Tag: sound design

The sound design services I’m able to provide are such as sound engineering, sound editing, sound effects and post production. I’m able to create game sounds, movie sounds and sound art.

Categories
Sound

GeoBuzz — A Spatial Music and Sound Composition Tool

The listener is the playhead

GeoBuzz is an open‑source web tool for creating spatial, walkable music — musical pieces and audio experiences that are shaped by geography and movement rather than by traditional timelines. Instead of arranging notes on a grid, you place sounds, synthesizers, sequencers, and modulation elements directly on a map. As a listener walks through that map, the sounds change based on position, direction, and speed.

At its core, GeoBuzz consists of two parts: the Editor, where you design your soundscape, and a lightweight runtime engine that plays back the composition in a web environment or in an application. You can define control zones, movement paths, automation curves and distance‑based sequencers — all tied to physical space — and export your work as a standalone package for further development.

Spatial music like this builds on ideas from electroacoustic and location‑based sound practice, where the position and movement of sound sources in physical or virtual space become part of the composition itself. This is related to the broader concept of spatial music, where sound localization and placement are intentional compositional tools.

Using GeoBuzz doesn’t require specialized hardware. It runs in modern browsers and takes advantage of geolocation and orientation features when available. The focus is on experimentation: you can test ideas in the editor, simulate movement, and iterate without complex setup.

The tool is developed with open technologies like Tone.js for audio and Leaflet for map handling. Community contributions, examples, and documentation help other creators understand how the system works and how to integrate it into their own projects.

GeoBuzz is not just software — it’s also an invitation to think about music and sound in relation to place and movement. Compositions made with it can be experienced by walking through space or by interacting with the exported audio application in a way that ties listening to environment and motion.

See it in action: github.com/janne-s/GeoBuzz

The project supports a developing field of composers, developers, and sound artists working with spatial form as a shared medium. Your support sustains development and contributes to the continued emergence of spatial music as a distinct creative genre. Buy me a coffee?

 

Categories
Sound

Creative use of the gate effect: write messages into the waveform

This might be a nifty sound design trick. With the creative use of a gate effect, you can write messages into the amplitude waveform.

At the very least the resulting gate patterns are interesting.

Categories
Art

Soundtrack Composition and Production for an Art Exhibition

An excerpt of the soundtrack loop for an exhibition by a Guadeloupean artist Karib.

The piece is largely based on the high-pitched sound of a reverberating cannon shell casing, which acts like a tuning fork after being fired. In this case, its frequency is about 4400 Hz, or slightly below C#, which corresponds to the wavelength of the casing’s diameter or the cannon’s caliber. The sound is played at different octaves/pitches and processed in various ways. It is mixed with the sound of a Tibetan prayer bell and a temporally lengthened and highly processed sound of a creaking door brings along an organic dynamism.

Categories
Web

Salamatar: Website That Generates Melodies From Live Lightning Data

https://www.salamatar.fi

The website displays real-time lightning strikes on a map using data from the Finnish Meteorological Institute. It also converts the properties of these strikes into melodies that can be played live.

Here is a musical piece created through an improvised session layered over the lightning strike soundtrack: R Dimensio – Salamatar

Categories
Sound

Reproduction of Sound Induced by Northern Lights

Does the aurora borealis produce sound? For some, it seems it does.

This piece is my personal reproduction of the auroral sound experience I had while working as a research assistant at the Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory in Finland. It reflects what I heard, an approximation unique to my perception; others might experience it differently.

In the winter of 2001, during peak auroral activity, five of us witnessed a vivid display of northern lights. Initially, three parallel belts of light appeared, which suddenly merged into one directly above us. At that moment, I perceived a sound unlike anything I had heard before.

The sound created its own space within my mind – devoid of reverberation or conventional spatial cues. The sound was dry. It resembled countless layered noises, each distinguishable, producing a sense of infinite depth yet feeling somehow confined, perhaps limited by my own perception.

Intermittently, very soft and deep pops punctuated the soundscape.

The sound’s presence fluctuated with the aurora’s movements. It ceased when the single belt split back into three. Moving my head did not alter the sound’s characteristics.

I was initially hesitant to share this experience with others. At the time, a project at SGO was collecting reports of auroral sounds, so I submitted mine. Later that night, I created a reproduction of what I heard – this piece is a refined, modern version of that.

I later came across the Frey effect (microwave auditory effect), which aligns with my experience but does not contradict my initial impression that the northern lights sound was directly induced.

The accompanying image is from Pixabay.