appleghost

I don't know if this thread exists already (I have searched), but I think it might be interesting.

When I listen to music, the sounds create images in my head. Sometimes, it's really simple, like a colour, but when listening to other songs, I see detailed, multi-coloured images and shapes.
For example, in my head, Radiohead's "Bodysnatchers" is dark blue, and Martina Topley Bird's "Carnies" is orange.

I think a lot of people "see" music, and I'm interested in how sounds look like in other people's head.

Do you see music? Do you have any songs or albums that... stand out visually?

Paedantic Basterd

I experience sound/colour synesthesia with most music as well. I'm not huge on visualizing shapes, but I do find most songs, albums, and instruments have a colour to them.

Geekoid

I experience synesthesia in various ways, too, mostly with numbers and letters taking on colors and personalities; but I also tend to associate colors, shapes and other visuals and sensations with music (movement, temperature, texture etc.) seemingly via intuitive processes.

Because of the way my brain seems to processes information, I tend to combine many ideas, sensations and experiences together, and focus on them (basically, like perpetual metaphorical thinking). I have several playlists for different "meta-experiences". For example, I started to create different playlists for different colors, shapes, etc. Some experiences are automatic, others are visualized/imagined via intuitive capacities. (I wonder if they're not related).

I kind of see two different things at once with my "mind's eye," when I listen to music, one 'vision' being more automatic (requiring no thought or imagination), the other being based on my own imaginings and experience, like a daydream or memory. It can be hard to tell them apart, so I'm not 100% certain I have synesthesia for music, or if I just have a really abstract imagination.

I picked a random song to see how I respond to it, since I'm having a hard time thinking about really notable examples right now...
This song is simple in structure, so it's a lot easier trying to describe it than a song with complex arrangements, which I tend to prefer.


Boards of Canada - Seeya Later - YouTube

My automatic response to this song is a general texture and visual feeling of oil on water- "hot" in places and "cool" in others (like the feeling of standing in cold water on a hot day), with silvers, saturated deep blues (kind of like you would see in a neon light) and similar purples with an indigo undertone coming through a thick, dark liquid. The drums are fuzzy splashes of neon green faded into black, like 2-dimensional sparks, that jut upward in steep V-like shapes. There's an overall metallic feeling... It's hard to explain.... I'd have to paint it or something.

mr dave

There are only a handful of songs that have given me that experience but one that stands out most is Mentim by U-Ziq (technically that U is supposed to be the Mu symbol) the track isn't on youtube so here's a grooveshark link instead - Grooveshark - Free Music Streaming, Online Music.

It's on the Royal Astronomy album, it stands out as being one of the more ambient tracks on the disc, lacking any sort of big beat. Same as the album stands out from most of his catalog as being the most melodic and least glitchy.

Anytime I hear it I can't help but imagine a coastline being bombed during the greyness before dawn or just after dusk. No specific colours but the impression is definitely there, it's not a happy piece of music.

__________________
i am the universe

appleghost

I see what you mean about your imagination. I feel the same way. SOme songs remind me of people I've met, for example.
But I also see numbers and letters in colours (and in sexes, male/female, sometimes).

The track you posted made me feel like I'm falling down a dark tunnel, but not in a bad way, more in a adventurous way. Sometimes, warm lights appeared and lit up the walls of sand and clay.

I felt like I was in a hall, with pretty white and light red colours. There were cracks in the ceiling, which the sounds came through.

mr dave

Interesting similarities for different sounding tracks. Have you noticed it happening with other songs or is this just coincidence?

__________________
i am the universe

Geekoid

It's cool to see what you guys had to say about your experiences with music. I'm sure that people who don't experience music in this way would think we were on LSD or something! .

I think that some people who direct music videos probably have a similar mindset. It's like music taps into subconscious thoughts in a way that's something like having a dream.

appleghost, If you often picture yourself in a tunnel or hall, is it as if a song creates an immersive experience, where you're completely surrounded by what you're experiencing?

When I experience a song, it's like watching things happen on a 'screen' or 'canvas' or in a contained space inside my head. The "hallway" experience is foreign to me. I thought your description was neat. Sometimes I wish I could be telepathic so I could experience things like that.

mr dave's track was more "intrusive" in tone to me. The sounds have a penetrating power. There is a midnight blue background with expanding rings of color in time to the music, like a shockwave or a ripple on water- some a brilliant pink, others orange. They vibrate like plucked guitar strings.The whole thing gets distorted by ink-like black 'tears' in the 'material' of it all, like how water distorts an image. The whole 'coastline being bombed' feel is definitely understandable, and frankly pretty awesome, in a dark sort of way.

...common thread for me seems to be liquid. Time to me can be associated with the complex movement of liquids. Music has a strong correlation with time. Maybe hallways are the similar?

appleghost

I feel the same about songs and albums, but I've never felt that way about instruments... can you tell me more about it? It's interesting.

They're actually not that similar: The tunnel was pretty dark, and the air was warm. In the hall, the air was fresh and a little cold, like the air an early morning.

It depends on the song. Some songs, like Aphex Twin's "Jynweythek Ylow", only creates shapes of different colours. But then again, a song never 'looks' exactly the same every time. They very often create the same picture, though.



Yeah, definitely. Radiohead's music videos often capure the feelings of the song very well. The music video for "Street Spirit" is a good example.
Also, when I'm making music myself, I often have a spesific colour or picture I try to "paint".

It's fun to see the similarities between everyone's visualisings. I also had the "intrusive" feeling: the sounds coming through the cracks in the ceiling.


Nude - Radiohead (Live from the Basement)- YouTube
What do you see when you listen to this?
I see a dark purple-coloured circle, pulsating slowly to the beat. Behind the circle is only a black background, but as the song builds up, the background lits up and becomes orange and white.
I'm looking forward to see what you... see.

Onu

Oh guys am onu,am a guy,am from Nigeria and i play guitar and piano.i really someone who can be my friend,maybe we could be friends or something

Paedantic Basterd

Sometimes it comes down to a part in a song sounding "bright" or "shiny", and it's not much of a leap from there to say it sounds yellow or white.



The bassline in this song is clearly black to me, with the synths and harmonies playing rainbow colours; I find this album really well paired with its artwork. Perhaps artwork influences my synesthesia a little too heavily, because I find things pair up well a lot, and then I wonder if it was just the power of suggestion.

I associate colours with names, places, people, letters, and numbers as well.