Lars Lentz Audio™

After having made ambient music and professed to be an ambient musician, I thought I would take a step back and find out exactly what it is. It turns out that it can be surprisingly complex to define.

Updated: 15-February-2023

Ambient music is a form of instrumental music that accentuates texture, tone, mood, and atmosphere. It does not contain the formal melodies or steady rhythms found in most popular music, opting instead to craft ambience from waves of aural textures.

Some ambient albums also qualify as electronic music because their soundscapes are built on synthesizer pads. Ambient musicians often augment these synths with acoustic instruments and ambient sounds from nature. The aural quality of ambient music often overlaps with that of minimalism, drone rock, and new age music.

https://www.masterclass.com/articles/ambient-music-guide

Texture, tone, mood, atmosphere, and no rhythm or melodies are my takeaways.

Also, check out my ongoing study of some artists of ambient music.

Elements of Ambient Music

A few key elements provide a throughline for different subgenres of ambient music.

1. Emphasis on atmosphere and texture: From the new age-adjacent ambient style of Brian Eno to the psychedelic sounds of ambient dub music, the genre seeks to build atmosphere above all else.
2. Gradual exploration of timbre: Ambient music lingers on notes and chords for a long period of time. Artists create variation by shifting the timbre of the sounds, either by introducing new instruments or by applying filters to electronic sounds.
3. Minimal harmonic progression: Ambient music does not cycle through chords the way that pop music, jazz, and classical music do. It luxuriates on simple chords or even single notes as it builds out an overall atmosphere.
4. De-emphasized melodies: Ambient music is not known for its melodies as much as it is known for moods and soundscapes. This makes it different from Muzak, which is a smooth-sounding rendition of melody-driven songs.
5. Space for improvisation: Live ambient music has an improvisational aspect to it when producers and DJs experiment with sonic textures. Their improvisations are somewhat limited by the fact that most ambient music does not have distinct melodies or consistent chord changes.

https://www.masterclass.com/articles/ambient-music-guide

Origins and Evolution

1. Erik Satie, 1890’s – furniture music: Erik Satie made compositions that he called “furniture music” which were meant to be background music.
2. Claude Debussy, 1880’s – impressionist composer: Claude Debussy composed music that is not ambient but I feel the music lends itself toward ambient music in its style and sound.
3. Musique Concrete, 1920’s – music using recorded sounds as the primary material. Popular with artists such as Karlheinz Stockhausen and Pierre Boulez (the conductor whose recorded Debussy concerts are considered top-notch and subsequently used by Biosphere in Shenzhou). This type of music was also influential to such artists as Frank Zappa and Pink Floyd.
4. John Cage, 1940’s – Used Satie’s compositions and expanded on the “classical-as-ambient” methodology.
5. La Monte Young, 1950’s – minimalist composer utilizing sustained tones (drones).
6. Brian Eno, 1980’s – tape loops to create generative music (two loops moving at different rates, for example) and a fondness for chimes.
7. Electronica artists, 1990’s – Aphex Twin‘s Selected Ambient Works II, The KLF‘s Chill Out – examples of electronic and synthesizer versions of ambient music in the form of drones and ambient/found sounds (recordists).
8. Ambient artists, 2000’s – William Basinski with disintegrating tape loops, Pinkcourtesyphone/Richard Chartier with tape and drone/noise/found sounds, Lawrence English with drones, noise and sounds, Rafael Anton Irisarri with noise, sounds, drones, and tones, Stars of the Lid and A Winged Victory for the Sullen with tones from orchestral sources, Geir Jenssen and Biosphere with field recordings, looped orchestral, and tones.

Subgenres

The contemporary ambient music scene has spawned many distinct genres, most of which are variations on ambient electronica.

1. Ambient house: Ambient house music is a close cousin to classic Chicago house and acid house music, which are characterized by four-on-the-floor bass drum beats and analog synthesizers. The “ambient” component to ambient house involves layered sonic textures without a tonal center.
2. Ambient techno: Ambient techno is a more melodically active ambient electronic genre. Some of the biggest names in ambient EDM—including Autechre and Aphex Twin—are considered ambient techno.
3. Ambient dub: Inspired by the Jamaican dub music tradition, ambient dub offers an edgy, psychedelic take on ambient music. It is highly associated with the 1990s English record label Beyond Records and nineties acts like the Orb and Higher Intelligence Agency.
4. Dark ambient: Dark ambient artists craft atmospheres that evoke fear and dread. This music—by groups like Nurse with Wound and Scorn—borders on industrial music and even avant-garde noise.

https://www.masterclass.com/articles/ambient-music-guide#4-subgenres-of-ambient-music

I would say that this is a basic breakdown of four subgenres but that there are numerous others in common use today and available by basic searching on Spotify and elsewhere.

More artists can be found using the gnod music map by filling in any of the names from above to see music that is similarly related (you can also type in “ambient” to see what types of music are closest to ambient): https://www.music-map.com/

Sleep Music

Ambient music can sometimes be categorized as “sleep music” in that it induces such relaxation that sleep occurs in the listener. Indeed, some musicians make their music to do just this. Take, for example, the “asleep versions” that Jon Hopkins released.

Pink noise is also sometimes used for sleep induction, and interestingly, I often use pink noise for mixing. The closer I adhere to the pink noise spectrum balance, the more my music induces sleep.

Summary

The pure form of ambient music, apart from all the subgenres, has some common parts:

1. Above all others, texture, tone, mood, and atmosphere are the most important, all with no discernable rhythm or melody.
2. Long-held notes and chords gradually explore the timbre of sounds and the introduction of new instruments or, by applying electronic filters to the sounds, build an atmosphere.
3. Tape loops of music and sounds, played forward, reverse, and through other techniques and filters, blur stable rhythms into unstable or amorphous forms.
4. Pad sounds are plied with different filters and modulations to create either changing or generative sounds, or smoothed, slowly-evolving textures.
5. Field recordings are layered with other sounds to create a rich atmosphere or “place.”
6. Simplistic composition is a definite trait, and ambient music is more easily felt and absorbed rather than taken in as a purposeful listening experience. This makes listening to ambient music more like visiting a location or place rather than the music coming to the listener.
7. Conventional instruments, either electronic (synths) or traditional (orchestral/classical), are morphed into sounds, unlike their original sounds in exploring the possible timbres. This can be through pitching up or down (varispeed).
8. Tape delays (loops), electronic delays, reverbs, and modulations are often applied to the sounds to further expand the atmospheric aspect of the composition as necessary. Still, some ambient music without these effects is among the best.
9. Tracks can be long or short but are usually longer to establish the atmosphere of a “place.”
10. There are usually no drums or traditional beats, but this is not always true.

From a music producer’s perspective, knowing exactly how ambient music is defined can be confusing. It is one of those things that, when broken down into its basic parts, remains a complex musical artform with much to be explored further. Still, it can be one of those genres of music that you know when you hear it. Whatever form it takes for the producer, it takes a lot of patience to create and produce.

Examples of Ambient Music

To understand what ambient music is in a pure sense from the definitions and criteria above, I made a playlist on Spotify that exemplifies the true form (in my opinion) of ambient music.