,
                          extract_rh=True,
                          n_bark_bands=bark_bands,
                          spectral_masking=True,
                          transform_db=True,
Example #6
0
    # process file given on command line or default song (included)
    if len(sys.argv) > 1:
        if sys.argv[1] == '-test': # RUN DOCSTRING SELF TEST
            print "Doing self test. If nothing is printed, it is ok."
            import doctest
            doctest.run_docstring_examples(rp_extract, globals()) #, verbose=True)
            exit()   # Note: no output means that everything went fine
        else:
            audiofile = sys.argv[1]
    else:
        audiofile = "music/BoxCat_Games_-_10_-_Epic_Song.mp3"

    # Read audio file and extract features
    try:

        samplerate, samplewidth, wavedata = audiofile_read(audiofile)

        np.set_printoptions(suppress=True)

        bark_bands = 24  # choose the number of Bark bands (2..24)
        mod_ampl_limit = 60 # number modulation frequencies on x-axis

        feat = rp_extract(wavedata,
                          samplerate,
                          extract_rp=True,
                          extract_ssd=True,
                          extract_tssd=False,
                          extract_rh=True,
                          n_bark_bands=bark_bands,
                          spectral_masking=True,
                          transform_db=True,
Example #7
0
def extract_all_files(filelist, path, out_file=None, feature_types=["rp", "ssd", "rh"], verbose=True):
    """
    finds all files of a certain type (e.g. .wav and/or .mp3) in a path and all sub-directories in it
    extracts selected RP feature types
    and saves them into separate CSV feature files (one per feature type)

    # filelist: list of files for features to be extracted
    # path: absolute path that will be added at beginning of filelist (can be '')
    # out_file: output file name stub for feature files to write (if omitted, features will be returned from function)
    # feature_types: RP feature types to extract. see rp_extract.py
    # audiofile_types: a string or tuple of suffixes to look for file extensions to consider (include the .)
    """

    ext = feature_types

    n = 0  # counting the files that were actually analyzed
    err = 0  # counting errors
    n_files = len(filelist)

    # initialize filelist_extracted and dict containing all accumulated feature arrays
    filelist_extracted = []
    feat_array = {}

    start_abs = time.time()

    if out_file:  # only if out_file is specified
        files, writer = initialize_feature_files(out_file, ext)

    for fil in filelist:  # iterate over all files
        try:

            n += 1
            if path:
                filename = path + os.sep + fil
            else:
                filename = fil
            # if verbose:
            print "#", n, "/", n_files, ":", filename

            # read audio file (wav or mp3)
            samplerate, samplewidth, data = audiofile_read(filename)

            # audio file info
            if verbose:
                print samplerate, "Hz,", data.shape[1], "channel(s),", data.shape[0], "samples"

            # extract features
            # Note: the True/False flags are determined by checking if a feature is listed in 'ext' (see settings above)

            feat = rp.rp_extract(
                data,
                samplerate,
                extract_rp=("rp" in ext),  # extract Rhythm Patterns features
                extract_ssd=("ssd" in ext),  # extract Statistical Spectrum Descriptor
                extract_sh=("sh" in ext),  # extract Statistical Histograms
                extract_tssd=("tssd" in ext),  # extract temporal Statistical Spectrum Descriptor
                extract_rh=("rh" in ext),  # extract Rhythm Histogram features
                extract_trh=("trh" in ext),  # extract temporal Rhythm Histogram features
                extract_mvd=("mvd" in ext),  # extract Modulation Frequency Variance Descriptor
                spectral_masking=True,
                transform_db=True,
                transform_phon=True,
                transform_sone=True,
                fluctuation_strength_weighting=True,
                skip_leadin_fadeout=1,
                step_width=1,
                verbose=verbose,
            )

            # TODO check if ext and feat.keys are consistent

            # WHAT TO USE AS ID (based on filename): 3 choices:
            id = fil  # rel. filename as from find_files
            # id = filename   # full filename incl. full path
            # id = filename[len(path)+1:] # relative filename only (extracted from path)

            if out_file:
                # WRITE each feature set to a CSV
                write_feature_files(id, feat, writer)
            else:
                # IN MEMORY: add the extracted features for 1 file to the array dict accumulating all files
                # TODO: only if we dont have out_file? maybe we want this as a general option

                if feat_array == {}:  # for first file, initialize empty array with dimension of the feature set
                    for e in feat.keys():
                        feat_array[e] = np.empty((0, feat[e].shape[0]))

                # store features in array
                for e in feat.keys():
                    feat_array[e] = np.append(
                        feat_array[e], feat[e].reshape(1, -1), axis=0
                    )  # 1 for horizontal vector, -1 means take original dimension

                filelist_extracted.append(id)

        except Exception as e:
            print "ERROR analysing file: " + fil + ": " + str(e)
            err += 1

    if out_file:  # close all output files
        close_feature_files(files, ext)

    end = time.time()

    if verbose:
        print "FEATURE EXTRACTION FINISHED. %d file(s), %.2f sec" % (n, end - start_abs)
        if err > 0:
            print err, "files had ERRORs during feature extraction."
        if out_file:
            print "Feature file(s):", out_file + ".*", ext

    if out_file is None:
        return filelist_extracted, feat_array
Example #8
0
def extract_all_files(filelist,
                      path,
                      out_file=None,
                      feature_types=['rp', 'ssd', 'rh'],
                      verbose=True):
    """
    finds all files of a certain type (e.g. .wav and/or .mp3) in a path and all sub-directories in it
    extracts selected RP feature types
    and saves them into separate CSV feature files (one per feature type)

    # filelist: list of files for features to be extracted
    # path: absolute path that will be added at beginning of filelist (can be '')
    # out_file: output file name stub for feature files to write (if omitted, features will be returned from function)
    # feature_types: RP feature types to extract. see rp_extract.py
    # audiofile_types: a string or tuple of suffixes to look for file extensions to consider (include the .)
    """

    ext = feature_types

    n = 0  # counting the files that were actually analyzed
    err = 0  # counting errors
    n_files = len(filelist)

    # initialize filelist_extracted and dict containing all accumulated feature arrays
    filelist_extracted = []
    feat_array = {}

    start_abs = time.time()

    if out_file:  # only if out_file is specified
        files, writer = initialize_feature_files(out_file, ext)

    for fil in filelist:  # iterate over all files
        try:

            n += 1
            if path:
                filename = path + os.sep + fil
            else:
                filename = fil
            #if verbose:
            print '#', n, '/', n_files, ':', filename

            # read audio file (wav or mp3)
            samplerate, samplewidth, data = audiofile_read(filename)

            # audio file info
            if verbose:
                print samplerate, "Hz,", data.shape[
                    1], "channel(s),", data.shape[0], "samples"

            # extract features
            # Note: the True/False flags are determined by checking if a feature is listed in 'ext' (see settings above)

            feat = rp.rp_extract(
                data,
                samplerate,
                extract_rp=('rp' in ext),  # extract Rhythm Patterns features
                extract_ssd=(
                    'ssd' in ext),  # extract Statistical Spectrum Descriptor
                extract_sh=('sh' in ext),  # extract Statistical Histograms
                extract_tssd=(
                    'tssd' in ext
                ),  # extract temporal Statistical Spectrum Descriptor
                extract_rh=('rh' in ext),  # extract Rhythm Histogram features
                extract_trh=(
                    'trh'
                    in ext),  # extract temporal Rhythm Histogram features
                extract_mvd=(
                    'mvd' in ext
                ),  # extract Modulation Frequency Variance Descriptor
                spectral_masking=True,
                transform_db=True,
                transform_phon=True,
                transform_sone=True,
                fluctuation_strength_weighting=True,
                skip_leadin_fadeout=1,
                step_width=1,
                verbose=verbose)

