For today's Sleep Song, composer Eduardo Rivera ran computerized string pads through an old tape recorder, resulting in the airy sound heard throughout, reminiscent of a gusty breeze alighting falling leaves. Sampled sounds of crickets, bowed kalimba, and an e-bowed piano add to the rich, sweater weather comfort and ethereal atmosphere. A perfect companion for a slow walk through crisp autumn days. Original music from composer Eduardo Rivera. Meditative Story combines extraordinary human...

After hearing the sound of a wind chime floating through his neighborhood, composer Eduardo Rivera is reminded of a stay in the mountain town of Idyllwild. "The house had these huge wind chimes, that I later learned are called 'King David's Wind Chimes.’ These chimes are larger, deeper, and more sonorous than the ones you typically imagine. They're also in a specific key, so they sound beautiful when you hear all the notes playing together. Because they're so big, you get really wonderful...

Created using a new musical software called Collage, today's Sleep Song begins with a chord like a question, as if asking whether it's alone in the universe. The response is soothing and celestial, elegant, a drone of chords, rippling out like ribbons of color in deep space photography. There's a quiet assertion in the synth voices, that we are are not alone and are always held safe. Original music from composer Ryan Holladay. Meditative Story combines extraordinary human stories with...

Today's Sleep Song is all about movement. Almost every track in this piece is constantly shifting with panning or through the use of an LFO (low frequency oscillator), creating a sense of undulation, motion, and flow, of coming and going. The strings are constantly moving, holding one note, but being bowed at different times and by different parts of the bow. The dynamics too are constantly in a gentle flux, creating an effect reminiscent of ocean waves perpetually lapping at carefully...

Inspired by surfer Garrett McNamara's episode of Meditative Story and his reflections on staring up at the clouds or, as he puts it, "waves in the sky", this piece reimagines the sounds of surf guitar as an unfurling ribbon of notes, echoing and looping over endless blue horizons. Original music from composer Ryan Holladay. Music adapted from Garrett McNamara’s Meditative Story, "Embracing everything life has to offer": https://listen.meditativestory.com/hSO8X6ye Meditative Story combines...

Composer Eduardo Rivera shares, "I've been using a wonderful felt piano lately that sounds incredibly intimate. It's been my main instrument for our sister podcast Spark & Fire these last few months. The piano brings out a certain introspection in me, and I let this song evolve naturally. Not forcing anything. It starts with the first note that we're all taught on the piano, C. From there, the melody moves with a 3rd as the interval. While the 3rd packs so much genetic information about a...

Like a fuzzy shag carpet metronome, this Sleep Song begins with the metered pads of a synth rippling out, and reverberating to the edge of awareness. A reassuring celeste seems to voice that it's truly okay to let the day drift away, to let its joyful voice take you. Falling further in, the sounds move apart, separating from one another, and sliding out of sync. But the charming tintinnabulation of the celeste catches everything, gathering discord into slow drifts of assurance, encouraging a...

Composer Eduardo Rivera tells us that he recorded this week's Sleep Song by time-stretching a ten-minute piano piece, leaving behind an overlay, like vellum gently settled over sepia-toned photos, or forgotten images on film reels suddenly brought to life again by projector light. The sound of the piano pedal, the sounds of the hammers hitting the strings, notes, air, everything is pulled out of time. Bells. cello, and chamber strings complement, creating a sense of hopeful remembering our...

Warm, inviting tones, and the call of a piano's voice, announce it's time for tranquility and rejuvenation. Guided by light synth breezes and Una Corda, the sound of single string piano drenches the scene in a sea of cascading petals. The sound bath then dissolves into extended drones, collecting the day's fragments into unity, reverberating chords gathering our attention into a single soft focus. Original music from composer Ryan Holladay. Meditative Story combines extraordinary human...

In today's Sleep Song, composer Eduardo Rivera follows the path of least intrusion, creating a synth sanctuary for weary bodies and minds. The Yamaha DX7 (an instrument made famous in the ’80s by the Talking Heads, Brian Eno, Level 42, Supertramp) takes center stage with its distinct tone, created by its unique frequency modulation synthesis. Attune your ear to the higher melodies, and you may notice a more glassy sound this kind of coalescence creates. Or … just float on the rolling current...

This week's Sleep Song finds composer Eduardo Rivera going back to basics with his beloved old acoustic guitar. Says Eduardo, "I bought this guitar in 2009 for $200. I never meant to keep it for as long as I have. By all means, it's lived longer than it really should have. It's been on tour with me all over the U.S., all over Europe, I ran over part of it with a van accidentally, it's been stolen and later recovered at a pawn shop." In keeping with the theme of his well-worn guitar, this...

In a long hallway, curious echoing sounds leak through the walls; a piano's chords ground our footfall, assuring us we are not alone. Rainforest and jungle sounds manipulated into white noise pads call out from the periphery, until gentle cello takes us by the hand, leading us through the wilds beyond our seeing. Woodwinds and skipping synth say, "nothing is quite what it seems." We are in worlds within worlds, layer upon layer peeking through. A wash of reverb and keyboard melt the walls,...

Pulsing rhythms and gauzy sonic breezes introduce this week's Sleep Song. Here, composer Eduardo Rivera experiments with what it means to feel a human connection to instruments that are completely digital. There is no wood, no metal in these instruments, they have never known air, they have never known touch — they are completely self-contained and completely isolated, yet this electronic world sings of tranquility and deep rest. What is our dance with this digital universe, and how will we...

An expectant thrum sets the tone, as the softest strings begin to slowly strum. With intentions of being the truest form of a lullaby, this Sleep Song is a duet between a Delta Wave binaural beat, known to enhance sleep, and the most diaphanous of voices. The delta wave acts as a constant pulse, much like the trusted tidal movement of the deepest ocean, as quiet and comforting voices sway in its sea, like sunlight streaming through underwater realms. Chamber strings and woods tiptoe...

For this Sleep Song, our composer Eduardo Rivera was wondering: At what point does something new feel familiar and comfortable? A piano motif floats through a bed of textures and accompanies us throughout the song. Over time the piano melody embeds itself into the backdrop of our consciousness, like the rhythmic pendulum swing of a grandfather clock, a gentle presence, the steady repetition inviting us to investigate other elements in the music. The reliable landscape feels comfortable now,...

Our composer, Ryan Holladay, writes: On a recent Sunday drive in East Los Angeles, I came upon an estate sale in my neighborhood of Mount Washington. As I rummaged through the items throughout the rooms, it became clear that this home had belonged to a meditation teacher as the house was full of Ram Dass LPs, bells, even a singing bowl. One item stuck out: a Magnus Electric Organ, which looked to be built in the 50's or 60's. It essentially pumps air like an electric accordion and allows you...

Deep resounding cello opens a pathway to an unknown world, where violin, harp, and piano dance, where echos of gentle voices breathe sung revelations. Trembling strings build to crescendos, as if this new world waits eagerly for our arrival, our acceptance of this invitation. Underneath it all, the constant beat of two sine waves pulsing 98hz in your left ear and 100hz in your right, creating a delta wave. Feel it steady and massage the mind and heart, as glissandos of harp lighten and...