The sound of power lines

[WARgod0098]

in other videos the so called 'humming' has different sounds to it. these power lines only make one sound over and over

[abola2121]

Serial Experiments Lain, anyone?

[alexxzz2008]

And so my friends, this is the famous "Hum" heard worldwide xD

[ROFLaughingPS3]

@alexxzz2008

I think this could be it, but its probably just the earth moaning.

[clnmyjts]

I did powerline clearance work and never heard the power lines sound like this....this noise is the vibration ringing in the tower frame constuction AND you would have to stick your ear right on the metal towers or use a microphone recording device to pick up this kind of sound effect ( standing right under the wires inbetween the spans listing to the power line wiresnoise is a totally different buzzing noice )

[myUf0]

If some of this sound remember you star wars or any other sciens fiction movie is not casualty , in the 80's I saw a tv program and they was showing how this sound effects was recorded and some of them are from power lines like this ones ,many thanks for this video and go a head with this job L.O.L. From London...

[LookAmongTheHeavens]

lol all this has gone 2 far

[3rdeye15]

is that Henrick Sedin from the Vanouver Canauks @ 4:28? lol

[HorizonDelta]

Kool !

[forwardbias]

There is a musical instrument called a water bow or something that makes similar noises. It consists of high tension metal wires, strung from the top part of the instrument to the bottom. There are several wires that radiate out from the center. Its made completely of metal, and you fill the middle chamber with water that the top wires are attached to. When you rub a mallet on the wires, it makes unique sounds, because of resonance of the vibrations.

[forwardbias]

I love that sound, would be something to loop, while making a timelapse video of flying through the solar system or something. Those lines are insulated from the metal towers they are on, so they are safe. Otherwise the lines would short into the ground. Something very cool to do under lines like that is to take 48 inch fluorescent light tubes. There is enough EMF from high tension lines to make the tubes glow quite noticibly.

[N3anderthaler]

This sound is caused by corona discharge.

Google CONDUCTOR CORONA NOISE PREDICTION ON HIGH VOLTAGE AC LINES or also very interesting HIGH SPEED DIGITAL PROTECTION OF EHV TRANSMISSION LINES USING TRAVELING WAVES.

[Mypsychedelicart]

Scary as shit.

[kc5cxu]

Hi try recording the crackling sound when its foggy it makes a scary sound.

[Frombonics]

that is so cool, ty for taking the time, ahem,..and energy to record that,...so many current puns, not sure Watt made me say that but can't conductor serious conversation, oh that Hertz bad, I know. I can think of Amp 'le reasons to go on but alas I have an un-fared vantage....FF

[ElenkaMega]

Sounds of electricity pylons up to the film's ending sound as the train. Why this way is he happening?

[aftfnm]

how many volts is that?/

[CapaciousCore]

Sounds scary a bit.

[trancelistic]

this sound would of been great in the movie: the langoliers by stephen king

:D

[YTSE1988]

@trancelistic langoliers one of the crepiest films i have ever watched

[trancelistic]

@YTSE1988 I agree. It sure was creapy:)

[trancelistic]

@YTSE1988 I so agree:).

[0450marlin]

at the begining this sounds similiar to what Jupiter emits, as recorded by NASA space probes, it's electromagnetic waves converted to audio frequencies...

[gasser5001]

i can feel myself getting cancer just from watching this video...

[chromophobicrayons]

hey, this probably sounds like a really strange request, but my family does this

halloween fundraiser, and we have this haunted trail; basically, what i'm asking is if i could use this sound for my scene (there's this old power plant right next to the woods, and we're setting up a sort of toxic warehouse thing...) i just wanted to get your permission to download the mp3 from the video, if that's alright. [:

[WhoCaresFU]

How was the blunt you smoked before you filmed this man, yeah....

[helicoptered]

@WhoCaresFU hahahaha, ffs man 

[form109]

The Sound you Hear is not the sound of Electricity...Rather your Hearing Vibrations induced by Wind Blowing over the Guy Wires,Lines,and the Structure itself.

[MegaFactMan]

The actual humming , hissing and crackling of above ground high voltage power lines is very annoying, and has caused headaches, migraines and hearing problems. Bury these lines and the noise disappears.

[LionRecordsHD]

Which brand is the microphone, which you have used to record audio?

[artman40]

Talking about brutal industrial ambient!

[MorganOthelloLafay]

Amazing this Sound !!!

[Inflatonable]

I hear a similar sound from 132kV power lines in Australia. It happens when there is no wind. It sounds like a rattling noise.

[MrOldCrow]

like there was a flying saucer behind the woods...creepy...

[AloneYetHappy]

Yaya!!! <3!! I love listening to them!!

