Behind the Scenes: Making Virtually Real Sleep Soundscapes

A few decades ago a candy company thought that jelly beans, which came in only a handful of flavors at the time, should come in all sorts of flavors. We feel the same way about relaxing nature dreamscapes. There is so much more to relaxing natural and nature sounds than thunderstorms and waves. We record some of the most elaborate designer soundscapes for sleep onset, relaxation and meditation available ...anywhere.

One of the more popular sounds we have mixed is The Jumbo Jet. Lets take a few sound bytes and break down the timeline of one of our virtual soundscapes.

The sample audio below was recorded at just 112 kbs to preserve space

The Beginning: The Jumbo Jet was based on personal experiences. I almost always fall asleep on a long jet ride. All our dreamscapes 'fade in' to a particular scenario. In the opening seconds of Jumbo Jet you hear engine 'hum', seat belts buckling and wing flaps being manipulated in stereo. You also hear background voices and radio 'chatter' coming from the cockpit (you are flying first class, after all) .

The Visualization Ambiance: Most of our soundscapes set up the scenario in the first few minutes. In the case of The Jumbo Jet you are still on the ground when you hear overhead compartments opening and closing, people moving by you, engine hum and this familiar sound:

The Quality: Mixing quality soundscapes that promote visualization, and therefore sleep onset or deep relaxation, is our number one goal. The takeoff was particularly challenging. To simulate movement we used cinematic rumbling combined with many different sounds. Take a listen:

The Relaxing Ambiance: Eventually all our soundscapes come to a very relaxing ambiance. After you hear the landing gear go up in Jumbo Jet the ambiance is cabin sounds, engine hum and subtle white noise that imitates cabin pressure. Initially you hear some background voices and those familiar airliner beeps and dings but they soon fade away to soothing flying ambiance.

Hopefully we have provided some insight to how we construct all our Sleep CD's.  What sounds work for you is something that we hope you have fun discovering. Happy sleeping!