The History of 8D Music
Is it just a social media trend or could 8D music be the future of audio? This popular editing technique has been gaining fans over the last few years who say so-called 8D music helps them relax and unwind, and even feel like they’re experiencing live music.
The “D” stands for “dimensional,” because 8D music is designed to sound as if it’s physically surrounding the listener, coming from all angles. Of course, there’s really no such thing. 8D music is made from a standard stereo audio file, mixed with artificial echoes to make your brain think you’re hearing parts of the sound from different directions. The effect only works when you’re listening through headphones. It’s the audio equivalent of a painting that looks like it has depth, tricking your eye into seeing three dimensions on a flat surface.
Universal Production Music’s catalog is full of innovative audio across genres. Learn more about our licensing solutions to see how we can enhance your media projects on any budget. Here’s some insight on the evolution of 8D music:
Audio and Space
People have been able to record audio since the mid-nineteenth century, but the origins of 8D music can be traced to the invention of stereo sound in the early 1930s. Audio engineer Alan Blumlein was watching a relatively cutting-edge “talkie” film and was frustrated that all of the dialogue of each character could only be heard from one of two loudspeakers at a time. Humans have two ears, but they work in tandem, not separately. Blumlein realized that sound needed to come from both loudspeakers to recreate a true-to-life sound field effect. He developed binaural audio, now known as stereo.
Blumlein did not invent the idea of “binaural beats,” however – that’s much older. Before audio recording was developed, schoolteacher Heinrich Wilhelm Dove experimented by setting up two separate listening tubes – early headphones – to someone’s ears and using tuning forks to send slightly different frequencies to each ear, which the brain would then process as a single, unique frequency. Binaural beats’ effects on the brain have been studied extensively since the 1970s and binaural beat tracks have been popular for focusing for a long time.
8D music is the latest leap in audio recording and editing, getting people closer to hearing recorded audio live in the room with them. In fact, 8D audio is so good at faking spatial depth, it can make people feel as if they’re listening to hyperreal audio.
Your Brain on 8D Music
Several small studies over the past 20 years have found evidence that listening to binaural beats reduces anxiety and improves mood, cognition, and performance.
While there haven’t been any peer-reviewed studies about the newer genre of 8D music, it isn’t structurally different from binaural sound, and we can infer that the benefits would be the same.
Social media is filled with anecdotal evidence of 8D music’s positive effects for people with ADHD and other neurodivergence. The 8D focus genre has really taken off on short-form video sites like TikTok and Instagram Reels, shared by neurodivergent people who say it helps them zone in and destress.
The spatial effects of 8D music can be cozy, making the listener feel like they’re being wrapped in soothing sound. This deep immersion might help combat the sensory overload that distracts people with neurodivergence.
New Frontiers of Sound
8D music isn’t exclusively used for meditative de-stressing. A quick search on YouTube will bring you 8D edits of almost any pop song. Fans say the 8D mixing makes them feel as if they’re hearing their favorite artists live, as if they were in the room with them.
Just like Alan Blumlein sought realism at his local movie theater in the 1930s, consumers today want to feel as close to the art as they can be. Music is a key ingredient for this connection. Register to find your sound with Universal Production Music and search our extensive library to discover atmospheric background music for your next media project.