Frekans Studio

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The Sound of the Universe · The First Light

The universe's oldest light, the cosmic microwave background, arrives from every direction and carries tiny differences in temperature. The power spectrum tells how strong these differences are at each angular scale; its peaks are the imprint of sound waves that travelled through the hot gas of the young universe. In this part the WMAP satellite's nine-year spectrum is scanned: the angular scale ℓ was turned directly into frequency (ℓ = 220 → 220 Hz), and loudness into the power at that scale. The first peak is heard around 220, the others around 540 and 800; at the end all three sound together. This is not a recording of the Big Bang: ℓ is a measure of angle, not a frequency. 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.

8 minNo headphones needed

Liner notes

Body
Pure tone · 220, 231, 526.5 and 825.5 Hz
What do you hear?
narrow · dark · tonal

4 layers, one sound engine; generated on this device every time it plays.

How is this sound made?

  1. Pure tone−22 dB

    Pure tone · 220 Hz

  2. Pure tone−60 dB

    Pure tone · 231 Hz

  3. Pure tone−60 dB

    Pure tone · 526.5 Hz

  4. Pure tone−60 dB

    Pure tone · 825.5 Hz

  • 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 4 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.

B: neighbours on the map

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.

  1. 1Dream Gate · Dream Seed · GateDark · steady · no melodyBoth tone and drone · both steady
  2. 2Breath Pacer · 5 minWarm · slowly evolving · melodicBoth tone and drone · both steady
  3. 3Breath Pacer · 10 minWarm · slowly evolving · melodicBoth tone and drone · both steady
  4. 4First-Step Breath · 7.5 a MinuteWarm · slowly evolving · melodicBoth tone and drone · both steady
  5. 5Balanced Breath · 5/5Warm · slowly evolving · melodicBoth tone and drone · both steady
See on the map

Keep your device volume comfortable, preferably below 60%. You can also use your device's headphone-safety settings.