the loneliest mix

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  • 52 HertzThe Loneliest Whale
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via mike ambs :

Imagine roaming the world’s largest ocean year after year alone, calling out with the regularity of a metronome, and hearing no response.

I came across an article on Good earlier today about the loneliest Whale in the World - the headline caught my eye being that I am partial to Blue Whales - citing a 2004 New York Times story, this particular whale has been closely monitored by the NOAA since 1992:

It sings at 52 Hertz, which is roughly the same frequency as the lowest note on a tuba, and much higher than its fellow whales, whose calls fall in the 15 to 25 Hertz range. […] To make matters worse, the high-pitched whale “does not follow the known migration route of any extant baleen whale species.

Most amazing is the NOAA has shared an audio file of this truly unique song - the recording signal was sped up by 10x, I’m not sure of the reason for the increase, but I wanted to hear the whale’s song slowed back down. Bringing the original .wav file into FCP and adjusting the playback speed produced the most beautiful dream-like noise; there’s a strange trembling / vibration effect from the NOAA speeding up the signal and then my slowing it back down, but something about it makes me feel calm.

Erica and I loved it so much I cross faded the song together into a 10 minute file, which if you’d like, you can download here ( .aif / 345 MBs ) or via soundcloud. 

This rare hybrid has been traveling alone almost all its life - I hope one day it stumbles across another Blue Whale, even if just for a moment.

The start of something…

    • #1992
    • #2004
    • #52 Hertz
    • #Alone
    • #Audio
    • #Good
    • #Hybrid
    • #Migration Route
    • #NOAA
    • #New York Times
    • #The Loneliest Mix
    • #Unknown Species
    • #Blue Whales
    • #Soundcloud
  • 2 years ago > mikeambs
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81 Notes/ Hide

  1. oodil reblogged this from 52hertz and added:
    This is the saddest song I’ve ever heard.
  2. oodil likes this
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  7. thelittlestlioness reblogged this from 52hertz and added:
    This whale is my new obsession. I am fairly sure of this.
  8. ersatzsmile likes this
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  20. starsandkeys reblogged this from 52hertz
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  22. 52hertz reblogged this from 52hertz and added:
    kickstarter mixtapes,...up a total of 35 re-recorded cassettes!; each one...
  23. hayekd likes this
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  26. nstochasticity reblogged this from 52hertz and added:
    via mike ambs :
  27. mikeambs posted this

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the loneliest mix is an audio project by mike ambs to share the beautiful and rare song of a last-known hybrid blue whale, known by the name the loneliest whale, one mix-tape at a time.

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