"One night, while working on a film score for the avant-garde artists Tony Conrad and Beverly Grant, [Irv] Teibel found himself on Brighton Beach, recording the sound of the crashing waves."

"He took these tapes home and began listening to them obsessively, as though they were the most irresistible pop song ever written. Teibel eventually left Conrad and Grant’s project, returned to the beach, and recorded hundreds of more hours for himself. He wanted to capture the sound of the 'perfect' ocean. In 1969, Teibel started his own company and began releasing 'Environments,' a series of 'natural sound' recordings. Each side of an LP was devoted to a setting: the 'ultimate' seashore, a warm summer night in the backwoods of eastern Pennsylvania, a Caribbean lagoon, the sound of streams and insects, birds fluttering and chirping at the Bronx Zoo, a Central Park 'be-in.' 'Environments,' which was eventually distributed by Atlantic Records, was a surprise hit. The series dovetailed nicely with the sensibility of the late sixties and seventies...."

Writes Hua Hsu at the New Yorker in "The Magic of 'Environments,' a Set of Sound Recordings That Made Me Pay Attention." He's listening now that you can get the entire series in the form of an app — here, at $2.99. But to actually buy one of these record albums... it didn't seem to make sense "just to listen to crickets." And yet, I have at least 3 "Environments" albums — all purchased in the 1970s. Sometimes you just want some sound texture around you — beautiful, emotive sound that is not music.