Julian Treasure: The 4 ways sound affects us

[Seven7Lives]

You have the most exciting subject in TED community. I am very interested in the world of sound, the language of sound. Thank you.

[6720059]

I just can't understand what he saids

[danesandy]

what's the name of the song at 1:22? I think it's Mozart but don't know the name

[tromdude1]

@danesandy Adagio in G Minor by Albinoni

[sugasuga722]

for some reason the sound clip at 3:54 totally sounded like the beginning of The Smiths "There is a Light that Never Goes Out"...which I'm probably weird because it doesn't seem like anyone heard that

[Pierrrrrrrrrrrrrrre]

@sugasuga722 That's what they've heard A Hard Days Night by The Beatles v=0cpxzAZXppQ

[thenub641]

Arg, the song that's playing when he's talking about behavior @2:32 is on the tip of my tongue but I can't remember it. Anybody know it?

I want to say it's in one of the Blade Soundtracks....

[thenub641]

@thenub641 Ok, nevermind my question, I was right, it is from the first Blade movie.

/watch?v=mvexKA4_xsI&feature=r­elated

[newtongrace]

@thenub641 I believe it's called the 'Bloodbath Dance' :)

[returnoftheramble3]

My brain doesn't understand sound anymore in a reaction-way because all my reactions are gone. I can listen to everything. 

[guzsaj]

@returnoftheramble3 how is that?

[098anne]

Interesting talk

[returnoftheramble3]

i don't know if that's true. i grew up around a lot of sound and my brain will ignore it while i do something else. but, no music...

[returnoftheramble3]

it makes me offbalance. i can't listen to music. my ears instantly clog.

[MrBlamemeforit]

Ok, imma go buy some uber high quality uber isolating earphones and go to sleep with birds in my room :)

[0Krusnik0]

._. Er- What happens when you can listen to both?

[t3hStorm]

Interesting. Now I'm gonna eat a bowl of spaghetti and see what happens.

[marsCubed]

I used to work as a club decorator in some of the best (and worst) clubs in the UK.

I got to know some of the best sound engineers around.

here is a clue.

The worst clubs turn up the music in the vocal range, so all people can do is say "WHAT DID YOU SAY?" and "A BEER, I SAID BEER PLEASE

The worst clubs tune the EQ to kill talking.

They do it deliberately, because killing conversation sells beer, keeping it dark sells beer. light on the bar sells beer.

good clubs allow people to dance & talk.

[alexmillar]

@marsCubed Great point. I guess other reasons club play too much treble are that big sub woofers are expensive? We need to base our music on the sonic environment of nature, which is full of pink noise. I wish club owners / djs would stop hurting my ears!!

[D1rtyraver]

@marsCubed

Interesting :)

[soundofgeek]

Brilliant, significant and thought-provoking. Classic TED.

[degree7]

03:53  what song was that?

[ludavulgamer]

Hard Day's NIght - The Beatles

Fisrt Chord :D

[FFMCremeDeLaCreme]

Hey,

Where can I find the Lyric of this presentation?

Thanks

[YourShareChannel]

Very thought provoking - am packing my headphones for work tomorrow!

[soseg]

1min30s ADAGIO IN G MINOR FTW!

[m1ke905]

The blade techno theme sound clip that starts at 2:31 sounds awesome.

[clintonskakun]

LOL, everyone commenting here is way too serious.

[mrgently]

You're too serious. geto my internets plx!!1 ;)

[outled]

the last sentence says it all :)

[whitegoosebumps]

JULIAN- I AM SOOOO GRATEFULL FOR THIS VIDEO>THANKYOU, THANKYOU, THANKYOU!!!! (x-flight attendant)

[k1awdttt]

The whole "open" working environment thing is really just a show, you know, the "transparency" thing... And it's easier for the management to spot slackers - A textbook caution/monitor system based on the notion of the type B theory of "employees are untrustworthy/ people are lazy."

This just shows why empirical testing is important. Probs to Mr. Treasure for debunking the theory!

[rodolphoarruda]

By "type B theory" you've meant Douglas Mcgregor's theory X for human behavior at work

[k1awdttt]

Oh my bad, I mixed up that with economist behavior description... Thanks for the correction :)

[mmminivannn]

This is rubbish.

[tinosnit]

He seems to have little respect for the ingenuity that goes into making those engines he criticises.

[WhichDoctor1]

why should he?

[tinosnit]

1. Engines are beautiful. Far more beautiful than anything Mozart ever wrote.

2. Engines increase our power. They, in effect, make us more alive.

[WhichDoctor1]

But as far as this guy is concerned for most people traffic noise is just a form of environmental stress. Having a dozen stereos playing different mozart peces at full volume at the same time would have the same effect.

