Traditional / experimental practice
The Sound of the Universe · Mapping a Galaxy
The Hubble Space Telescope's image of the Whirlpool Galaxy (M51) is scanned slowly from left to right: the brightness of the image's top, middle and bottom strips was turned into the loudness of three tones (top strip high, bottom strip low). The sounds swell as the spiral arms and the bright core pass and fade in dark space. The image is a processed colour photograph; this is an image scan, not a measurement. This is a sonification, not a recording from space: data or measured numbers were turned into sound with a stated mapping. There is no claim of any effect.
Liner notes
- Body
- Cluster drone ×3 · 110 Hz
- What do you hear?
- tonal · continuous · narrow
How is this sound made?
- Cluster drone−32 dB
Cluster drone · A2 (440 Hz tuning), 1 oscillators
- Cluster drone−32 dB
Cluster drone · A2 (440 Hz tuning), 1 oscillators
- Cluster drone−32 dB
Cluster drone · A2 (440 Hz tuning), 1 oscillators
- Reverb: hall, 22% mix
In the room you can listen to each layer on its own, change its settings and save it as your own recipe.
Sound is generated on this device in real time; no files are downloaded from a server. There is a 8 s fade-in at the start and a 0 min fade-out at the end.
Compare with another sound
Hear both at the same loudness; drag the slider to the middle and they blend.
These two sounds can't share one recipe (different tuning or effects): listen to the samples one after the other.
What do we know, what don't we know?
S · Soundscape, no claim
No health or mental-effect claim at all; it is simply a soundscape.
This session isn't linked to any claim of effect.
A session's level is the weakest of its linked claims; it is never raised by a strong but unrelated claim.
Its neighbours on the map
The five sounds closest to this one by measured sound features.
- 1The Sound of the Universe · The Sun's PulseWarm · steady · no melodyBoth tone and drone · both steady · same goal: explore
- 2Solfeggio Path · Layers of TimbreBright · steady · no melodyBoth tone and drone · both steady · same goal: explore
- 3The Sound of the Universe · A Solar FlareDark · steady · no melodyBoth tone and drone · both steady · same goal: explore
- 4Makam · MahurDark · slowly evolving · melodicBoth tone and drone · both steady · same goal: explore
- 5Makam · KurdilihicazkarDark · slowly evolving · melodicBoth tone and drone · both steady · same goal: explore
Keep your device volume comfortable, preferably below 60%. You can also use your device's headphone-safety settings.