Biaural beats are a way to relax or amp your brain with sound. You need a headset or some earbuds, a quiet place to lie down, and a plan to do absolutely nothing while you're listening to them.
The music is played at two different frequencies. If you're a stringed instrument musician you may recognize the way the sound is made. As you are tuning your strings when they start getting close to the same vibration you can hear the ringing as the instrument is out of tune. A finely trained ear or an easily purchased app brings the two notes to the exact frequency so the ringing of the two strings out of sync is inaudible. In biaural beats the whole point is to make that ringing happen and do it at a specific frequency.
The process of what you're doing is called entrainment. These sounds maintain a constant range and as you relax/meditate to them they will pull your brain into that wavelength.
There are 5 main ranges that one targets when they are purposely creating the different frequencies and they each correlate to a different state of mind.
Gamma, 30-50 Hz- Wanna fake it like a Tibetan monk? If you're aiming for Nirvana then this range is for you. While most humans won't reach this level of frequency it's thought of as a state of heightened awareness reserved for reiki masters and qi gong experts. Maybe you haven't trained your brain to get here the standard way, but for some people this type of music can help them touch a higher level of consciousness filled with love and harmony.
Beta, 14-30 Hz- The Betas are your normal consciousness. When you're awake and moving and stressed and working you're probably emitting Betas. If you're feeling extremely lathargic and have to get to people land this might be a good fit. Mostly though the songs start here to start entraining your brain to a controlled frequency and then they move them into the other bands.
Alpha, 8-14 Hz Looking for focus? Want to be in the zone? Have a paper that you have to crank out by 8am tomorrow and need the focus to do it? Look no further because Alpha waves have you covered. These suckers get you focused, intent, and ready to work.
Theta, 4-8 Hz- When you're actively dreaming your brain is in the Theta range. If you are short a half gram of DMT and aren't interested in schedule 1s you may consider sending your brain down this roller coaster. You may experience lucid dreams or just go on a serious day dream. If you're looking for a tough solution, getting over writers block, or accessing your creative side these are the sounds for you.
Delta, 0.1-4 Hz- These are the slowest of the series. Your brain gives off Delta waves when you're sleeping. So going through the process of listening to Biaural Beats at this calm you down like a good dose of downers. It's a good way to sleep, to relax, and to enter deep space.
There are lots of places on the web to dig this music up. If you're feeling stuck in life here's a quick way to get a boost!
With in a month of using Biaural Beats, (this was 10 years ago) I received a great job offer, and in the same month got a $25k a year raise. I think the events were related, my brain was working at top level!
I've dabbled in this before. I know them as binaural beats though, probably the same. Definitely helps me sleep, but unfortunately they don't do much for me in terms of changing my mood. Definitely a good relaxer though. There are even some youtube videos that use binaural beats to change negative thought patterns and break bad habits. No idea if they work, but I'd love it if they did.
same thing I think.