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atomicAdam
06-16-2010, 08:55 PM
I finished listening to Pink Floyd Wish You Where Here, and while listening I completely zoned out for a bit, obviously. When I came to I found myself intensely gripping [ the Kennsington grip ] my phone which was on my lap. I was like WOW, I've been sitting motionless, tense, my whole body, but mainly arms and legs, in a tense strain, breathing slowly and with very little noise for at least 10min. The music made me do it unconsciously.

As the ones and zeros continued to spin I kept a bit of a mind to my body. By the end of several tense build ups followed by slight bits of relaxation to a final time with a funky after glue ending, I couldn't help but feel I had just had intercourse with the music.

At this point I'm the happiest I've been all day.

What physical reactions do you folks find your bodies going through as you listen to your music? And to go into more detail... Do you think a physical reaction is do to volume, system ability/dynamics and detail, the music only, some combination of everything. Though you can't pick the last one cause that is too easy an out.

Feanor
06-17-2010, 02:50 AM
I finished listening to Pink Floyd Wish You Where Here, and while listening I completely zoned out for a bit, obviously. When I came to I found myself intensely gripping [ the Kennsington grip ] my phone which was on my lap. I was like WOW, I've been sitting motionless, tense, my whole body, but mainly arms and legs, in a tense strain, breathing slowly and with very little noise for at least 10min. The music made me do it unconsciously.

As the ones and zeros continued to spin I kept a bit of a mind to my body. By the end of several tense build ups followed by slight bits of relaxation to a final time with a funky after glue ending, I couldn't help but feel I had just had intercourse with the music.

At this point I'm the happiest I've been all day.

What physical reactions do you folks find your bodies going through as you listen to your music? And to go into more detail... Do you think a physical reaction is do to volume, system ability/dynamics and detail, the music only, some combination of everything. Though you can't pick the last one cause that is too easy an out.
aA, sorry, but I don't recall any clear physcial reactions to listening to music personally. Are you sure you're well? A touch of flu maybe?

3LB
06-17-2010, 12:01 PM
sarah mclachlin gives me wood

Rich-n-Texas
06-17-2010, 12:16 PM
I suffer from Marijuana withdrawal. ESPECIALLY when I'm listening to Pink Floyd.

Geoffcin
06-17-2010, 01:13 PM
I suffer from Marijuana withdrawal. ESPECIALLY when I'm listening to Pink Floyd.

Did they run out of it in Texas? (probably when dubya moved back eh?)

Geoffcin
06-17-2010, 01:17 PM
sarah mclachlin gives me wood

And she said I was the only one! :cryin:

Geoffcin
06-17-2010, 01:20 PM
I

What physical reactions do you folks find your bodies going through as you listen to your music? And to go into more detail... Do you think a physical reaction is do to volume, system ability/dynamics and detail, the music only, some combination of everything. Though you can't pick the last one cause that is too easy an out.

I think if your not getting a reaction from your system then you don't have the right system.

It's almost impossible for me to do anything else but listen to music when my system is on. Zoning out and forgetting everything else but the music is what GOOD audio should be about!

JohnMichael
06-17-2010, 03:44 PM
I suffer from Marijuana withdrawal. ESPECIALLY when I'm listening to Pink Floyd.




I hear you can buy some at the border.

frenchmon
06-17-2010, 03:46 PM
I finished listening to Pink Floyd Wish You Where Here, and while listening I completely zoned out for a bit, obviously. When I came to I found myself intensely gripping [ the Kennsington grip ] my phone which was on my lap. I was like WOW, I've been sitting motionless, tense, my whole body, but mainly arms and legs, in a tense strain, breathing slowly and with very little noise for at least 10min. The music made me do it unconsciously.

As the ones and zeros continued to spin I kept a bit of a mind to my body. By the end of several tense build ups followed by slight bits of relaxation to a final time with a funky after glue ending, I couldn't help but feel I had just had intercourse with the music.

At this point I'm the happiest I've been all day.

