Speakers are placed at specific points throughout the room to make the sound feel truly immersive, making it seem as if your body is humming along with the music. Pleasing tones, made with MIDI keyboards and other electronic instruments, slowly build and coalesce, as other natural noises, such as gusts of wind, become part of the sonic landscape.
A custom light fixture, by New Hampshire artist Nick Brancaccio, changes colors as the music changes further, plunging participants into a calm state, and adding a rather trippy effect to the proceedings.
The Sound Resolution Center and its soothing music spring from the minds of Calpin Hoffman-Williamson, a recording engineer, and Michael G. Bauer, an artist and musician, who met while doing literacy outreach for the Please Touch Museum. The center itself is modeled on the Dream House in Manhattan, billed as "a sound and light environment." The New York version was bigger, but both achieve the same effect.
The center offers three different sound resolutions - "New Dawn," "Crystal Connections" and "Power of Persistence" - each with its own mood and personality. "New Dawn," for instance, is more bass-centric and cosmic-sounding, while "Crystal Connections" is filled with chimes and has a lighter touch.
Each session - by appointment only - lasts 25 minutes and costs $30. "It's like a Sharper Image nature CD but to the nth degree," Hoffman-Williams said sardonically. But he's right, if only nature sounded like a creation of ambient music pioneer Brian Eno.
The music comes from improvisation sessions. The collaborators listen to their recordings and pick out the highlights to "compose a narrative," according to Hoffman-Williamson.
