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How Ambient Chill Became the New Silence

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Re: How Ambient Chill Became the New Silence

#61

Post by partyboat1586 »

Ancalagon wrote: post #6
pmoriarty wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my experience, people are already almost completely isolated even without headphones. With or without headphones, the only strangers who come up and talk to me are people who want something from me, like beggars, people seeking directions, or people trying to sell me something. As someone who's not very social around strangers, I rarely initiate conversations with strangers myself. Listening to my own music just m…

You and the parent both have excellent points, and I frankly agree with both of you. I think, at least in the US, many public spaces are trending towards isolation of the population. Specifically I'm thinking of gyms (where its no longer OK to interact with someone with headphones on), or bars/clubs where the music is literally so loud you cannot talk to someone standing right next to you. I believe all of this is in…

You can talk to people in loud clubs, you just have to shout in their ear. Guys who are trying to pick up girls do it all the time though I've always thought it was too much effort. The smoking area is my favourite place in bars and clubs because people there are more social and no one feels pressured cos they can leave when they finish their cig or stay for another. Shame I quit smoking, there needs to be a healthy alternative that's not vaping. Vaping doesn't work because it has no natural end point.

Re: How Ambient Chill Became the New Silence

#62

Post by ivank »

partyboat1586 wrote: post #57
e40 wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Before you played music too loud, actually. Playing music on a low volume will not give you tinnitus.

Playing music at a low volume also won't block out background noise.

blocking/masking noise at safe volume levels is very much possible with in-ear monitors and Comply Isolation tips

Re: How Ambient Chill Became the New Silence

#63

Post by catalogia »

partyboat1586 wrote: post #57
e40 wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Before you played music too loud, actually. Playing music on a low volume will not give you tinnitus.

Playing music at a low volume also won't block out background noise.

YMMV. For me, background noise in general isn't the issue. Rather the issue is specifically people talking, because my mind begins following their conversation. If I can render their voice unintelligible then it won't distract me. Low volume music often works for this.

Re: How Ambient Chill Became the New Silence

#64

Post by DEADBEEFC0FFEE »

egypturnash wrote: post #28

Lately I've been spending a lot of my working-with-a-laptop-at-a-cafe time at places that have outdoor seating. And another chunk of that time has been sitting outside at a very nice park I live nearby. There is no music except for occasional snatches of it from passing cars. Instead there is the wind in the trees, various birds having their conversations, and perhaps kids playing if I'm near the playground. It's rea…

I went through a period of listening to natural sounds, rivers, forests, rain, thunder, waves, etc. It's surprisingly easy to detect loops and repeats.

There are some nice apps for blending sounds.

Seems like a good space for ML to play, producing unique, but authentic feeling sounds.

Re: How Ambient Chill Became the New Silence

#65

Post by psychomugs »

Ancalagon wrote: post #6
pmoriarty wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my experience, people are already almost completely isolated even without headphones. With or without headphones, the only strangers who come up and talk to me are people who want something from me, like beggars, people seeking directions, or people trying to sell me something. As someone who's not very social around strangers, I rarely initiate conversations with strangers myself. Listening to my own music just m…

You and the parent both have excellent points, and I frankly agree with both of you. I think, at least in the US, many public spaces are trending towards isolation of the population. Specifically I'm thinking of gyms (where its no longer OK to interact with someone with headphones on), or bars/clubs where the music is literally so loud you cannot talk to someone standing right next to you. I believe all of this is in…

Just like automating away cashiers, an increasingly isolated population is something Japan's been doing that the US is just starting to catch up to. A lot of it could be chalked up to cultural differences, but something feels off when you're in one of the most densely-populated cities and striking up conversations with strangers is taken as a big faux pas. I'm still a graduate student and I've been on campuses for a while, and the increasing normalization of walking while looking down at your phone is reaching preposterous levels to where I would rather bump into someone glued to their screen before I move out of the way for their sake. I fear the day that mouth masks to further shield away interactions comes to the West.

Re: How Ambient Chill Became the New Silence

#66

Post by baroffoos »

SignalsFromBob wrote: post #44

I look forward to the day that society treats combating noise pollution with the same level of seriousness as combating other types of pollution. It appears that day is still far off.

> same level of seriousness as combating other types of pollution.

So not very seriously at all?

Re: How Ambient Chill Became the New Silence

#67

Post by baroffoos »

partyboat1586 wrote: post #57
e40 wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Before you played music too loud, actually. Playing music on a low volume will not give you tinnitus.

Playing music at a low volume also won't block out background noise.

NC headphones will though.

Re: How Ambient Chill Became the New Silence

#68

Post by michrassena »

gumby wrote: post #17
philwelch wrote: post #7

Despite this trend, maybe it’s just me but I have never actually experienced elevator music. As in music playing in a literal elevator. Sometimes there’s a TV with weather reports and sports scores and “fun facts” that pop up but no music.

Those TVs in elevators and fuel pumps are evil. You can look away from the screen but the voices make it hard to think.

At the gas station I frequent, there are buttons around the periphery of the screen. One of these mutes the audio, making the necessity of refilling gas at least a little less unpleasant.

Re: How Ambient Chill Became the New Silence

#69

Post by Macha »

iamatworknow wrote: post #3
pmoriarty wrote: post #2

"ambient music for shopping spaces, these days, is meant to soothe you or pump you up, and generally nudge your habits toward consumption" Fortunately, we do have some resistance to this in the form of portable music players. I virtually never hear any music at any of the venues or stores I visit, because I'm always listening to my own.

Maybe I'm alone here but I almost think this is worse. Granted the manipulative aspect of using specific music to set a mood in public places can be kinda gross, but I don't like that the alternative is that now everyone's in their own bubble and further isolating themselves from the people around them.

https://wanna-joke.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/funny-peop...

I think the picture makes the point on its own, but at the risk of being accused of Reddit style image replies: Prior to phones, people weren't automatically any more social with random strangers than they had to be.

Re: How Ambient Chill Became the New Silence

#70

Post by cthaeh »

partyboat1586 wrote: post #57
e40 wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Before you played music too loud, actually. Playing music on a low volume will not give you tinnitus.

Playing music at a low volume also won't block out background noise.

As someone with tinnitus, it is so much worse than background noise.

Now I love background noise because it's the only way I can escape tennitus (I hate headphones)

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