What physical reactions do you folks find your bodies going through as you listen to your music? And to go into more detail... Do you think a physical reaction is do to volume, system ability/dynamics and detail, the music only, some combination of everything. Though you can't pick the last one cause that is too easy an out.

AA....have you seen my signature? It says :Music...let it into your soul and be moved.

And you have just done that..but on a totally different level. Your experience was more like what happened in my micro dot, purple haze, orange sushine...chocolate mess days of the 80's.

frenchmon
06-17-2010, 04:13 PM
What physical reactions do you folks find your bodies going through as you listen to your music? And to go into more detail... Do you think a physical reaction is do to volume, system ability/dynamics and detail, the music only, some combination of everything. Though you can't pick the last one cause that is too easy an out.


On a more serious note...Last Saturday I was listening to Charles Earlands "Intensity" album and the song . "Happy 'Cause I'm Goin' Home". The song was so involved that it drew me in and kept my attention into what the music was doing. It was one of those songs that seemed they never wanted to stop and they where just jamming at a high level. I mean I was all in that song....you sorta let it into your soul and you zone out and everything around you seems to fade away...all but whats going on in the music...at that point I am totally involved and dead to anything around me. When the song stops you sorta lay back and let out a sigh of releaf and relax a little bit. At that point you know you have had an experience with your gear and your music. It has done its job and you know you are not just a normal listener but a true lover of gear and sound. Though I have never had your experience AA outside of the 80's, I still very much enjoy my gear and music....it still moves me!

I want to say congrats and I want to say be careful. ...Congrats because of the high level experience with your gear and music...the feeling is like a good time with your wife if you know what I mean. And be careful to how much you open up your mind...I don't know about you, but I believe in evil forces and evil forces love a wide open mind.

Cheers...

RGA
06-17-2010, 05:37 PM
Lay off Sarah - She's mine - she's single now too. Woohoo.

New album out the other day but I am living in the sticks and can't get to it. All her stuff comes out on vinyl so I might wait a bit.

TheHills44060
06-17-2010, 05:43 PM
When I listen to Danzig I want to find the heaviest object in the room and military press it over my head 10 times lol.

bobsticks
06-17-2010, 06:12 PM
When I listen to Danzig I want to find the heaviest object in the room and military press it over my head 10 times lol.

When I hear Mother I wanna beat up someone's dad...

frenchmon
06-17-2010, 06:26 PM
I think all of yous are takin my 80's experience into 2010.

atomicAdam
06-18-2010, 07:04 AM
I'm kind of being serious about this.

I'm wondering about the emotional response to music. Like, do higher volumes produce a bit of pain and there for dopamine reactions? And does music that swells and ebbs throughout the album give you more chances to reach that volume/pain peak and build up dopamine? And is there something to that? Something in that combination that allows us to really enjoy and feel and be moved by the music, more than just the music?

Or, is it that the music has to be good to begin with, something we like, and on a good system we just get pulled in. I've listened to a fair amount of good systems, and what I consider to be great music at home on this Electrocompaniet system, but rarely do I awake in the middle of a song, or at the end, after a climax. I am wondering if it is the volume+system+music that (and when I mean higher volume, I mean just load enough so that right at the peak of the volume on the CD it just being a bit too loud, but not like blow your ears out concert level). So I zone back in and find muscle tense, breathing very slow and shallow, and my ears feeling like they just ... well ... errr ... you know ... ummm ... finished, so to speak.

I've heard good systems and higher volumes that don't give me this reaction. But typically some where other than home, so I tend to not completely zone out like I do in the comfort of my own living room.

Anyways, no pot or beer involved in this, so I'm seriously wondering. Would a lesser system give equal pleasure with the same volume/music or is it a combination of very good system+volume+music. Or does volume even have to be in there for you folks. For me, I need the music volume to pretty much block everything else out and for the speakers to disappear and to feel like i am in headphones that are my room, instead of k701 cans.

atomicAdam
06-18-2010, 07:06 AM
When I hear Mother I wanna beat up someone's dad...

