Notes from the Artist

Sleep is one of our most fundamental needs - ranking right up there with food and water. I have studied the effects of sleep deprivation and it is not a pretty picture. Due to both personal and societal strains and pressures, we are not getting the rest we need to best navigate the turbulence of our lives.

Sound Sleep came into being as I traversed a particularly difficult period of my life. I found myself experiencing many sleepless nights and I longed for a way to get the rest I desperately needed to support me during those trying times.

I had already been exploring the use of sound for dreamwork and meditation - to explore that realm which is neither sleeping nor waking, but instead somewhere in between. Working with the sound mixes I was using for dream meditations, I began to modify them to encourage sleep. I discovered that there were certain combinations and blends of sounds that would take my mind "offline" and allow my body to relax into the delta sleep patterns necessary for physical, emotional and psychological nourishment and regeneration.

Using this knowledge, I composed new sound arrangements specifically designed for use when you are struggling to fall, or stay, asleep.

Track 1 Lullaby - time for sleep. The first track is a short and sweet lullaby. It is an invitation to switch gears and allow your heart and mind to slow down and release the tensions that may be causing them to race and engage the adrenal stress response. With repeated use, this lullaby acts as an associative "trigger" as though your body says "Ah… I know what we are going to do now… prepare for sleep."

Track 2 Drifting Off - soothing the heart. The second track is a chordal arrangement utilizing binauralized instruments to begin the transition from waking into the day-dreamy, hypnogogic stage of sleep. It is both soothing and comforting. The chordal arrangements are based on a specific mathematical ratio (which goes by many guises under the name of the golden mean, fibonacci number sequences and such) that I have been exploring for years. These tonal intervals call us to the heart of our existence and, interesting enough, can be used to promote sleep! The instruments I created use the binaural beat phenomenon with a low-theta, high-delta beat pattern that creates a hemisperically smoothing or mentally balancing sensation. If your mind is feeling "jangled" and chaotically busy, track 2 helps smooth it out. It is during this track that I encourage you to murmur to yourself an affirmation such as "It is time to let go. All will be well. Trust. Believe."

Track 3 Sound Sleep - beyond white noise. The third track is a blend of pure psychoacoustic sounds. It is not lyrical or musical in the traditional sense. This track was born out of the lab of trial and error, tweaking and testing. Once your heart is ready to be eased and your mind is less busy, it is time to take your mind "offline" so that deeply healing and systemic body processes can come "online". This is the domain of our parasympathetic response, but the conscious mind and stress/adrenal response must be quiet in order to engage these deeper levels of healing and regeneration.

Track 4 Repose - quietly drifting away. Track 4 introduces a blend of track 3's psychoacoustics along with the sound of gentle rain. Over the course of several minutes, the track tapers off to silence so that your sleep is not abruptly disturbed as the CD draws to a close.

It is my deepest hope that Sound Sleep will help you get the rest you need so you can best navigate life’s many challenges.

Namaste,

For the Technically Curious

I wrote and composed Sound Sleep using a variety of MIDI hardware and software. It is absolutely amazing what we can do with these silicon life forms we quaintly refer to as "computers". :) The graphics and CD artwork were done by a very warm-hearted and talented graphic artist and friend, Lawrence Stewart (www.lawrencestewart.net). If you need graphics work, he's the person to contact!

Here is a snapshot of the main audio tools that went into the making of Deep Waters.

(click on image for a larger view)

Plogue Bidule Plogue Bidule is a modular music programming environment. This is the main development environment for all of my sound and music projects. Pictured to the left are one of the "binauralized instruments" I created to induce the entrainment effect. Notice that the left and right channels have a slightly different note going to each ear.

energyXT - music composition/sequencing software

Spectrasonics Atmosphere - dream synth module/virtual instrument

Z3TA+ - analog synthesizer with microtonal capabilities (for binaural instruments)

iZotope Ozone 3 - 64-bit mastering system

Cool Edit Pro - audio editing and mixing software (now called Adobe Audition)

Roland's Edirol MIDI keyboard controller - used to play and compose various parts