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ocean

Ocean

United States · 1970s
ChillDreamyRomanticSentimentalEpic

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Description

Ocean is a nature-recording and ambient-adjacent genre centered on the sound of the sea: surf washing ashore, breakers, shorebirds, distant thunder, and sometimes underwater textures captured with hydrophones.

Originally issued as long-form records for relaxation and environmental listening, ocean albums evolved into purpose-built sleep aids, meditation backdrops, spa soundtracks, and wellness/ASMR playlists. Production ranges from pure, documentary-style field recordings to subtly processed soundscapes with gentle equalization, noise-shaping, and occasional airy pads—always keeping the ocean’s rhythmic wash as the focal point.


Sources: Spotify, Wikipedia, Discogs, Rate Your Music, MusicBrainz, and other online sources

History

Early roots (late 1960s–1970s)

Commercial environmental records popularized natural soundscapes for home listening. In the United States, the Environments series by Syntonic Research (Irving Teibel) introduced long, continuous surf as a new kind of “room tone,” normalizing ocean sounds as aesthetic listening and relaxation tools. Parallel currents in New Age, minimalism, and sound ecology fostered a taste for steady, non-musical textures.

New Age and wellness expansion (1980s–1990s)

The New Age boom brought a wave of ocean-themed cassettes and CDs—sometimes purely field-recorded, sometimes layered with soft synths or acoustic instruments. Canadian naturalist Dan Gibson’s Solitudes releases became staples in bookstores and spas, helping codify ocean as a functional genre for meditation, massage, and stress relief.

Digital distribution and phonography (2000s)

Advances in portable recorders and hydrophones broadened sonic palettes to include underwater soundscapes (bubbling, plankton crackle, distant boat wash). Field recordists and sound artists released more site-specific ocean works, while wellness markets continued to issue long, seamless surf tracks for sleep.

Streaming era and ASMR overlap (2010s–present)

Platforms began hosting hours-long ocean loops optimized for sleep, study, and mindfulness. Algorithmic playlists, smart speakers, and mobile sleep apps solidified ocean as a ubiquitous functional genre. At the same time, sound art and eco-acoustic practices explored coastal ecologies with higher fidelity and ecological sensitivity, from shoreline wave dynamics to subaquatic biophony.

How to make a track in this genre

Core approach
•   Prioritize the ocean’s natural rhythm: long, unedited or gently edited takes of surf or swell create the pulse. •   Decide on pure documentary (no added music) versus enhanced ambient (very light pads or drones under the waves). In either case, preserve the water’s dynamics and timbre.
Recording techniques
•   Use a matched stereo pair (ORTF/AB) with wind protection at the shoreline; seek varied positions: swash zone, rock pools, pier underbellies, or cliff reflections. •   Deploy hydrophones for subaquatic layers (low rumbles, crackle, boat wake). Combine with an above-water pair for a natural, immersive image. •   Record long takes (30–90+ minutes) at different tides and wind conditions to capture evolving textures.
Editing and mixing
•   Keep dynamics gentle; apply high-pass filtering to remove infrasonic rumble and subtle multiband compression to tame rogue peaks. •   Create seamless long forms with crossfades between takes and micro-looping where necessary; avoid obvious repetitions. •   If adding music, use keyless or modal drones (very low-level), slow envelope pads, and no percussion. Drones should breathe with the surf and never mask transients of breaking waves.
Structure and delivery
•   Aim for uninterrupted durations (45–120 minutes) suited for sleep, yoga, or meditation. •   Target a comfortable listening level (-20 to -16 LUFS integrated), preserving headroom to reduce fatigue. •   Provide multiple variants: pure surf, surf + distant rain, underwater-only, or shoreline with seabirds—clearly labeled for function (sleep, focus, relaxation).