[eltrevoso]

Exactly. Plus, engines don't have to be noisy.

[MajDigi]

Sleeping within ear shot of an idling diesel engine is like being in the whom.

[yiotos]

engines also distroy our planet :)

[tinosnit]

No they don't. AGW is rubbish.

[Shnergen]

lear to spell before you make comments like this please.

[eltrevoso]

tinosnit.... you're a godamn nerd... wow...

[rowanrockhopper2]

Because you're a bot. And i dont find bots remotely attractive.

[holdendp]

Making people work in open spaces is so short sighted.

[d3st88]

@holdendp

Working at Big Blue, HUGE open office, constant chatter, constant laughing, constant phone ringing. It sucks. It's tiring, it's distractive, it's counterproductive.

[tudoralexe]

yey, new ways to manipulate masses misusing science.

[LordoftheJamesClan]

I always work well when its silent

[mockingarab]

The most annoying sound in this video is his voice.

[mockingarab]

Oh common!! wasn't it annoying when he talks in the middle of those sample sounds?

[rowanrockhopper2]

11 thumbs down. ouch

[CodeKitten]

What is the sound at 3:54 ... I know that the second is Jaws

[jmabela]

its the Beatles 'Hard Days Night'

[CodeKitten]

Thanks.

[soulstar1982]

i wish that the focus wasn't on how to enhance productivity and consumption by consumers... its just another way that money perverts knowledge so it can be used for something damaging...

[ExMachine]

hear hear

[rowanrockhopper2]

exactly, there was a fine opportunity to mention music in schools.

[mindlesstube]

Music with voices become a distraction in schools because when you think you focus on your own voice in your head and to have another voice singing words at the same time does not help. So music with no vocals would be ok.

[mazdaplz]

haaard dayyys niggght!!!! been workiiin like a dooog

[joeelipo]

Very good information to share with everybody.

Awesome video.

Thanks for sharing.

[bviv001]

Can anyone please tell me what is the music playing during the ibm ad at the end (before the sound goes dead i.e.) ?

[boblflef]

The sound on the advert at the end doesnt work, how appropriate. :-p

[sleepless4201]

LSD and sound mix very well.

[Shaunt1]

Useful info thanks TED!

[roidroid]

hahaha, they played around with the sound in the advertisement at the end.

[Isaacthompson]

Great talk, Thanks :)

[akirapills767]

What is the classical sample he plays? If it's not some garageband loop

[Gnug215]

That would be Albinoni's Adagio in G Minor. There's a vid here: v=mz4dpbk8YBs

[akirapills767]

much appreciated!

[afkhajiit]

Short, sweet, and interesting. Great job.

[AlgeKalipso]

The secnod sound is from Jaws? Wow, My first association was to 'The new simhony of the new world' by Dvorak. :P

[JRDunassigned]

its funny how much the TEDTalks music sucks and is disengaging at the end of this video

[IanEColeman]

dhat tebatable.

[roidroid]

JRD i agree. When i suspect a TED talk is getting near to the end - i actively hover over the mute button. It's a noise equivalent of being slapped in the face.

[BFDK]

Very nice talk, it should had been +15 minutes though. It is an important subject.

[RJHEllis]

the second sample of sound he played around 4:00, what is the name of the entire song?

[peachflan]

The first sound is from The Beatles' A Hard Days' Night. The second one is Jaws.

[exDeathex]

Awesome!

[leanonme1]

2:38 BLADE MOVIE TECHNO CLUB MUSIC!!!

[roidroid]

sounds a bit like Sandstorm by Darude

watch?v=PSYxT9GM0fQ

[leanonme1]

no way good sir, i know my techno, that was a warp brothers track they did for the Blade movie.

my proof:

watch?v=Mulo9wReXlI

[roidroid]

yeah below when someone else mentioned the title "Blood Dance" - i suddenly remembered i was wrong.

[ferre347]

i loved it

[Hewhosmokeswomen]

the new intro sucks

[Kommaseir]

Agreed...why the hell would they change it?

[grraadd]

they've replaced Clinton with Gore... no difference for me.

[juliecranford]

It's been a hard day's night.

[intrepgun]

yes, there are artists and producers with a great sense of dynamics. but it is not an over-generalization to say that at least 90% of compact discs aren't using it.

and it says a lot about the climate and lay of the land in the musical world right now [or rather the business world that has drowned most of it]. with many records being stamped out and made solely for consumption and monetary gain. but that's changing. and will continue to change.

[dragonstorm83]

Good to know O_O

[P00P0STER0US]

It's an interesting notion that apart from music and a personal chat we're interested in, we've taken great pains to block out other sounds as 'noise'.

[Mickch200]

great

[philinmotion]

Didn't bring much to the table.

[pookiehohn]

The sound cuts out at the end of the video. Irony?

