What is Threshold Music?

Threshold music is not a genre. It’s a practice—a way of creating and experiencing sound that exists in states of transition.

Between attention and dissolution.
Between structure and chaos.
Between wakefulness and sleep.
Between sound and silence.

How It Differs

Ambient music (Brian Eno, 1978) allows you to ignore it:

“Music as ignorable as it is interesting”

Threshold music asks you to oscillate — deliberately moving between attention and dissolution, making that oscillation a practice.

Drone music (Éliane Radigue) explores sustained tones and minimal change:

Focus on timbre, stasis, deep listening

Threshold music uses sustained tones to trigger perceptual state shifts — not exploring the sound, but what the sound does to consciousness.

The Evolution

Ambient and drone created new ways to listen.
Threshold music makes that listening a deliberate practice.

This is not a new genre.
This is a framework for consciousness exploration through sound.

Try It

A simple threshold listening practice:

1. Put on headphones in a dark room
2. Lie down comfortably
3. Listen with full attention for 5 minutes
4. Let yourself drift away — forget the music
5. Notice when you return to attention naturally

If you’ve experienced this cycle deliberately, you’ve practiced threshold music.

The transitions between states are the practice.
Not the states themselves.

For Listeners

• Getting Started — Your first threshold music session
• Distinctions — How this differs from ambient, drone, meditation music
• Philosophy — Deep dive into the conceptual foundation

For Creators

Threshold music is made with any tool.
What matters is intention:

• Design for state transitions, not just atmosphere
• Allow autonomous processes, not full control
• Create attention anchors and dissolution zones
• Let the system surprise you

Getting Started includes creation techniques.

What This Is

A philosophically grounded approach to music as:

• Process (not object)
• Interpretation (not fixed meaning)
• Environment (not tool)
• Practice (not product)

Built on decades of ambient, drone, and experimental music traditions.
Articulated as a framework for consciousness exploration.

What This Is Not

• ❌ A new genre with specific sounds
• ❌ A replacement for ambient/drone
• ❌ Meditation or therapy music
• ❌ A proprietary system

This is one articulation among possible others.
If it resonates, use it. If not, leave it.

The music matters more than the theory.

Start here:

• New to this? → Getting Started
• Want details? → Distinctions
• Deep dive? → Philosophy
• Quick overview? → Manifesto