Best playlists

The Sound of Ocean
The Sound of Ocean
Every Noise at Once
Ocean
Ocean
Chosic
Best of Ocean
Best of Ocean
volt.fm
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Influenced by
Ambient
Ambient is a form of electronic and electroacoustic music that prioritizes tone, atmosphere, and texture over conventional song structures and rhythmic drive. It typically features slow-moving harmonies, sustained drones, gentle timbral shifts, and extensive use of space and silence. Rather than drawing attention to itself through hooks or beats, ambient is designed to be as ignorable as it is interesting, rewarding both background listening and focused immersion. Artists often employ synthesizers, samplers, tape loops, field recordings, and subtle acoustic instruments, with reverb and delay creating a sense of place. Substyles range from luminous, consonant soundscapes to darker, more dissonant atmospheres.
New Age
New age is a largely instrumental, mood-driven genre that emphasizes calm, spacious textures and a sense of spiritual or contemplative uplift. It blends gentle electronic timbres, acoustic instruments, and global/folk influences to create immersive soundscapes intended for relaxation, meditation, and introspection. Hallmarks include slow tempos or free time, long sustaining pads, modal and consonant harmonies, nature field recordings, and unobtrusive rhythms. The music often avoids dramatic tension in favor of openness and continuity, conveying themes of inner peace, nature, and the transcendent.
Field Recording
Field recording is the practice and genre of capturing sounds in situ—outside the studio—using portable recording equipment. It centers on documenting environments, human activities, wildlife, weather, machinery, rituals, and music as they actually occur, often with minimal intervention. As a listening genre, field recording foregrounds place and presence. Releases may present unprocessed, extended takes (e.g., a shoreline at dawn), or carefully edited sequences that map a soundwalk, a village festival, or a factory floor. The results range from documentary-style fidelity to abstract, immersive soundscapes that emphasize texture, spatiality, and the ecology of sound.
Nature Recordings
Nature recordings are unaccompanied, minimally edited captures of natural soundscapes such as birdsong, wind, rain, surf, rivers, amphibians, insects, and other environmental ambiences. The emphasis is on documentary fidelity, long-form listening, and preserving dynamic range rather than musical composition in the traditional sense. Releases often present extended, uninterrupted tracks from a single habitat or time window (e.g., dawn chorus, coastal storm, tropical rainforest at night), inviting listeners to experience place through sound. While closely related to field recording and soundscape composition, nature recordings typically avoid added instruments or overt sound design, privileging biophony and geophony with as little anthrophony (human-made noise) as possible.
Nature Sounds
Nature sounds is a genre centered on unprocessed or minimally processed recordings of the natural acoustic environment—such as rain, wind, ocean surf, rivers, birdsong, insects, and forests—presented as the primary listening material. Rather than foregrounding melody or harmony, the genre emphasizes environmental texture, spatial depth, and the psychoacoustic qualities of place. While nature has been recorded since the early days of audio technology, nature sounds emerged as a distinct listening genre with the rise of ambient and New Age listening cultures, wellness and relaxation records, and the availability of high-fidelity field recording gear. Releases often aim for restorative, meditative, or documentary experiences, ranging from untouched soundscapes to gentle edits that preserve realism.
Meditation Music
Meditation music is music created or performed to facilitate a meditative state—supporting calm attention, breath awareness, and non‑discursive focus. It can be sacred or secular: some works draw directly from religious and ritual traditions, while others are modern, contemplative soundscapes with no explicit spiritual affiliation. Hallmarks include very slow tempi or free pulse, sustained drones, gentle consonant harmonies, soft dynamics, and long decays/reverbs that encourage spacious listening. Timbres are typically smooth and unobtrusive—synth pads, singing bowls, bells, monochord, flutes, quiet strings, or natural ambiences (wind, water, birds). Melodic motion is limited, favoring modal centers and gradual change over dramatic gesture. Many practitioners also incorporate psychoacoustic tools (e.g., binaural beats) and intentional breath‑paced phrasing to entrain relaxation and focused attention.
