The story behind Third Ear Audio
Third Ear Audio is the downtempo electronic project of Nick Barber (Doof) and Celli Firmi (Earthling). The pair met through Ibiza’s trance scene in the mid-1990s and played DJ sets together before sharing a studio. While working on dance music around the Vatos Locos period they also produced slower material drawing on chill-out, dub, big beat, rock and live instrumentation.
Those recordings became the self-titled Third Ear Audio album, released in 2009. Third Ear Audio captures the chill-out side of two early Psytrance musicians and shows how the Ibiza scene’s collaborative network extended beyond trance tempos.
The project’s dedicated catalogue centres on the 2009 album; later activity is unclear. Directly related through personnel to Doof, Earthling and Vatos Locos, but has its own downtempo releases and identity.
Origins of Third Ear Audio
Formed by Nick Barber and Celli Firmi after their mid-1990s meeting in Ibiza and later shared studio work.
The early years
The pair first played together as DJs and then developed collaborative studio material alongside their Vatos Locos work.
How the career developed
Their downtempo sessions were assembled into the self-titled Third Ear Audio album, finally released in 2009 after earlier label plans fell through.
Third Ear Audio sound
Psychedelic downtempo and chill-out drawing on dub, electronica, big beat, rock and live instruments instead of functioning as a conventional dancefloor Psytrance project.
Place in psytrance history
Third Ear Audio captures the chill-out side of two early Psytrance musicians and shows how the Ibiza scene’s collaborative network extended beyond trance tempos.
Connections and influence
Directly related through personnel to Doof, Earthling and Vatos Locos, but has its own downtempo releases and identity.
Third Ear Audio today
The project’s dedicated catalogue centres on the 2009 album; later activity is unclear.
Selected releases in the archive
Related projects and collaborations
Artists with overlapping styles
Ajja
Swiss producer, musician and visual artist whose Psytrance work combines elastic groove, detailed psychedelic sound design and a strong live-instrument sensibility.
Cosmosis
Bill Halsey’s British psychedelic project, rooted in classic Goa Trance but shaped by a guitarist’s feel for funk, phrasing and live musicianship.
Illuminus
Swedish psychedelic dub and ambient duo of Hux Flux producer Dennis Tapper and flutist/producer Magnus Holte.
Kalya Scintilla
Yaegon Lamagaia’s organic psychedelic electronic project, blending world-influenced bass, downtempo, psychill and detailed sound design.
Noor
Ofer Dikovsky’s eclectic psychedelic electronic project, blending trance, downtempo, psychill and cross-cultural musical ideas.
Shpongle
Simon Posford and Raja Ram’s psychedelic electronic collaboration, a defining project in Psybient and psychedelic downtempo whose live formats continue in 2026.