If you are anything like me, you are bombarded with sound most of your day. I work in music and audio-related jobs, so my tasks are often very intense and repetitive, and unlike many people, I’m not consuming music, podcasts, or endless streams of digital content while I work. Instead, my days are filled with editing, adjusting, cutting, and listening in a technical way. It’s not about enjoying music but dissecting it, which means I rarely use media the way most people do in their free time. This creates a strange rhythm in my daily life: while others scroll, stream, or binge, I’m engaged in sound in a completely different way.
As much as I love music and noise, I’ve realized that I really need the silence. Sometimes that silence is artificial – slipping on noise-cancelling headphones just to mute the constant chatter around me. Other times, it’s more subtle: tuning into the everyday soundtrack of life on my way back home from the studio. The footsteps, the rustle of trees, the faint hum of a distant tram – ordinary sounds that suddenly feel like a gentle reset button.
It’s in these contrasts between noise and quiet, chaos and calm that I’ve found what I now call the ritual of listening.
Sitting Spots and Mindfulness
I’ve learned that finding a sitting spot is one of the simplest but most powerful practices. It doesn’t need to be anything special – just a place where you return regularly to sit and notice. For me, it might be a bench tucked away in a park or the balcony of my apartment.
What happens there is essentially mindfulness. Noticing without trying to change. Listening without rushing to label or judge. Just sitting and letting the sounds wash over me:
- The rustle of leaves as the wind shifts.
- The distant chatter of people passing by.
- The rhythm of footsteps echoing against concrete.
- The neighbors preparing dinner, the clink of cutlery and pots forming a warm, familiar melody.
Mindfulness has become a buzzword in recent years, but there’s a reason for that – it works. When I stop and really listen, I realize that sound anchors me to the present moment more than anything else. My mind slows down. The noise inside my head – the to-do lists, the constant scrolling thoughts – fades into the background.
The beauty of it is how simple it is. No apps, no complicated setups. Just you, a spot, and the everyday soundtrack of life – heightened, alive, and waiting for you to notice.
Filling the Void with Noise
We live in a world that rarely pauses. Silence is treated like a gap to be filled – podcasts, playlists, notifications, TV. Even when walking home from the studio, it feels almost unnatural to let the day be quiet. We’ve become experts at filling the void with sound.
But what if we didn’t? What if we allowed ourselves to sit in the empty spaces for a moment? The hum of the city, the whisper of the wind, the faint echoes of life passing by – these are sounds that exist whether we notice them or not. When we give them attention, they stop being background noise and become part of the experience.
There’s something liberating about letting silence breathe. The mind slows, the ears open, and suddenly the smallest details stand out. That distant laugh, the soft scrape of shoes on pavement, the sigh of the wind through trees – they all take on new meaning.
For music producers, this is more than meditation; it’s training your ears to listen differently. Not for work, not for a track, but for the simple joy of noticing. And when you do eventually play or create music again, it feels richer, more connected to the world around you.
Sometimes we forget to just unplug. Not from creativity, not from inspiration, but from the constant need to fill every moment with sound.
The Absurdity of Stillness
One thing I’ve noticed while doing these listening practices is how strange it feels to everyone else when I’m not “doing” something. Sitting quietly, listening to the wind, the neighbours, or the rhythm of the city – it’s almost revolutionary in a world where every moment seems to demand consumption or action.
Time and time again, I’ve had people ask me, with genuine concern, if everything is okay. All because I’m not scrolling, not checking notifications, not multitasking. It’s as if the act of doing nothing – of just being present with sound – has become foreign. A pause is interpreted as emptiness, as a problem to be fixed, rather than a space to be enjoyed.
It’s a surreal realization: silence has become suspicious. The normality we once took for granted – a quiet walk, a moment to breathe, a few minutes spent noticing life unfold – now feels almost subversive. And yet, for me, these are some of the most nourishing moments of the day. They remind me that life doesn’t always need to be filled, that not every second needs to be productive, and that the simplest things – footsteps on pavement, a bird landing on a branch, the clatter of dishes – can be profoundly grounding.
These experiences have made me rethink what “normal” really is. Maybe the absurdity lies not in the stillness itself, but in how disconnected we’ve become from it. And maybe, if we can allow ourselves these moments, we start to reclaim a part of life that’s been quietly slipping away – a space where attention, presence, and even joy can exist without being tied to output or consumption.
Sound is always around us, whether we choose to examine it, get lost in it, or simply let it accompany us. By noticing how we listen, we also notice more about ourselves – our focus, our needs, our state of mind.
But let’s face it – if you’re on our page right now, you probably came here to consume and listen to sounds. So why not make it a mindful, relaxing experience? Drone and ambient music work wonders for slowing down and tuning in. Our sample packs, Cascades and Orbital Drift, are perfect companions to dive deeper into listening experiences – letting you get lost in textures, layers, and the little details that make sound so mesmerising.
Thank you for taking the time to read, listen, and reflect with me. It means a lot to share this journey of sound and stillness with you. We want to do more than contribute to the noise around us – we want to be a part of your journey as a music maker, offering tools and inspiration along the way.