1) Garbage trucks
2) Hoobastank
3) A crackling fireplace

Listening to one of these things will make your afternoon more pleasant.

It’s not 1). And definitely not 2). Oh God no.

So that leaves us with 3). And an entire website full of other highly pleasing sounds...

Close your eyes, take a deep breath and fully embrace A Soft Murmur, an extremely simple website that lets you mix soothing background noises, online now.

This is like having a mixing console for ambient sound. And you’ve got all the greatest hits. Rain outside your window. Birds singing in an unseen tree. Wind howling in the distance. Golden oldies, for sure.

How this works: just slide a white circle back and forth to individually adjust the volume of each sound. So you can find your own perfect auditory blend. Add a little birdsong to a static transmission. Garnish your fireplace with a clap of thunder. Play around till you’re hearing an oceanfront coffee shop full of crickets in a thunderstorm.

Which is probably not relaxing at all.