Comments on: The Big Hum

The Big Hum

zaebiz — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 17:39:22 -0800

The sound of the Universe being born. University of Washington professor calculates the frequencies of sound waves propagating through the Universe during its first 760,000 years by analyzing small differences in sky temperature. More information here and here.

By: delmoi

delmoi — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 17:45:25 -0800

soon to be remixed into mefi music electronica tracks. It's actually pretty cool to listen to on it's own.

By: XMLicious

XMLicious — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 18:05:43 -0800

Reminds me of Terry Pratchett's Listening Monks, who devoted their lives to listening for the echos of the Word that began all Creation. (They concluded that the universe started with "one, two, one, two, three, four...")

By: es_de_bah

es_de_bah — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 18:16:54 -0800

hmmm...neat, but kinda uninspiring...he coulda jazzed it up a little, no? a little highhat...maybe some cowbell? the big airplane drone?

By: Twang

Twang — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 18:24:37 -0800

I gotta say, that Cramer is no Elvis Presley. Reverse that and put some breaks behind that, it might take over from the Amen!

By: dreamsign

dreamsign — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 18:28:08 -0800

For those musically attuned members of Mefi: can you tell me what key the universe is in these days? We're in a minor, aren't we? Welcome to the new astrology.

By: BeerFilter

BeerFilter — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 18:29:31 -0800

Crap. This was gonna be my magnum opus.

By: aubin

aubin — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 18:55:34 -0800

This part of his website is also interesting:

The idea of synthesizing the Big Bang sound fascinated me. It ran around in my head for a day or so, and I had a growing desire to hear just what the Big Bang sounded like. So one Saturday morning, when I should have been doing something else, I sat down and wrote a 16-line Mathematica program that produced the sound and saved it as .wav files. I downloaded the frequency spectrum measured by WMAP and used it as input data for the program. My PC has a good sound card and a substantial sub-woofer, so it reproduced the .wav file well. When I ran the program for the first time and the sound started in my office, our two male Shetland Sheepdogs, Alex and Lance, came running into the room, barking with agitation. After they had looked around and determined that nothing terrible was happening, they lay down on the floor and listened attentively, giving the Sheltie Stare to my sub-woofer. My Mathematica program (or notebook) combines the WMAP measured frequencies, appropriately scaled for the human ear, assuming that all the sinusoids start at a maximum at t=0 (the start of the Big Bang), and frequency-shifts them downward as time2/3 as the universe expands and becomes more of a "bass instrument". The simulation lasts 100 seconds representing the first 760 thousand years of evolution of the universe, and varies the sound intensity to match the cosmic microwave which, according to WMAP, peaked at 379 thousand years and dropped to 60% intensity in 110 thousand years before and after the peak time. The sound frequencies used in the simulation must be boosted upward by a huge factor (about 10 to the 26 power) to match the response of the human ear, because the actual Big Bang frequencies, which had wavelengths on the order of a fraction of the size of the universe, were far too low to be heard by humans (even had any been around).

By: BillsR100

BillsR100 — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 18:57:47 -0800

Did God put any hidden messages in it? Anyone try to play it backwards? (No I'm not hinting at anything, no I havnt played it backwards)

By: derangedlarid

derangedlarid — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 19:10:58 -0800

thanks, zaebiz Lots of good reading to be had on Cramer's site. Here's an interesting column he wrote on exploring the center of the earth using a self-propagating crack.

By: headlessagnew

headlessagnew — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 19:23:26 -0800

BillsR100, a paper exploring that idea was submitted to the arxiv last year. I saw a talk last year on Big Bang Sound at an astrophysical visualization conference, given by Mark Whittle. Afterward, I played around with the idea of doing exactly the reverse -- taking finite samples of music, turning them into power spectra, and then using HEALPix to make that into an all-sky projection, and feeding it into an XMMS/iTunes visualizer. I even wrote some code to that effect, but ultimately it didn't go anywhere.

By: stbalbach

stbalbach — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 19:48:10 -0800

Next up: what the universe smelled like when it was born.

By: BlackLeotardFront

BlackLeotardFront — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 20:06:37 -0800

"This one goes to 11!"

By: shnoz-gobblin

shnoz-gobblin — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 20:25:46 -0800

It sounds like an electric motor winding down. We need a track of this mixed with that sound of the earth ripping apart from that tsunami/earthquake.

By: rfbjames

rfbjames — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 21:18:48 -0800

I just find it fascinating stbalbach that space actually has a smell at all... As for the sound, it does seem like the perfect background for some metamusic mixes...not by me mind you, I couldn't carry a tune in a bucket...with a closed lid...glued to my hand...

By: orthogonality

orthogonality — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 21:20:15 -0800

They have a 6,000 year old recording? Can they hear Eve being tempted by the Snake?

By: owhydididoit

owhydididoit — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 22:00:48 -0800

was that the sound of symmetry breaking?

By: runehog

runehog — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 22:00:48 -0800

nice sound. it'll probably sound different on any speakers you play it on 'cuz of the huge-ass DC offset, and I'm a little afraid to play it on a club soundsystem... might do so anyway.

By: Sukiari

Sukiari — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 23:43:32 -0800

The end of those really need to be adjusted so there's no hard clip. Ouch!

By: symbioid

symbioid — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 23:53:11 -0800

Twang: "I gotta say, that Cramer is no Elvis Presley. Reverse that and put some breaks behind that, it might take over from the Amen!" --- Damn, what a great way to end a synchronic day. Last night I saw the film Borat, and he was singing "Amen, amen..." Today on WSUM, she played that song on my way to work... Looking up wiki for breakcore, they discussed amen breaks, and i learned the history of that today, and now, my final post on mefi i read before retiring??? This. Amen, Brother!

By: symbioid

symbioid — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 23:56:15 -0800

Isn't this just the doppler/red shift of the universe in audio form? Not saying it isn't cool, especially reading how he went about it, but basicaly, that's what this is, right?

By: dreamsign

dreamsign — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 01:23:23 -0800

I think so, symbioid. Redshift is why I asked what the key is lately. It should be progressing down the scale, as it were. Is this not the same as the "background microwave radiation" all the kids are talking about?

By: ewagoner

ewagoner — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 06:05:38 -0800

In space, no one can hear you being born.

By: pax digita

pax digita — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 07:14:32 -0800

...agog at the idea of this... When I click the file, though...it's a real bringdown for me -- the best analogy I can think of is really low-budget cheesy SFX in '50s sci-fi movies, the ones you'd see on MST3K.

By: symbioid

symbioid — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 08:43:13 -0800

pax digita - it's a real bringdown for me Imagine how much the universe must feel?

By: tadellin

tadellin — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 08:56:19 -0800

If a Universe is formed, and there is no one around to hear it, does it make a sound?

By: bobobox

bobobox — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 12:38:35 -0800

Hard to tell what noise is the universe and what is just my crappy laptop speakers. Does it matter? Nah. It's just good to know that someone spent a Saturday morning synthesizing the Big Bang.