Music lovers know that investing in high-quality equipment can make or break their enjoyment of a new album. Without proper headphones or speakers, you’re less likely to get a kick out of your favorite songs, and it can potentially ruin your favorite hobby – which is finding a rare artist LP or setting up a fun dance party in your home. Bad headphones or speakers will cause you to miss a lot of the nuances in a piece of music, like muting the bass or clouding the vocals.
By that same token, failing to switch up your listening routine can cause you to miss out on expanding your musical horizons, as it were. That’s no way to have fun. So, if you would like to know the best way for you to get the best sounding experience when listening to music, the following tips should help.
Set Aside the Time
Listening to new music should be a cherished experience that you incorporate into your daily routine. It shouldn’t just entail songs that you listen to while on your morning run – “fitness soundtracks” have a utility, but it’s not exactly how you enjoy music. Listening to new music sometimes comes across as a mere byproduct of our daily life; some kind of ambient noise you hear when walking down the street or shopping in a store.
However, it should be more than that. If you intentionally set aside some time for yourself to escape the world and enjoy your favorite record, it will make a huge difference. Creating your own curated aural experiment is a form of meditation, and maybe even self-care. Instead of having music be something you listen to by chance, and not even be the kind of audio experience you’d choose yourself, be intentional about it and have fun.
Invest in High-Quality Equipment
If you use cheap headphones from the dollar store, you probably already know that your musical experience is highly compromised. They might work well for a day or so, but sure enough, the audio will start to become staticky, and fall out from one earbud, then the other till they’re completely dead. Or, one side will have the bass, the other will allow you to hear another part of the song, but overall, the experience is less than satisfying.
That’s why investing in a few choice pieces of equipment is important when it comes to enhancing your enjoyment of music. Whether you need a good pair of on-ear headphones, buds, or excellent speakers for your home setup, you’re bound to find something that works perfectly for you and remains within budget. You don’t need to spend a small fortune, but do make sure to buy a few products that work well for your needs, and try not to skimp on quality.
Sit in the Dark
If you really want to enjoy music, you should try to sit and listen in a dark environment for some time. When you’re experiencing sensory overload through sight, sound, or taste, you may have trouble focusing on only one thing and uncovering what makes it special. A truly immersive experience with music entails devoting all of your senses to that one activity and not having any visual “noise” curtailing your focus.
Sometimes, in the dark, you will notice different beats or rhythms in a song that you didn’t pay enough attention to before. Neurologically, your brain is rewiring certain signals differently when it’s experiencing one of the senses in an intense way, so you’ll be able to enjoy the art form far more than usual.
Put Songs on Repeat
You should listen more than once to different songs in order to deepen your engagement with the material at hand. The first time you hear a song is probably fairly superficial and doesn’t really make a huge impression on you. However, listening more than once can help you grow fond of different things with time, and allow you to pick up on different things you may not have been able to previously.
A beautifully crafted piece of music can move you to tears, or help you imagine an entirely different world. Few things can capture the imagination fully, and scientists are still trying to figure out the magic behind the music and the types of emotions they capture. It remains a mystery, but suffice it to say, a good listening experience can be transcendent. So, take the time to set up things well in your home so that you can better enjoy your musical experience.