When I hear Mother I can't help but think about glandular problems.

frenchmon
06-18-2010, 10:03 AM
I'm kind of being serious about this.

I'm wondering about the emotional response to music. Like, do higher volumes produce a bit of pain and there for dopamine reactions? And does music that swells and ebbs throughout the album give you more chances to reach that volume/pain peak and build up dopamine? And is there something to that? Something in that combination that allows us to really enjoy and feel and be moved by the music, more than just the music?

Or, is it that the music has to be good to begin with, something we like, and on a good system we just get pulled in. I've listened to a fair amount of good systems, and what I consider to be great music at home on this Electrocompaniet system, but rarely do I awake in the middle of a song, or at the end, after a climax. I am wondering if it is the volume+system+music that (and when I mean higher volume, I mean just load enough so that right at the peak of the volume on the CD it just being a bit too loud, but not like blow your ears out concert level). So I zone back in and find muscle tense, breathing very slow and shallow, and my ears feeling like they just ... well ... errr ... you know ... ummm ... finished, so to speak.

I've heard good systems and higher volumes that don't give me this reaction. But typically some where other than home, so I tend to not completely zone out like I do in the comfort of my own living room.

Anyways, no pot or beer involved in this, so I'm seriously wondering. Would a lesser system give equal pleasure with the same volume/music or is it a combination of very good system+volume+music. Or does volume even have to be in there for you folks. For me, I need the music volume to pretty much block everything else out and for the speakers to disappear and to feel like i am in headphones that are my room, instead of k701 cans.

I think its a certain level or peek that you personally reach that causes you to be drawn in. But who knows...you may need to find scientific or spiritual reasons why it happens. John Coltrain went on a spiritual mission with his music remember? John McLaughlin was another. Some musicians are known and have reported of reaching an altered state of consciousness with their music...and listeners can also reach this altered state of consciousness within music...and not all of them where using drugs.

Some people never reach any level of an altered state or zoning. Those that do all have different levels. I've never reached the level of "being moved" as you have but I am "moved" by music. We all have certain passions and music is a passion of mine. It does not have to be loud music or many instruments in a song....it has to be that right passion or emotion that moves me and when it does im lost in my own little world moving and groving to the music so slightly. Of course when in in a zone I am totally alone with no one around...my mind is totally into what is happening within the music. Dont think its strange how music moves people...Dont know how spiritual you are, but humans did not create music God did. The bible talks about singing and muisc in heaven..if you are into that sorta stuff. But if you believe in heaven and what is good, then you must believe in hell and what is evil...for one can not exist without the other...so evil forces can use music and play on you for evil...I was serious in my posting above about being careful of how much you leave your mind open.....we all have whats called a sub-conscience.

frenchmon
06-18-2010, 10:12 AM
Oh btw...I was at a buddy's house last week who had a Mcintosh 225 tube amp, and Audio Reasearch LS15 tube preamp, home made speakers with Vifa mid woofers and Morel tweaters, home made speaker wire, and home made interconnects and a Electrocompaniet CDP. That thing was just jamming...one heck of a CDP, best audio system I have ever heard....that joker can take you into a zone with ease with its fidelity.

E-Stat
06-18-2010, 02:14 PM
I'm wondering about the emotional response to music.
Now I can enter the conversation because I've experienced a deep emotional attachment to music since I was about twelve.


Like, do higher volumes produce a bit of pain and there for dopamine reactions? ...Something in that combination that allows us to really enjoy and feel and be moved by the music, more than just the music?
Perhaps that is what drives others, but not me. I am averse to really loud music and such provides no such enjoyment for me. My left ear tends to start "crackling" above 95 db and that's when I reach for the earplugs.


Or, is it that the music has to be good to begin with, something we like, and on a good system we just get pulled in.
That's more like it for me. An emotional piece can still bring tears to my ears on my iPhone, but a spectacular system like Harry Pearson's can transport me to a different place where the walls disappear and I am totally immersed in the sound in all of its beauty and complexity. As for me, higher resolution systems can provide the same "high" at lower output levels. I am less a "power listener" than he.


