The sound of space
October 20, 2014 10:34 PM Subscribe
like sitting on a back porch in Tennesse in mid-July Space is a vacuum, but there is still "sound" in the form of electromagnetic waves. These recordings, taken from various sources, capture the electromagnetic sounds from 20-20,000 HZ--the range of human hearing
Ditto the whistlers, but it bugs me when people call these phenomena sound. Sound = mechanical energy phenomenon, these things = electromagnetic energy phenomenon. You may as well say the static this kind of stuff (appropriate wavelength of course) produces on a tv screen is what the sun looks like as say this is what it sounds like. Phenomena that are easily interpreted as sound with magnets sure. Maybe I need to chill out about my sonic lawn. Cool post!
posted by threecheesetrees at 11:21 PM on October 20, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by threecheesetrees at 11:21 PM on October 20, 2014 [3 favorites]
threecheesetrees: Yeah, I agree with you. I'm not a fan of calling this sound.
That said, if you read (what I believe to be) the NASA website about this, then it seems a bit more ambiguous; they claim on their page that this "senses waves of electrons in the ionized gas or "plasma" that Voyager travels through." which to me actually comes across almost like it is sound; it's not just EM waves, but it is vibrating electrons in a plasma gas, which is... sort of analogous to sound in air? Maybe?
posted by vernondalhart at 1:00 AM on October 21, 2014 [2 favorites]
That said, if you read (what I believe to be) the NASA website about this, then it seems a bit more ambiguous; they claim on their page that this "senses waves of electrons in the ionized gas or "plasma" that Voyager travels through." which to me actually comes across almost like it is sound; it's not just EM waves, but it is vibrating electrons in a plasma gas, which is... sort of analogous to sound in air? Maybe?
posted by vernondalhart at 1:00 AM on October 21, 2014 [2 favorites]
No threecheesetrees, you're absolutely right. This is not the sound of space, this is electromagnetic radiation converted to mechanical pressure waves within our range of detection. Much like those false-color images of nebulae that look very pretty but are not at all what our eyes would perceive.
I think it's awesome and sounds really cool (I've even used pieces of these tracks for theatrical sound designs), but stating that these are "sounds" is entirely incorrect. Electromagnetic energy, regardless of frequency and intensity, cannot be detected by our ears.
posted by johnnyace at 1:04 AM on October 21, 2014 [1 favorite]
I think it's awesome and sounds really cool (I've even used pieces of these tracks for theatrical sound designs), but stating that these are "sounds" is entirely incorrect. Electromagnetic energy, regardless of frequency and intensity, cannot be detected by our ears.
posted by johnnyace at 1:04 AM on October 21, 2014 [1 favorite]
It's a sterile argument, though. Sound is what you hear. I can listen to the Sound Of The All-Albania Electric Steel Xylophone Ensemble on Radio Tirana, and nobody takes me to task because those cats are using magnetic pick-ups on their instruments and thus the first time there are ever pressure waves in air as part of the equation is when they're created by the vibrating cone in my Imperial Excelsior Waverider 4 wireless.
The sounds of space are the sounds of space.The words work perfectly, there is no better phrase, there's no ambiguity, Eveyone's happy with solar wind describing hypersonic blasts of charged particles, despite the word wind meaning nothing of the sort for over a thousand years (c897 K. Ælfred tr. Gregory Pastoral Care xxxix. 285 Se ðe him ealneg wind ondræt, he sæwð to seldon.).
English is doing her job: let her be.
posted by Devonian at 3:20 AM on October 21, 2014 [4 favorites]
The sounds of space are the sounds of space.The words work perfectly, there is no better phrase, there's no ambiguity, Eveyone's happy with solar wind describing hypersonic blasts of charged particles, despite the word wind meaning nothing of the sort for over a thousand years (c897 K. Ælfred tr. Gregory Pastoral Care xxxix. 285 Se ðe him ealneg wind ondræt, he sæwð to seldon.).