[illisssy]

I think it was done on purpose. So you can see the difference between the moods created w/sound and w/o sound.

[intrepgun]

aw, c'mon! your first draft of the comment was great! don't be ashamed of it and remove it. i wasn't picking on your or anything, just pointing out that while you were saying that the sound cuts out before the end, you yourself didn't type "end" at the end of the sentence. i still don't know if that's really irony itself, it's more just... reiteration? but the way it fits in, and seems clearly to be coincidence just makes it so perfect, wouldn't you say?

[pookiehohn]

Well, too late now! Oh well, I guess we'll.

[Tengent]

I've always wondered if certain note intervals really do naturally affect mood or do because of their association to the mood when hearing the interval... hmm..

[theScytheofGod]

Fascinating idea; never thought of it before. I tend to think it's association, simply because music was created by man, and over thousands of years (if not millions) its effects could be hardwired into our nervous systems. Hmm...

[Fallbr00kwhat]

what research is available to back up his claims ?

[intrepgun]

irony is that your sentence cuts out before its end. or is that applicability... either way, brilliant! haha

[nintendomaniac64]

The whole "bombardment of sound" is exactly the issue with the loudness war - including the lack of one of the most important things that make music likable: dynamics.

[intrepgun]

i agree wholeheartedly. modern music production [mostly on CD after 1986ish] has completely nullified dynamics in recordings and it's really sad. perhaps it was a ted talk, perhaps some other audiophile type video i saw, but they discuss it at great length and give many examples.

in the older days, an LP had maybe one or two peak volume levels. now, everything is maxed out, and even pushed beyond and cut off. it's sad. dynamics make music [ and other things] worth listening to.

[mattghtpa]

Hmm..what a shame, I happen to like techno and Blood Dance was the one that introduced me to the music, but I don't listen to it all the time and certainly never during heavy or dangerous traffic conditions.

Different music has different effects on people, he over generalized slightly.

But it was an interesting video all the same.

[dzjad]

Hah. Techno and heavy metal is awesome when playing high-intensity games like first person shooters (Counter Strike, Halo and the like)...

[intrepgun]

yeah, and when the simulation is over, it is used in real life killing in foreign nations, to the detriment of millions, if not billions of people.

is that a problem with the music? no. i'm a huge metalhead, i'm into metal like i'm into gypsy jazz, classical, punk. i'm a total music junky. but the effects of it, and its uses by those with power and authority [mostly illegitimate] is something that requires attention and thought and action.

[theScytheofGod]

Even the most wondrous things can be used to hurt people when used with evil intent.

[geeoffchin]

the guitar at the end was really nice

[dzjad]

The Beatles, "A Hard Day's Night"

[petro062]

There must be a reason that comercials bombard us with yelling people. That is why so many people use their I-Pods. Now I do that and no more radio for that reason.

[GetMeThere1]

Very nice. I hadn't REALLY thought through and accepted the fact that constant bombardment with the wrong sounds can TRULY make you sick and unhappy.

[evilparkin]

Would have been good to have more elaboration, but interesting nonetheless.

Why are we now getting longer and longer adverts at the end of every TED talk? Seriously, 3 whole minutes out of 8 were devoted to advertising...

[abyssquick]

Is it normal that with a little concentration I can hear & understand them both?

[elspoko]

Actually, you aren't listening to them both at the same time.

What your brain is doing, is hearing clips of both, seconds at a time, and guessing what is being said.

Have two people actually talk to you about two new conversations you've never heard. It is literally impossible for you to hear, hold, and then recipricate what you heard.

You might be trained to do it, but to naturally do it is almost impossible.

[Chorosh]

It has been proven, that women can more easily understand two people talking at the same time than men.

I guess abyssquick is a woman and elspoko is a man :) But rules never work absolutely, do they? :o)

[elspoko]

Actually, it's been proven that women can multitask better.

There has been no study with conclusive evidence that says a woman can understand two people better than men. Human brains are the same, regardless of gender. One simply reacts different because of physical and mental conditioning. And hormones of course but that is something affecting the brain, not the brain itself.

Nice try on the feminist misinformation though.

[Kargoneth]

"Human brains are the same, regardless of gender."

Human brains differ based on the sex of the human.

[Meehuuu]

Explain tomboys, tomgirls and homosexuals.

[abyssquick]

Duly noted. Gracias.

[mattghtpa]

No youre sick, STAT, see a psychiatrist.

The voices are next.

Then they start demanding things, I wanna go to a movie', "I want to watch Jeopardy", "You're always paying more attention to the other voices". Blah blah blah!

Hi Bill Mays HERE! Are you bother by voices? Can't afford a psychiatrist? Thorazine too expensive?

Well try Clam it! Gag those pesky voices now!

Who has a psychosis?