Or does volume even have to be in there for you folks.
Not volume so much as authority. While virtually all amplified concerts I've heard are at ear bleeding levels, I've yet to hear one that possesses this sense of effortless and natural delivery. That there is no audio gear involved. Authority is part power, part clarity and part dynamic punch. Forget pro sound reinforcement gear.

rw

pixelthis
06-20-2010, 10:21 AM
When I hear Mother I wanna beat up someone's dad...

NOT A NICE THOUGHT for fathers day....:1:

pixelthis
06-20-2010, 10:24 AM
Music is great for bringing back memories
A song reminds one of a certain time and place, and this means more and more the older you get.:1:

bobsticks
06-20-2010, 04:07 PM
I'm kind of being serious about this.

I'm wondering about the emotional response to music. Like, do higher volumes produce a bit of pain and there for dopamine reactions? And does music that swells and ebbs throughout the album give you more chances to reach that volume/pain peak and build up dopamine? And is there something to that? Something in that combination that allows us to really enjoy and feel and be moved by the music, more than just the music?

Or, is it that the music has to be good to begin with, something we like, and on a good system we just get pulled in. I've listened to a fair amount of good systems, and what I consider to be great music at home on this Electrocompaniet system, but rarely do I awake in the middle of a song, or at the end, after a climax. I am wondering if it is the volume+system+music that (and when I mean higher volume, I mean just load enough so that right at the peak of the volume on the CD it just being a bit too loud, but not like blow your ears out concert level). So I zone back in and find muscle tense, breathing very slow and shallow, and my ears feeling like they just ... well ... errr ... you know ... ummm ... finished, so to speak.

I've heard good systems and higher volumes that don't give me this reaction. But typically some where other than home, so I tend to not completely zone out like I do in the comfort of my own living room.

Anyways, no pot or beer involved in this, so I'm seriously wondering. Would a lesser system give equal pleasure with the same volume/music or is it a combination of very good system+volume+music. Or does volume even have to be in there for you folks. For me, I need the music volume to pretty much block everything else out and for the speakers to disappear and to feel like i am in headphones that are my room, instead of k701 cans.

Well, if'n you want to get all serious about it...

IMHO, fo rme it's rather a wholistic experience the reaction and severity of which is indeed dictated by both the quality of the recording and the playback system. I would also add that particular genres will evoke different reactions (I wasn't all altogether joking with the "Mother" reference).

Jazz on a good system makes me happy; small ensemble Classical is generally calming...occasionally Symphonic as well.

I suspect that this question will get very few responses if only because so few people even within our community listen to entire albums anymore. I'm not saying that one has to listen to an entire work to have an emotional response but for me (and me only) it generally takes more than three minutes and some seconds.

atomicAdam
06-20-2010, 07:41 PM
I suspect that this question will get very few responses if only because so few people even within our community listen to entire albums anymore. I'm not saying that one has to listen to an entire work to have an emotional response but for me (and me only) it generally takes more than three minutes and some seconds.

Yes, I'm pretty much an all or nothing type of listener. If I only like one song on an album, I generally wont buy it. I've been pretty lucky with LPs so far, most of the time it seems all the good songs are on one side while the so-so song are on another. But I believe it does take an entire piece to get me moving. Which would mean, themed albums maybe get emotional response from me more than a couple songs.

I'm kind of thinking in a way about hot food. One reason some people like spicy hot food is that it produces an adrenaline rush and releases dopamine into the system. I'm wondering if at a certain intensity of music volume vrs a memory response to a song, is what puts me into that tense and still state where when the album is finished I feel like I've just had a lil supin supin w/ the music.

frenchmon
06-21-2010, 12:04 AM
I'm wondering if at a certain intensity of music volume vrs a memory response to a song, is what puts me into that tense and still state where when the album is finished I feel like I've just had a lil supin supin w/ the music.

