Soothing Ambient Soundscapes
MP3 320 Kbps CUE Sheet Album Art
Genres: Ambient, Drone
Tracks: 16
Duration: 60:00
The time soon comes for parting,
And our time is at an end,
The rest of your life is starting,
And we have no time at all to spend.
You knew one day you’d have to go,
But thought you’d have more time.
We can’t reverse time’s one-way flow,
But at least you’ll have this rhyme.
You had your shining moments,
Upon this life’s darkened stage,
And in my book of wonderments,
You’ll never be just another page.
Like the exploding of a star,
You’ve changed me in and out,
Your light will travel with me far,
Past when all other lights go out.
“Drifter’s Melody” by Megan R. Bokowski
Rest in my peace my friend. I hope you’re happy where you are.
This is to your memory.
MP3 320 Kbps CUE Sheet Album Art
Genres: Ambient, New Age, Drone
Tracks: 15
Duration: 60:00
This mix is dedicated to the wonderful people behind Ambient-Nights.org, who I have the pleasure of recently joining as part of the Ambient-Nights Mixer Family (ANMF). Ambient-Nights was the site that got me hooked on Ambient music since I discovered it in 2007. The quality of their mixes is really extraordinary, and they have a body of work that will sure take some time to go through, but the experience will be just as rewarding.
I also want to highlight the work of the other current member of ANMF, Northenstar. His two mix series, Stella Septentrionalis and Amoris et Lucis, include some of the finest Ambient mixing I have ever heard (Amoris et Lucis 1 is my current favorite). Truly inspirational work.
MP3 320 Kbps CUE Sheet Album Art
Genres: Ambient, Drone, New Age
Tracks: 19
Duration: 01:00:41
This mix is the second leg of my collaboration with the talented musician and Ambient artist Tonepoet, the first of which was on Drifter (Vol 6).
We’ve given this mix the title of “As the World Comes into Focus”. It’s essentially an exploration of our inner senses as we drift in and out of consciousness. You may recognize this feeling from a time when you drifted off to sleep and then brought back somehow to faint awakening, only to drift back afterwards into a peaceful and restful sleep.
If you enjoyed this mix and the last, be sure to check out the rest of the Drifter Ambient mix series. Also, don’t forget to check out and follow Tonepoet. He’s been creating and mixing Ambient music for a long time and I’m sure you’ll like many of his earlier releases. You may find him on:
MP3 320 Kbps CUE Sheet Album Art
Genres: Ambient, New Age
Tracks: 18
Duration: 01:00:59
It’s quite rare to stumble upon a like-minded Ambient music enthusiast, let alone someone who crafts mixes inspired by this genre with utmost care and perfection. I consider myself lucky to have stumbled upon one such person recently. He goes by Tonepoet and he is a traveling musician who produces guitar-infused Ambient songs that are quite brilliant. In his spare time, he works on crafting exquisite Ambient mixes for his 1300+ followers on Mixcloud. I sampled few of his mixes when I discovered his profile and I was immediately taken aback by the remarkable quality of his productions. Several of his mixes were immediate hits with me that I downloaded and added them to my curated iPod sleeping playlist, next to some of my all-time favorite Ambient mixes from the mixing legend, Dave Mooched, whose work never ceases to inspire me.
To my delight, Tonepoet had the same thoughts about my work and he was kind enough to approach me about featuring few of my Drifter ambient mixes on his Ambient blog. We decided to take the idea further as well by collaborating on producing two Ambient mixes. He would produce the first half of a mix and I would do the same for the other.
Today, I’m proud to present the first fruit of our collaboration. This mix is inspired by the first track, Mej by Porya Hatami, who is an Iranian-based experimental sound artist. This incredible track, and the whole mix afterwards, is a surreal journey through untroubled rivers with tranquil piano and violin notes taking you into a heightened experience of relaxation and peacefulness.
MP3 320 Kbps CUE Sheet Album Art
Genres: Ambient, New Age, Drone
Tracks: 12
Duration: 01:01:26
The world is quiet, up here by the sky. The wind lingers, filling my nostrils with the smell of the mountain. The clouds wrap around me caging me in a thick white box. The cold misty air brushes over my bare skin sending shivers through me. The trees wave me to come closer and shade me from the whipping air. But I don’t go. The sudden gusts lift me off my feet and sway me back and forth like a feather in the breeze. The grass dances, brushing against its self, humming, singing. The stream slithers through the soft rocks crumpling as it brushes the earth. The rain starts to play as it runs through the field. Then the dark falls on the mountain, and the moon blazes in the night, lighting up the stars. And the world is quiet, up here by the sky. – Colleen Mulcahy
Genres: Ambient, New Age
Tracks: 16
Duration: 01:02:47
It’s usually the case that a great track I discover becomes the seed and inspiration to one of my upcoming mixes. However, for this mix it was actually a person. His name is Dave Michuda and he creates (mostly) Ambient mixes under the name “low light mixes“.