Not this guy!

[TheRealVerbz]

Sound affects us even more than what this man explained.

Look up the term "Cymatics" on YouTube.

[maha77]

he talked WAY to fast and reduced the point of his lecture by 33%

[asseeninYOURDREAMS]

a  hard day's night.

[religionOFFENDSme]

interesting

[HigherPlanes]

I have one philosophy, the sound of foreplay

[youngnewtonian]

Short, Informative, and to the point. One of the best Ted's videos.

[dumbnetworks]

this video had zero info, I mean had nothing NEW, something "worth" spreading, everything he said everyone already knew.

[OliverWinton]

this is really interesting, but fucking hell, its TOO BUSY! just slow down, and make your points more clear!

[awerner2007]

His points were clear. Pay attention.

[OliverWinton]

um... yea, read my comment again. i was just saying, he spent five minutes mumbling. his points were clear enough, it was just far to busy, particularly at the begining. it would be a better 15 minute talk

[BFDK]

I am sure he would want more time.. it's not his fault.

[1988simondoyle]

what was the thing he played before the jaws song

[bcasts]

beginning to a Beatles song

[krepecish]

I recognised only the first that was the Beatles, thanks for the other one.

[WhyNotTruth]

It's the intro to "A Hard Day's Night".

[crimsoncoin]

watch?v=KrveOa8Ygys watch?v=rL4Z9d9oObY also an advert at the end of this video is silent rofl, thank you for the perscription of 5mins of songbird singing per day, nice

[Fensterplaetzchen]

sound good

(omg, sorry I had to say that ^^)

[Drynae]

I guess it's a love/hate relationship. I hate the fact that we're being manipulated by companies in this fashion eventhough it's brilliant. I feel like they use my own senses against me this way. What I do love about it, is the music we share and create, the psychological peace we can obtain from listening to music.

Why do I always feel kind of suckered in, when it comes to products.. I know I can resist though, once you really become aware of your shopping urges. :)

[Fensterplaetzchen]

Why do we always feel kind of suckered in?

I guess another point is that it's easier that way. I mean for example you sure know someone who uses iTunes and after 2 years, when your iPod dies, then you already know how to use it and you buy the next generation iPod because you don't want to learn something different if what you allready know works good

[Drynae]

I understand the practical use of it. I'm more concerned about the competition between companies. Some are unable to even make a commercial, let alone a distinct melody to go with their slogan and logo. You get this monopoly.. and the one with the best melody.. wins? That's the psychological part. Does that mean the product is the best, the most efficient? I don't think so. Well, that is my opinion anyway.

[neil73]

Its a good opinion. Advertisers have for a long time now played on peoples psychology to get them to buy things, normally thorough sexual anxiety: consider the Lynx deodorant advert (if your in the UK)

[roidroid]

Free Market theory suggests that the free market is supposed to work by the best products winning out, coz ppl want what is best. But the forces of Advetising/Marketing/PR all distort this process - and ensure that it's the best marketing that wins, not the best products.

Thus you get shitty products that do incredibly well, while awesome products die.

Those companies who can afford huge marketing costs - reap the rewards and continue to monopolize the market.

Capitalism is stupid

[orionmachine]

I wouldn't say capitalism is stupid, just consumers. Capitalism itself is doing its job: making money, not happiness. If someone actually believes all the hype, its their fault.

[JRDunassigned]

wouldnt it be marketing, not capitalism, that is failing?

[roidroid]

If you could design a NEW system of Capitalism without Marketing and PR, then that would be interesting.

Capitalism (as we currently know it) is a system that rewards those who control and distort information in the market (ie: less-than-truthful advertising, etcetc) - for their benefit.

Those who hire the best lawyers, the best marketers, etc - Monopolize the market. Thereby making enough money to CONTINUE hiring the best lawyers & marketers - preserving their unfair market dominance.

[ExMachine]

Socialism. Capitalism without marketing is practically unthinkable: what is the concrete difference between Coke and Pepsi?

A few billions in advertising money perhaps.

[invisiblebears]

The concrete difference between Coke and Pepsi is about two spoons of sugar.

[fatimanazeer]

Which has more? Let me guess...Pepsi?

[Myx4o]

It's Coca-Cola, actually.

[TheFuntom]

Simply useful! Thanks for that! ^^

[Evitability]

This talk was too short. It needed some concrete examples of HOW to start with a mental state and work backwards to the appropriate soundscape design.

It could be somewhat inferred from the talk, but only somewhat.

[quantumbits]

I agree!

[hoplahey]

He was not allowed any more time. Some get more, some get less.

[boardsdecanada]

woooo, third :P hahaha.

[defect530]

thanks TED

[marshmarais]

wohoo ! first

[TheFartoholic]

woohoo you suck