The idea of music in the sauna may be frowned upon by sauna traditionalists looking to preserve and/or restore the “forgotten sanctity of sauna.” Sauna is a sacred place. There is a Finnish saying that “one must behave in sauna as one would behave in church.”
Yet the church organ plays. There are many sauna enthusiasts who enjoy music as part of their sauna sessions. Sometimes it’s ambient downtempo or jazz. There’s the nod to Brian Eno’s “Music for Airports” with MFS – Music For Sauna & Osho Zen Tarot
Just as the sauna experience is best realized with a kick ass sauna stove and a well designed hot room, music in the sauna is best realized with a kick ass sound system and a well designed amplification system.
We celebrate the “amazing” sound quality and convenience of these wireless bluetooth cubes hitting the market, but there is no better sound than a hard wired sound system.
Because our voices have a fundamental frequency of 150-200 Hz, we build our sauna sound systems to work around this range. We mount speakers up high, just above ears when standing, to give us clear highs. And we tuck our subwoofers underneath the changing room bench to resonate the lows. In addition, we amplify our music with receivers that have equalizers. This way we can set the dials often in the shape of a soft smile: more on the low and high frequencies and less in the middles.
a sauna changing room equalizer set for more high and low frequencies. (I’d drop the mids even more).Like good heat, our music is rich and full, yet we can ask “who needs a beer?” without having to yell.
This design produces sound for our chill out sessions that complements how good we are feeling. Deep resonating base affects our core like a proper heat up – right into our bones. As we relax between sauna rounds, cool air helps close our pores, freshly clean rinsed, and we are helped along by high frequency treble notes rolling across our skin (as opposed to just more cowbell).
Turn it up. Feel the roll of the bass line and snap of the snare drum.
Sauna resonates deeper when we celebrate the benefits of embracing temperature extremes. Music in sauna, thanks to a kick ass subwoofer, resonates deeper when we celebrate the benefits of embracing sound frequency extremes.
Cool Down the Pace, Sauna Playlist:
- Time and Space, Thievery Corporation.
- Farewell Transmission, Kevin Morby.
- Feel it Still, Medisan Remix, Portugal the Man
- This House is on Fire, Dead Man Winter
- Soon Forward – Dub, Sly & Robbie
- Mr White, Khrunghbin
- Hokoyo, Orange Juice
- Clean Living, the War on Drugs
- Water Pumping, Johnny Osborn
- Alarm Dub, Jah Wobble
- Walking Lightly, Junip
- Lotus Flower, Radiohead
- Valium Skies, The Verve
- Ritual Union, Little Dragon
- Cool down the Pace, Gregory Isaacs
- Water no get Enemy, Edit, Fela Kuti
- Tenere taqqal, Tinariwen
- Ryokan Loyly Rituals, MFS- Music For Sauna