#sound color synesthesia

[tookishcombeferre]

It’s finally done!

Squish, somehow, got into my paint and painted on us. So, I ended up having to do a few extra touch ups.

But, this is basically what the song “Better Me” looks like.

The guitar is pretty bright and has a lot of staccato to it. So lots of green that has a decent bit of texture to it.

(I wish I was painting with oil and not acrylic so you could see the brush strokes because it would make a difference. But, oil paint would melt off the cover of a book. So, acrylic it is because they basically dry like plastic … and I have two different sealing sprays for acrylic paint.)

Also, it took me a hot minute to find the right brush to texture things the way I wanted to because the song is actually a little more “leafy” than the middle of the picture would tell you. (The bit around the swirl.)

I finally got the pattern correct by the bottom right hand corner when I found a better brush for what I was trying to do.

But, yeah. Very staccato so a lot of visible strokes. But, kinda floral and leafy. :)

Overall, I’m chuffed.

This is my first go at trying to take pattern in my head to pattern on page and Squish was basically hanging off one of my arms while I was doing part of it.

So, yeah! I’m pleased.

But, I’m hoping for more music like this in the new show.

It’s so happy, and bright, and delightful.

I also never realized like how Michael Crawford as that badger in Once Upon a Forest-like Cedric sounds in this song until I started painting it and was like … “Wait, wait, wait …. that color scheme … I’ve seen that … NO!”

But, the most fascinating find was that there are a couple of moments when something must have been done to edit the sound of the guitar or add a kind of synth effect to the music around when Cedric gets ticked at the birds. Because, right around there, these fun little pops of pink and blue distortions show up that I’d never noticed really until I was actively focused on the backing track because I was trying to paint it.

So, yeah, I’m really hoping for more subtle and fun things like that.

But, I’m not too worried.

Sofia the First always has such banger songs. I know I’ll enjoy the new ones.

Seriously, they’re always so pretty. Visually and otherwise.

Cheers,

Pip

[staytrueblue]

i may be delusional but tell me this doesn’t give relationship with John Price

[synths-colours]

My music taste is based off what looks pretty rather than how it sounds.

[synths-colours]

Train Wreck by James Author

As seen by my synesthesia

Left, a 2d representation of 3d colours I see when I hear Train Wreck

Right, a charcoal drawing of a train about to wreck because the tracks are broken drawn over the painting in the left photo

[if-icarus-never-fell]

I practiced for my audition with music that was burgundy, but the track they made me sing to was a deep midnight blue.

[agayworthfightingfor]

may also have sound-color synesthesia (chromesthesia)

im listening to sugar we’re goin down and all i can think is how it almost matches my shirt

ive been thinking about this one for a while and every so often i’ll just get an experience that really suggests i have it.

[askasynesthete]

American Pie - Don McLean. Anonymous request.

(The file was too big to upload the audio--I had no idea American Pie was almost nine minutes long)

[askasynesthete]

Does synesthesia has any negative impacts?

Sensory overload, for sure. There are several circumstances under which people can experience sensory overload (such as PTSD, disorders on the autistic spectrum, fibromyalgia, GAD, and schizophrenia), but synesthesia is definitely one of them. I briefly mentioned it under the "FAQ" section but it happens when one or more senses experiences over-stimulation for the environment. It sort of feels like everything's happening all at once and you don't have any control over it, and even the littlest things will stimulate you. So you just... shut down, in a way.

I can't say how it feels under any other circumstances because I only have synesthesia, and in particular only one kind of synesthesia, but it's pretty bad considering it overstimulates two senses at the same time. Generally what I need when it happens is peace and quiet, and I avoid listening to music until it's over.

It's also a bit troublesome for achieving perfect pitch. When I listen to music normally, the colors sound... sharp, and mixed. They don't sound like their purest element, if that makes sense. So I have to tone music down half of a half-step, because then the colors sound purer. Unfortunately that means that the music is technically "flatter" than it should be. [In that case, when I sing I have to pitch it so that the colors purposely don't sound pure.]

I've read up on other negative effects, and this list does a good job of explaining ten of them.

Thanks so much for the question!