ENVIRONMENTS ARE DIFFERENT FROM ANY OTHER RECORDS YOU OWN(I might dispute their claims about not being able to listen to other albums over and over based on my years-long obsession with the Bach Cello Suites, which I've posted about before, but I digress...)
If you are like most people, you own a great many records. Have you ever asked yourself why you own so many records? Perhaps the main reason may be one you have never really considered before; you have to own a great many records because you can't stand to listen to the same records over and over again, no matter how attached you are to them.
For this reason you will find Environments releases totally different from all other records you own. Environments are sounds based on how we all react to aural stimulation. For the most part, this means that the sounds on an Environments disc get better the more you hear them, and that you can play most Environments sides over and over without getting tired of them....
STUDY HABITS/CONCENTRATION/READING COMPREHENSION(Elisions mine, italics in the original. Any typos except those indicated by [sic] are mine.)
If you play music while you read or study, you do so because your surroundings are too quite or you just want some aural "company." However, almost all music is meant to be listened to, thus you are placed in the shizophrenic [sic] position of switching attention from what your [sic] are reading to what you are listening to. Since almost everyone knows how distracting this is, one of our initial priorities in developing the Environments Series has been to find sounds which can be used as an effective aid to concentration.... We do suggest that, once you find a sound that works for you in this context, you stick with that sound as a habit and that you use specific environmental sounds for specific purposes, such as "Gentle Rain in a Pine Forest" for technical material, "Woodmasted Sailboat" for report preparation and "Summer Cornfield" for paying bills....
NATURAL HIGHS
High Times Magazine worried that the FDA might eventually ban Envirornments as "highly addictive" and might even wish to make them a "controlled substance." Although the comment was facetious, the fact is that many people have commented that Environments are a "natural high" in both senses of the term....
MEDITATION/ALPHA WAVES/SELF-HYPNOSIS
... We have explained to experienced meditators that we wanted them to listen to particular Environments sounds on earphones and compare the experience to meditational experiences they had learned through other methods. For the most part, these experimental participants reported a different state of meditation from what they had ordinarily experienced. Since most participants did not have to actively work at the meditational process, we called the process "induced meditation," in that it was virtually automatic.
... Rather than go into the exact process, which would require far more space that what is available here, what we are recommending is an attempt to duplicate the fifth day of a one-week vacation...
SEX
Utilizing Environments in a dark room is always a delight. That dark room can be anywhere and, if you happen to be engaged in lovemaking, a bed or sofa is usually not where your imagination really wants to be.... We do recommend that you not use the same Environments side twice in a row for this particular purpose....
We have found that our heartbeat recording does have a special relationship to sex, however. This particular sound actually seems to slow down and synchronize the act of lovemaking in a way not experienced by most people. It works for almost everyone and it is a unique experience.
RELAXATION
... The problem with substances taken internally for relaxation purposes is that one often has no control over their effects once they are in the body and many drugs in this category are only marginally safe. (For instance: alcohol and certain tranquilizers) SR has spent a decade searching for sounds which can search as substitutes for these drugs.....
TENSION HEADACHE RELIEF
... The technique involves lying down with a damp cloth covering your eyes and forehead. Use a white-noise type Environments at moderate volume and concentrate on the ebb and flow of the sound. We don't guarantee it but it works for many people and sure beats aspirin.
INFANTS/ANIMALS/PLANTS
If a child is under six months of age, we think you will be surprised by how effective certain Environments are in calming various discomfort conditions.... We recommend you start with the heartbeat sound but you may also wish to consider water and bird sounds as well.
We evaluate almost all our Environments with animals at some stage in our test procedure. We think you will be surprised how calm and interested cats and dogs become when exposed to Environments...
In terms of plant growth, we have received considerable mail telling us that specific Environments seem to be effective, particularly meditation-type sounds and flowing water. Try putting a plant in front of one of the speakers for a day or two and see what happens.... (note: Syntonic Research, Inc. has had mixed results utilizing plant experiments, although research is continuing. If you come up with a particular occurance [sic] under controlled circumstances, please document the results and provide us with details.)
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Some, like the recording of the 1969 "Be-In" in NYC, put you vividly in the middle of a different time and place.
I understand one of the Environments series was the longest continuous recording put on an LP.
I would dearly love to see these released in digital form but have yet to find anything that measures up in terms of aural quality.
posted by kinnakeet at 8:02 AM on August 7, 2012