Do you "see" music?

Ash Holmz

The Bed-Stuy Fly Guy
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 207
Im not sure how it originally came up, but one day i was talking with classic and his girl and the converstaion got into "seeing" sound. In other words, when a sound is made, a color is associated with that sound that you can visualize. I always could see colors in sounds and honestly i thought that evrybody else could too.. well after classic's girl schooled me, i actually learned that NOT evrybody can "see" music. About one in four have SOME ability to do it and some experience it more intenstely than others .. i even learned that some people can actually "taste" sound as well. There actually a scientific name for it as well.. its called synthnesthesia. After reading up on it, I def got a strong case .. i always could see the music as far back as i remeber and certain sounds represented certain colors and when a song playing its almost like a moving painting. Whats crazy is that I went through life thinking that everybody associated sound with color..

I am just curious who does/has this and who doesnt .... this is from wikipedia.. theres actually mad forms of it but this post is referrng to the sound - color form of it which i most defintely have. pretty intersteng shit if you ask me... chime in if u can relate or if have some other form of it because there many .. some people associate numbers with colors, or taste with numbers, or taste with colors, and other shit too ... pretty crazy.

Sound → color synesthesia
In sound → color synesthesia, individuals experience colors in response to tones or other aspects of sounds. Simon Baron-Cohen and his colleagues break this type of synesthesia into two categories, which they call "narrow band" and "broad band" sound → color synesthesia. In narrow band sound → color synesthesia (often called music → color synesthesia), musical stimuli (e.g., timbre or key) will elicit specific color experiences, such that a particular note will always elicit red, or harps will always elicit the experience of seeing a golden color. In broadband sound → color synesthesia, on the other hand, a variety of environmental sounds, like an alarm clock or a door closing, may also elicit visual experiences.

Color changes in response to different aspects of sound stimuli may involve more than just the hue of the color. Any dimension of color experience (see HSL color space) can vary. Brightness (the amount of white in a color; as brightness is removed from red, for example, it fades into a brown and finally to black), saturation (the intensity of the color; fire engine red and medium blue are highly saturated, while grays, white, and black are all unsaturated), and hue may all be affected to varying degrees (Campen & Froger 2003). Additionally, music → color synesthetes, unlike grapheme → color synesthetes, often report that the colors move, or stream into and out of their field of view.

Like grapheme → color synesthesia, there is rarely agreement amongst music → color synesthetes that a given tone will be a certain color. However, when larger samples are studied, consistent trends can be found, such that higher pitched notes are experienced as being more brightly colored (Ward, Huckstep & Tsakanikos 2006). The presence of similar patterns of pitch-brightness matching in non-synesthetic subjects suggests that this form of synesthesia shares mechanisms with non-synesthetes (Ward, Huckstep & Tsakanikos 2006).
 

Guevara

BETTER THAN YESTERDAY
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 34
im not too visual wit music, its more of an EMOTIONAL thing wit me i cant really explain. i do understand the SIGHT of music but it doesnt play that big of a role wit me. i make FRIENDS and ENEMIES wit my beats. kinda like how it said an alarm clock can elicit visions i get emotional wit certain shit that i hear, thats one of the main reason i switched to the MPC so i could take it out on the drum machine. usually if i made a beat on FL i really couldnt tell if it was THAT good until i was done, now i know when im choppin samples, my fingers get excited...lol
The colors point me in the direction of the MOOD of the music.
 

Low G

ILLIEN
ill o.g.
Yeah I definitely feel music more than see it. Everything from the feeling of floating to fingernails down a chalk board. I know in the showcase I've used the term bitter to describe things that are off key without even thinking that others may not understand what i meant simply because they take in music differently. Certain music does get my visuals going but that's more like a place or event rather then colours and I'm not really seeing that i'm imagining it.
 

Relic

Voice of Illmuzik Radio
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 83
haha I havent even read all of the original post but , yeah I thought everybody saw music..
I do and always have, its called imagination! Without it I couldnt make music!
But to me all music that I hear invokes a visual, even my earliest music memories are visual.
I actually would have never thought to ask , cause like you I thought everybody did!
Nice post, now Ill go finish reading...


After having read the rest , yes its always like a movie , not just colors but a movie.
 

