It’s been said and done, virtual reality have been discussed for countless perspectives for over a decade. With the rise of new platforms and musical forms, unprecedented tendencies have emerged through the social media traffic jam that make us wonder about what is virtual and what is real.

What is virtual reality? The Columbia Encyclopedia defines it as a computer-generated environment with and within which people can interact. Funny, I thought that this virtual dominance was drawing people further and further away from each other and from the world. We have to wonder, how much of this virtual existence is part of our reality and is reality focused only on what each individual perceives?

Some Buddhist gurus see reality as a connection to the supreme universe, which can explain why some of us see the same world in tremendously different ways. In other words, what is real to one individual can be fake to another. Here, reality can be seen as an entirely relative inclination for each individual human.

Drug consumers might argue the idea of their high spirit as the most genuine and tangible form of existence. It is true that some drugs, such as marijuana and ayahuasca, might trigger spiritual revelations, where one apparently understands the true nature of a universe that reveals the path towards greatness.

So in what way is all of this relevant to music nowadays?

Let’s Go Back to the Basics

Many unofficial online sources discuss matters related to the Solfeggio Frequencies phenomenon. The Solfeggio Frequencies are a series of 6 notes that were chosen, sometime in the medieval era, so that each note, in harmony, can trigger feelings of extreme body and soul elevation. It is believed that this notational system was prohibited by the Vatican when the church realized the greatness of its formula. Whether it is a pure invention of some extremely bored blogger or, as I like to describe it, a where-there’s-smoke-there’s-fire outbreak, it certainly merits further investigation by musicologists – and the Vatican.

The Absolutely Fabulous Tune

Are we looking for an absolute sound? Is there one sort of musical sound that makes the world and the universe collide in an everlasting harmony? Let me rephrase this; is there ONE real and authentic sound that will not only cancel out everything else, but represent the highest form of reality that we humans are looking for? Patrick Süsking’s Novel “Perfume: The Story of a Murderer” is a good example of this type of concept. If the Egyptians and Ben Whishaw discovered the ultimate heavenly perfume to reconcile mankind, then couldn’t the same mythic value be ascribed to the Solfeggio Frequencies? If a musical form can produce such effects on people, does this make us seem as drug addicts or simply individuals who discovered the genuine? French composer Hector Berlioz (1803-1869) developed the Treatise on Instrumentation in order to get the most of an orchestra through writing and conducting. Perhaps he was on a quest for an absolute orchestration that led to absolute perfection.

Music is My Cocaine…

Philosophers and musicologists all discuss the effects of music on an individual, hence the appearance of Musical Therapists – yes, it’s a profession. However, the outcome on each person remains rather different and unique in the sense that each one of us could react differently to a given sound/song. When one thinks of therapy, one might lean towards meditation. Here, a whole new world is exposed to us, especially on YouTube. Meditation music is currently at its peak and some of the tracks are designed in a way to produce a sense of peace and relaxation, where one can be transported to another dimension – or another sort of reality.

Most of the help-to-sleep meditation music consists of a simple repeated pattern, where tracks can last for as long as 10 hours. Impressive, I hear you say, but it’s mostly a copy-paste procedure on music creation platforms such as Logic and Pro Tools. For Osho, meditation is the most authentic state of existence through living-in-the-NOW and being conscious and vigilant. This is why meditation and its music are popular today; we humans apparently feel the need to touch base with our souls and the universe – with reality.

Music from Nothing

With the elaboration of music creation software, one mouse click can now create the next summer hit (OK, maybe not just one click). Since virtual creation on Logic X is still considered a tangible form of composition, how real can this digital world be? The soundwaves we are creating through VST (Virtual Studio Technology) is very much alive in a factory of digital evolution that we cannot necessarily see or touch. Yet, digital music is considered as a tangible and lively form especially when it comes to copyright and ownership issues. Just how much of the tangible is intangible still remains to be discovered.

A situation in life is always experienced differently from one individual to another. An argument between two women always has two points of view. The same applies to music virtual reality. Most of us see what is real as to what seems to be the closest to “normal” and to our comfort zone. Since “normal” is a man-made plan, there is nothing normal about normality.

Music to get high…

Now here is a new trend that deserves to be mentioned: Binaural beats. Many websites such as i-Doser offer HD music tracks that are so sophisticated and electronically so well designed that their sole purpose is to treat you. This “helps achieve a simulated mood or experience by improving meditation and chakra. Their binaural brainwave doses help you control all aspects of human emotion and mood.” Binaural beats are a combination of sine waves that are perceived to us humans in an altered reality of the brain. In this case, what is “real” is analyzed as an ear and brain interpretation. The combination of two pure-tone sine waves - in a mathematically designed form that I will be sparing you – makes the listener consciously hear a third tone, which is merely an auditory illusion. In this case, the reality of the sine wave combination is hence creating a secondary reality to the listener. This is why this science causes a sense of high that is similar to a drug intake.

Lions and Tigers and Bears

Since Sine waves rarely exist in nature and are mostly a man-made design, what is real to nature is different from what we think we are hearing. That leads me to mentioning other living creatures such as dogs, cats or whales. Would they be able to interpret a Binaural Beat just about the same way we would? All creatures hear sounds differently from one another, which makes us question the reality of the songs we listen to. Are we hearing the full scope or does it all depend on each song’s sampling rate? How much of this virtual music is actually being heard in its fully original form?

Oh, and what about Aliens?