Drained when listening to music.

[Jon Tore]

I bet it's normal for some people, but I've started to notice that when I listen to music, I become very exhausted and tired, rather quickly.
Another strange thing going on is that I seemingly don't listen to music at all, almost, unless I stumble over it randomly. And I'm a music person from the inside and out (and a dedicated musician). Is there any medical explanation to the lack of ideas to turn on music? Musicus intoleraccus? I have tons of stuff I'd like to check out, but almost always prefer quietness, because I can't multitask. I spend a lot of time making music though, but really never intendedly turn on music I like, for example on my computer. Actually, almost the only times I find myself listening to music, is when I'm really going to do only that, which is if I'm going to bed a bit earlier and want to just listen to music. Anyone else been in such stages?

[Darika]

Maybe that's because you get so involved in listening to music, become very emotional? Then it drains you...

When I listen to music, especially the kind of music I like, especially when there are lyrics in a language I can understand, I get very distracted and can't really do anything else, because I'm so involved in music. I like it to the extent I can't do anything else!

[firenexx]

What bitrate is the music you are listening to?

I can almost guarantee that it is because you are listening to music at a very low bitrate, such as the popular MP3 128kbps. (OR 112, or 192, or something.)

This is very draining on the brain. Compressing music into a low bitrate removes much of the sonic detail, and the ear and brain have to compensate by "creating" that extra detail that was compressed out.
It's much better for your mental health to either download music at a high quality (such as flac) or re-rip your CD collection at a very high bitrate. It might take up a lot of hard drive space, but it is well worth it and terabyte hard drives are a dime a dozen these days.

Also, make sure you are using good quality headphones/speakers.

If you start listening to music with a high bitrate (or vinyls), you WILL begin to notice a huge difference!

[elucidate]

I did go through a phase like this a few years back...though it was more from not having the money to buy the music I wanted, but I was also bored by everything I heard...nothing really got me. I eventually didn't want to listen to music after a while at all, and didn't for ages. I think you just probably need a break, or maybe try a new genre that you rarely get into? Maybe you just aren't inspired or getting the same energy you used to from the music you regularly listen to?

I don't think there is anything wrong with going without music for a while though...it's a phase like all the other phases we go through in life...it just is an odd one for a music lover to have.

[Jon Tore]

Originally Posted by Darika

Maybe that's because you get so involved in listening to music, become very emotional? Then it drains you...

When I listen to music, especially the kind of music I like, especially when there are lyrics in a language I can understand, I get very distracted and can't really do anything else, because I'm so involved in music. I like it to the extent I can't do anything else!

Good point, I do get involved. But it exhausts me if it's entirely new material as well, stuff I've never listened to but just gets enough very fast.

Originally Posted by firenexx

What bitrate is the music you are listening to?

I can almost guarantee that it is because you are listening to music at a very low bitrate, such as the popular MP3 128kbps. (OR 112, or 192, or something.)

This is very draining on the brain. Compressing music into a low bitrate removes much of the sonic detail, and the ear and brain have to compensate by "creating" that extra detail that was compressed out.
It's much better for your mental health to either download music at a high quality (such as flac) or re-rip your CD collection at a very high bitrate. It might take up a lot of hard drive space, but it is well worth it and terabyte hard drives are a dime a dozen these days.

Also, make sure you are using good quality headphones/speakers.

If you start listening to music with a high bitrate (or vinyls), you WILL begin to notice a huge difference!

That's an interesting theory about the brain having to create the missing space. Most of the music I listen to are CD rips from bought CDs, but I guess iTunes, for example, is a bit strict in MP3 files? I don't know if it accepts flac. If it does, I'll import all my CDs with flac extensions or what it is (320 kb/s or so?). Sometimes I listen to CDs with my dad's amazing speakers, but I can't recall properly if it has the same draining effect as when I'm using the computer. I assume it's the multitasking, having a lot to do with it. Often can't type a proper sentence without turning off the music, when chatting and such.