English is doing her job: let her be.
posted by Devonian at 3:20 AM on October 21, 2014 [4 favorites]
So basically, the soundtrack to 2001: A Space Odyssey was empirically correct.
posted by Pyrogenesis at 3:23 AM on October 21, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by Pyrogenesis at 3:23 AM on October 21, 2014 [1 favorite]
You said it yourself, Devonian. Sound is what you hear. You can't hear EM radiation, and you can't hear anything in space, therefore the "sound of space" is exactly silence. Misuse of language only confuses the uninformed.
posted by johnnyace at 3:42 AM on October 21, 2014
posted by johnnyace at 3:42 AM on October 21, 2014
Yeah Devonian, except that The All-Albania Electric Steel Xylophone Ensemble's magnetic pickups are being moved by a pressure wave coming from the instrument, and converting a mechanical pattern into an electromagnetic pattern which your Imperial Excelsior Waverider 4 wireless then converts back into a mechanical pattern. With this stuff the result is sound, but who knows what's going on at the source, (an astrophysicist maybe?).
(on preview) It's a misuse of language, and one that I've seen confuse the hell out of musician/sound artist types - myself included. It's an audio representation of some data, like a graph, which is awesome, but the representation is not the thing it's representing.
posted by threecheesetrees at 3:56 AM on October 21, 2014
(on preview) It's a misuse of language, and one that I've seen confuse the hell out of musician/sound artist types - myself included. It's an audio representation of some data, like a graph, which is awesome, but the representation is not the thing it's representing.
posted by threecheesetrees at 3:56 AM on October 21, 2014
By the way what is this All-Albania Electric Steel Xylophone Ensemble you speak of? If it's non-rhetorical it sounds right up my alley.
posted by threecheesetrees at 3:57 AM on October 21, 2014
posted by threecheesetrees at 3:57 AM on October 21, 2014
Voice of Earth man, trippin me out man
posted by oceanjesse at 4:43 AM on October 21, 2014
posted by oceanjesse at 4:43 AM on October 21, 2014
I like the solar system's new dark ambient direction. I'm looking forward to it collaborating with the likes of Alva Noto or Fennesz, maybe.
posted by Prince Lazy I at 4:46 AM on October 21, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by Prince Lazy I at 4:46 AM on October 21, 2014 [2 favorites]
Alas, it's a rhetorical band, existing only in the space between my (and now your) ears. They do sound mighty, though, don't they?
But they use magnetic pick-ups. As Wikipedia notes: "A magnetic pickup consists of a permanent magnet with a core of material such as alnico or ceramic, wrapped with a coil of several thousand turns of fine enameled copper wire. The pickup is most often mounted on the body of the instrument, but can be attached to the bridge, neck or pickguard, as on many electro-acoustic archtop jazz guitars and string basses. The permanent magnet creates a magnetic field; the motion of the vibrating steel strings disturbs the field, and the changing magnetic flux induces a voltage in the coil. This signal is then carried to amplification or recording equipment via a cable. There may also be an internal preamplifier stage between the pickup and cable."
This means the A-AESXE is indeed a band that can play in space. But how can they, since they produce no sound?
Put it another way: the sound of Hendrix is something we all can get behind, man. But by the 'pressure waves in material' argument, the only sound he actually made was some fairly feeble twangling of bits of fibre/string/metal under tension.
Sounds are what we hear. That they may have had their origin or part of their life not as pressure waves in a medium, isn't the point,
posted by Devonian at 4:47 AM on October 21, 2014 [1 favorite]
But they use magnetic pick-ups. As Wikipedia notes: "A magnetic pickup consists of a permanent magnet with a core of material such as alnico or ceramic, wrapped with a coil of several thousand turns of fine enameled copper wire. The pickup is most often mounted on the body of the instrument, but can be attached to the bridge, neck or pickguard, as on many electro-acoustic archtop jazz guitars and string basses. The permanent magnet creates a magnetic field; the motion of the vibrating steel strings disturbs the field, and the changing magnetic flux induces a voltage in the coil. This signal is then carried to amplification or recording equipment via a cable. There may also be an internal preamplifier stage between the pickup and cable."
This means the A-AESXE is indeed a band that can play in space. But how can they, since they produce no sound?
Put it another way: the sound of Hendrix is something we all can get behind, man. But by the 'pressure waves in material' argument, the only sound he actually made was some fairly feeble twangling of bits of fibre/string/metal under tension.
