Sommeil mort
"I've used an underlying rhythm which is supposed to reflect the breathing while you sleep, then a layer of sweeping synth-like dreams coming and going, and finally the birdsong over the top as if thoughts are interrupting the sleep. I've treated the original recording with some clipping distortion and echo." Paris birdsong reimagined by Richard Watts. Part of the Music for Sleep project - fo...
4m Sep 24, 2023
4m
The wind rocks me gently
 I love listening to the wind and its voice as it travels around, and the constant drip of the tap is comforting reminder that I'm home. Recorded by Michelle Breslin. Part of the Music for Sleep project - for more information and to hear more sounds from the collection, visit https://citiesandmemory.com/music-for-sleep/
3m Sep 24, 2023
3m
Gently bubbling hot pool with thunder
A bubbling geothermal pool in the middle of a sagebrush desert surrounded by crickets. The gentle bubbling sound is very relaxing, the crickets are a classic evening sound, everything is still and peaceful and no one else around to interrupt. Distant thunder punctuates the moment. Recorded by Tim Kahn. Part of the Music for Sleep project - for more information and to hear more sounds from the...
5m Sep 24, 2023
5m
Crecy-Couvé - La Blaise waterfall
The time in which the river is changing, following the upcoming night. The last sounds of the birds, while the flow of water doesn't stop. Recorded by Cristian Estrella. Part of the Music for Sleep project - for more information and to hear more sounds from the collection, visit https://citiesandmemory.com/music-for-sleep/
3m Sep 24, 2023
3m
Crecy-Couvé - La Blaise river
The time in which the river is changing, following the upcoming night. The last sounds of the birds, while the flow of water doesn't stop. Recorded by Cristian Estrella. Part of the Music for Sleep project - for more information and to hear more sounds from the collection, visit https://citiesandmemory.com/music-for-sleep/
6m Sep 24, 2023
6m
Birdsong in a tunnel of bushes
In the woods among the huge grounds of the Stonor Park country house and park, two rows of bushes form a tunnel over a small footpath - perfect for leaving our binaural recording device to pick up birdsong and buzzing insects from all angles. Recorded by Cities and Memory. Part of the Music for Sleep project - for more information and to hear more sounds from the collection, visit https://cit...
3m Sep 24, 2023
3m
In Summerheath Wood
On a summer walk in the Oxfordshire countryside, we pause in the small but perfectly-formed Summerheath Wood to record a moment of forest-bathing calm among the birdsong. Recorded by Cities and Memory. Part of the Music for Sleep project - for more information and to hear more sounds from the collection, visit https://citiesandmemory.com/music-for-sleep/
5m Sep 24, 2023
5m
Thunderstorm in the trees
A summer thunderstorm over Oxford in June 2023. The rain hits the tree canopy, softening the sound to a relaxing bed, with almost constant, low key rumbles and grumbles of thunder rather than loud, infrequent cracks. Recorded by Cities and Memory. Part of the Music for Sleep project - for more information and to hear more sounds from the collection, visit https://citiesandmemory.com/music-for...
14m Sep 24, 2023
14m
Into the woods
Birdsong, a bee or two, and slight background ambient 'world' noise. Recorded using 3D immersive Binaural mircophones I submitted this new version as I tidied up the track information on the file itself etc rather than just sending the title. Sorry for the inconvenience but this WAV version is the better one to use. Thank you! Recorded by Jamie Bell. Part of the Music for Sleep project - for...
3m Sep 24, 2023
3m
Parisian bird singing in the middle of the night
I woke up in the middle of the night and heard this beautiful birdsong in the courtyard of the apartment I was staying in. Recorded by Stefana Fratila. Part of the Music for Sleep project - for more information and to hear more sounds from the collection, visit https://citiesandmemory.com/music-for-sleep/
1m Sep 24, 2023
1m
A gentle touch
"I find birds chirping very relaxing. This is why I've chosen to work with this particular sound recording. I imported the original sound into Ableton Live. I recorded a few pad improvisations using my 1010music lemondrop granular synth. I then recorded some piano that I processed with a few effects (Puremagnetik Fragment, Spaceship delay and PaulStretch). Overall, I tried to write a piece wi...
9m Sep 24, 2023
9m
Black licorice moon
"Meditative and calm. This source recording is in the water, and I think water and breath are related. Breathing in and out reminds me of waves crashing on a sea shore. This song should evoke the breath and the sea together as you drift off to sleep." Carkeek marsh reimagined by Galen Spikes. Part of the Music for Sleep project - for more information and to hear more sounds from the collectio...
9m Sep 24, 2023
9m
Goodnight ocean
"Inspired by the recording of Vietnam Tuy Hoa Beach at Night, I composed a 4hz ambient binaural beat. I created it with the intention of helping listeners relax and ease into sleep. I set the piece to 50bpm, mirroring a human's resting heartbeat. I then created a lo-fi ambient pad and wrote a chord progression to evoke the sense of a dark night. I slowed-down the audio recording, creating a be...
