Gentle waves
The melodic sound of gentle waves upon the shoreline orchestrates a serene dance on this blissfully warm day. Here I stand, alone, amidst a captivating desert coastline — one of the hidden gems nestled in the remote corners of Albania. To reach this secluded paradise, one must embark upon a journey either by boat or through an arduous trek that demands a few hours of dedication. Recorded by Ra...
4m Sep 26, 2023
4m
Night falls over the sea
The nightfall over Gjipe’s Canyon is an experience in itself, where the waves gracefully dance to the rhythm of the nocturnal sea breeze. It is a solitude soundscape, an enchanting symphony that echoes through the untamed wilderness of Albania. Recorded by Rafael Diogo. Part of the Music for Sleep project - for more information and to hear more sounds from the collection, visit https://cities...
5m Sep 26, 2023
5m
Coastal whispers
When the sea communicates in whispers, it is in those moments that the sea breeze gracefully embraces and hushes the bustling sounds of the ocean, crafting a serene and delicate soundscape. This melodic symphony, found along the coastline of Gjipe, hidden within the remote canyons of Albania, possesses the power to lull one into a state of tranquility, inducing a sleepy and dreamy ambience. Re...
2m Sep 26, 2023
2m
Watch your step as you exit the dream
"The piece is an attempt to represent my peculiar sleep experiences in recent months. I perform as a percussionist with the band Foals and when the Music For Sleep project was announced I was midway through a 5 week tour of the US. Instinctively, I selected a field recording made back in my hometown of Oxford. During the tour I've so often fallen asleep on various modes of transport, dreaming o...
4m Sep 24, 2023
4m
LWRCS (listen when requiring calm sleep)
"The inspiration for »lwrcs« was mainly driven by the feedback-like howling of the wind in the original field recording. It’s rich in frequencies but also has something eerie yet warm to it. When being played silently it sounds like a sung melody. Digital and analog feedback loops and warm tape noise create the framework for the heavily processed fragments of the field recording. Here and there...
15m Sep 24, 2023
15m
Draw breath
"How does one create a sound to help others to sleep and not make it tedious? I enjoyed the "bubbling, hot pool" of Tim Kahn's field recording and tried to create something that takes someone on an exploration but can also possibly induce a feeling of calm and serenity." Field, Oregon hot pools reimagined by Bill McKenna. Part of the Music for Sleep project - for more information and to hear ...
6m Sep 24, 2023
6m
In true sounds
"The recording, a waterfall, reminded me of the white noise I would sometimes use to block intrusive noise to help me sleep and where I might have imagined I would like to have been. I live in a city and use to work as a paramedic. Attempting to sleep in the day, or to suffer insomnia at night was challenging, there was much noise and I could feel the vibration and sound of construction and hea...
3m Sep 24, 2023
3m
Ripples on the surface of the absolute
"Since first reading about the Music for Sleep theme for this project, I have spent quite a bit of time talking to friends and family about their sleep patterns and the techniques they use to help them get to sleep. I have also been doing some reading on the sounds, tones and patterns that can sometimes help people achieve the state of being asleep. Within “Ripples on the Surface of the Absolut...
19m Sep 24, 2023
19m
Into the woods (one minute warning for Jamie Bell)
"When I consider 'music for sleep' I immediately consider water and 'less is more'. This piece contains my own continuous field recordings of the Holy Brook (flowing through Devon) in real time (recorded on 30/07/2023 with Sony PCM D100) featuring sounds presented by Jamie Bell." Glasgow woods reimagined by Tulse Hill Fields. Part of the Music for Sleep project - for more information and to h...
20m Sep 24, 2023
20m
The transition
"This piece is a playful attempt to portray hypnagogia in an individual entering an increasingly hallucinogenic resting state. Here we have a front row seat in witnessing the sounds of body rhythms and firing neurons meshing with the fleeting perception of environmental sounds as awareness eventually slips away from perceived material existence." Oxfordshire woods reimagined by Gerald Fratzl (...
6m Sep 24, 2023
6m
Oxford to eternity
"The soft thunder and rain and birdsong in the recording were so transportive, I wanted to tint that environment with a drowsy theme that loops in one’s mind while drifting into sleep. I kept the original recording and layered in another copy at half speed to add to this dreamy state and to allow the bird melodies to be drawn out into melancholy cries. The entire piece is a loop itself, and can...
3m Sep 24, 2023
3m
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