Some time ago, I tried putting together a concept song. The concept was, however, falling to sleep. Based on my reading in the past that dance music that you find in clubs is typically around the 144 BPM range because that’s the average heartrate during aerobic exercise, I wondered what it would be like to try and coerce the heartrate down to a full rest (estimated at 60 BPM) from 80 BPM (generally considered the upper end of the healthy heartrate range).
The first iteration of this a few years back had the ever slowing tempo, but I wasn’t terribly happy with the music. This time I went with a much simpler concept: descending chords (Ema9 > Dma9 > Cma9 > Bm7 > Am7 > Gma9 > Fma9, repeat ad nauseum) that morph from one patch to another. To this I added a white noise track that is unhearable at first but slowly ascends in volume over the duration of the track as the tempo slows.
During the (relatively short time in) development I kept finding myself almost tense during the beginning as I anticipated the slowing tempo. But I was relaxed at the end, so hopefully you’ll feel the same. This is more an exercise in biology than anything. Feel free to comment, suggest additions or changes, etc.
Well, I get where going with this… and it is kinda dreamy and soothing generally, though I have to say I thought some of the patches were perhaps a little too hard sounding, not as soft as I think they could or need to be… I guess I’m thinking the sort of sounds you hear in meditation music which tend to be more breathy, flute-like…
And of course they’re usually mixed with a good dose of waves gently lapping on the shore… or birds twittering in the forest…
What was weird was, after the soft white noise part that ended the “song,” I clicked off the open tab that it had been playing under… but I could still hear THE WHITE NOISE! I poked all around my screen for a hidden tab or window that must have still been open, but nothing! WEIRD! Spooky
I think I agree. I thought the heartbeats were a little too loud. Sometimes the way I’m lying in bed causes me to feel / hear my own pulse and it actually puts me off falling asleep and I have to alter my laying position. Maybe something lower in the mix and with less attack and perhaps even deeper would be less “disturbing” and still convey the meaning and intent. Something almost on the bounds of audibility - almost subliminal.
