• The move to the new server is done. There are some software and database maintenance updates in process. This has us passing the hat around to help out. We appreciate any donations. Seriously, even a dollar helps. The payment page may be found here - https://www.audiokarma.org/support.html

Listening to music in the dark?

meggy said:
Best done when no one else is home. I hate being in the zone and having someone walk in and try to announce louder than the music "What are you doing?!"

Shocks ya.
Click to expand...

LOL! I cant stand that. The only thing worse is when they try and carry on a conversation to top it off.
 
Love to, I started doing this back in my Chef days when I was only home between 1AM and 7AM. Wife and kids asleep and I needed to unwind. Works every time. Started listening to NPR programs, "Hearts of Space" and, "Echos" this way a long time ago :)
 
Mood Lighting relaxes & revitalizes

Yupp,regularly,still do in slightly modified way.
Back in the 70's living just outside Vancouver B.C.,you could rent old farmhouses very cheap,allowing the luxury of playing your Music as loud as you liked,practicing my drum chops when my room mate was out,and ahem,growing a garden out back if ya get my drift.
Back then some of the worlds absolute best last night FM stations,existed across the dial to suit any taste in Music & ran...All night long!...I remember one station in particular,think it was out of Seattle Washington,the Disc Jockey lived in a Tee Pee,and had the most hypnotizing voice.
Anyways he would play complete albums,without a break,one after the other almost always dedicated to who ever was playing in town that weekend or would soon be coming to town.Imagine your favorite artist,getting all his songs played in one night including his latest release.
We actually used to tape off the air,as there was zero advertising in the wee hours except on the hour news.That was it.
And like someone mentioned after Listening you were so relaxed you usually went out and bought the Album,or passed as you had just had a chance to Listen to the whole album before buying!
Back to the Lights out topic,you knew I was headed somewhere with this,ha,ha.
There was absolutely nothing back then,in my opinion to beat the soft warm glow of a top of the line Sansui FM tuner,bringing in a station as clear as a bell.
Keep in mind,there was zero compression,effects etc,crap that exists now on Fm stations,and stations used older high quality analogue equipment,plus no advertising,except during the day...Fm was dam near as good as a high end TT,especially during the night.And was so relaxing.
Now,I have a similar glow coming of the tubes of my old Stromberg Triode amp,except its the Bluish haze of gas in the tubes,along with some "Christmas Lights"....yupp I said Christmas lights......the really tiny ones wrapped with gold garland,I know it sounds crazy tacky but it gives such a soft,low light glow,and seems to subconsciously make you feel warmer.
Its absolutely perfect when watching/Listening to dvd concerts or Movies & it doesn't at all distract from the glowing tubes or the screen,just seems to envelope you,and gives me the same effect as lights out,I have done both and prefer this,plus allowing trips to refuel and washroom breaks without cracking your little toe on the bottom edge of an Altec 19...ask me how I know this.
This Family mood lighting happened quite unexpectedly as I don't always get around to putting away the Rec Room Christmas decorations downstairs right after Christmas,and Son casually mentioned one April,hah,ha that he really liked it when Listening to Vinyl,and I thought it was just me that enjoyed this,they stayed up year round,year after year.
What's amazing is these low cost lights have been up going on 10 years with only a few bulbs burnt out.Used pretty much every Friday and Saturday nights and more on Holidays.
I will occasionally during the Winter,if I know I will not be disturbed,totally turn off all lights,pour astiff drink,engage my Eico ST-70's Loudness(modded) button,knock my recliner back into Snooze position,& Listen with the Volume just above a whisper,cd on repeat...I would say this something akin to Cosmic Consciousness,as I don't have a garden out back any more.
Peace & Harmonies....Altec Concert Kenny
 
hogdaddy said:
Here's something cool, put one or more of these (or others) in sound activated mode in your listening space for some cool effects.
Click to expand...
I might consider that method if they come with a tab of pure LSD !:banana:
Not having that I'll stick with my solution to night lighting :-
MB845-MkII-one-cover_med.jpg

Not my image - my camera only captures the output tubes glowing and nothing else despite trying a number of exposure settings.
 
