Keep Calm And Listen On
Whether to relax, focus, or calm an anxious mind, atmospheric music makes up the bulk of my music intake.
I have always sought apps and playlists featuring clear, rhythmic, non-distracting audio to unwind, calm down, or focus. Vocals are forbidden, and instruments should be subtle. I'm talking ambient or atmospheric music of the Ambient 1: Music for Airports vibe, probably one of the most iconic albums in the Genre.
Throughout the day, it's typical for me to listen to 4 to 6 hours of ambient music. I have several playlists that I loop between when I'm focusing at work or writing and other playlists and apps I use if I'm feeling anxious or I'm trying to wind down and relax for the night. I love ambient music because a solid atmospheric playlist can quickly shift me into a focused flow state or quickly induce a feeling of calm and relaxation.
To that end, I have amassed a small group of some of my favourite apps and playlists that help me immensely, and I figured I'd throw together an entry sharing some that I have been using over the past few years.
Apple Music
With over 50,000,000 songs on the platform, there's gotta be something, somewhere on Apple Music, that'll cure what ails ya!
The subscription music service from Apple has plenty of atmospheric albums from Brian Eno & Sigur Rós; Aphex Twin & Loscil. But rather than being married to a particular composer, I tend towards selecting one of the dozens of pre-made playlists and occasionally favouriting a track or artist that stands out (Cloud Places has been a recent favourite that I picked up from a Fitness+ meditation). Of course, while everyone's tastes and wants for atmospheric music are unique to them, here are a few time-tested favourites from my collection.
Ambient Artists:
Brian Eno (particularly Ambient 1, Track 1/1 & Ambient 2, Track: First Light)
Aphex Twin (Selected Ambient Works, Volume II, Track: #3)
Marconi Union (Particularly Track: Weightless, Pt. 1)
Apple Music Playlists:
The 50 Best Ambient Albums of All Time by Pitchfork
The Lounge by Apple Music
Sleep Sounds by Apple Music
Pure Focus by Apple Music
Pure Ambient by Apple Music
Peaceful Sleep by Peaceful Music
Peaceful Music by Peaceful Music
Ocean Sounds by Apple Music
Max Richter - Peaceful Music by Peaceful Music
ECM Atmospheres by Apple Music
Ambient Chill by Apple Music
Ambient Essentials by Apple Music
Bedtime Beats by Apple Music
Calm
Although a bit janky, the Calm app has some redeeming elements that can make it a worthwhile consideration for some.
Calm has been around since 2012 and on the app store since 2013. In 2017, it also won Apple's App of the Year. Calm features a rich collection of music, soundscapes, sleep stories, and meditations, including compositions and narrations from well-known artists and prominent figures. You can begin your day with a meditation class by Lama Rod Owens on self-care, slip into a flow & focus track by deadmau5, enjoy the Long Ambients 2 playlist by Moby in the afternoon, and then drift off to bed with a sleep story chronically the history of Transformers read by non-other than Peter Cullen (aka Optimus Prime) himself.
My wife stumbled into using Calm several years back, primarily using their collection of meditations & sleep stories at bedtime. I began using the app a few months later, more for their collection of soundscapes and music. Overall I am happy to see the app continually updated with new meditations, music, and their decade on the market helps me feel assured that committing to the app will give me a lot of value in the long run.
But while I am a fan of their music and fond of their sleep stories, I have nothing kind to say about their app. The UI is torturous - a trinity of being both dated, slow, and challenging to navigate. And in the three years I have been using the app, it has stubbornly refused to address any of these areas. I wish the app looked even a fraction as nice as an app like Portal that offered spatial audio tracks, but I stick with Calm for its diversity of offerings beyond soundscapes.
It's also expensive. At $70 a year, Calm is a significant investment and not a service I would recommend without first seeing whether the app cost to benefit ratio works for you. For example, if you're looking to use the app primarily for soundscapes or music, there are tons of low-cost white noise apps, and Apple music offers a plethora of beautiful tracks. But if you want an app that does many things pretty well, Calm might be a good investment. I lucked out and scored a lifetime subscription for 150$ a few years back (Calm occasionally lowers their lifetime cost a few times per year), so I am satisfied with the value vs. cost I am now getting from the app.
Endel
Endel uses AI to create an endless atmospheric soundscape. It's robots making music, and as it turns out, they're pretty darn good at it!
Endel is another frequently used app in my repertoire. Another Apple award winner, Endel is an app that generates endless soundscapes that change based on your current location, time of day, weather, and heart rate.
Unlike other white noise or ambient tracks that play a tracontinuous sound loop, Endel's adaptive and generative technology never leaves me feeling like I am replaying the same track twice. This nonrepetitive quality is essential because when I am trying to relax or drift into a flow state, I never want the music to be something I over attend to. This allows the sound generated by Endel to melt into the background of whatever I'm doing beautifully.
Endel offers a range of unique soundscapes: Wind Down before bed, Study for concentration, Hibernation for cozy sounds in the wintertime, Recovery for soothing, and more! Endel has also done collaborations and features custom AI soundscapes featuring sounds with Alan Watts, Plastikman, James Blake, etc.
I can't speak to the science Endel claims supports its effectiveness, but I can attest that as my go-to app when writing or trying to do deep work, Endel helps; I can reliably remain locked into a workflow for hours with this app.
Endel is available for the Mac, iPad, iPhone, and Apple Watch, with a single license spanning all platforms. It's another subscription service offering monthly or yearly rates (5.99 and 49.99 respectively), with a $249 one-time lifetime option. But (and keep this on the DL), while the lifetime rate on iOS is $249, it's only $89 when purchased through the Mac App, giving you access to Endel across all your devices.
Honorable Mention
Here are just a few more apps of note. The white noise and nature apps category is quite expansive, so if this limited pool of apps (discussed above and below) isn't doing the trick, there are many more great apps to try out.
Dark Noise: A beautiful & lightweight white noise app for Mac/iPad/iOS.
Dan Gibson's Solitudes: Remember those nature sounds CDs that used to be featured at the end of drug stores with nature sounds? Yeah, it's that sort of thing.
Accessibility Background Sounds: Under the accessibility panel on iOS (Settings > Accessibility > Audio & Visual) is a collection of six different white noise tracks (Rain, Ocean, Balanced Noise, etc.).
Portal: Available for iOS/iPadOS, Portal offers beautiful visuals and soundscapes rendered in stunning spatial audio. The app features nearly 50 'portals' featuring sounds from the Jungles of the Amazon Rainforest to the Himalayas. It also features Philips Hue, HomeKit & Nanoleaf compatibility to dynamically adjust the lighting on your smart devices to match the moon. A very premium app experience with a lot of care & love put into the app. $9.99/Month, $49.99 Yearly, or $249 Lifetime.