Sounds are what we hear. That they may have had their origin or part of their life not as pressure waves in a medium, isn't the point,
posted by Devonian at 4:47 AM on October 21, 2014 [1 favorite]
/K78/B676/G565/C454/N669/H6776/
/THE/OWLS/ARE/NOT/WHAT/THEY/SEEM/
/B789/W26/MN78/N78/H45/JR78/DP45/
/K987/M666/N987/M854/K325/Z3557/
/A061/COOPER/COOPER/COOPER/N777/
/C656/H767/N893/C342/QJ901/B23B/
posted by detachd at 5:04 AM on October 21, 2014 [5 favorites]
/THE/OWLS/ARE/NOT/WHAT/THEY/SEEM/
/B789/W26/MN78/N78/H45/JR78/DP45/
/K987/M666/N987/M854/K325/Z3557/
/A061/COOPER/COOPER/COOPER/N777/
/C656/H767/N893/C342/QJ901/B23B/
posted by detachd at 5:04 AM on October 21, 2014 [5 favorites]
You can't hear EM radiation
I dunno, Devonian's point about electric pickups used in instruments is compelling. EM signal translated into vibration is still understood as sound, even if originating from a pure electric signal, like a synthesizer or theremin. In this case, sound is a good description of the phenomena.
posted by Slap*Happy at 5:14 AM on October 21, 2014
I dunno, Devonian's point about electric pickups used in instruments is compelling. EM signal translated into vibration is still understood as sound, even if originating from a pure electric signal, like a synthesizer or theremin. In this case, sound is a good description of the phenomena.
posted by Slap*Happy at 5:14 AM on October 21, 2014
I agree that Devonian's point is pretty compelling, but I would still loosely draw a distinction between devices built specifically to produce sound (in the case of pickups on a guitar, for example, it's mean to produce a signal similar to the acoustic waves produced by a regular guitar), and EM radiation that just-so-happens to be in the audible range.
But, I'll admit, it's not so sound1 a distinction as I would want it to be. It seems somewhat akin to saying that intentionality is necessary for sound or music. If that's the case, what of John Cage and aliatoric music? Isn't this, perhaps, the ultimate version of that?
1 Hee hee hee
posted by vernondalhart at 5:18 AM on October 21, 2014
But, I'll admit, it's not so sound1 a distinction as I would want it to be. It seems somewhat akin to saying that intentionality is necessary for sound or music. If that's the case, what of John Cage and aliatoric music? Isn't this, perhaps, the ultimate version of that?
1 Hee hee hee
posted by vernondalhart at 5:18 AM on October 21, 2014
Synthesizers don't create sound, they create voltage fluctuations, just like our intrepid xylophone ensemble's magnetic pickups. We can't hear voltage any more than we can hear light, or x-rays, or any other EM radiation.
Loudspeakers obviously create sound, but only if there's a medium to carry their vibrations to our eardrums. Loudspeakers in a vacuum do not create sound, nor do xylophones.
A satellite hurtling through space can no doubt detect all manner of EM fluctuations, but those aren't sound; those are just colors of light our eyes can't see.
Now, if you use a fancy magnetic pickup to convert those EM fluctuations into voltage, scale that voltage between 20Hz and 20kHz (the frequency range of human hearing), and then feed that voltage to a loudspeaker sitting in some sort of fluid medium (such as air), THAT will create sound. But is that the "sound of space?" No, I argue, it is not.
posted by johnnyace at 5:39 AM on October 21, 2014
Loudspeakers obviously create sound, but only if there's a medium to carry their vibrations to our eardrums. Loudspeakers in a vacuum do not create sound, nor do xylophones.
A satellite hurtling through space can no doubt detect all manner of EM fluctuations, but those aren't sound; those are just colors of light our eyes can't see.
