thesis : sound waves : afterthoughts

low tones / slow tones

It’s not correct to say that low tones are slow tones, the frequency of a sound is not the velocity of sound traveling through space. A high frequency and a low frequency will propagate through air at the same speed: 343 meters per second.

Sound frequencies are measured in Hertz which are oscillations per second. If we focus on the frequency we can say that low tones are slow tones.
In music we are used to use a metronome with oscillations in beats per minute (bpm), we don’t experience this as a tone but as a pulse.

1 Hertz = 1 beat per second (bps) = 60bpm – we experience this as a pulse
2 Hertz = 2 bps = 120 bpm – we experience this as a pulse
6 Hertz= 6 bps = 360 bpm – we experience this as a pulse
20 Hertz = 20 bps = 1.200 bpm – some of us experience this as a tone
50 Hertz = 50 bps = 3.000 bpm – most humans experience this as a tone

30 Hertz feels
low
slow
deep
in your body
massaging your inner parts

when you look at trees from the train
when you go slow you see trees
when you speed up at some point you don’t see trees anymore, you see a brown blur

there is this turning point, between pulse and tone

seeing the trees is like hearing a pulse, seeing a blur is like hearing a tone

feeling sound

Hearing means perceiving sound waves with our ears. But, since sound waves are vibrating particles, we can also experience sound by physically feeling those vibrations. In general, it’s easier to feel loud low frequencies.

As a sound artist it’s important to take into consideration that different people experience sound waves in a different way, depending on your ears, your receptors, your brain, etc. Depending on the musical training or musical/sounds experiences you had throughout your entire life. Deaf people can often experience sound, feeling it or still ‘hearing’ a bit loud sound. Also, sound we cannot hear (infra or ultrasounds) can have a big impact on us.

At the edge of perception, you no longer know whether you are hearing, feeling or thinking that you are sensing sound. But you know there is something, and you open all your senses to experience it.

Thanks to my early years musical background, when I hear a tone I hear in my mind which musical tone it is. I hear do, re, mi, fa, sol, la or si in my mind, depending on the pitch. Like seeing a clear distinction between red or yellow, I hear a clear distinction between an A around 440 Hz (hearing la in my mind) or B around 494 Hz (hearing si in my mind). This is very connected to the 12 tones equal temperament tuning, which, by knowing and hearing
became so clear in my mind that it became boring for me. I enjoy other tunings, a bit confusing for my mind but refreshing. Sometimes even searching for sounds that don’t sound so clear in my mind, to hear purely the sound texture. For example, noisy sounds or very low tones.¹⁴

14. Tomoko Sauvage “Spectres II, Resonances”, 23 A bowl of Ocean: Notes on Hydrophonic Feedback Practice.

composing for non-humans

This is all written from the perspective of a human in relation to how humans experience sound. I can’t write from the perspective of a non-human but I should not forget that placing an installation or performing outside means also reaching other ears, other (living) beings.

Do they want to listen to us?

beatings : theory