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Music - Listening to specific parts repeatedly

M

malortie

Active Member
I have this obsession to constantly listen to specific parts of sounds I love, mostly electronic sounds.

For example,

Take this sound:

Jazz Jack Rabbit 2 Intro

At 0:04, a certain linear contiguous electronic wave can be heard, and once I position the slider to this time, I perpetually replay this exact same spot multiple time. Once I had enough, I proceed to do the same with other sounds.

I am unable to remember the last time I did not listen to all my songs. As the title says, I do it every day. Unfortunately, it is very easy for me to let down any objective that has been given to me when I want to hear these sounds/music chunks.

Has anyone ever been confronted to a similar situation?
 
I'm surprised I'm not the only one that does this. I find I almost never just press play and then leave it be (unless it's ambient music, which is less about structure than just overall atmosphere), I just have to jump ahead to a favorite part. If there's a brutal guitar solo or infectious chorus, I'll play that over and over again.

Similarly, in certain songs I "love" otherwise there may be one part that I just find cringe-worthy, which I skip ahead from to a better one. One thing I just can't stand is when a song has an obnoxious a capella part at the beginning, I find it startles me. So if I'm in shuffle mode on my phone (and I never just let it play, I always have to skip a head through my some 4,000 songs to find one that I'm in the mood for), I have to skip ahead if it's one of those unless the volume is on low.

Someone finally put it into words. Thank you!
 
NotImportant

In addition to this, I sometimes extract a certain interval of sound from those I prefer, using Audacity, and only keep what I like, .i.e making a loop (only to hear the part I want to hear), this way I do not have to keep re positioning the slider.
 
I do that with a lot of media, not just music.
In films, I sometimes play the same bit again and again, to the point where I put the film on just to watch that scene over and over.

Take this mend-bending musical number; every time I play it, I only listen between 00:00 and 00:41 before restarting it to the beginning.

 
malortie, do you listen with headphones? It could be that you are hearing certain high frequency sounds that stimulate your ears. This has been used in sound therapy for some years.

I tend to listen to the same song repeatedly because it provokes a kind of physiological response, but I'm a synaesthete so perhaps that's influencing it.

Tom, I have always done the same thing, shuffling through thousands of songs until I find one I feel a need to listen to right now. :)

I don't listen to much music these days because I find it emotionally overwhelming and I don't like to share those feelings... I'm too private.
 
malortie said:
Cosmophylla

Same here. I believe it is due to Autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR). I invite you to read this article on Wikipedia, which you might find interesting. At least, I believe this is what you are trying to understand.

Hope this helps.
Click to expand...

Yes, I experience that a lot and didn't know the name for it. It can be overwhelming because for me it tends to be associated with emotional songs. It's not something I actively seek, usually. I never get it from random noises such as crinkling plastic or whispering or anything like that. Last year I saw this article, but didn't realise it referred to the same sensation I experience. I just thought the videos were creepy. :D

It's interesting that the article mentions binaural beats, because at first I thought perhaps you were hearing binaural beats in your electronic music.

I also experience another kind of euphoria when I repeatedly listen to those special songs, and it's not ASMR tingling. It's hard to describe... Just a kind of surrender, as though I'm physically at one with the universe. :) That feeling drives me to listen over and over.
 
There are some pieces of songs which really resonate (pun intended) with me. Usually rich instrumentals, or lyrics that are perfect. I can replay that small fragment of the larger composition rather indefinitely. Used to break cassette tapes with FF / RW as a child... and the buttons on the player didn't take lightly to the abuse, either.
 
Trying to recall whether this phenomenon was discussed in Daniel Levitin's This is Your Brain on Music. If I find anything relevant I will post it.
 
Naturalist said:
There are some pieces of songs which really resonate (pun intended) with me. Usually rich instrumentals, or lyrics that are perfect. I can replay that small fragment of the larger composition rather indefinitely. Used to break cassette tapes with FF / RW as a child... and the buttons on the player didn't take lightly to the abuse, either.
Click to expand...


You've described it very well. Thank you for putting word to something I couldn't. :) Richly layered pieces, certain melodies, and indeed perfect lyrics all do it for me. I'm not musical enough to have worked out if the songs that resonate most are all in the same or similar keys, have similar melodic patterns, or something along those lines. I wonder if there is a commonality between them all.

The band that does this to me the most is AIR. I can listen to some of their songs ad nauseam. Here are a few of my favourites.







And a few months ago I heard this track by Blick Bassey and had the same sensation. Just love it!


I apologise for imposing my music on everyone. :) But perhaps someone will notice a connection between them. :)
 
I can't say I do this that often, but given the way that many producers use looping I sermise it isn't all that uncommon.
What I do find interesting is how a snippet of sound, out of context, can take on an entirely different character.
 
Naturalist said:
There are some pieces of songs which really resonate (pun intended) with me. Usually rich instrumentals, or lyrics that are perfect. I can replay that small fragment of the larger composition rather indefinitely. Used to break cassette tapes with FF / RW as a child... and the buttons on the player didn't take lightly to the abuse, either.
Click to expand...
Same here. I did it a lot as a child, but still do it now. I'm not sure if this is specifically related to ASD or not, because my NT mum also does this - she loves certain guitar riffs in a song. There is one song, Cherry Red by The Groundhogs which has a kind of ping in the introduction, and I used to keep rewinding the into just so I could hear the ping. I think that this is a kind of stim.
 
Just to add a bit more precision.

As much as it seems to be the case with most of you, I often watch pictures in conjunction with listening to music.