[cortexedge]

wow!

[sharkster45]

I'd be a bit freaked out to go that close that thing. :S

[Crpetersena]

Well this one gets my vote..

[hanzabass]

This is awesome.

[windoes98se]

if you are near high voltage powerlines when it rains you can hear the electricity arking to the rain ,but this sounds way more interesting

[XyleJKH]

mostly yeah, depends on what the cycle it is. 60 Hz is usually what it is. But yeah its pretty much what it sounds like

[gloom2]

at some parts it sounds like tibetan monks chanting...u do need good headphones and an ear for sound to hear it tho

[SmashCOBamberg]

S C A R Y!!! But great work!

[propulzio]

Tutdam, hogy valami ilyesmi, de ez azért már kurvára gáz!! a faszom sétálgatna ott!!!!!

[NeCtRiCkS]

awesoome

[Uberdum05firealarm]

Thats creepy, I think I'll go back to listening to my other music

[mackjsm]

No Way!! That is freaky... its like death is waiting..

[djtorule]

sounds creepy, heigtening sense of fear

[Gitarrenlesson]

omg. it sounds like a train.

can you shoot with a bow between 2 cabels?

faithfully

[vladostefanek]

that´s one of the most brutal ambient sounds i ever heard.

[Mosfet510]

A giant violin lol

[chairday]

It's sound from ontructions? Not from an air?

[noobehvc]

now touch the cable!

[jodex96]

Why don't I hear that here in Finland?

[stranac1]

dude you need special equpment to here that noise

[jodex96]

Some mic? Or what? Because I'm not sure at all is that real...

[insult0master]

Read the description, it explains how they did it.

[jodex96]

Oops.. I should read it first..

[trainman071]

nothing like"ghost wires"

[nobody35]

holy crap theyre alive theyre alive

LOL

[Faustyn]

awesome

[t0ny747]

How much of that is wind blowing across the wires?

[ibook133]

Quite a bit i'd assume.

[1ivare]

If it is in Sweden, which it looks like, it is 400 kV. That is the biggest we have

[Antimanele104]

creepy sound...the music of death if you ask me...:O

[biggbabysweetz1]

sounds mostly like the moving cables, but you catch a hint of the high frequency buzz here and there! great shot

[hobarey1985]

it sounds like a profi thriller sound effects.

[Hochspannungsboy]

were are you from?

[GordonsAllSeeingEye]

the world is run by sociopaths who care only for themselves

[helicoptered]

You do actually have a valid point, the strange thing they want all the money and everyone dead..

[mpowellmpowellmpowel]

Wow! Judging the size of the transmission lines and the tower - must be 765,000 volts..

[greenboy256]

he said it was 400 KV, that's only 400,000 volts.

[mpowellmpowellmpowel]

Oh, I must of misread it, sorry about that..

[Starman97]

He did not get any of that low hum and crackle, that was a neat sound from my summers. We had a creek that we went to to catch frogs and the power lines feeding north Chicago ran overhead. On a hot, humid day, the hum and crackle was pervasive.

[bandarna]

that is some cool stuff, makes you think

[Evangelion930]

The people who are saying that isn't the sound of electricity are idiots, the only reason there isn't much of a hum or taser sound is because the the recording system was mounted on the pylons. The reason it sounds like that is because the sound is traveling through a steel frame which is obviously going to obscure it someone considering it is causing vibrations within the steel.... read the god damn info and you'd know this

[backwoodsBrophil]

That IS NOT the sound of electricity; That's aeolian vibration caused by the wind over the wires. It can actually be quite destructive, which is why utilities install dampers on the wires near the insulators. Near a transformer, you can hear "electricity", or related magnetic forces at the rated frequency (60/50Hz), and you might here "crackling" from corona discharge on edges of bushings, but the video is simply aeolian vibration.

[helicoptered]

@backwoodsBrophil you can hear humming amongst wind at the beggining on my speakers, but that's the only bit

[Afftamatt]

@backwoodsBrophil

This sound has nothing to do with wind, I like to climb power line towers, the exact same sound is pretty loud near the top, and it gets louder and stronger during peak hours (when the load increases). And it's there even if there's absolutely no wind.

[61vyper]

@Afftamatt This is indeed flutter or Wind-induced oscillations(aeolian vibration). The movement of wind can be almost impercetible yet still cause this, around 4 to 160 Hz.(for the amplitude)

[petermines]

@Afftamatt Well.... what can I say. If you are stupid enough to go climbing these structures then you sure as hell are not intelligent enough to understand a simple scientific explanation such as from backwoodsBrophil.

