This one was suggested by Tembo. Read the rest of the series here.

Most dungeons have some sort of background music. It helps to cover up the sound of other people talking, and it can also set the mood. I have a spanking music playlist that I run when I have house parties; every dungeon I’ve been to has music playing of some sort. Sometimes it’s loud; sometimes it’s not. And sometimes it can be very distracting, like a recent dungeon trip I had during the holiday season where they were playing holiday parody/satire/humor songs the entire time. It’s not easy to spank someone to the strains of Adam Sandler’s Hanukkah song.

The last two times I’ve used my spanking bench (the one I keep in my house), Partner 1 has asked for musical accompaniment, which is easy enough; I use the playlist “Left Brain, Right Beat” on YouTube Music (since I have a subscription and don’t have to worry about commercials). I put it on shuffle so I don’t have the same music playing in the same order every time. It would bother me. Though I suppose I could do what some other BDSMers I know do and build a playlist that grows to a crescendo as the scene goes on; the problem is that not everyone advances in a scene in the same way, and not everyone scenes the same way every time.

It’s important, however, that your dungeon’s music not be too loud. Sometimes at dungeons I can’t hear my play partner and that means it’s hard for me to tell exactly what they’re feeling — they aren’t all vocal, but most of them are in some way. Plus, they need to be able to hear me when I talk to them. I find ways around it, but it can still be quite annoying. If you’re in a dungeon with loud music, it helps to give a nonverbal safeword (this is good practice anyway); Partner 1 has an “emotional support toy” that she can hit me with if things get too intense, for example.

If you’re running a dungeon, be careful how loud you make the music. It can be extremely distracting, especially if it’s inappropriate. Also, make sure you shuffle the playlist and change it up every once in a while; 1763, for example, used to play the same music in the same order every time and you could set your watch by it. At least it was appropriate music.