A spectrogram is a time-varying spectral representation (forming an image) that shows how the spectral density of a signal varies with time. Also known as spectral waterfalls, sonograms, voiceprints, or voicegrams, spectrograms are used to identify phonetic sounds, to analyse the cries of animals; they were also used in many other fields including music,sonar/radar, speech processing,seismology, etc. The instrument that generates a spectrogram is called a spectrograph. 
A spectrograph is an instrument or program that is used to visualize the sound spectrum (a more detailed explanation can be found here). Additionally, there are also programs (such as Coagula and Metasynth) that allow users to easily convert any image into an audio file (you can even find a video tutorial on YouTube).
Musicians can then take these ‘image to audio’ files, mix them into a track and if you were to run that audio through a spectrograph you would suddenly see images like the ones in the gallery below. The most famous of these is undoubtedly from the song ‘[Equation]‘ by Aphex Twin.
When first discovered a slightly terrifying ‘demon face’ was found. It wasn’t until a fellow by the name of Jarmo Niinisalocame along and tweaked the settings to unearth the true image, the Aphex Twin himself, Richard D. James.
Below you will find a collection of images embedded into songs. If you know of any other notable examples please let us know in the comments!
1. [Equation] by Aphex Twin
Image via Jarmo Niinisalo
Image via Chaosmachine
This was the original ‘demon face’ image first found in Aphex Twin’s ‘[Equation]‘ song using a linear frequency scale instead of a logarithmic frequency scale.
These are the approximate settings Jarmo used to uncover ‘The Aphex Face’
This is the actual title of the track. You can see why it is also known as ‘[Equation]‘ or ‘[Formula]‘
2. Windowlicker by Aphex Twin
Image via Jarmo Niinisalo
3. Continuum by Disasterpeace (FEZ Soundtrack)
Image via Black Coffee Spirit
4. My Violent Heart by Nine Inch Nails
Image via the nine inch nails wiki
5. Beyond by Disasterpeace (FEZ Soundtrack)
Image via Black Coffee Spirit
6. Transitions by DJ Sonix
Photograph via guru3d forums
7. Compass by Disasterpeace (FEZ Soundtrack)
Image via Black Coffee Spirit
8. Stripes by sippenaken
Image via sippenaken on YouTube
Image via sippenaken on YouTube
9. Flow by Disasterpeace (FEZ Soundtrack)
Image via Black Coffee Spirit
10. Compass by Disasterpeace (FEZ Soundtrack)
Image via Black Coffee Spirit
11. Look by Venetian Snares
Image via Jarmo Niinisalo
Posted by Zaffar Iqbal Durrani
2 comments:
interesting.
Thank you :-)
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