Look up "resonance". It might help you (if you are stil alive)

[petermines]

@backwoodsBrophil Spot on analogy. Interesting to to hear a slight resonance / flange sound sound from the structure. I expect one day some producer somewhere will find use for the sound effect.

After all...... the laser sound in the star wars film was in fact created in a similar manner by sound engineers holding a microphone against the guy wires on a transmitter mast and then tapping them.

[audioslave187]

LOL - these dudes just get stoned and listen to powerlines all day, what a job!

[depeche879]

amazing

[81Sparhawk]

I agree with Faustyn: creepy indeed!!

[wizardbudgie]

i tell ya these aint nothin compared to the ones near my place

[GingleGangle1]

he must be kidding us) I've never heard sound like this, here it's much more different.

[Faustyn]

creepy

[jetstorm747]

Very intresting.

[SHOCKNAWW]

this is not the sound of the electric current as most have already said..... These powerlines are Highline powerlines... im guessing 500kva...??? if so it would sound more like a taser would sound with a bit of buzzing as well. Working for TVA has its perks.

[boots992132]

I used to go past one every day and it emitted a low electrified humm.

[DidntKnowWhatToPut1]

That not the sound of eletricaty, an eletcric current humms. That sound is the sound of the tenson of the wires as the win blows

[RStickMan22]

Worng in summer time you can hear high voltages from the humity in the air not the tenson.

[prime1357]

Actually... that is an odd resonance between the individual cables.... it IS caused by electricity.

[DidntKnowWhatToPut1]

Sorry for my stupidity =(

[nero486]

bei uns in der Nähe geht so eine krebserregende Smog-Leitung genau unter einer LIDL-Filiale durch. da würd ich erst mit 70 Jahren evtl. jobben!

[PetrFM]

Sounds like music in 1950´ sci-fi films.

[forwardbias]

I know of some high tension power lines up in the mountains of PA, a remote area, mostly trails and dirt roads, and there is a hiking trail that hunters use that goes under some lines, I need to make a trip up there and do some recordings when there is a breeze going.

[MrInfinity8]

Centre county by chance?

I used to live near some myself.

[forwardbias]

Thats not electrical current, electrical current makes a 60HZ hum as well as harmonics that can be heard or picked up from miles away with a simple VLF tuned radio. Thats the tension of the wires causing that metallic noise. I was on the Giant Wheel at Hershey Park, one of those ferris wheels with a wheel at both ends, one would go up as the other would go down to reload people, as the other one went up and rotated. The large blue beam between the wheels made noises similar to this.

[streetsNY]

Very creative. Thanks

[Screwhammmer]

Two questions...

1. Why did they film it.

2. Why did I watch it?

[streetsNY]

You are going to understand it 10 years later.

[masato20000]

２導体が垂直に近いまでに振れっぱなしになっており、気になった­。スウェーデンの送電線は日本の物とは大分ちがう様で、経済優先­の建造のようで。

日本の様に土地関係から垂直配列鉄塔設備がメインの国から比べれ­ば羨ましい限りの送電環境ですね。

[staffan777]

経済優先？南北に長い国土と主要発電所が北部にあり、電力需要が­南部に集中するために送電距離が長くなり、不要な部分はカットし­て出来るだけ簡素にしないと莫大な予算が必要になってしまいます­。日本の様に人口も少なく、電力需要もそれ程多くない分、採算性­からも、こうなってしまいます。無論、日本のように、地震、台風­などの気象の影響もスウェーデンではありませんので構造が簡素で­も危険性はありません。

[RovieB]

See, this is exactly why i love youtube. Used to hunt on a powerline right-of-way. Before morning light the lines are near quiet. As people/businesses come alive you hear a steadily but very slow rate of increase in the arcing sound. Never asked anyone if it was just me. Now i know 'tis not. Line was prob 250kv+ Txu to dallas, tx i believe. Runs across Grannie's land!

[belgvr]

looks like sounds from terror movies

[Karlfalcon]

Fascinating.

[soundseeker63]

1:59 - 3:00 sounds really sinnister!! I've never really thought of the sounds the lines themselves make, im just used to the buzzing sound of the electricity, especially in damp conditions. Interesting.

[algorithmae]

Wow, this is awesome!

I've never heard anything like this before in my life.

And I learned today that power lines make sound... I would have guessed so from wind and such, but nothing of this kind...

