Peaceful Cricket Sounds

There are many people who are using the sounds of crickets, (that is, real recordings of cricket chirps and not just sound effects) for relaxation, sleeping, meditation, and for masking other noises.

There is something primordial about the sounds of crickets. The sounds of crickets embody that quiet, peaceful feeling of a warm and cozy, safe and secure night. They speak of farmland, countryside, the grass beside the sidewalk, and those little oases of green in the urban environment. And because crickets chirp only when its warm, they speak of summer, summer vacations, camping, and those recreational things we do when we “get-away” from it all.

Certainly part of the relaxing effect of cricket sounds can be due to the associations we have made in the past with crickets. Those chances we get to relax outside near crickets, usually coincide with visits with family or friends, or with recreational travel, and with the warmer seasons. Over time, subconsciously, we make that association of cricket sounds with relaxation.

I wonder if that association goes deeper. I wonder if perhaps the sound of crickets is programmed genetically to be relaxing. After all, if the scientists are correct, humans originated living in the grasslands, where crickets are ubiquitous. It would make sense then to believe that the sounds of crickets would make us feel “at home”. I am sure that our ancestors of the grasslands also used crickets as early warning systems at night. Crickets are very aware of their surroundings and stop chirping when they sense movement nearby.

It is one of those things you notice when you try to record them. They are very territorial, so they don’t change position very much, but just when you think you are reaching a good close spot to record them from… they stop chirping, and you have to wait and be motionless for a while until they start up again. Perhaps hearing that silence in the ancient past is responsible for the feeling we get sometimes when it feels “too quiet” to be comfortable. The constant cricket chirping through the night becomes a reassuring sound that everything is unchanged and that nothing unseen is moving nearby.

Aside from any past subconscious associations, genetic or environmental, cricket sounds are good for focusing the mind’s attention away from the cares of the world. Their steady slow to medium tempo is easy to focus on, but not at a speed that is overly energetic. Their soft high frequency chirps are much less intrusive then lower sounds would be.

And their rhythm isn’t perfect. That is a good thing! The natural variability in their rhythm creates an easier and gentler focus for the attention. The rhythmic randomness inherent in their chirps creates playful juxtapositions when listening to a group of crickets singing together. A machine just cannot duplicate that natural quality of randomness. It is also why short looped recordings don’t work either. Looping short recordings lose the natural rhythmic randomness. For an introduction to the concept of rhythmic randomness, refer to the October 16th 2009 post of this blog.

Here is a link to a page where you can compare different cricket and insect sounds.

Crickets Calming CD

In early 2005 Nature Sounds.ca released a CD called Crickets Calming. The Crickets Calming CD by Nature Sounds.ca features five cricket tracks that are designed to be long enough to be played looped for those wishing to have a constant background ambience without fading in and out. (Beware of another CD called “Crickets Calming” that was released on Amazon.com in 2009 by the “Nature Sounds Series”. It is not the same CD!)

I worked on producing the tracks for the Crickets Calming CD in the winter of 2004/2005. It was an interesting experience to be immersed in the sounds of crickets constantly for an entire month and a half in the middle of winter. Living in Canada, which is a country known for its long cold winters and short winter days, I found that working with the cricket sounds made the winter feel much shorter. Subjectively, there was less evidence in my life of seasonal moods, cabin fever, SAD, or whatever label one wants to use, by the end of that winter. I have to say that those crickets really worked for me. Link to more information about the Crickets Calming CD.

Karl Hamilton BFA
Nature Sounds.ca
www.naturesounds.ca
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Rhythmic Randomness - Introduction

When you look at where we have originated, as a species, humans have evolved (or have been created - if you prefer that wording) to function within the natural environment. Therefore, it seems only natural to assume that we perform better when we have a natural environment around us, and that we will feel most relaxed in certain types of natural environment. As the world becomes more industrialized, and more and more people live within a human-made environment isolated from nature, questions about the qualities or properties of natural phenomena that has this beneficial effect on us become more relevant and important. What is it that makes nature relaxing, refreshing, and otherwise beneficial to our well-being?

Rhythmic randomness. Rhythmic randomness postulates that all natural phenomena exhibits an inherent variability and repetitiveness within its structure. The variability aspect suggests that there is a uniqueness to each and every instant, event, and entity. The repetitive characteristic suggests that all natural phenomena have cyclical aspects to their form, structure or reoccurrence.

For example, in the image of a forest the vertical lines of the tree trunks form a visual rhythm. However, there is a natural randomness in tree placement, that is, the trees are not equal distance apart. So the visual effect is of a natural rhythm but with an element of variability within that rhythm. This is what I call rhythmic randomness. Also there is a variance in tree thickness and straightness, creating more randomness in the visual rhythm.

Another example is the latest recording from Nature Sounds.ca. Creek Relaxation features the rapid flow of water over a creek bed, which creates a sound of random
splashes. The random tones and pitches of the splashes are caused by the creek bed
which is composed of randomly sized rocks. The constant volume of water combines with the unchanging rock positions to create the rhythmic aspect of the sound. The sound has a high degree of totally random aspects to it, yet has enough repetition in it so that it sounds exactly the same from beginning to end. Creek Relaxation page.

Our senses are optimized to deal with these types of complex stimuli. The repetitive nature of the sound is reassuring and relaxing, while the randomness creates the interest and holds the attention.

Karl Hamilton BFA
Nature Sounds.ca
www.naturesounds.ca