Ambience filtering: listening for new worlds

Mundane background sounds can become evocative ambiences with simple edits and processes

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Ambiences are identifiable when experienced at close to their full audio frequency range. Isolating a frequency range, or even ranges, can radically alter our perception and open a world of creative possibilities. This example uses a recording from a bathroom with a running extractor fan.

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Whether you’re working in a wave editor, such as RX used here, or a DAW, select and mark up your initial audio with any reference that will help later identification. Always select more than you need so a tighter edit can be made within a processed range.

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The bathroom and fan components of the recording are completely banished by only selecting above ~1.8kHz using frequency range selection. This creates a tropical night soundscape. High-pass filtering can also be used for this, though care should be taken with the slope/resonance to prevent ringing.

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Selecting the ~130Hz to ~870Hz range focusses in on the extractor fan to create something in the submarine engine room realm. Frequency range selection, such as in RX, is the best tool for this, but, again, a bandpass filter will render similar results if care is taken with slope/resonance controls.