I am really surprised to see that many people with this kind of obsession. This leads me even more to think that I have Asperger's. Still awaiting this diagnosis.
 
malortie said:
I have this obsession to constantly listen to specific parts of sounds I love, mostly electronic sounds.

For example,

Take this sound:

Jazz Jack Rabbit 2 Intro

At 0:04, a certain linear contiguous electronic wave can be heard, and once I position the slider to this time, I perpetually replay this exact same spot multiple time. Once I had enough, I proceed to do the same with other sounds.

I am unable to remember the last time I did not listen to all my songs. As the title says, I do it every day. Unfortunately, it is very easy for me to let down any objective that has been given to me when I want to hear these sounds/music chunks.

Has anyone ever been confronted to a similar situation?
Click to expand...

I can listen to the same album for hours. It's soothing. I know where every beat is. Sometimes I sing.
 
Cosmophylla said:
Yes, I experience that a lot and didn't know the name for it. It can be overwhelming because for me it tends to be associated with emotional songs. It's not something I actively seek, usually. I never get it from random noises such as crinkling plastic or whispering or anything like that. Last year I saw this article, but didn't realise it referred to the same sensation I experience. I just thought the videos were creepy. :D

It's interesting that the article mentions binaural beats, because at first I thought perhaps you were hearing binaural beats in your electronic music.

I also experience another kind of euphoria when I repeatedly listen to those special songs, and it's not ASMR tingling. It's hard to describe... Just a kind of surrender, as though I'm physically at one with the universe. :) That feeling drives me to listen over and over.
Click to expand...

Listening to music--especially music we like--stimulates the release of dopamine in the brain. But what's interesting is that we don't all respond the same way, to the same types of music. Some of us like dissonance and complexity; others prefer harmony, or repetition, or even predictability in music. So that our musical preferences say a lot about what we need in life, what we get a "rush" from. Given that many of us prefer routine, order, and predictability, one might expect people with ASDs to prefer "safe", predictable, repetitive songs. And yet, not all of us do! For some of us, the part of the song that intrigues us--the part we can't get enough of--is the very moment where our expectations are dashed, where things become more complicated and less predictable, adding more layers and expanding the range of auditory possibilities. Is this because of another aspect of our minds, the "overconnectedness" of some regions of our brains? Do we like the complexities in some music, and cringe at them in others, because of the very particular combinations of so many neurons that are activated in each case?
 
Naturalist said:
Listening to music--especially music we like--stimulates the release of dopamine in the brain. But what's interesting is that we don't all respond the same way, to the same types of music. Some of us like dissonance and complexity; others prefer harmony, or repetition, or even predictability in music. So that our musical preferences say a lot about what we need in life, what we get a "rush" from. Given that many of us prefer routine, order, and predictability, one might expect people with ASDs to prefer "safe", predictable, repetitive songs. And yet, not all of us do! For some of us, the part of the song that intrigues us--the part we can't get enough of--is the very moment where our expectations are dashed, where things become more complicated and less predictable, adding more layers and expanding the range of auditory possibilities. Is this because of another aspect of our minds, the "overconnectedness" of some regions of our brains? Do we like the complexities in some music, and cringe at them in others, because of the very particular combinations of so many neurons that are activated in each case?
Click to expand...



What a fabulous post, Naturalist! I find it just so hard to articulate things because I'm a visual thinker... That's one reason my posts often end up quite long...just because I can't find the right words and feel I have to explain every little nuance in case others don't get it.

I think your idea about activating particular neuronal combinations is quite sound. (Oh, I think that could be a pun but it was unintended. :D) And I would agree 100% that it's often those unexpected shifts within the song that provoke the most profound responses in me.

A good example of a song that consistently gives me ASMR is Prince's Adore, from the Sign O' The Times album. Now, I've never really been into such songs but my ex husband is a huge prince fan so I was exposed to his music. In the second verse after four lines (16 bars???) there is a change in the music and a cascading keyboard (no idea if this is the way to explain it, but it's a cascading melody) is introduced on the line, "They know we need each other..." And every time without fail it produces ASMR in me. Such a cheesy kind of song but I just kind of fell in love with how sweet it is and the colours it makes me see. :D
 
Listening to music--especially music we like--stimulates the release of dopamine in the brain.
Click to expand...


Yes. I am aware of this process performed by the brain. This explains a lot on why I have difficulties sustaining objectives given to me, as this this provokes a memorable sensation of pleasure that I find hard to leave.

For years, I had trouble figuring out the cause of all this music addiction, and listening to parts repeatedly.
 
malortie said:
Yes. I am aware of this process performed by the brain. This explains a lot on why I have difficulties sustaining objectives given to me, as this this provokes a memorable sensation of pleasure that I find hard to leave.
Click to expand...

Yes, I find it very difficult to concentrate on other things when music is playing. Because of thinking in pictures, when I hear someone singing a song I automatically picture what they are singing. It's involuntary, and hard to separate from what I'm seeing with my eyes.

When I was younger, I had time to indulge myself and seek that dopamine release by repeatedly listening to songs (all or part). If the emotions and visions they provoked were strong, it was usually ok.

But these days I'm responsible for a family and household and I just don't have the emotional space/freedom to listen to music now. It's rare that I listen in front of other people (my husband gets irritated by our son's constantly playing the same music over and over, so I don't want to do it, too!) so I reserve it for when I'm doing many hours of physical work, such as painting walls or something.

Our son, whom we suspect is Aspie, also listens to the same music repeatedly, and usually just sections of the song. He skips back and forth to the parts he likes. At the moment he is really into Aphex Twin and other electronica. He's 6. :)
 
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