Music of Noise and Silence

Music of Noise and Silence

Work created in 2026/2/14

”Music of Noise and Silence” is a browser-based generative artwork that transforms 10 seconds of recorded environmental sound into structured musical composition. The system analyzes acoustic properties—RMS, zero-crossing rate, energy fluctuations—to automatically determine BPM, time signature, key, and chord progression. Recorded material is normalized and reorganized as slices, arranged into classical four-section structure: introduction, development, climax, and resolution. The work makes algorithmic listening visible by transparently displaying translation parameters. Through rigorous normalization at multiple stages, ambient sounds—whether noise or silence—are democratized as equal musical material. This violent yet poetic process of forcing environmental audio into Western musical grammar questions the boundary between ”noise” and ”music.” As internet art accessible via Web Audio API without specialized software, it engages with surveillance themes: users voluntarily submit their acoustic environment to the ”listening machine,” receiving aestheticized data in return. The critical power lies in creating dual listening—audience hears both original environment and machine's interpretation, exposing the gap between human and algorithmic ears. It asks: what separates noise from music—acoustic properties or listening frameworks?