I can't listen to the music in the dark....too many blinking lights-it's never dark. :tears:

Oh well-at least it looks cool! :D



-Jason
 
I mounted blue LEDs in my 604's cabinets, they light up the inside pretty nicely, my wife recently bought me a blue CFL for my room. Sometimes it gets difficult to stay awake...:D
 
I would guess that around 95% of my listening is done in a dark room. I do put background music on when working on a project, etc. but that is usually one of the Dish music channels tuned to a station I prefer at that moment. But when it comes to listening to MY music, the lights go out and only the soft glow from the components and a very small 16x9 format monitor give off any light into the room. The monitor is used so I can see at glance what track is playing on a CD, or in the case of a Dish channel, I can readily know what a given piece of music is if I feel I might like to buy that CD. I have found over the years that when you listen in a dark room, you can let your imagination take over and conjure up just about anything your brain will allow that is being translated from the music that is playing. In the dark I can visualize each section of an orchestra and any solo instruments, etc. as to where they are on the soundstage in front of me. It's just so much nicer and better in a dark room IMHO. And that's my story and I'm sticking to it.............

Good Listening to all.........Terry:thmbsp::music:
 
Haven't done that in a very long time. :yes: Yes, I think I'll do that this weekend!:yes::thmbsp::music:
It's going to be great, choose a nice selection and then sit and listen in the dark with nothing but the glow of the gear!:music:
 
My audio setup is not one-hundred percent symmetrical so I get distracted by the speaker placement and often confuse where center really is and where it ought to be in the sound-image. So it really helps to listen in the dark for me. The trick is not to fall asleep if you're doing it late at night with relaxed music :D
 
vincei said:
Not sure if this has been brought up before, but does anyone else do it? I was first brought to this practice at a high end audio show about 15 years ago and have since been doing it from time to time when I do critical listening. It seems to lessen distractions, and in my case, cut down on the extra heat generated by the lighting in my listening room. Another positive side effect of "dark room" listening is the lovely light from glowing tubes or meters in my system! :music:
Click to expand...
For select type of music it is my favorite manner in which to listen. Some artists that I enjoy listening to in the dark are Aurah, Steve Roach, Enigma (the french composer - not the hiphop group), and Hearts of Space type music,
 
I like to fall asleep to music here and there so there's that. I happen to believe that music can be interesting and relaxing at the same time, so it's not as if the music is simply a stand in for white noise. It's more like it's kicking off a really interesting journey that I'm about to go deeper into in my dreams...
 
BorisBadenuf said:
For select type of music it is my favorite manner in which to listen. Some artists that I enjoy listening to in the dark are Aurah, Steve Roach, Enigma (the french composer - not the hiphop group), and Hearts of Space type music,
Click to expand...
Give a listen to Songs Of The Humpback Whale in surround with the lights out. The experience is quite interesting. :)
 
JoeESP9 said:
Give a listen to Songs Of The Humpback Whale in surround with the lights out. The experience is quite interesting. :)
Click to expand...
it does sound interesting, but I'm not going to feel like I'm in some Lamaze class am I? oh well, not to worry for me, I don't have surround sound.
 
Frankly, Songs sounds like nothing you've ever heard before. I have had the stereo LP for many years. Some of the newer releases with the same title have human created music in addition to the whale songs. The LP in question is nothing but whales "singing".

The album has a very immersive sound stage in stereo. It also has "depth" in spades. Using Dolby Pro Logic for playback works quite well.as It has a lot of out of phase sounds. When I originally bought it, I sometimes used a DIY Dynaco Quadaptor.
.
Please note: This LP is the only LP (out of ~1K) I have that IMO doesn't sound worse using a surround mode. :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom