Space Station Hum

How it's made

Source

continuously running corridor life-support motors transmit 72 Hz vibration through wall panels; six declining sine partials model rotor force, while filtered pink noise models turbulent duct flow.

Body

broad duct modes at 185 and 390 Hz (Q 1.4 and 1.1) colour the air; a 35-145 Hz noise bed fills the structure. Absorptive lining rolls the air off at 2.4-4.4 kHz, suggesting a sealed interior.

Machinery

a small pump's blade-passing whine sits near 936 Hz, with a weak second partial and diffuse bearing noise. Its pitch follows a smooth +/-0.7 Hz speed variation, never a dramatic sci-fi sweep.

Envelope

continuous sustain without starts, stops or discrete events. Motor amplitude moves only +/-2.5%; air breathes by +/-6% over 6 and 12 s cycles, whole periods within the default 12 s loop.

Space

centred structure tones and moderately spread independent air sources suggest nearby panels; two quiet 17/29 ms damped reflections colour the ducts without a long reverberant tail.

Variation

seeded phases vary motor alignment and breathing phase. Presets change motor speed, air, pump level and lining: sleeping deck, service passage, airlock approach and distant bulkhead.

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