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Gentle Lullaby
Gentle Lullaby shimmers. Where the other loops here hold still, this one glimmers and swells, with a brightness at the top that none of its neighbours have. It sits close to the middle rather than spreading wide, so it loses nothing on a phone speaker. Closer to a piece of music than to a drone.
Ready to play
Stack this under rain or a fire, keep the blend, and play it with your screen off. Slo, on iOS, Android and Mac.
Built from deliberate detuning
The notes are not clean. Three of them sit within a semitone of each other in one place, three more do the same a little higher, and a couple of clearer tones float above. Stacking near-identical pitches like that is how a chorus effect is built, and it is why the pad shimmers instead of holding still. Nothing here is out of tune by accident.
It carries far more treble than anything else in this group, and it swells noticeably rather than lying flat. Those two things together are why it reads as music playing in a room rather than as air in one.
Who it suits
Brightness and movement are exactly what you want if a pad is meant to be listened to and exactly what you do not want if it is meant to be ignored. This one holds up as something playing while you are in the room and works less well as a background you forget about. For that, Sleep Depth or Cosmic Drift disappear far more readily.
Being close to mono, it will not spread across headphones the way the wider loops do, and it also loses nothing on a single phone speaker. Moonlight Lullaby is the nearest thing on the site with an actual melodic line if you want a tune rather than a texture. The Gentle Lullaby and rain blend in the free sound mixer softens the top end.
Frequently asked questions
Why does Gentle Lullaby sound shimmery?
It stacks near-identical pitches, three of them in one place and three a little higher. That deliberate detuning is what produces the shimmer.
Is it suitable for a baby?
This site makes no claims about sound and infants. If you are considering audio in a nursery, keep the volume low and raise it with your paediatrician.
Does it need headphones?
No. It sits close to mono, so a single speaker loses almost nothing.
How long is the loop?
Thirty-one seconds, which makes it the only file in this group that does not run to a round 32.