LDB

Banned
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 73
I can't get deep as Ash with it but I would say to a certain extent I see music. When I do a track and I'm really feeling it I see the video in my minds eye. It erks the fuck out of me when I see a video on MTV or BET that I feel is not an accurate representation of how I perceive the music. If that counts then I guess I do. If not oh well....I feel and see something, maybe I just can't express it in words.
 

Sincock

Fucking Wankers
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 8
Imagination manifests itself differently in different people. Some people are more visual so they experience things more visually. They see music but others feel music in different ways. Every individual is just that: an individual.

I remember Aldous Huxley writing about this in regards to use of psychoactive substances; why did some people see things and others didn't? Some people smell music even. He came to the conclusion which I support that some people are more visual than others, some people experience things on an emotional level. etc

I know from studying educational theories and pedagogy that it is well known that some students are aurally centred, some are visual learners and some are tactile learners, (they need to experience or do something to learn it). Modern educational theory states that teachers need to cater to all different learning styles. It depends how your brain is wired.

Me personally, I experience music on a more emotional level, it's not just feeling: the feeling expands into other areas: recollections, images, etc. I find that a beautiful piece of music is more likely to bring tears to my eyes than make me see something, (TMI)
 

dj360_iNfInItE1

UNDeRGROUND STaTE of MiND
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 16
I don't have it but I definitely have a strong emotional response to music.
 
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 152
i saw this on discovery channel a program called the real superhumans, a blind painter, a human calculator.. and a few others - among those was a woman who could see music and taste it. Yea - synthenasia or something. She saw colours floating around, if she heard the rain she would see green swirly things etc, if she heard a car there'd be a certain colour/image for that. Also she worked out over time that if something was in the pitch of C it would be red, if it was A it would be blue etc.. I thought that was pretty impressive and she had full synthensblah (whatever it's called) so it was really rare.

The only thing I get that is close to that is seeing the music in my mind, before it goes down. Which isn't nothin supernatural - I know what melodies look like in my mind, I see colours and shapes that I got familiar with over time. When I hear music out loud through speakers though, I don't see shit, although sometimes i've seen swirling lights/energy but that's probly the drugs right.
 

skidflow

Boom Bap is precious art
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 214
I Have More Of A Feel Towards Music Nowadays. I Let The Sounds Dictate Where It Wants To Go. Example...if I Get A Beat Pattern Going And I Start Searching For That Lead Sound, Once I Find That Lead Sound That Catches My Attention I Find Other Sounds To Try To Accomadate The Lead. I Submit Myself To The Feeling And Whatever I End Up With...it Is What It Is. Now I Can Tailor Make Tracks For People But Its More Of A Challenge Because Then I Gotta Take Control Of The Sounds To Get A Certain Feel That The Artist Want Instead Of Letting Shit Flow Out Naturally. Hopefully I'm Making Some Kind Of Sense.
 

LDB

Banned
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 73
oh yeah....did I mention "I SEE DEAD PEOPLE" dancing to my music? Top that!
 

Guevara

BETTER THAN YESTERDAY
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 34
oh yeah....did I mention "I SEE DEAD PEOPLE" dancing to my music? Top that!

i cant see that but i dig what u was sayin about the videos, its not really the same thing but when i first heard "Roc Boys" i would FEEL bright GOLD almost illuminating. The TYPiCAL movie style video kinda ruined it for me.
HEre are some of the colors i associate wit sounds...

HORNS- Golds, BLues, Greens
DRUMS - RED, WHITE
BASS - BLACK
GUITAR - Yellow, Orange, Brown
MOOG - RAINBOW that moog is just a splash of color

this is something i just consciensly thought about just now, thanks Class for makin me AWARE of something i did without thinkin about it. Now i can subconsciensly fuck wit the people who hear my tracks.Che
 

Ash Holmz

The Bed-Stuy Fly Guy
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 207
for me ... bass - black (agreed)
drums .. snares, varying shades of brown .. claps are more white or grayish .. hh are a brighter white, kicks are black and verk dark gray
piano - red -to very dark red almost brown.. depending on the type of piano
horns - brown,gold,
guitar - brown to red .... acoustic is brown... electric are more reddish brown or orange and sometimes very red
synths .. vary in color depending on the octave and the type of synth... anywhere from almost black to bright red or pink .... i have a similar "rainbow effect" sometimes as well .. for example a typical lil jon synth looks very deep sea blue with lil bits of white resonating off it ..(lol told u i was deep) synths are the most colorful and visual instuments to me ..well programmed and complex ones and analog sounding ones as well..... maybe thats why i usually put synths somewhere in my beats
rhodes .. very bright and resonating red ... almost pink sometimes too
organ - green and orange, with a rotary effect is like swirling of green and orange looks really cool in my head lol.. organs can be very visual as well and are another favorite of mine.

