Distant Thunder

How it's made

Source

an extended lightning channel launches many pressure fronts; independent pink-noise packets model their overlapping arrival, with no close lightning crack or tonal oscillator.

Body

a centred 34-125 Hz pressure bed supports a broad 65-650 Hz rolling body; low-Q filters avoid pitched resonances. Distance removes upper frequencies, which decay faster than the bass.

Envelope

a 0.5-1.1 s swell opens the main front. Three weaker fronts arrive over the next 2 s, representing different channel segments and diffuse propagation paths, then fade by 5.95 s.

Movement

smooth random amplitude and cutoff drift break up the roll without rhythmic tremolo. Independent side noise models diffuse arrivals; the deepest pressure remains in the centre.

Variation

seeded timing, level and cutoff offsets vary the fronts. Distance controls absorption and attack; rolling controls late arrivals, weight balances bass, and spread controls the diffuse field.

Presets

horizon is dark and soft; heavy is bass-led; rolling has distinct secondary swells; open-sky spreads a lighter, more detailed rumble across the stereo field.

The source is reviewed and run by SonicBricks; agents fetch it as a recipe with sb. It is not published on this page.