15m Sep 24, 2023
15m
Rainy day dream
"I’ve been enamored by wind chimes for quite some time. There’s something about the contrast between the percussive strike of the clapper and the ringing vibrations of chimes I find very centering and calming. Sometimes I visualize the sound emanating from the chimes like ripples on a calm lake. Collaborating with Meghan Fohl’s original field recording of wind chimes I composed a set of genera...
12m Sep 24, 2023
12m
Spring peepers (chorus frogs) in concert
Spring peepers (chorus frogs) in full chorus shortly after sunset in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in northern Michigan, USA. The persistent, lush and mesmerizing symphony of the spring peepers makes for a perfect backdrop for sleep and relaxation. Recorded by Darrin Wassom. Part of the Music for Sleep project - for more information and to hear more sounds from the collection, vi...
18m Sep 24, 2023
18m
Pizzicada
"The sound piece Pizzicada takes on the, sometimes very loud, cicada sounds in the rainforest. My idea was to put artificial cicadas into the sound of the natural biotope. The sounds of the "artificial cicadas" are samples of a prepared piano and are played as pizzicati and arpeggios. From the combination of the words pizzicato and cicada, the title of the track is born: Pizzicada. It is a tri...
8m Sep 24, 2023
8m
Thousand steps
"This piece attempts to replicate the experience of falling asleep and into a dream. It starts with the field recording of calming, repetitive wave sounds and slowly edits and manipulates it to create a dreamlike, unfamiliar soundscape to demonstrate how our sleeping state can provide us a version of the world that is similar, but a bit strange and disorienting." Thousand Steps Beach reimagine...
8m Sep 24, 2023
8m
Whispers of slumber
"The tone of the recording inspired me. It has a nostalgic feel with the warm synth tones and the sound of chimes. I took pieces of the recording and stretched them out and layered them to create a vast sounding atmospheric space. I wanted to emulate white noise but in a musical way to bring the listener into a state of relaxation and allow for traveling into a sleep state." Lakewood synth pie...
8m Sep 24, 2023
8m
Carkeek marsh
This recording was made using a hydrophone in the marsh at Carkeek Park in Seattle. The surrounding soundscape is muted as it is filtered through the water, much like thoughts in dreams. This track has always been very soothing and relaxing, with the water taking the edge off of reality. Recorded by Steven Barsotti. Part of the Music for Sleep project - for more information and to hear more s...
8m Sep 24, 2023
8m
Diese kleinen Schreiben
"I was allocated this piece - as opposed to choosing it - and I was quite surprised to find birdsong as my sound, which didn't initially seem to me to be very sleep related. But as I first started processing the sound, I began to think more about a daytime nap, perhaps in a park, with the sounds of nature in the background. I find sleeping in the day can be quite dreamy/hallucinogenic and I end...
5m Sep 24, 2023
5m
A dream of frogs
"Frogs singing through the night - looped and treated and tuned and treated and looped." Spring peepers reimagined by Alex Vlad. Part of the Music for Sleep project - for more information and to hear more sounds from the collection, visit https://citiesandmemory.com/music-for-sleep/
5m Sep 24, 2023
5m
Sunrise waves
"Sleep is a naturally relaxing and sleep inducing sound. I reversed the sound and added reverb before adding echoed and reverbed whispers together with the repeated sound of a whitethroat." Hilton Head Island reimagined by Xqui. Part of the Music for Sleep project - for more information and to hear more sounds from the collection, visit https://citiesandmemory.com/music-for-sleep/
9m Sep 24, 2023
9m
Nature by night
Insects and amphibians dominate the nocturnal soundscape in this recording from Phong Na national park, Vietnam. Recorded by Marcel Gnauk. IMAGE: Thang Nguyen from Nottingham, United Kingdom, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons Part of the Music for Sleep project - for more information and to hear more sounds from the collection, visit https:/...
3m Sep 24, 2023
3m
Birds on the trail
Nestled in Bay Gall, one of Hilton Head Island's historic Gullah neighborhoods, Fish Haul Beach is perhaps one of the hidden gems on the Island. This trail is a wooded trail that leads to the beach. This area was full of birds, plants, and mushrooms. Recorded by Jake Carnley. Part of the Music for Sleep project - for more information and to hear more sounds from the collection, visit https://...