            # TODO check if ext and feat.keys are consistent

            # WHAT TO USE AS ID (based on filename): 3 choices:
            id = fil  # rel. filename as from find_files
            # id = filename   # full filename incl. full path
            # id = filename[len(path)+1:] # relative filename only (extracted from path)

            if out_file:
                # WRITE each feature set to a CSV
                write_feature_files(id, feat, writer)
            else:
                # IN MEMORY: add the extracted features for 1 file to the array dict accumulating all files
                # TODO: only if we dont have out_file? maybe we want this as a general option

                if feat_array == {}:  # for first file, initialize empty array with dimension of the feature set
                    for e in feat.keys():
                        feat_array[e] = np.empty((0, feat[e].shape[0]))

                # store features in array
                for e in feat.keys():
                    feat_array[e] = np.append(
                        feat_array[e], feat[e].reshape(1, -1), axis=0
                    )  # 1 for horizontal vector, -1 means take original dimension

                filelist_extracted.append(id)

        except Exception as e:
            print "ERROR analysing file: " + fil + ": " + str(e)
            err += 1

    if out_file:  # close all output files
        close_feature_files(files, ext)

    end = time.time()

    if verbose:
        print "FEATURE EXTRACTION FINISHED. %d file(s), %.2f sec" % (n, end -
                                                                     start_abs)
        if err > 0:
            print err, "files had ERRORs during feature extraction."
        if out_file: print "Feature file(s):", out_file + ".*", ext

    if out_file is None:
        return filelist_extracted, feat_array
def getSimilarSongs(audiofile, reference_db_filenames, reference_db_features, feature_type = 'rh'):

    global query_features # GLOBAL VAR because it is reused in getSimilarSongSegments (see IMPORTANT note above)

    # Read Wav File

    samplerate, samplewidth, wavedata = audiofile_read(audiofile)

    # Analyze New Audio

    # here we set the feature type for the analysis, but we need to put it in a list [.]
    fext = [feature_type]

    query_features = rp_extract(wavedata,
                      samplerate,
                      extract_rp   = ('rp' in fext),          # extract Rhythm Patterns features
                      extract_ssd  = ('ssd' in fext),           # extract Statistical Spectrum Descriptor
                      extract_sh   = ('sh' in fext),          # extract Statistical Histograms
                      extract_tssd = ('tssd' in fext),          # extract temporal Statistical Spectrum Descriptor
                      extract_rh   = ('rh' in fext),           # extract Rhythm Histogram features
                      extract_trh  = ('trh' in fext),          # extract temporal Rhythm Histogram features
                      extract_mvd  = ('mvd' in fext),        # extract Modulation Frequency Variance Descriptor
                      skip_leadin_fadeout=0,
                      step_width=1)

    # from the dict returned by rp_extract, we take only the one feature_type we want
    query_feature_vector = query_features[feature_type]

    # reference_db_features should be a dict containing several feature types
    # we take the feature type given as parameter

    reference_feature_vectors = reference_db_features[feature_type]

    # Search for similar songs in pre-analyzed song dataset (based on song's averaged features)

    # initialize the similarity search object
    sim_song_search = NearestNeighbors(n_neighbors = 6, metric='euclidean')

    # TODO proper Scaling (Normalization) would need to add the live extracted song to the db_features

    # Normalize the extracted features
    # scaled_feature_space = StandardScaler().fit_transform(reference_feature_vectors)

    # Fit the Nearest-Neighbor search object to the scaled features
    # sim_song_search.fit(scaled_feature_space)

    sim_song_search.fit(reference_feature_vectors)

    # Get the most similar songs
    (distances, similar_song_ids) = sim_song_search.kneighbors(query_feature_vector, return_distance=True)

    # if the query is contained in the db feature set (usually if normalisation is used) we need to take it away from the result
    #similar_songs = similar_songs[1:]

    #print similar_song_ids

    most_similar_songs = reference_db_filenames[feature_type][similar_song_ids]

    # most_similar_songs is a 2D np.array, make it 1D
    most_similar_songs = most_similar_songs[0]

    # transform from np.array to simple list
    most_similar_songs = most_similar_songs.tolist()

    return(most_similar_songs)