Now, if you use a fancy magnetic pickup to convert those EM fluctuations into voltage, scale that voltage between 20Hz and 20kHz (the frequency range of human hearing), and then feed that voltage to a loudspeaker sitting in some sort of fluid medium (such as air), THAT will create sound. But is that the "sound of space?" No, I argue, it is not.
posted by johnnyace at 5:39 AM on October 21, 2014
You can create sounds in many ways, including ways that have steps not involving mechanical vibration, and they are still sounds. No one is arguing that the result is not a sound. But the phrase "the sound of x" implies more than that data collected from x was processed and transformed to create a sound. It implies that if you listen to x, this is what you will hear. Similarly, an EKG is not a "picture of me" even though it is a visual representation of information collection from me, because it is not what you would see if you looked at me.
posted by Nothing at 5:40 AM on October 21, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by Nothing at 5:40 AM on October 21, 2014 [1 favorite]
Sitting on a back porch in Tennessee in mid-July is holding up a "Come and get me!" sign and getting munched from head to toe by mosquitoes and chiggers.
posted by blucevalo at 5:42 AM on October 21, 2014
posted by blucevalo at 5:42 AM on October 21, 2014
But the phrase "the sound of x" implies more than that data collected from x was processed and transformed to create a sound.
No, not really - if someone passed the second grade, they know vibrational sound doesn't work in a vacuum. Everyone understands the process in play - EM signal is tranlated into aural signal. You're not actually preventing a misunderstanding, you're just leaping on a point of useless pedantry to derail the whole shebang. It's kind of annoying.
posted by Slap*Happy at 6:49 AM on October 21, 2014
No, not really - if someone passed the second grade, they know vibrational sound doesn't work in a vacuum. Everyone understands the process in play - EM signal is tranlated into aural signal. You're not actually preventing a misunderstanding, you're just leaping on a point of useless pedantry to derail the whole shebang. It's kind of annoying.
posted by Slap*Happy at 6:49 AM on October 21, 2014
No threecheesetrees, you're absolutely right. This is not the sound of space, this is electromagnetic radiation converted to mechanical pressure waves within our range of detection.
Yes, this is very similar to the eerie and fascinating "Symphonies of the Planets" CDs made from the Voyager instrument recordings that were released in the early 90s.
posted by ryanshepard at 7:57 AM on October 21, 2014
Yes, this is very similar to the eerie and fascinating "Symphonies of the Planets" CDs made from the Voyager instrument recordings that were released in the early 90s.
posted by ryanshepard at 7:57 AM on October 21, 2014
These have been added to NASA's Soundcloud page, along with other interesting stuff like rocket engine sounds, Space Shuttle mission sounds, and "Cassini: Saturn Radio Emissions #2".
posted by ryanshepard at 8:10 AM on October 21, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by ryanshepard at 8:10 AM on October 21, 2014 [1 favorite]
Just came here to mention Symphonies of the Planets. I have the whole set buried somewhere in the box of CDs that I never touch anymore. Apparently it goes for $200 on Amazon these days. I used to layer it into ambient DJ sets.
posted by escape from the potato planet at 8:37 AM on October 21, 2014
posted by escape from the potato planet at 8:37 AM on October 21, 2014
Apparently it goes for $200 on Amazon these days.
Originally released on LaserLight - I think I got it for ~$20 c. 1994. The best budget label CD box set of all time!
posted by ryanshepard at 8:48 AM on October 21, 2014
Originally released on LaserLight - I think I got it for ~$20 c. 1994. The best budget label CD box set of all time!
posted by ryanshepard at 8:48 AM on October 21, 2014
This is not the sound of space, this is electromagnetic radiation converted to mechanical pressure waves within our range of detection
Although you're technically right of course, what comes out of your FM tuner, tuna fish? It's converting EM to longitudinal compression waves too.
Calling it music, on the other hand, IS going too far.
posted by Twang at 9:59 AM on October 21, 2014 [2 favorites]
Although you're technically right of course, what comes out of your FM tuner, tuna fish? It's converting EM to longitudinal compression waves too.
Calling it music, on the other hand, IS going too far.
posted by Twang at 9:59 AM on October 21, 2014 [2 favorites]
Although you're technically right...
The best kind of right, I'm told.
What comes out of your FM tuner? It's converting EM to longitudinal compression waves too.
No, radio tuners convert EM fluctuations into voltage. Radio tuners do not create sound waves, mechanical loudspeakers do.
I'm not trying to be pedantic, and I fully understand both how this audio was created and why we're splitting hairs over the confusing terminology, but almost everyone successfully graduates from higher education and yet still thinks that lasers fired from spaceships go "pew pew pew." That's partly the fault of lazy sci-fi entertainment, and partly the fault of misleading language like "this is what space sounds like."
posted by johnnyace at 2:15 PM on October 21, 2014
The best kind of right, I'm told.
