8 Stunning Ways Artists Are Visualizing Sound

We’re a little obsessed with Sound Vizualizations, and we think there are some other artists out there doing a pretty awesome job at it. Here’s a roundup of some of our favorites.

Unique artists who are doing Sound Vizualizations

Dancing Colors by Fabian Oefner – Source

Sound is a vibration and this artist wanted to visualize that in a way never seen before. Fabian created this affect by adding hundreds of colorful, tiny crystals on top of foil that was placed on speakers. Every time he played a sound through the speakers, the crystals would jump to create these colorful forms.

Spectral Density Estimation by Andreas Nicolas Fischer – Source

Commissioned by the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art and the Winston-Salem Symphony orchestra, recordings were taken of tunings at the last orchestra performances of the 2012 and 2013 seasons. Each recording was made into a beautiful and organic arrangement of audio frequencies. The result was then carved into wood from a cedar tree that had fallen outside of the museum.

Ljósið by Ólafur Arnalds – Source

This musician and producer from Iceland mixes strings and piano loops to create beautiful ambient and electronic music. The video beautifully combines melodic sounds and colorful waves of movement that will leave your senses in a trance.

Sound Wave by Jean Shin – Source

Records were literally melted to physically sculpt a crashing wave. The artist wanted to speak to the “inevitable waves of technology that render each successive generation of recordable media obsolete.”

The Sound of Taste by Grey London & Chris Cairns – Source

Herb and spice experts, Schwartz, wanted to created a visual representation of the intense effect that herbs and spices have on the senses. Several tonnes of spices such as cinnamon, black peppercorns, basil leaves and many more exploded perfectly to a musical composition.

Sound Chair by Matthey Plummer-Fernandez – Source

This Columbian artist created a simple chair made by the volume and frequency time graph of a short 1-second sound.

Dear Data by Giorgia Lupi and Stefanie Posavec – Source

A little bit of a stretch, but a project too unique not to mention. Over the course of a year, two women get to know each other through hand-crafted data visualizations they create. Their words turn into writings to augment these beautiful visualizations that communicate their feelings.

MilkDrop by Ryan Geiss – Source

Last but definitely not least, the legendary MilkDrop. Created 14 years ago, MilkDrop was a staple for any serious digital music listener. It’s complex color patterns transform and morph endlessly giving you the sense of infinity. It’s something we grew up with and will always be an inspiration to us.