EDIT: My headphones (and my speakers) are quite good. They are headphones after all, and not earplugs. *Shiver at the thought*

[Jon Tore]

Originally Posted by elucidate

I did go through a phase like this a few years back...though it was more from not having the money to buy the music I wanted, but I was also bored by everything I heard...nothing really got me. I eventually didn't want to listen to music after a while at all, and didn't for ages. I think you just probably need a break, or maybe try a new genre that you rarely get into? Maybe you just aren't inspired or getting the same energy you used to from the music you regularly listen to?

I don't think there is anything wrong with going without music for a while though...it's a phase like all the other phases we go through in life...it just is an odd one for a music lover to have.

By all means, most of the music I listen to, and have listened to a hundred times, I still can't get enough of. Sometimes I wonder if music is just too available, so that I don't have any excitement in checking another album out. Well, okay that's not the case when I look closer at it. Music still excites me, but I guess it often takes that I dedicate myself to listen properly to it, or I don't wanna listen at all. If I have it in the background while having a slightly different focus, it drains my energy. An exception is if I'm cleaning, washing or whatever. Then I can put music on the speakers and be very happy with it.
But it's been this way for months, so I guess it's just a little.. change of how I need to organize my mind, maybe.

[Clint Cora]

I went through a little bit of that where I stopped listening to music, except in my car. Then when I digitalized much of my old vinyl collection, I started to listen to some of the classics again and now I'm really appreciating a lot of the music that I grew up with from the 70s/80s/90s. Many of the tunes that sounded good back then still sound great now. Maybe I just got turned off by a lot of the present day music with the odd exceptions.

[Jon Tore]

Originally Posted by Clint Cora

I went through a little bit of that where I stopped listening to music, except in my car. Then when I digitalized much of my old vinyl collection, I started to listen to some of the classics again and now I'm really appreciating a lot of the music that I grew up with from the 70s/80s/90s. Many of the tunes that sounded good back then still sound great now. Maybe I just got turned off by a lot of the present day music with the odd exceptions.

Yeah, that's sort of how it's been now.. I, almost, don't listen to music unless I'm going to bed (mp3 player and head phones (not plugs)) or being social. Still, there always seems to be a song stuck in my head without me even noticing, until I notice. But my mind's playing along all the time. Now it appears to be Eleventh Earl of Mar by Genesis. That being said, I'm really appreciating the music... you grew up with. Yes, I grew up with Vengaboys, and it brings up good childhood memories of digging it, which makes it kinda good still! However, I wouldn't bash the present day's music, because there's a whole lotta.. well, some really cool things still popping up. But, I'll assume we're talking more about what's going on in the radio, and yes I agree. It's a horrendus system they've locked themselves in, when it comes to the music in selection.

[firenexx]

That's an interesting theory about the brain having to create the missing space. Most of the music I listen to are CD rips from bought CDs, but I guess iTunes, for example, is a bit strict in MP3 files? I don't know if it accepts flac. If it does, I'll import all my CDs with flac extensions or what it is (320 kb/s or so?). Sometimes I listen to CDs with my dad's amazing speakers, but I can't recall properly if it has the same draining effect as when I'm using the computer. I assume it's the multitasking, having a lot to do with it. Often can't type a proper sentence without turning off the music, when chatting and such.

EDIT: My headphones (and my speakers) are quite good. They are headphones after all, and not earplugs. *Shiver at the thought*

I'm pretty sure that iTunes doesn't accept .flac files or other minimally compressed formats. I use a different player for that reason. You should check your CD rip settings - the default is usually a low quality format such as an m4a. You can change those CD rip settings to the highest bitrate/format that is available in the settings. I can't tell you which it is because I am not familiar with iTunes.

So you can assume that most of your ripped music is highly compressed, which definitely makes music harder to listen to. Fortunately this is something you can easily change in your settings, although you might have to re-rip some things.
iTunes is pretty strict about its low quality formats available for download, but I think that's starting to change, and some other online music stores are changing too, and offering higher bitrates.