9m Sep 24, 2023
9m
Tuy Hoa beach at night
Wave sounds from Tuy Hoa beach, Vietnam. Recorded by Marcel Gnauk. IMAGE: Christophe95, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons Part of the Music for Sleep project - for more information and to hear more sounds from the collection, visit https://citiesandmemory.com/music-for-sleep/
4m Sep 24, 2023
4m
Wind chimes
The sound of wind chimes moving in the breeze. The tonal quality of the chimes brings a sense of calm and is pleasant and soothing. Recorded by Meghan Fohl. Part of the Music for Sleep project - for more information and to hear more sounds from the collection, visit https://citiesandmemory.com/music-for-sleep/
1m Sep 24, 2023
1m
Thousand Steps Beach
Crashing waves on Thousand Steps Beach, Los Angeles. Recorded by Marcel Gnauk. IMAGE: Kevin.Daniels, CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons Part of the Music for Sleep project - for more information and to hear more sounds from the collection, visit https://citiesandmemory.com/music-for-sleep/
7m Sep 24, 2023
7m
Go outside. Shut the door.
This was recorded in 1981, in my bedroom at my parents' house. The synth is an ARP Solus overdubbed two or three times on a broken cassette deck. I was obsessed with Brian Eno's "Discreet Music" (obviously) at the time. Equally obvious: the title of this track is taken from an Oblique Strategies card (Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt's deck of "over one hundred worthwhile dilemmas"). Most of the ot...
9m Sep 24, 2023
9m
Morning from my window
This recording was taken on a cool morning in September just after sunrise in my hometown of Salina, Kansas, USA. I opened the window for the breeze and set my phone down on the ledge because the bugs and birds were particularly noisy, but it was very peaceful. My cat silently stared out the window next to the phone. I wanted to keep the sound, as I was going to be moving and wanted to have it ...
3m Sep 24, 2023
3m
Sunrise waves
Nestled in Bay Gall, one of Hilton Head Island's historic Gullah neighborhoods, Fish Haul Beach is perhaps one of the hidden gems on the Island. This beach overlooks Port Royal Sound. Recorded by Jake Carnley. Part of the Music for Sleep project - for more information and to hear more sounds from the collection, visit https://citiesandmemory.com/music-for-sleep/
15m Sep 24, 2023
15m
A dream of reincarnation
"Having heard the cicadas of SE Asia first hand, I was immediately drawn to this field recording. They have an other world quality, and the sound can be quite powerful. I did some research on cicadas and discovered that though they moult, they have no pupal stage. They transform from one viable organism to another. An adult becomes another adult. The process reminded me of reincarnation, and I ...
8m Sep 23, 2023
8m
Nature's symphony
Recorded with the exceptional Lewitt Subzero microphone, this recording showcases the immersive power of nature's symphony. Experience the enchanting world of extremely loud cicadas during sunset, as their mesmerizing chorus fills the air in Doi Suthep national park, Thailand. Recorded by Marcel Gnauk. Part of the Music for Sleep project - for more information and to hear more sounds from th...
8m Sep 23, 2023
8m
The Little Cahaba
The Little Cahaba is a major tributary of the upper Cahaba River Basin watershed, which includes 190 miles of bluffs, shoals, and sharp ridges before entering the lower Cahaba Basin on the Coastal Plain. Recorded by Jake Carnley. Part of the Music for Sleep project - for more information and to hear more sounds from the collection, visit https://citiesandmemory.com/music-for-sleep/
20m Sep 17, 2023
20m
Warming ghost
"Temperature is the element I focused on when composing this piece. The source recording is of fire, specifically a fire that is constantly burning. It’s fall in Seattle, which means nights are starting to cool down, and I’m adjusting to falling asleep with a blanket on again. I recorded flute through a delay and reverb pedal direct to cassette tape - tape has a particular saturation that is of...
12m Sep 17, 2023
12m
Sleeping peepers
"The counterpointed elements and the dynamics variations of this piece, aim to take the listener between alternate states of tension and release; with the final goal to stimulate relaxation and to lull one into sleep." Peepers calling reimagined by Andrea Callea. Part of the Music for Sleep project - for more information and to hear more sounds from the collection, visit https://citiesandmemo...
20m Sep 17, 2023
20m
The flaming stones
Yanartaş ([janaɾˈtaʃ], Turkish for "flaming stone") is a geographical feature near the Olympos valley and national park in Antalya Province in southwestern Turkey. It is the site of dozens of small fires which burn constantly from vents in the rocks on the side of the mountain. Directly below the fires are the ruins of the temple of Hephaistos, the Greek god who was associated with fire through...
5m Sep 17, 2023
5m
Eau dormante [standing water]
"Unlike living water, still water does not move and remains silent. However, it is listening to the flow that causes a feeling of suspension, rest and stability. Starting from the soothing recording of the current of a river in which a few distant voices just emerge in its middle, it was populated with electronic sounds which could represent the evanescent images which are born from half-sleep....
10m Sep 17, 2023
10m
Forest
"The original recording of wind in the forest with the trees creaking inspired thoughts of dozing in the wood. The original file is processed into a tonal bed and other textures were added. Half awake, half asleep." Canyon, CA forest reimagined by Joe Pino/narcosislabs. Part of the Music for Sleep project - for more information and to hear more sounds from the collection, visit https://cities...