That and the fact that you have put your soul into the music to the point where you are being moved. You have connected to the music where as you are a part of it. Sort like a computer. Until it connects to a network its just a separate object....once it connects to the network it becomes one with the network and therefore part of it...when you put your soul into the music to a certain degree and level...you have connected and become as one with it...therefore you have an emotional response to it...all those who do connect....may have different responses.....as it may be, some never connect and never go beyond listening.

frenchmon
06-21-2010, 12:05 AM
I suspect that this question will get very few responses if only because so few people even within our community listen to entire albums anymore. I'm not saying that one has to listen to an entire work to have an emotional response but for me (and me only) it generally takes more than three minutes and some seconds.

I feel ya here....if I put on an album or CD...its for the entire ride.

kexodusc
06-21-2010, 03:31 AM
Physical reactions? Hmm, not directly - I think any physical reactions come as a second stage event following mental/emotional reactions. But there is definitley a link....Bobsticks reactions to Jazz/Classical certainly echo my own.

Maybe one exception - there's nothing like getting in the squat rack with Megadeth or Opeth playing. I can pretty much feel the intensity loss and have to take a few pounds off the bar with nothing playing - I've never tried lifting with Enya or any music you might find at a wellness clinic. Maybe this is all second-stage, post brain related too.

dean_martin
06-21-2010, 12:04 PM
the last time I went to the symphony I found myself sitting on the edge of my seat during the softer passages and waiting for the next musical phrases during rests. Pretty intense. I have only a small handful of recordings that draw me in like that. One notable that I've been revisiting lately is Louis Armstrong's version of "St. James Infirmary". It's a slow dirge like/funeral procession type piece. His phrasing keeps me on the edge of my seat waiting for the next word(s). The recording is as close to perfect as you can get for an all-acoustic set. I wouldn't be surprised if it was recorded live in the studio. Mine is the 45rpm 12" single with "I ain't Got Nobody" on the flip side taken from the album Satchmo Plays King Oliver.

A totally emotional experience is Neutral Milk Hotel's "In the Aeroplane over the Sea". Jeff Mangum's anguished voice and sincerity are spell-binding; however, this record can be so taxing on one's psyche that it's hard to listen to it often and just picking a track or two is almost impossible. I don't think the system makes much difference with this record. There's nothing outstanding about the recording quality. It's not bad, but its emotional punch can come across over any decent system.

And I can't leave out Otis Redding. I've really come to appreciate his phrasing and his ability to sound like his heart is about to burst out of his chest without losing pitch, etc. Speaking of heart, it may sound funny but there's a George Jones track or two where it sounds like he's pulled his heart from his chest, laid it on the table and revealed all of it.

Then there's the music that makes you want to get up and boogie. When I'm listening to RL Burnside and Jon Spencer Blues Explosion on the album A Ass Pocket of Whiskey I can't sit down. The droanin' blues with beat makes you want to rub up against your best girl (or guy)!

bobsticks
06-21-2010, 12:34 PM
Maybe one exception - there's nothing like getting in the squat rack with Megadeth or Opeth playing. I can pretty much feel the intensity loss and have to take a few pounds off the bar with nothing playing - I've never tried lifting with Enya or any music you might find at a wellness clinic. Maybe this is all second-stage, post brain related too.

I read the results of a study a few years ago (don't ask which or when) that suggested that for prolonged workouts metal/rock is actually a bad choice as it tends to cause peaks and valleys of physical excursion.


Physical reactions? Hmm, not directly - I think any physical reactions come as a second stage event following mental/emotional reactions. But there is definitley a link....Bobsticks reactions to Jazz/Classical certainly echo my own.

Absolutely, though I commend deano for taking the time to list specifics...I was lazy and just made broad strokes and, as with every generalization there are exceptions. Last night Ilistened to an old Deutsche Grammaphon release, the "Maurizio Pollini Edition"...Schoenberg's Solo Piano Music is so damned dynamic that I found myself, literally, on the edge of my seat...