strings - anywhere from brown to bright yellow depending the type .. cellos and like intruments are usually dark brown... more higher pitched symphonic stuff is blue to yellow .. .. choir stuff is almost white, or cream in color.


just some examples of what im yalking about .... honestly i think the visual aspect helps my mixing out .. when my mix is off .. the picture doesnt look right lol ... too much of one color or not enough etc... .. deep shit lol ... haha after reading my post i feeel like i should be in a straight-jacket
 

LDB

Banned
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 73
deep shit lol ... haha after reading my post i feeel like i should be in a straight-jacket

hmmmm....You're a "freak of nature". I may need to make a trip up North, capture your azz and bring u back down south and employ your super natural skills in a Fair or Circus....lmao

ESPECIALLY IF THIS MUSIC THING DON'T WORK OUT! I'LL NEED ANOTHER SOURCE OF INCOME!
 
I dont "see" music as colours but I very much feel it, it stirs my emotions, and sparks images(movie style) of the music.
Like scenes from a movie, an event. I also have memories linked very much to certain songs, some songs remind me of times long past. But it doesnt make me see colours or smell smells etc.
 

Guevara

BETTER THAN YESTERDAY
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 34
for me ... bass - black (agreed)
drums .. snares, varying shades of brown .. claps are more white or grayish .. hh are a brighter white, kicks are black and verk dark gray
piano - red -to very dark red almost brown.. depending on the type of piano
horns - brown,gold,
guitar - brown to red .... acoustic is brown... electric are more reddish brown or orange and sometimes very red
synths .. vary in color depending on the octave and the type of synth... anywhere from almost black to bright red or pink .... i have a similar "rainbow effect" sometimes as well .. for example a typical lil jon synth looks very deep sea blue with lil bits of white resonating off it ..(lol told u i was deep) synths are the most colorful and visual instuments to me ..well programmed and complex ones and analog sounding ones as well..... maybe thats why i usually put synths somewhere in my beats
rhodes .. very bright and resonating red ... almost pink sometimes too
organ - green and orange, with a rotary effect is like swirling of green and orange looks really cool in my head lol.. organs can be very visual as well and are another favorite of mine.

strings - anywhere from brown to bright yellow depending the type .. cellos and like intruments are usually dark brown... more higher pitched symphonic stuff is blue to yellow .. .. choir stuff is almost white, or cream in color.


just some examples of what im yalking about .... honestly i think the visual aspect helps my mixing out .. when my mix is off .. the picture doesnt look right lol ... too much of one color or not enough etc... .. deep shit lol ... haha after reading my post i feeel like i should be in a straight-jacket

By definition WHITE is the absence of color therefor White is not a color ASH....lol
nah im fuckin wit u but i do see HI HATS as more silverish and Crashes/Cymbals are like that TV static.
Some colors tend to overlap like KICKs are black (BASS) and strings i tend to see as pastel, it depends on how theyre used if its a smooth string its like pinkis but if its a hats its FIRE red/orange
i agree wit the ORGAN expcept i would add purple/teal combo
PIANOS are black and white because i see keys when i hear pianos

im a GRAF head and i love art and since music is art its easier for me to put my pieces together. its like mixing chemicals, somebody should make a physics chart of all this shit.
MUSICAL ELEMENTS

This thread is gonna confuse or help a lot of people.
 

classic

I am proud to be southern
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 90
yea man syn is crazy and very personal.. i have it mildly...

Higher pitched notes, lighter sounds piano's and horns tend to be different shades of green , Drums are black and white..Again its hard for me to pinpoint becasue i only hear it with certain songs.. its not stable......

My girl on the other hand have servre syntesthia... she can literally taste and smell my beats and and hear colours.... its nuts

class...
 

Guevara

BETTER THAN YESTERDAY
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 34
If U Go On Youtube And Watch The "well Thought Out Twinkles" Video By Silversun Pickups U Can See This Theory In Action. I Tried To Embed It But I Guess Im Not That Nerdy...somebody Do It For Me

Whoever Directed This Video Probably Had The Same Theory On Him Mind...great Song By The Way...album Is Dope Too.
 
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