My first essential leg of research involves looking at the effect various genres have on the human mind in an attempt to select the correct genre’s to base my music around. Each different genre of music effects us all in different ways, a style of music that one person finds pleasing to the ear may prove completely intolerable to the next person. Various experiments have been conducted over the years to analyse the way certain musical genres effect the human brain by measuring emotional responses related to the subjects mood and mental clarity:

“This study investigated the impact of different types of music on tension, mood, and mental clarity. A total of 144 subjects completed a psychological profile before and after listening for 15 minutes to four types of music (grunge rock, classical, New Age, and designer). With grunge rock music, significant increases were found in hostility , sadness, tension and fatigue, and significant reductions were observed in caring, relaxation, mental clarity and vigor. In contrast, after listening to the designer music (Music designed to have specific effects on the listener), significant increases in caring, relaxation, mental clarity and vigor were measured; significant decreases were found in hostility, fatigue, sadness and tension. The results for new age and classical music were mixed. Feeling shifts among subjects were observed with all types of music. Designer music was most effective in increasing positive feelings and decreased negative feelings. Results suggest that designer music may be useful in the treatment of tension, mental distraction, and negative moods” (Mccraty and Barrios-Choplin et al., 1998, pp. 75–84)

Baring the results of this experiment in mind i plan to create my own ‘designer music’ in an attempt to release feelings of tension and mental distraction within the ‘Reserve Lounge’. By lowering these negative feelings within the brain it should cause the customers to fall into a more relaxed mental state, therefore spending longer in the room and spending more money within it. Dr Jeffery Thompson specialises in creating music under the alias ‘The relaxation company’ to invoke certain moods on his listeners and was the key focus for ‘designer music’ in the aforementioned experiment. After personally analysing some of his work I found that a pattern of techniques were used throughout his work. The use of pad synths and low frequency drones feature heavily, mixed with recordings of assorted spaces within nature itself. Using recordings of wind rustling through trees, birds within their natural habitats and streams creates almost like a backing track ready for him to lay extra instruments and melodic patterns on top. The track ‘Deep Relaxation One’ from the ‘Brainwave music system’ collection is the best demonstration of these techniques. As well as this he also utilises the scientific theory of ‘Binaural beats’, a set of auditory brain responses based on different frequencies entering the ears. The left and right frequencies, varied between 1 and 30Hz are used to create an auditory stimulant within the brain proven to increase productivity, relaxation, mental state etc. depending on its application:

For example, if a pure tone of 400 Hz is presented to the right ear and a pure tone of 410 Hz is presented simultaneously to the left ear, an amplitude modulated standing wave of 10 Hz, the difference between the two tones, is experienced as the two wave forms mesh in and out of phase within the superior olivary nuclei. This binaural beat is not heard in the ordinary sense of the word (the human range of hearing is from 20-20,000 Hz). It is perceived as an auditory beat and theoretically can be used to entrain specific neural rhythms through the frequency-following response (FFR)–the tendency for cortical potentials to entrain to or resonate at the frequency of an external stimulus. (Thompson, 2007).

I plan to experiment with this concept personally within the music i will be creating for the ‘Reserve Lounge’ to aid the listeners into a relaxed state in addition to using some of the alternative techniques in production used by Jeffrey Thompson in his music. Despite the apparent effectiveness of these techniques I feel that they may not have such an adverse affect on  a younger generation of customers (Usually within the room on the clubs student nights). To accommodate their needs and to keep my music interesting to the varied age ranges of the customers I will have to look into some sort of genre collaboration method. In the end I want to create something of a hybrid, a mix of genres that is more unique to the ‘Reserve Lounge’ itself, a quality that appears to be necessary in my clients eyes as well.

Sources:

Mccraty, R., Barrios-Choplin, B., Atkinson, M. and Tomasino, D. 1998. The effects of different types of music on mood, tension, and mental clarity. Alternative therapies in health and medicine, 4 (1), pp. 75–84.

Thompson, J. 2007. Acoustic Brainwave Entertainment: Binaural Beats. [online] Available at: http://www.neuroacoustic.com/entrainment.html [Accessed: 24 Feb 2014].