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Thread: Extremely Mellow New Age/Ambient instrumental music for slumber

  1. #51
    Member davis's Avatar
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    2 of my favorites are still Eno's 'On Land' and 'Apollo' and I also like Tor Lundvall's 'Empty City'

    I also recommend http://stillstream.fm/ I have it bookmarked for easy access at mellow times.

  2. #52
    Member Zeuhlmate's Avatar
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    David Hykes & The Harmonic Choir


  3. #53
    Quote Originally Posted by Jubal View Post
    Sometimes I MUST have some mellow music to drift off to slumber. These are tracks that have very little dynamic range, very basic rhythm patterns with little or no percussion, just soothing and flowing. My favorite is Quiet Friend by Steve Roach. A few other very nice ones are Passage by Chris Spheeris/Paul Voudoris, and An Ending (Ascent) by Brian Eno.
    I'd love to hear some other suggestions in this style.
    Do you listen on headphones while drifting off?

    If so, might I suggest finding music with "binaural beats" embedded? Recordings of this type go well beyond just mellow ambient music to help put you to sleep.

    The human mind has 4 basic dominant frequencies associated with various mental states:

    Beta (15-40 hz) - normal waking consciousness and a heightened state of alertness, logic and critical reasoning.
    Alpha (7.5-14 hz) - associated with deep relaxation, drifting into meditation.
    Theta (4-7.5 hz) - present during deep meditation and light sleep, including REM dream state.
    Delta (.5-4 hz) - deep sleep.

    There is an effect known as the "frequency following response", where the brain will synch with external stimuli and match the frequency of that stimuli. Sound and light work best, but sound alone also works almost as well.

    Since the human brain cannot detect low frequencies of .5-20 hz as tones, binaural beats work by having slightly different frequencies in each ear, so the brain perceives the difference as a beating tone, as if mixed naturally from the brain. For example; 1000 hz in one ear and 1005 in the other, will be perceived as a beating tone of 5 hz.

    So, if you have music with binaural beats starting at, say 30 hz, then as the music progresses, ramp down to 2 hz, your brain will follow the frequency and cause sleep.

    This is not New Age "woo", it is a known effect that is used in diagnoses by neurologists, and in research. Although, the New Age and Alternative medicine movements do tend to make claims for it way beyond what is warranted (what else is new?). What is known, is that it can help put one to sleep, or in a meditative state.

    There are plenty of commercial sources for such products. CDs, downloads and best of all, Light and Sound machines.

    Add light to the binaural beats, and the process is even more effective. There are quite a few companies that produce products that create binaural beats and also have goggles with LEDs (used with eyes closed) that flash at the same frequency as the tone (google "light and sound machines" to see the variety). They also have inputs, so you can use your own source for music, while the device creates the tones/light.

    I own one of these, and it is extremely effective for sleep, as well as meditation:

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    And if there were a god, I think it very unlikely that he would have such an uneasy vanity as to be offended by those who doubt His existence - Russell

  4. #54
    Member Digital_Man's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by davis View Post
    2 of my favorites are still Eno's 'On Land' and 'Apollo' and I also like Tor Lundvall's 'Empty City'

    I also recommend http://stillstream.fm/ I have it bookmarked for easy access at mellow times.
    Wow, what I just heard there was rather scarey and not very mellow or ambient at all.

    I recommend listening to the show Echoes online(if you are in the Philly area it is broadcast on WXPN). As a matter of fact the guy who hosts the show is a member on here.
    Do not suffer through the game of chance that plays....always doors to lock away your dreams (To Be Over)

  5. #55
    Member rcarlberg's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by simon moon View Post
    There is an effect known as the "frequency following response", where the brain will synch with external stimuli and match the frequency of that stimuli. Sound and light work best, but sound alone also works almost as well.
    The "binaural beats" music I've heard, though, has been emetic.

  6. #56
    Member rcarlberg's Avatar
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    In post #7, I recommended Robert Rich's "Somnium," a 7-hour continuous piece on one DVD (audio-only) incorporating gentle keyboards and environmental sounds. After I posted that I checked with Amazon to make sure it was still available. It is -- but I also discovered Robert Rich has upped the ante!

    He's just released "Perpetual: A Somnium Continuum" which re-releases the entire 7-hour "Somnium" on Blu-ray Disc ... then takes advantage of the increased capacity of Blu-Ray to add ANOTHER 8-hours of gentle background music in the same style! Fifteen hours total on one disc -- all the most gorgeous, unhurried, unrepetitive, non-boring background you can imagine.

    "Somnium" was groundbreaking. "Perpetual" is nothing short of mind-blowing.

  7. #57
    Quote Originally Posted by rcarlberg View Post
    The "binaural beats" music I've heard, though, has been emetic.
    Yeah, that's pretty much why I own a Light and Sound machine.

    Not only does it produce binaural beats without music, but it also includes LED goggles to enhance the effect substantially.

    It also has an input for an external source, so I can use the music (or other material) of my choice while the sleep or meditation program us running. Or it can be used without music at all without detriment to the effect.
    And if there were a god, I think it very unlikely that he would have such an uneasy vanity as to be offended by those who doubt His existence - Russell

  8. #58
    Member rcarlberg's Avatar
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    Does it really work? Does it induce alpha waves?

  9. #59
    I'm here for the moosic NogbadTheBad's Avatar
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    Listen to Steve Roach - The Dream Circle at my desk right now & I'm certainly drifting a bit
    Ian

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  10. #60
    Parrots Ripped My Flesh Dave (in MA)'s Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by rcarlberg View Post
    Fifteen hours total on one disc -- all the most gorgeous, unhurried, unrepetitive, non-boring background you can imagine.
    Who needs to sleep for 15 hours?

  11. #61
    Member dropforge's Avatar
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    A tweaker who's been up for 3 days?

  12. #62
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  13. #63
    Parrots Ripped My Flesh Dave (in MA)'s Avatar
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    I'm going to guess there are not a lot of meth-head Robert Rich fans.

  14. #64
    Member rcarlberg's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dave (in MA) View Post
    Who needs to sleep for 15 hours?
    Who wouldn't like to?

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