Freesound Forums

Hello Freesounders...

I am making this thread to get your opinion on a little experiment I created. Maybe some of you will already know the premise behind brainwave entrainment or Solfeggio tones. I won't go into the science here, there is a little bit in the sound description, but I will let you research it for yourself if you are interested.

Whilst listening you should concentrate on the audio with your eyes closed. I wanted to know what you feel whilst listening to this sound, what kind of emotion does it invoke (if any) and do you feel a any physical or psychological sensations.

Here is the sound (Read the description): http://www.freesound.org/people/Headphaze/sounds/235527/
please download the file because the Freesound player is a much lower quality version of the original file.

It is 20 minutes long so if you want to properly get some effect from the tones, you should listen for 10 minutes; or more if you are feeling up to it. It's not a large file because I encoded it well at 44.1k...

And remember to just let go of all stimuli whilst listening; that means no looking at the screen. Make yourself comfortable, and above all try to enjoy it.

I eagerly await your replies.

Thanks so much people!

ooh solfeggio, fantastic! I have downloaded your sound and look forward to listening to it tonight when I'm not rushing around.

Great!

You will be the first.

Amazing Headphaze! What a wonderful thing to be able to create. I've been interested in Solfeggio for a while and would love to pick your brain about how you created your piece or just have a general discussion about it
I was too blissed out after listening to it last night to comment. Sometimes my thoughts are a jumbled mess at night, but it quieted my mind. A few minutes in to it I felt a second of tension or fear or unease, but then it almost immediately smoothed away. I slept well thanks

I would recommend anyone having a listen to your piece. After the recent science experiment (Dare 26 spin-off) which was enormously interesting but a bit jarring where we listened to artificially sounds with weird frequencies this is just the thing to balance your energy again.

We are just vibrating beings!

It reminds me my own beginnings - a lot of issues to fix. :-]

If you develop a sort of "listening procedures" (so to speak) do deal with such stuff - you will know what I mean.

Thank you for the replies. Sorry I'm a little delayed, been a busy weekend.

@luckylittleraven

I'm glad you saw some positive effect from this. Perhaps it was the placebo effect, I wouldn't know. We are but an extended vibration of the universe; a speck on a super string, ready to oscillate in cymatic harmony with the rest of humanity.

I would be more than happy to describe any processes I went through to create such a work (physical or virtual). Or the story of how I came about formulating such works.

Ask me anything...

How many times did you listened to it (whole piece) in a way you expect your listeners would do?

Describe conditions of your listening tests (headphones/speakers, loudness, day/night, etc).

For how long you have been testing it on yourself (and eventually close associates)?

it is very casual my experiment, just out of curiosity if I should make more in a serious manner.
Im not looking to do a scientific study.

I have tested it out in many scenarios, whilst trying to sleep both day and night.

Whilst cycling, or doing exercise.

As an auditory aid for meditation.

I have tested it out on friends who do one or more of the above, and they claimed that it focused them for whatever they were doing, be it concentration or relaxation.

I actually created this about a year ago, but never delved properly into the subject, but now I would like to.

Headphaze wrote:
I actually created this about a year ago, but never delved properly into the subject, but now I would like to.

may want to have a look at the theories about "Binaural_beats" ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binaural beats

Timbre wrote:

Headphaze wrote:
I actually created this about a year ago, but never delved properly into the subject, but now I would like to.

may want to have a look at the theories about "Binaural_beats" ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binaural_beats

Sorry

What I meant by that, was the subject of experimentation on a wide range of human beings and scenarios.

I appreciate your suggestion, however I'm already well aware of the science. I actually used it as the basis for a university paper a while back.

Thanks anyway

Headphaze wrote:
it is very casual my experiment, just out of curiosity if I should make more in a serious manner.
Im not looking to do a scientific study.

I have tested it out in many scenarios, whilst trying to sleep both day and night.

Whilst cycling, or doing exercise.

As an auditory aid for meditation.

I have tested it out on friends who do one or more of the above, and they claimed that it focused them for whatever they were doing, be it concentration or relaxation.

I actually created this about a year ago, but never delved properly into the subject, but now I would like to.

You do not need to make scientific study. It's not the case. The matter is - are you ready to put your sonic work on the market - in the context of use? People approach differently to such stuff, and different people approach such stuff.

Take an example. While ordinary music (ambient or not) - contains natural vibrations and so called binaural beats - only music designed/described as "with binaural beats" (or other brain entrainment technologies) - usually has or must have a "safety note".

p.s.: as for wikipedia - they are keeping (or kept) track on that and some other related topics, so information there is incomplete and rather un-updatable (at least to some degree) - silent conservatism and "the only right true".

@headpahze The placebo affect can be powerful - if you think something will be beneficial you're more in the frame of mind to benefit from whatever it is. I know that a lot of healing and meditation music is based on this so maybe I just really wanted to believe it would make me feel good, but vibrations in audio can be a very powerful thing, having a subtle psychological or physical effect. It's just the world is so 'busy' these days, it's hard to sort out what we're really hearing or feeling (or thinking sometimes)

I'd like to know what inspired you to explore this . . . I believe Solfeggio a very old way of tuning or 'tonal' scale (3, 6, 9?) it's fascinating to imagine a time when mankind was still discovering the laws of mathematics and physics and even music . . . trying to makes sense and order things. I think it would be a nice thing to make music or 'vibrations' that are beneficial.

I've heard that some monks when chanting have such control they can vocalise two tones at the same time

It's called overtone singing or throat singing or harmonic singing. There are various techniques to achieve that, and everyone can do it and learn it. Take this example. It's only a voice. My voice. No instruments, no synths.

Sounds very intriguing.

I watched a youtube video of a jazz singer who projected a chord out of her throat. that was amazing.

I'm slowly finalizing a software that effecitvely helps to learn the overtone singing. I will probably do some tutorials on youtube with it soon. Meanwhile I can recommend this app - made by my friend, and deditated to overtone singing and more sophisticated uses.

I have listened to it a few times throughout the week. It's nice for moving meditation (cleaning or playing with poi) or just relaxing with cat-dog who seem to enjoy it too. In the headphones it's actually a little intense, maybe it's the movement of one of the sounds or maybe I'm just not good at meditating! I don't really have the time to sit and meditate but I think it's a state of mindfulness that you can try and create in your everyday life.

Anyway, although no expert I like this sound and the thought and work that has gone into is obvious. I don't know whether you have created something that taps into some mystical science or just a wonderfully relaxing sound that is approached differently by different people who therefore get something unique and individual from it. As far as creating something, if it resonates nicely with you and you can see benefit in it, then probably others will too. And if you create something with a positive intention to a certain extent people will feel that too

And not meaning to change the subject again, but this has sparked a lot of interesting thoughts and research for myself on a personal level, and since I was thinking about the neuro-science of it...I was reading about an acoustic tone therapy for tinnitus which stimulates the auditory centre in the brain.