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AI generated music to improve focus, relaxation and sleep

brain.fm

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Re: AI generated music to improve focus, relaxation and sleep

#151

Post by shardo »

mtdewcmu wrote: post #50
jkxyz wrote: post #15

I'm sure that most of the benefit of using this tool is derived from the fact that the music is consistently low-tempo and relaxing ambient music. Comparing that to an album of ambient music, it might not be so consistent in its style and so could distract from the focus. Still, the generated music is quite nice. I still feel that I'd rather listen to a real album, though, created with artistic intent and not compute…

It's putting me to sleep, even though I'm listening through speakers and not headphones.

Perhaps it's just your mind getting easily tired from having to focus for large periods of time?

Re: AI generated music to improve focus, relaxation and sleep

#152

Post by ahewett »

iQuercus wrote: post #11
bonoboTP wrote: post #8

I like the way the music sounds but I'm very skeptical of the science and the AI behind it.

Dr. Steven Novella on brainwave entrainment, from 2008: http://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/brainwave-entra... "That is generally where the science ends and the pseudoscience begins. A number of companies and individuals have then extrapolated from the phenomenon of entrainment to claim that altering the brain waves changes the actual functioning of the brain. There is no theoretical or empirical basis for t…

Hey, glad you like the music. :)

Regarding the Novella quote:

> [no evidence that] altering the brain waves changes the actual functioning of the brain

That post was from a while ago, so I'm not sure if he's updated his opinion, but there's plenty of evidence that changing brain waves affects the functioning of the brain. I feel I should have Giovanni respond to that specifically so I'll get him on here as soon as he's available.

> There is no compelling evidence for any effect beyond the period of entrainment itself.

There is evidence for it, but at any rate we're not claiming that. We're helping people sleep or relax while they listen, helping them focus while they listen.

> does this impart any more benefit than me listening to my favorite working music whilst working?

I'd be super interested to find out! In the study we did on our focus sessions, we compared very similar music - still generated by the AI actually. We have the unique ability to create a sham that sounds nearly identical to the experiment, due to the way we "disguise" the stimulation as vibrato, tremolo, normal instrumental vibrations, electronic LFOs, and so on. So we opted for that instead of letting them choose something from spotify, etc. I actually think we would have gotten a much greater result in that case, because the AI-generated music - although not containing "entraining" modulations - still obeyed rules designed to keep the music from being distracting (no lyrics or abrupt stops, volume consistency, avoiding certain frequency ranges (pitches), and so on). Even so, if you find your existing music to work, why switch? Give both a try, see what you think, base your decision on results. Or use both, depending on how you feel? Today I coded to Queen and then Brain.fm and then some Motown. I especially love video game soundtracks like Chrono Cross, WarcraftIII, Wipeout... Brain.fm is there if I need an extra boost.

I'd love to hear what you listen to? Kind of a hobby of mine to collect people's work music :)

Re: AI generated music to improve focus, relaxation and sleep

#153

Post by markovbling »

sergiotapia wrote: post #64

I still can't find anything better to program to than Nujabes. I'm going to give this a genuine shot, but Jun Seba really left his mark on me for life. I find myself listening to his albums and songs at least twice a day. I think it's because of his repetitive beats, smooth strings and soft instrumentation. There's a reason there are 10 hour 'homework' edits on youtube for almost all of his songs. Counting Stars: htt…

For the hip hop heads check out 9th Wonder: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBX_ADoO-7E

Re: AI generated music to improve focus, relaxation and sleep

#154

Post by ascorbic »

alva wrote: post #77
sergiotapia wrote: post #64

I still can't find anything better to program to than Nujabes. I'm going to give this a genuine shot, but Jun Seba really left his mark on me for life. I find myself listening to his albums and songs at least twice a day. I think it's because of his repetitive beats, smooth strings and soft instrumentation. There's a reason there are 10 hour 'homework' edits on youtube for almost all of his songs. Counting Stars: htt…

While we are at it, the following is a selection of musicians whose work for me is both sedative and promotes focus (an oxymoron?). Ambient music usually garners a few sniggers, "this is what they play in spas" "whale music" etc, however in my experience can be an incredibly rewarding and effective method of relaxation and enjoyment. Gas (Wolfgang Voigt) - Pop https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s--IkNqI9og Brian Eno - D…

Need to mention the original: The KLF - Chill Out.

Re: AI generated music to improve focus, relaxation and sleep

#155

Post by saiprashanth93 »

jkalmadi wrote: post #139
frr149 wrote: post #79

Any promo codes for Hacker News denizens? :-)

yes! here's a '$25 for life' deal: https://brain.fm/hackernews :) junaid cofounder, brain.fm

Hey, on clicking on the link it takes to the home page and nothing happens, am I missing something here?

Re: AI generated music to improve focus, relaxation and sleep

#156

Post by nitrogen »

The customization popup seems a bit too aggressive. The first sound I tried was cool, but I want to hear two or three different example programs before I invest any amount of time into the site. I like the concepts of generated music and brainwave entrainment, but I want to hear at least one sample from each category.

Re: AI generated music to improve focus, relaxation and sleep

#157

Post by zennit »

alva wrote: post #77
sergiotapia wrote: post #64

I still can't find anything better to program to than Nujabes. I'm going to give this a genuine shot, but Jun Seba really left his mark on me for life. I find myself listening to his albums and songs at least twice a day. I think it's because of his repetitive beats, smooth strings and soft instrumentation. There's a reason there are 10 hour 'homework' edits on youtube for almost all of his songs. Counting Stars: htt…

While we are at it, the following is a selection of musicians whose work for me is both sedative and promotes focus (an oxymoron?). Ambient music usually garners a few sniggers, "this is what they play in spas" "whale music" etc, however in my experience can be an incredibly rewarding and effective method of relaxation and enjoyment. Gas (Wolfgang Voigt) - Pop https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s--IkNqI9og Brian Eno - D…

My go to source is http://www.buzzoutroom.com/chillout/ been around for years and always introduces me to new artists, great playlist.

Re: AI generated music to improve focus, relaxation and sleep

#158

Post by nitrogen »

ahewett wrote: post #124
jkxyz wrote: post #15

I'm sure that most of the benefit of using this tool is derived from the fact that the music is consistently low-tempo and relaxing ambient music. Comparing that to an album of ambient music, it might not be so consistent in its style and so could distract from the focus. Still, the generated music is quite nice. I still feel that I'd rather listen to a real album, though, created with artistic intent and not compute…

Hey, this Adam from Brain.fm. I created the music "AI" thing. Glad to have the praise of a musician! My family's very musical, so it took some convincing for them as well. The thing is, it still takes creativity! It took me half a year to create it, and there's a little piece of my soul in this AI. A horcrux, programmed in. :) It makes music how I would make music. Well, most of the time. I had to create the thing be…

Since you mentioned "the smallest pop", I thought you might be interested to know that the volume slider causes discontinuity pops, at least on Firefox, and could benefit from some smoothing.

Very nice music on the site!

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