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Silence

Started by Clinton Morgan, September 27, 2004, 12:17:48 AM

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Clinton Morgan

Walking down any road in Reading or Henley-on-Thames various cars would go pass playing rock/pop/rap/whatever at a high volume, a pub by Reading Train Station will turn its music on so loud after 6:00pm that you can decipher the lyrics on the other side of the road, if I have my hair cut I have to listen to Heat-Magazine-Reader FM. Music is not confined to 'Later...' or 'TOTP' on the television either, you can hear it in the background of 'Eastenders' and it's sometimes used on lifestyle/popular-documentary programmes as well as BBC promotions (ie 'Kashmir' for The World Cup). I even get to hear the horrible 2-Ten Fm played loudly in my local post office and  in a town chemist and in an antique store (shoved amongst the shelves, not for the assistant's benefit but for mine, apparently) as well as a 'special' version of that radio station being played on a tape in the cinema. Not only that compact discs are so fucking long that I am knackered even a quarter of the way through. 'Dancing' by Mike Kenneally and Beer For Dolphins being a case in point. So that teenage thing I used to do of listening to an album from beginning to end is all but dying out. I 'm also beginning to hate surround sound, DTS Audio, 5.1. Case in point, my parents couldn't hear the phone because of the gunfire and explosions coming from their surround sound speakers whilst watching 'Band of Brothers'.
So with that in mind I am enjoying any silent moments I can get to endure. There is something beautiful about silence as it clears my thoughts, soothes my being and makes me feel at peace with the universe. Our age is overstimulated both audibly and visually. We are becoming too deaf to think. I like listening to my Motorhead and Black Sabbath CDs but at the same time (if I do actually listen to them from beginning to end) I appreciate the silence that follows the 'whirr-click' of the player finishing off. Out of the many many sounds there are in this world (and possibly the universe) my favourite is the lack of sound. Why are we too afraid to pause?

djtrees

ive often thought that if i ever owned a pub id put cds of big silences on the jukebox so if you didnt want to be subjected to someones shit records for half an hour you could stick on half and hours worth of silence

thats a great idea that is you can have that for free

Ciarán2

Quote from: "Clinton Morgan"I am enjoying any silent moments I can get to endure. There is something beautiful about silence as it clears my thoughts, soothes my being and makes me feel at peace with the universe. Our age is overstimulated both audibly and visually. We are becoming too deaf to think.

Have you ever heard the song "Add Some Music To Your Day" on The Beach Boy's "Sunflower" album? It goes on and on about "oh isn't it great that you get to hear music everywhere and have no say in the matter" (Brian Wilson's words - not mine. Aherm...). I have tended to think a little bit like yourself on this matter, sometimes the overload of noise becomes unbearable. This is partly why I hate buskers so much. I hate listening to music when I don't want to listen to it. Of course we never really hear silence at all, there's always something going on, but at least that kind of ambient noise is less intrusive.

Contradicting myself rather, I suggest you listen to Brian Eno's "Music For Airports".

Gazeuse

I love music, but I also love silence. I was very peeved when they started piping music into the swimming pool at seven in the morning.

The other thing is that unlike classical music, which has a large dynamic and emotional range, the stuff that gets played as musak (Whether good or not) is full on and therefore very tiring.

We seem to need a shortcut to gratification these days.

fanny splendid

Has anybody tried these Bose Noise Reduction headphones?

At £275 a pair, I want some serious recommendations before shelling out for them.

Gazeuse

Quote from: "fanny splendid"Has anybody tried these Bose Noise Reduction headphones?

At £275 a pair, I want some serious recommendations before shelling out for them.

I've tried some, but wasn't able to test their 'noise reduction' abilities properly 'cos it was in a Bose shop. However, I can say that they sounded fantastic and were very comfortable. They did seem to cut out a lot of outside noise, although that may just have been because of the nice snug fit which surrounds the whole ear. I'd definitely talk to someone who has tried them on a train or plane journey before you show 'em the colour of your money.

RFT

a couple of people where I work use them- not that;s it's noisy, just that in a game development studio (or any really big modern office), there's an awful lot of PC-related noise.

like any anti-noise device, they are very, very good at taking out background hums and white noise. IIRC, the tech was originally developed for aviation use, where fighter pilots are subjected to very loud, but pretty constant jet noise.

what they're less good at is removing non-constant noise such as speech, music ETC.

to get back to the main thrust of the thread, some people just don't find silence very comfortable. I like being able to sit and read quietly, but the wife says she "needs" some background noise.
what's odd is that I grew up in a faily busy town, and she's from the welsh countryside, so I would have thought she'd be the one used to the quiet...

butnut

I just feel sorry for you spending your time in Reading. I grew up near there and moved away at 18. I've got some nice friends from school and my parents, but apart from that, I have no desire to go there.

Back on topic - yes silence. It's actually impossible to achieve real silence, unless you go into space I suppose. Apparently it was going into one of those silent rooms that inspired Mr Cage to compose 4'33". But it's never totally silent as you hear your heart beat and your stomach digest etc - but that was another thread, wasn't it?