Environments 1: Psychologically Ultimate Seashore

Environments | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Original Release Date: August 18, 1987
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Atlantic / Wea
• ASIN: B000002ILB
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #194,512 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Psychologically Ultimate Seashore

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Psychologically Ultimate Seashore" by ENVIRONMENTS, February 28, 2002

By 

J. H. Minde "Everything I need is right here" (Boca Raton, Florida and Brooklyn, New York) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Environments 1: Psychologically Ultimate Seashore (Audio CD)

It's difficult to review the ocean. This CD is a recording of the breaking surf. And that's it, for a full 60 minutes. Once released as a double sided LP, the CD does suffer from a slight editing problem where the sound "breaks" for a few seconds during the recording, but this flaw is barely noticeable.

This is a wonderful CD for meditation, relaxation, and sleep. Definitely do not attempt extended "active" listening with this CD, as it does not contain anything but the natural sounds of the surf. It does not contain subliminal messages. It is meant to be played at a low volume as ambient sound. This tranquil recording is especially effective for insomnia. Setting your player on "Repeat" will give you a nightlong loop of sound to sleep by.

There are numerous "Environments" recordings, some of which are out of print. I recommend them all, especially "Wood-Masted Sailboat," and any of the several "Rainstorm" recordings.

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect for getting to sleep, February 12, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Environments 1: Psychologically Ultimate Seashore (Audio CD)

This is a wonderful recording, excellent sound quality, only the seashore no music mixed in, I use this for sleep without looping it and I never hear the end of the recording!! It's 60 minutes of seashore waves, be careful not to play it too loud, you'll probably have to adjust the volume lower than you think.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the all time great albums to which to relax, August 27, 2004

By 

Jason P. Gold (Long Beach, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Environments 1: Psychologically Ultimate Seashore (Audio CD)

This album was designed to relax you. It does a very good job. Doctors could prescribe this album to releive stress! It quiets down the room, masking the sound of life outside. Playing it causes your breathing to slow, and takes the edge off a cruel and difficult world.

Environments produced at least two "psychologically ultimate" albums including this one and the "Psychologically Ultimate Thunderstorm." I have had them ever since they first came out on vinyl in the '70s. I lost my copy of this album years ago, but managed to find the Thunderstorm album on vinyl. I then recorded it to CD and play it all night long to sleep. I know that the Ultimate Thunderstorm was not a real thunderstorm, but was white noise with some sound effects on top.

I later found a copy of this album on vinyl and recorded it to my computer, set up a 10 hour playlist which simply repeats the seashore and play it to help me relax, when I do work at home, and when I go to sleep. It is more relaxing than the Thunderstorm because it doesn't have the Thunderstorm's sometimes intrusive rumbling thunder. Accordingly, it gets played more than the Thunderstorm.

It is interesting to see the reviews below state that the Psychologically Ultimate Seashore was recorded at night because there are no gull noises. It is my recollection that it was not actually a recording or the seashore, but a simulation designed to be relaxing -- just like the Ultimate Thunderstorm. This is the reason it is self described as "Psychologically Ultimate." It sounds so good. The comments show how good a simulation it is! I've purchased actual recordings of the ocean and thunderstorms and they are not as relaxing.

The reason the album works is because it contains white noise. White noise is a sound that contains every frequencywithin the range of human hearing in equal amounts. This is the static type of sound you get when the radio dial isn't tuned to a station. Pink noise is a variant of white noise, except the tonal balance is different. This is the sound moving water makes. When used properly, as it is here, low level pink noise it is very relaxing. Because this album contains all frequencies, it masks the noise intruding from the outside world. Synthetic Silence.

They managed to use technology to record love and peace! It sounds better than the real thing!