If you’re a Mixcloud regular listener, it won’t take you long to discover him. His mixes are popular for a very good reason: they are quite the most highly polished, finely curated ambient mixes I’ve ever heard! I have quite a few favorite mixes from him that have become my go-to ones for relaxing and falling asleep.
He is also a very approachable guy. I recently messaged him asking about ambient music suggestions and he took the time to write me a very thorough list of them that I have started discovering ever since. Go ahead and check out his work over on Mixcloud and follow him on Twitter if you want.
I’m pretty sure his mixes will continue to provide active inspiration for my Drifter series for the future to come, much like how Ambient Nights introduced me to this wonderful style of music and inspired me to begin mixing Ambient music in the first place.
Genre: Ambient, Chillout, World Music
Tracks: 13
Duration: 01:02:14
I’m always inspired to create new mixes because I personally enjoy coming back and listening to these mixes over and over again. Few as they are, mixes in the ‘Drifter‘ series are my most played ones because they literally help me drift off to a wonderful sleep. Hope you enjoy this one.
Genre: Ambient
Tracks: 11
Duration: 1:00:00
It’s been almost a year since I’ve released Volume 1 of the ‘Drifter’ ambient series. I had the artwork for this mix designed ever since, but I kept putting off working on it till I decided recently that I’m going to do my love of ambient music justice by releasing this second volume.
This one bears resemblance to the first volume in that it starts with another great track from the “The Kingdom” movie and slowly progresses into dreamy ambient soundscapes that are carefully chosen one after the other to put you into a complete state of relaxation. I even took this mix for a spin and put it on while going to sleep, it was perfect!
Genre: Ambient
Tracks: 14
Duration: 01:00:30
What puts you to sleep?
I bet the answer to this question will vary from one person to the other. For me, I like total darkness, comfy pillow, and believe it or not, the constant sound of AC, which I’ve grown to appreciate as a way of eliminating little on-off noises from around the building. On top of that, when I’m in the mood, nothing beats a good playlist of pure and peaceful ambient music.
I first came to discover this wonderful style of music back in 2007, when I accidentally stumbled on a great site called Ambient Nights. Not knowing what this style of music was all about, I decided to give it a try and downloaded few of the mixes, created by Alex Hephaestion. I was in the middle of preparing a public speech at the time, my first one ever, and while researching my material, I would put these mixes on.
To my surprise, these mixes magically helped me focus and zone into my work in a weird but awesome way. I said weird because when you’re listening to ambient music, the idea is not to listen intently, but in a passive way. You just let it play in the background, and it’ll do its thing. This is best described by Brian Eno, one of the most influential artists in this genre and the one believed to have coined the term “ambient music“, who was quoted describing it as the kind of music that can be “actively listened to with attention or as easily ignored, depending on the choice of the listener”, and that exists on the “cusp between melody and texture”.
Not all ambient music is created equal. Over the years since my discovery, I’ve been curating my collection of ambient music that’s truly relaxing and in no way disturbing or weighs too much on the dark side. I think all that boils down to what you’re going to listen to in this 1 hour mix.
But mixing this style of music has proved a little challenging for me. When I sat out to create this mix, I wanted a mix that’s perfect to sleep to. This is easier said than done, because when you’re trying to sleep to music, the slightest off beat or melody can wake you up. So the mix must flow seamlessly from start to finish, and not have any surprises in the middle since the person listening to it might, and most likely will, drift off in the middle.
Also while creating this mix, it’s not just enough to make sure tracks flow seamlessly into each other. You’ve got to listen over and over to the entire mix to make sure you’re setting and maintaining the right mood, in this case sleeping mode, throughout the mix.
Overall, I think I’ve done a pretty good job with this one. I’ve even took it for a spin and tried sleeping to it. After a few tweaks, I think I’ve managed to perfect it. Well, at least I hope you do think so.
Let me know what you think of it in the comments.
Aside from sleeping like a baby, which is the main inspiration for creating this mix, you can put it on whenever you need to quite down your mind and world to an absolutely serene level. It also works magically like I said at work, blocking outside noises but still managing to keep you focused and not distracted by the music. That’s the sweet spot of work music, isn’t it? :)
But remember, the best way to listen to this mix, and ambient music in general, is to not listen to it, if you know what I mean. That’s when the magic happens!
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