why this exists

Ever since I can remember, I’ve had a fascination with sound. Music, to a degree, but sound as a primary force.

There are no sounds I don’t like. There can be context where a sound is unpleasant: a whisper in my ear from someone I’m not intimate with, ASMR, a baby crying. These sounds can create a negative reaction in the body, but I still like the sound itself.

Then there’s the absence of sound, as much as that can exist: the control room of a studio with all the equipment turned off, left with the sound of your own body.

Some people get a sense of pleasure from how something feels under their fingers: the texture of polished wood, the way rubber grips the skin. For me it’s the same with how something sounds.

I don’t have an obsession with it, but it does seem to be the one thing I’m constantly aware of. I’m fascinated by what it does to my mind and body. I guess I have a sensitivity to it. A crowd of 400 people talking at once is horrifying to hear, like a room full of seagulls squawking. Not one word intelligible, but all of it audible. I’m often in that space in my work, sitting in a room where everyone’s in conversation except me, observing from the outside but also from within. At times I’ve felt like I’m being sucked into a black hole with no escape. Why? It’s just sound. But my mind and body react in a way that’s without reason.

But I can also disappear into sound. A four-bar drum beat on loop for hours, making small adjustments to frequencies no one else will ever hear. Time stands still in that place. The wants of the body stop. It is, in a sense, a form of meditation, guided by my own hand and my own choices.

So Cynnic, what is it? This is a place for me to express my thoughts and feelings on sound. A place to share sounds I like, and sounds that move me. A place to talk to other people about how sound affects them, and why.