A NEW wellness music app that plants trees all over the world while you listen will be launching this summer.

The Sound Reserve is a music start-up based in Banbury that has created an app full of ambient sounds gathered from around the world to help people sleep, concentrate, and relax.

Co-founder Chris Peabody used his experience in the music industry to spot a gap in the market and create the unique wellness app. He wanted to create soundscapes of a good quality and tell the listeners where the sounds came from to help people meditate and fall asleep.

Oxford Mail: The Sound Reserve app- Woman alone in nature listening to music with headphones

Each sound within the app has a story behind it, with recordings mastered at the famous Abbey Road studios with the help of musicians.

Some of the sounds featured have been collected from as far afield as South America, another in Antarctica and others closer to home - with a team member recording noises from within the UK's national parks.

Mr Peabody said: "We have a sound recordist in South America, and he records in the Atlantic Forrest next to the Amazon. He is actually a blind sound recordist, so he goes into the jungle every day with his dog recording these incredible soundscapes and he can name close to 3,000 birdsongs by ear."

He added: “People who listen to our catalogue know that they are going to get good stuff. They can picture exactly where that microphone is placed, they know where it was and where it was recorded. It is a real mindfulness exercise to put yourself in this new environment and you can fully immerse yourself, which I think is lovely.”

Oxford Mail: The Sound reserve co-founder Chris Peabody. Picture: Barbara Asboth

Mr Peabody explained the app not only has the aim of helping people relax, but also to help plant trees through its connections to a tree planting charity. The Sound Reserve music app will notify listeners with how many trees their listening has helped to plant. 

The app is free for people who have a Spotify or Apple Music account and the soundscapes can be accessed on Spotify. However, to get the full story behind each soundscape listeners will need to download The Sound Reserve app. 

The music app also has features such as a sleep programme to help people fall asleep and stay asleep with sounds such as rainfall or white noise. The app works with individual sleep cycles and wakes listeners up with gentle birdsong instead of the loud buzzing of a traditional alarm. 

The start-up is expanding rapidly. They’ve recently opened an office in Banbury with 10 employees, all hired from the local area. 

Mr Peabody said: "We are a young and creative team, and the next few years of business are looking extremely exciting. Oxfordshire is the perfect place for a company like ours, with the Cotswolds on our doorstep and an incredible pool of talented people to work with."

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