Thursday, October 27, 2016

The Hufflepuff Common Room Is My Jam

I may be the last one on the bandwagon here, but have you guys heard of Ambient Mixer? It's a website that allows users to create and listen to custom "audio atmospheres," like summer storms, creepy castles, etc.

Except here's the thing: the fans have invaded, and created a nirvana of geeky soundscapes like the Hogwarts common rooms, the Winchesters' car, Sherlock's apartment, etc.

Can we pause to Kermit flail a moment, please?

[ALL THE FLAILS]

I confess I haven't explored too much, because once I found the Hogwarts common rooms (thanks, FoE!) I pretty much parked it right there.



I mostly hang out in Hufflepuff, with regular forays into Gryffindor, and the occasional visit to Slytherin. (Which is an accurate breakdown of my House tendencies, so make of that what you will.)

The best thing - other than this being completely free to stream on your computer - is you can customize each atmosphere with easy-to-use sliders:

So if the footsteps or page turning or whatever is too loud or too often, you can change that, or turn it off completely. (I like to tweak each one so there's nothing too jarring or repetitive.)

I keep these playing in the background while I work. It's a step above white noise, but not as distracting as music. In other words: PERFECTION.

Now, go! Browse! Listen! I think I might grab some headphones next, since the directional sounds are super cool already, just on my mini stereo speakers. (I'm listening to Captains' Hook Quarters right now, and it's ocean wavey goodness.) Then tell me what your favorites are in the comments!


***

Oh, but before you go, let's announce some art winners:

The winner of "Discord With A Q" is Jeanna Hensley
The winner of Beauty & the Beast is Jennifer Suchman
And my wild card winner is Katie with the blog Katie & Kevin Get Married!

Congrats, you three, and please e-mail me your mailing addresses!

31 comments:

  1. Oh, this is really delightful! Have you seen the cat purr simulator? https://mynoise.net/NoiseMachines/catPurrNoiseGenerator.php
    It's oddly soothing.

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  2. OMG, this just changed the course of my entire day. I was having such a bad morning, but reading your post, and going to the Ambient Mixer site, seemed to hit a reset button. I put on the "Supernatural" one, and my heart rate slowed immediately. Thanks, Jen, truly.

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  3. if you like that, you might also like Tabletop Audio's Soundpad. Similar concept with WAY more sounds to play with, and lots of themes. http://tabletopaudio.com/soundpad.html

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  4. I just found there is also a free iPhone app. It's not perfect, but I'm absolutely loving hanging out in the Hufflepuff Room as I finish work today!

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  5. I don't remember anyone visiting the Hufflepuff Common Room in the books or movies. Did I forget?

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    1. If I remember correctly from pottermores page on hufflepuff, Rowling said that she wanted Harry to visit all the common rooms, but could never find a reason for him to go to hufflepuffs.
      It is also the only one with a defense system against intruders
      (Sorry overexited hufflepuff got loose)^^

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    2. Thanks :) I'll have to check that out!

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  6. I love the Ravenclaw Common Room for reading. I put on my headphones, curl up in my chair, and disappear into Hogwarts. I randomly try other "worlds" but always return to Ravenclaw.

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  7. This post has made me forget everything I was going to do today! I browsed around in Ambient Mixer and found that there was Poseidon's Cabin from Percy Jackson and there weren't any others so I just used up pretty much my whole day first signing up and then making a bunch of other cabins. (I'm flambooisland over there now)

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  8. Oooo! I found 'In Rivendell' and it's just lovely.

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  9. Oh my god. This is amazing. Hufflepuff Common room is *fantastic.*

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  10. I love the "At Home with Peggy Carter" one.

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  11. Oh, thank you for this. I'm not sure why I needed it so much tonight, but I really, really did.

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  12. I love this! Hufflepuff Common Room is the perfect mix of sounds for me. Love it.

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  13. I am excited to try this website, I just discovered that I enjoy ASMR (if you havent tried or experienced this just youtube it). I love that certain everyday sounds can basically massage my brain/ears/neck and send shivers down my spine, its so relaxing. It really made me realize why I freak out so much when my children get really loud with their fighting.....I am extremely sensitive to different sounds, I either REALLY love them or REALLY hate them.

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    2. I just left a comment about this site sounding like it's a bit ASMR without seeing your comment.

      Oh man, I love those videos, DonnaASMR is my favorite.

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  14. AAAAAHHHH!!!! I finally won!!! 😃😃

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  15. Thank you so much! I'm finishing my dissertation, and this just made me 1000% calmer.

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  16. I've never heard of this but it sounds cool. With the headphones on it seems like it might be a little bit ASMR which I'm always down with.

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  17. This is fabulous! Thank you for sharing this! I just took a car ride with the Winchesters to a D&D Tavern for lunch, then off to spend a rainy afternoon in Sherlock's apartment for some research. Super huge squee.

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  18. Wonderful, thank you so much for sharing this! It will make my work so much less frenetic :-)

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  19. I had no idea this existed - so cool! Totally going to use it while I process photos this weekend. Music tends to distract me a bit *too* much when I have to sing along. And thanks to all the commenters for their recommendations! :)

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  20. Oh my gosh, this website is perfect for my Halloween display! I knew I wanted the ambient sound of a cauldron bubbling, but I left it too long and knew I wouldn't be able to create something from scratch. Halloween, sorted!

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  21. I just downloaded the app to my phone and started scrolling. I haven't listened to it, but there's a 'Sleeping Next To Dean [Winchester]' atmosphere! HA! I'm guessing there's lots of sleep-talking involving pie and the Impala, Dean's true loves. There's also Tom Bombadil's House and D&D Cave Background. So many I want to try. Thanks for sharing.

    -Just Andrea

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  22. I've used a similar app - Relax and Sleep - to help manage my tinnitus, but this sounds like a lot more fun.

    Although it's hard to beat Rocking Chair+purring cat+fireplace+thunderstorm+crickets.

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  23. I took out the pub noise, and changed the frequency of the page turning, and then it was purrr-fect! This may be my new favorite sleep sound website.

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  24. Ravenclaw Common Room is amazing. The Perfect Storm is cool too. Thanks for sharing!

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  25. That cat purr... is there any better sound? I think not!!

    You have some of the best links! I swear, we are best friends in an alternate dimension.

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  26. You've made an office full of proofreaders very happy with this. Thanks for sharing it!

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