5m Sep 17, 2023
5m
My mind not mine to be lost
"The gentle murmur of the river as it meanders through the tranquil landscape has always been a profound source of inspiration for me, particularly when it comes to creating music for sleep. There is an undeniable harmony in the way the river's flow mirrors the soothing melodies that fill my mind, harmonizing together to create an environment of serene tranquility." Cabana river reimagined by ...
6m Sep 17, 2023
6m
Forest with creaking branches
A peaceful morning in a forest, just a few miles from the suburbs but with a tranquility that could be from another world. Recorded by John Tenney. Part of the Music for Sleep project - for more information and to hear more sounds from the collection, visit https://citiesandmemory.com/music-for-sleep/
2m Sep 17, 2023
2m
The Cahaba River
The Cahaba River is the longest substantially free-flowing river in Alabama and is among the most scenic and biologically diverse rivers in the United States. It is a major tributary of the Alabama River and part of the larger Mobile River basin. Recorded by Jake Carnley. Part of the Music for Sleep project - for more information and to hear more sounds from the collection, visit https://citi...
16m Sep 17, 2023
16m
Wright's Beach, Sonoma Coast
Waves crashing on the sandy shore. The "noise" of the waves contain frequencies that can help mask loud sounds that stimulate your brain. The expectant rhythm of the sounds of those waves can help support a cadence that allows for relaxation and sleep to occur. Recorded by Meghan Fohl. Part of the Music for Sleep project - for more information and to hear more sounds from the collection, visi...
1m Sep 17, 2023
1m
Spring peepers
This is the mating song of spring peepers and other frogs (the double-bass GUNG of a bullfrog can be heard near the end) in a rural beaver pond, recorded on my iPhone using Voice Record Pro the evening before my son and daughter-in-law celebrated their marriage there. The green sound speaks of life and desire, but also deep tranquillity: faith in continuance. Recorded by Maria Margaronis. Par...
2m Sep 17, 2023
2m
Song of somnia
"I layered Meghan's field recording of the crashing waves across the stereo field and then added my own slowly evolving pads to invoke the listener beyond a state of shallow slumber into deep dreams." Bodega Bay reimagined by Michael Lilley. Part of the Music for Sleep project - for more information and to hear more sounds from the collection, visit https://citiesandmemory.com/music-for-sleep/
6m Sep 17, 2023
6m
Hypnagogia
"The underwater atmosphere of Singapore Hydrophone Underwater Labrador Park at night reminded me of the sensation I had for years as a kid to dive into the darkness of my sleep. I later learnt about Hypnagogia, the transition between wakefulness and sleep. I was experiencing visual and auditive hallucinations, which are still feeding my creativity today. The field recordings I have been inspire...
5m Sep 16, 2023
5m
Storm interrupted reverie
"The composition is inspired by one of those daydream moments that gets interrupted by a storm which then becomes part of the daydream. The idea was to use sparse orchestration and percussive sounds to create an ambience that compliments the storm and integrates it into the ambience." Singapore storm reimagined by Andy Lyon. Part of the Music for Sleep project - for more information and to he...
4m Sep 16, 2023
4m
Underwater at Merlion Park
Underwater hydrophone recording taken in Merlion Park, Singapore. Recorded by Marcel Gnauk. Part of the Music for Sleep project - for more information and to hear more sounds from the collection, visit https://citiesandmemory.com/music-for-sleep/ IMAGE: Ank Kumar, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
4m Sep 16, 2023
4m
Stillness at a forest pond
"Teals, mallards and green sandpipers come down to a small forest pond to bathe and drink water at dawn. Droprig recording close to the water surface. A relaxing background chorus of thrushes, warblers and tits can be heard throughout the recording." Recorded by Bo Soderstrom. Part of the Music for Sleep project - for more information and to hear more sounds from the collection, visit https:/...
20m Sep 16, 2023
20m
Slow-wave sleep
"The composition is inspired by the birdsong heard throughout the original recording, and the practice of unihemispheric slow-wave sleep. Some migratory birds use this as a way to allow one hemisphere of the brain to rest during flight. Similar to how, if we take a long flight, we may rest while flying without sleeping completely, only to sleep deeply at the first opportunity after landing. The...
9m Sep 16, 2023
9m
Sultry evening frogs
" Main interests in the recording? Bugs,noise,frogs.  Distractions? Noise, footsteps,dogs, masking. Filtered footsteps, and dogs. There are two main frog sounds that appear late in the recording. 3:30-3:45. The first 2 sounds were used as a kind of time keeper. the nest 6 sounds made a series and were used as themselves and also processed to make the midrange drone phrases.  The low drone is a...
6m Sep 16, 2023
6m