What comes out of your FM tuner? It's converting EM to longitudinal compression waves too.
No, radio tuners convert EM fluctuations into voltage. Radio tuners do not create sound waves, mechanical loudspeakers do.
I'm not trying to be pedantic, and I fully understand both how this audio was created and why we're splitting hairs over the confusing terminology, but almost everyone successfully graduates from higher education and yet still thinks that lasers fired from spaceships go "pew pew pew." That's partly the fault of lazy sci-fi entertainment, and partly the fault of misleading language like "this is what space sounds like."
posted by johnnyace at 2:15 PM on October 21, 2014
I'm not sure that I feel as strongly about it as you do, but there's a perfectly good term for it that resolves this issue, johnnyace: sonification. The sounds are the original E&M data manipulated to some degree and then played out of a stereo system.
posted by mondo dentro at 6:33 PM on October 21, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by mondo dentro at 6:33 PM on October 21, 2014 [1 favorite]
When I saw Thomas Dolby on his "Sole Inhabitant" tour a few years back, he mentioned that he'd done converted recordings ("sonification" maybe was the term he used?) of signals from the sun for the mix of "Wind Power" he was performing that night. Apparently, the sun is in the key of A.
posted by rmd1023 at 6:42 PM on October 21, 2014
posted by rmd1023 at 6:42 PM on October 21, 2014
Thank you mondo dentro! Sonification is a wonderfully specific and well-defined term that scratches my formalism itch when it comes to audio language.
See? You were all rolling your eyes at my incessant whining about precision terminology, but my reward was learning a new word that I can now throw around at parties!
I'm kidding. I don't go to parties.
posted by johnnyace at 8:52 PM on October 21, 2014
See? You were all rolling your eyes at my incessant whining about precision terminology, but my reward was learning a new word that I can now throw around at parties!
I'm kidding. I don't go to parties.
posted by johnnyace at 8:52 PM on October 21, 2014
but almost everyone successfully graduates from higher education and yet still thinks that lasers fired from spaceships go "pew pew pew."
No, they don't. Why do you think this? People like sound effects in outer space movies because it involves all of their senses in the drama of the scene. They also know intellectually there would be no actual sound. These two things can exist in the same person at the same time, and usually does. The fact it can't for you is your issue - people do not need constant education on whether or not aural sound travels through space. It's a worthless hangup that's pretty much spoiled all conversation surrounding an extremely neat project.
posted by Slap*Happy at 5:04 AM on October 22, 2014 [1 favorite]
No, they don't. Why do you think this? People like sound effects in outer space movies because it involves all of their senses in the drama of the scene. They also know intellectually there would be no actual sound. These two things can exist in the same person at the same time, and usually does. The fact it can't for you is your issue - people do not need constant education on whether or not aural sound travels through space. It's a worthless hangup that's pretty much spoiled all conversation surrounding an extremely neat project.
posted by Slap*Happy at 5:04 AM on October 22, 2014 [1 favorite]
No, they don't. Why do you think this?
I really didn't mean to derail this thread, and at the risk of becoming that person who comments on every single rebuttal and winds up arguing with an empty room...
I teach three audio recording and design classes at my local college, and am a live/recording engineer by trade, and while you and I might have retained the fact that there is no sound is space, a staggering percentage of young adults who come through my class decidedly did not. Of course, a staggering percentage of them can neither spell nor perform simple math, but that's a rant for another thread.
The youth are indeed confused.
posted by johnnyace at 1:48 PM on October 22, 2014
I really didn't mean to derail this thread, and at the risk of becoming that person who comments on every single rebuttal and winds up arguing with an empty room...
I teach three audio recording and design classes at my local college, and am a live/recording engineer by trade, and while you and I might have retained the fact that there is no sound is space, a staggering percentage of young adults who come through my class decidedly did not. Of course, a staggering percentage of them can neither spell nor perform simple math, but that's a rant for another thread.
The youth are indeed confused.
posted by johnnyace at 1:48 PM on October 22, 2014
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posted by Sunburnt at 11:04 PM on October 20, 2014