The Sheffield Freezer

“Anyone noticed how nice the freezers sound in the eccy road co-op?” someone wrote on the Sheffield Reddit page in January. “It’s like all the fans have been carefully tuned to the calmest droning chord ever, it’s like being in an electrical gong bath.”
Earlier this week, another Redditor shared a video of the freezers in all their aural glory, later earning a huge second audience when reposted to X. A debate ensued. Was it tuned to C# major? Could you hear the opening of Nothing Compares 2 U somewhere in the electronic hum? “I think it’s developed a slight discordant edge over the last couple of months,” one Reddit user wrote. “It’s ageing like fine wine.”

And now, of course, we also have a 10 hour ambience video on Youtube….

[via the guardian]

Ambience Antarctica

Everyone knows that I’m only able to write books with arctic sounds in my headphones. Specifically, these sounds. So, for me, Ambient Antarctica, a website “for people in Antarctica, whether physically or otherwise” is a dream come true. They stream music, images and random trivia.

Occult Voices

UbuWeb hosts an incredible collection of Occult Voices, Paranormal Music, Recordings of Unseen Intelligences, Voices of Possessed Children, Xenoglossia, Electronic Voice Phenomena, Glossolalia, and Paranormal Singing (1905-2007).
No, really.

https://ubu.com/sound/occult.html

The Sonic Side of TikTok

“A Brief Sonic Ecological Survey of TikTok Meme Culture“, by Max Alper. A super interesting article on sound based memes on TikTok:

“All of the above styles of TikTok audio are made by users intentionally using top of the line social media tools somewhat incorrectly, at least according to the developers of the technology. Of course you’re not supposed to stick your earbud mic down your throat, just as you’re not supposed to scream at the top of your lungs through a fancy autotune filter or apply scotch tape directly to the grill of a condenser mic. Perhaps it’s by using these audio tools in unexpectedly “wrong” ways that young people continue to keep it fresh; the more extreme and unexpected the sound is, the more “based” it can be. I’ve been told that’s a good thing.”

Tree.fm

Tree.fm lets you tune into the sounds of different forests from around the world.

The sound of communication technologies

Jed Oelbaum and Oliver Noble have created “Long Distance Operator,” a remix that illustrates the evolution of communications technologies using samples of iconic sounds.

[via laughingsquid]

Sewing Machine Orchestra

Martin Messier 2

“Sewing machine orchestra is the first version of a performance created by Martin Messier. The basic sounds used in this performance consist entirely of the acoustic noises produced by 8 sewing machines, amplified by means of microcontacts and process by a computer.”

(Via TRIANGULATION BLOG)

Cathedral Scan

Blake Carrington turns Gothic cathedrals into sound:

“Groups of scanners filling the sonic spectrum may act in synch, forming a single harmonically-dense rhythm, or they may scan the plans at different speeds, resulting in complex polyrhythms. Each plan is treated as a modular score, with a distinct rhythm and timbre of its own. Also, by varying the speed and intensity of each scanning group, drone-like sounds may emerge based on the ‘resonant frequency’ of the black and white plan.”