Also, multi-tasking has something to do with it. Enjoying music by itself is very rewarding, but enjoying it as background music tends to be more difficult. If I have background music on, it's something rather melodically simple such as traditional indian music (sorry, my tastes are a bit eclectic) and it's rather quiet.

[firenexx]

About dynamic range compression

More about bitrate and compression

I can't find the article I read last year about the actual effect on mental health that compressed audio has. If I find it I will post it. Those two are about related issues though.

[Jon Tore]

Thanks a lot for these links! I've read my share about the loudness war before too, and it's a shame. My computer has recently gone back to factory settings, so I haven't imported any music or installed iTunes. Therefore I'm installing foobar2000, a very sleek music program that accepts flac and many others, and I'll import music, hopefully in flac, or with high bitrate anyway.

I have one CD that I've found works very well for background music when playing card games and such, for example. It's too good and musically inspiring for doing any school work, where no music at all is acceptable. But I won't have to think about school for some months anyway!

[mattncfd]

I'm another fellow musician, and I've definitely noticed that I go through periods where I don't feel called to listen to much music...and then all of a sudden I'll go on a kick and listen to a bunch of new stuff.

Music has become so accessible and ubiquitous, and there are good sides and bad sides to that fact.

One of the bad sides imho is the fact that music has lost some of its sacredness or ceremonial aspects. Where folks used to have to go to the record player, pull out a specific record, choose which side to listen to and then put it on, now we have every song ever made available at just a few keystrokes' distance.

Why not try to set aside a specific time to listen attentively to something totally new and different? (it almost doesn't matter what you choose...though something fantastic would of course be preferable)

Anyway, I don't think there's anything wrong with you...what you're going through definitely resonates with my own musical ebb and flow over the years.

[Jon Tore]

Originally Posted by mattncfd

I'm another fellow musician, and I've definitely noticed that I go through periods where I don't feel called to listen to much music...and then all of a sudden I'll go on a kick and listen to a bunch of new stuff.

Music has become so accessible and ubiquitous, and there are good sides and bad sides to that fact.

One of the bad sides imho is the fact that music has lost some of its sacredness or ceremonial aspects. Where folks used to have to go to the record player, pull out a specific record, choose which side to listen to and then put it on, now we have every song ever made available at just a few keystrokes' distance.

Why not try to set aside a specific time to listen attentively to something totally new and different? (it almost doesn't matter what you choose...though something fantastic would of course be preferable)

Anyway, I don't think there's anything wrong with you...what you're going through definitely resonates with my own musical ebb and flow over the years.

I see! Maybe it's a common musician thing. I agree that it's.. sort of, too easy and unexciting, the simplicity in finding music.

I, too, have some sudden kicks where I explore a lot of music, and then some periods where I'm almost totally isolated from it. I don't think it's so much that I need to listen to something totally different, because within the genres I search, you can expect pretty much anything. It's more of a lack of will to explore anything at all, even though somewhere in me, I do want to. But it will come and go, probably proportional to stress amounts and mental load.

[invisiblehouses]

Originally Posted by mattncfd

One of the bad sides imho is the fact that music has lost some of its sacredness or ceremonial aspects. Where folks used to have to go to the record player, pull out a specific record, choose which side to listen to and then put it on, now we have every song ever made available at just a few keystrokes' distance.

I miss the ritual of that. Listening was all about, "Okay. I'm going to go on a little 40 minute ride with some people I trust," and you'd drop the needle and you were off.

It's not the same when you're just slapping up some sonic wallpaper while multitasking, which I am guilty of. I have a veritable mountain of vinyl records, so I do recreate The Ritual now and then, but not often enough. There's something a lot more satisfying about just doing one thing at a time. From where I'm sitting right now, I can see vinyl copies of Ghost in the Machine and The Wild, the Innocent and the E-Street Shuffle; it might be getting time to sit down and listen deep again.