How the Spatial Effect Is Created

All my Sound Journeys are produced in headphone surround sound. When you put them on, the sounds do not come from two points on the left and right, but from above, from behind, from a distance, close to your ear.

Why this needs headphones

Your hearing locates a sound source through tiny differences between the two ears: time, volume, timbre. Headphones deliver exactly one signal to each ear, without the two mixing in the room. That is exactly what this method needs.

Over loudspeakers, the effect collapses because both ears hear both speakers. That is why most pieces carry the note about headphones.

You do not need any special equipment for this. Ordinary headphones are sufficient. Good headphones make it nicer, expensive ones do not make it different.

What arises from this

The sounds can then be located not only left and right, but also behind, above and below, and some are mixed in such a way that they seem to move freely through the space around you.

How strongly you perceive the effect depends, alongside your own perception, on the quality of the headphones. Over loudspeakers, only an ordinary stereo image remains.

Spatial sounds can stimulate a feeling of spaciousness and clarity. Several listeners report that they perceive the effect more clearly when they are already relaxed; this does not imply a guaranteed or unconscious effect.

Spatial sound can give attention an audible point of reference. Whether this makes it easier for you to relax or experience another state of consciousness is individual and has not been systematically measured for these pieces.

Pure nature recording

In some pieces, I have used no instruments at all. Floating Waters consists exclusively of nature sounds, recorded along a mountain river in the Himalayas, and Sounds of India takes you through marketplaces, to mountain rivers and into a temple.

Because these recordings were made using the same spatial method, the impression can arise while listening that you are in the middle of what is happening.

An exercise for this

If you really want to hear the space, pay attention while listening to where the sounds appear around you. Above, behind, right, left. Without thinking about it, simply locate them.

With practice, you can learn to perceive such spatial cues more consciously. How clearly this succeeds depends, among other things, on the recording, headphones, hearing ability and the person. Similar open attention can also be used in meditations.