Environmental
Environmental music is a genre that blends field recordings of natural soundscapes with subtle musical elements, or sometimes consists entirely of unaltered nature sounds intended to function as a psychological aid. Unlike standard musical compositions that demand active listening, environmental music is designed to enhance a space, mask unwanted noise, and induce states of relaxation, focus, or sleep. It bridges the gap between the avant-garde concepts of 'furniture music' and the commercial 'New Age' movement, often utilizing psychoacoustic principles to create a soothing sonic atmosphere that integrates seamlessly with the listener's immediate surroundings.
Asmr
ASMR (Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response) as a music/audio genre focuses on close‑miked, low‑intensity sounds designed to induce relaxation, tingling sensations, and sleep. It typically features whispered speech, soft tapping, brushing, fabric rustling, paper crinkles, page turning, and gentle environmental ambiences arranged with extreme intimacy and spatial detail. Production emphasizes very low noise floors, high gain, slow pacing, and extensive stereo or binaural imaging so that sounds feel physically "near" the listener. Unlike song‑based genres, ASMR is usually non‑metrical, largely aperiodic, and minimally harmonic, prioritizing texture, dynamics, and psychoacoustic immersion over melody and rhythm.
Has influenced
Guided Meditation
Guided meditation is a spoken-word centric style designed to lead listeners through relaxation, mindfulness, breath awareness, or visualization. A calm, intimate voice provides step‑by‑step instructions over an unobtrusive musical bed, often featuring drones, soft pads, gentle acoustic textures, and nature ambiences. The music avoids strong rhythmic drive and sudden dynamics, favoring slow evolutions, long reverbs, and consonant harmony. Tracks typically last from 5 to 60 minutes, and may focus on themes such as body scans, sleep induction, stress relief, compassion practices, or positive affirmations.
Yoga Music
Yoga music is a contemplative, breath-paced style designed to support yoga asana, pranayama, and meditation practice. It blends ambient textures and New Age timbres with South Asian devotional and classical elements such as tanpura drones, ragas, kirtan (call‑and‑response chanting), and bhajan (devotional song). Tempos are typically slow and steady to align with breathing cycles, and arrangements emphasize spaciousness, soft dynamics, and unobtrusive rhythms so the music can sit beneath movement or stillness. While rooted in Indian spiritual and musical traditions, yoga music has evolved globally, incorporating world‑fusion instrumentation, gentle electronic production, and mantra‑based vocals to create a soothing, focused environment.
Organic Ambient
Organic ambient is a strain of ambient music that emphasizes natural, acoustic, and tactile timbres over purely synthetic ones. Its sound world is built from softly mic’d pianos and guitars, mallet percussion, strings, voice layers, and environmental field recordings (wind, water, birds, room tone), then gently processed with spacious reverbs, tape warmth, and subtle granular or delay treatments. Compared with classic electronic ambient, the adjective “organic” points to breath, touch, and the audible presence of rooms and spaces: creaking pedals, bow noise, finger sounds on strings, and a bed of environmental sound. Harmony tends toward consonant, slowly evolving chords; rhythm is minimal or absent; and dynamics are restrained, inviting calm, contemplation, and connection with place.
World Meditation
World meditation is a contemplative music style designed to facilitate mindfulness, breathwork, yoga, and restorative practices. It blends ambient and new age aesthetics with timbres, scales, and instruments drawn from global ("world") traditions—such as Tibetan singing bowls, tanpura drones, shakuhachi, bansuri, kora, duduk, frame drums, and gongs—often alongside soft synthesizers, sustained pads, and nature recordings. Tempos are very slow or free-time; harmonic motion is minimal; textures evolve gradually to support relaxed attention and steady breathing. Pieces emphasize warmth, space, and long resonances, avoiding sudden dynamics or dense rhythms. The result is music that feels gentle, stable, and immersive—intended not to dominate attention, but to create a calm, focused environment for inner work and well‑being.
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