How Did You Discover Ambient?

[Soft Note]

Technically, I probably first discovered ambient back in the 80’s on late night radio that played the likes of Brian Eno, Steve Roach, Steve Reich, Tangerine Dream, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and “old school” ambient and experimental stuff. And of course, Vangelis, especially the Bladerunner soundtrack. I was (and still am) a huge fan of the Cocteau Twins, and enjoyed the work they did with Harold Budd. But back then, I was more into the indie/alternative post-punk sound (which I still love!). It wasn’t until I was in the middle of my music production program around 2014 or so that I first heard Solar Fields, and was blown away! I discovered the Mirror’s Edge soundtrack and his Movements album, and that totally opened a new door for me, as I fell in love with the genre and started to discover and explore other ambient/psybient artists and music, like Carbon Based Lifeforms, Koan, Entheogenic, Stellardrone, etc. I couldn’t believe people were making music like this – it was similar to how I felt when I first heard the Cocteau Twins or Dead Can Dance back in the 80’s. Shortly thereafter, I made the decision that ambient/psybient/psychill was the kind of music I wanted to create.

Still thinking that Mirror's Edge OST is one of his best works. Love it!

[Blisswave]

Technically, I probably first discovered ambient back in the 80’s on late night radio that played the likes of Brian Eno, Steve Roach, Steve Reich, Tangerine Dream, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and “old school” ambient and experimental stuff. And of course, Vangelis, especially the Bladerunner soundtrack. I was (and still am) a huge fan of the Cocteau Twins, and enjoyed the work they did with Harold Budd. But back then, I was more into the indie/alternative post-punk sound (which I still love!). It wasn’t until I was in the middle of my music production program around 2014 or so that I first heard Solar Fields, and was blown away! I discovered the Mirror’s Edge soundtrack and his Movements album, and that totally opened a new door for me, as I fell in love with the genre and started to discover and explore other ambient/psybient artists and music, like Carbon Based Lifeforms, Koan, Entheogenic, Stellardrone, etc. I couldn’t believe people were making music like this – it was similar to how I felt when I first heard the Cocteau Twins or Dead Can Dance back in the 80’s. Shortly thereafter, I made the decision that ambient/psybient/psychill was the kind of music I wanted to create.

[ReflectiveHaze]

My wife a few years ago started teaching yoga, and in her classes, I started hearing ambient style music for the first time. Really liked it, and started trying to figure out how to write/record/mix/master ambient as a "bedroom producer" with whatever gear I had (which was not much!). Still trying to figure out what style to work on...more meditative, or more like S1gnsOfL1fe music with rhythm elements mixed in with the evolving pads.

[UrSoakingInIt]

Growing up, I was primarily a rocker. I was aware of Brian Eno and other synth masters but I was dismissive of them. Who can afford a $10K synth? That HAD to be a snob! Fast forward to last year when I had a long bout of ennui. I'd stopped writing short stories and poems, and video games didn't have the same charm. I thought about writing and producing country and dance music, but because I live in a building where I can't do continued singing, I opted to go the silent route. I started writing uptempo tracks then eventually found I preferred them slow. That's when I started delving into all things ambient, from Carbon Based Lifeforms to Tangerine Dream to Synphaera. The genre seems to suit me well. I now listen to it all the time.

[Seva Randeep]

When I was young, I volunteered at a youth center. There I was a DJ, and a bartender. While I was playing records I discovered Gandalf between the records. Those plates belonged to the administrator of the center. I thought the records were fantastic and was allowed to buy them.

At school I told about Gandalf and a teacher asked if I would record those records on a cassette for him. I would then get music back from him. When I had done that, I got back from him on cassette Time Wind by Klaus Schulze. I didn't think it was very good at first, because I was used to Gandalf. But later I bought Time Wind in a second-hand record store. At that point I started to appreciate ambient, although I didn't realize it was ambient. I just called it synthesizer music :-)

[__aflb__]

I first got into Ambient through the works of Laraaji and Boards of Canada. One day, as I was writing a piece on the use of manifestos in music-making, I read about Brian Eno and wrote about him. I then started to experience panic attacks and found myself listening to ambient music on a daily basis to help cope with the stress. I soon started to work on my own ambient music. Before that, I had listened to some ambient-ish tracks by the likes of Aphex Twin, Para One.

[Moonset_Music]

I had little run-ins with ambient here and there, but the first clear exposure I had to it was Brian Eno's Ambient 4: On Land. It's still one of my favorite albums.

[SEMI WORLD]

I think my first ambient experience is Diablo game soundtrack.

yea that one had a cool atmosphere too, never played myself but watched a friend play for hours i have a vague memory...

[Soft Note]

I think my first ambient experience is Diablo game soundtrack.

[SEMI WORLD]

I discovered ambient when I was a teenager listening to early Nine Inch Nails. Some of their songs have a rich atmospheric texture. The sad menacing wind in Hurt. The chord progressions in A Warm Place. The soundtrack they did for Quake. I don’t really listen to them anymore, but I know they have some pretty cool newer ambient stuff

Quake soundtrack was an insane experience growing up as a teen

[SEMI WORLD]

I was always gravitated towards ambient like parts in songs or albums, soundscapes, atmospheric sounds in movies, movie soundtracks and electronic music that had ambient elements like aphex twin, some of the ninja tune and warp stuff etc. Then at some point in my teens i stumbled upon brian eno i think through some movie that featured his music, and then i found marsen jules and at the same time started finding and checking out movie composers that had ambient stuff out. As mentioned by many others, NIN was a band i was digging too, deftones had some cool textures on their white pony album, it was a huge record for me as a teen. Listened a lot of all kinds of rap music that sometimes had obscure samples that led to find more interesting and weird ambient -like music etc. I was just always trying to find "ambient" music without realizing it's an actual scene and that there's actually a lot of people doing it. I just always found that sound can be "music" to me in so many ways more than in a traditional western way. This all was just before the internet hit and very shortly after. A really cool time growing up

[Limerent]

I remember reading listology like a decade ago. It was a site where you could make top/favorite or greatest ever -lists. At first I didn't really care much, so I got into ambient probably around 4 years ago

[SunGong]

I discovered ambient when I was a teenager listening to early Nine Inch Nails. Some of their songs have a rich atmospheric texture. The sad menacing wind in Hurt. The chord progressions in A Warm Place. The soundtrack they did for Quake. I don’t really listen to them anymore, but I know they have some pretty cool newer ambient stuff

I always bought CDs from FYE when I was a kid, whenever we would visit a bigger town with a mall. The only record I ever saw the genre ambient printed on it there was a NIN CD. I enjoy Trent's take on industrial but don't really find his later ambient stuff that inspiring. Alessandro Cortini makes some great music though.

[BBAALLII]

I discovered ambient when I was a teenager listening to early Nine Inch Nails. Some of their songs have a rich atmospheric texture. The sad menacing wind in Hurt. The chord progressions in A Warm Place. The soundtrack they did for Quake. I don’t really listen to them anymore, but I know they have some pretty cool newer ambient stuff

[martingoldmann]

Growing up with hard rock I also listened to records with synths and some ambient elements - mainly bands from Germany like Grobschnitt, Jane, Eloy. I am still impressed by Eberhard Schoener's work with the album Video Magic.

In the early 2000s I did a lot of coding for our own content management system and my collegue recommended Drone Zone on Soma FM. That was my real first contact. (I am not a good programmer but there weren't that many CMS around in the early 2000s so we did have to program our own system for publishing...)