[Kenzofeis]

watch?v=CsqxpNNoDs0 "sound" from the sun

makes you think in "unorthodox" therms doesn't it, I think the Electric Universe model is very plausible.. just that those circuits are that much larger

[abcdijkxyz]

I guess the hamonics in the AC might be causing some parts of the transmission tower/line to resonate... harmonics are big head ache,they cause metal fatigue... just my 2 paise.... =P

[enok90]

I freakin live there guys and it aint so disturbing because im used to it and i hear them every day its a peaceful town growth up from being a non special place in the middle of nowhere to being a town of 400 people and Porjus was born because of the Electicity that u could make outta the water falls there, and it was a spot to refill the old trains with water and fuel (cole) and it was only workers that lived there in the beggining but i grew to a popular tourist desination and a nice town.

[torontomapleleafer]

Ooops, sorry, I pressed post comment too soon, I mean the locals here call them stanchions, the real word is pylons like you have in the discription, sorry. And I notice how the beams taper down to like nothing at the base... wouldn't the wind just blown the things over? They wouldn't last standing here.....

[torontomapleleafer]

Dude, if I was up there alone on those stanchions (over here, that what those big metal hydro pole thingies are called) I would be shitting myself. Really cool, but at the same time also kind of freaky to listen to.....

[spamdude060]

omfg!!! i guess the animals livin' here are not gettin a pleasant sleep

[mumish13]

oh my god!the start of the power transmission lines towers is very small and the final is big!

[69ablip]

That's a pretty big synth...

[nicolas555539]

it sounds weird

[CTylerA34]

i would hate to see them lines down

[jmartis2]

I thought I was weird when I loved listening to transformers an power lines as they buzz... Now I know I'm not the only one, thanks! :D

[WDX7770243546]

ME TOO!

What for?

[mjookie]

Weirdly fascinating, I loved it

[Dorcz]

amazing voices!

[ferrisio]

You clicked on the video and made a comment moron, sounds like the pot calling the kettle black to me...

[FungusFromUliJonRoth]

I don't know, mate. It seems like they're outside in this video and in a nice area, too. Perhaps you should take your own advice.

[sirhc141]

Mate i work on the bloody things and i get to see the ENGLISH country side every day.

i would never waste my time with a video camera filming this when there is all the wildlife and surroundings to view.

I suppose every one to them selves!

[dummyspitter]

very erie but its the wind

[phantom187]

this isnt new to me dude they make that sound here in Texas also

[sweeaa]

hahaha i live 100 meters away from there

[mildude99]

the reason you hear it is because of the amount of current pushing the voltage through the cables. it is very intense

[gewehrmeister3777]

This has nothing to do with electricity in the power lines.

This is aeolian vibration caused by wind blowing on the transmission lines and pylon guy wires. When wind blows on the wires it creates vortices on the side of the cable away from the wind. The relative low pressure of these vortices causes them to implode and the inrush of air caused by this hits the wires making them vibrate.

[jsncrso]

He's right. If you were hearing electricity, you would be hearing a constant 60Hz buzzing. Power consumption does not fluctuate like that, nor would it get any louder if more electricity were being used. You are hearing nothing but the wind inducing vibrations in the lines....still a very erie sound indeed.

[PIANOMAN720]

you are right !! 60hz or in music a (B-FLAT)

[feki00]

Its 50Hz becaue its in Europe :)

[PIANOMAN720]

well that may change the tone to (A) not B flat , but i think that noise is wind blowing because the sound changes, and 50 or 60 hz would not change.

[tall32guy]

B flat is also known as C. :)

[WesByNorthWest]

Isn't B sharp also known as C ? 0.0

Not B flat

[Andyman3k]

This has been made into an instrument. Its called an aeolian harp. It has a number of differently tensioned strings that make harmonics together when vibrated by the wind. Very erie and almost fake sounding. But the sound of real power lines is really cool too. Its just a lot more quiet.

[olehoel]

Du burde stille ut dette på en kunstutstilling! Svært interessant! :)

[metabog]

Music to my ears.

[saqmatit]

spooky sound! you can really hear the current running through the wires. its like a metallic river.

[kaio9000]

muy buen video los felicito!!!

[behahve1]

FREAKY!!

[HeavyArms94]

lol sonunds funny jst like the ones round mine

[Winchester748]

Sounds like another hot day in LA.

[n310ea]

Cool! I've heard transmission lines make that noise. For the ones with wooden towers, sometimes they would make a roaring sound and sometimes they would make a sizzling sound.

[madcows10]

sounds eerie.

[behahve1]

It sounds like a Silent Hill track...

[thematt89]

very cool!

[BadAndUgly]

I want to do a EEG on my head and take the curves and make them into audio, so I can hear myself thinking =)

[nilsjc]

yeah! I friend of mine, who work as a brain scientist, are making some research in that area.

[darkmaster010]

i never knew the power lines sounded like this. Well, perhaps in Australia, theyre different but i usually hear a buzzing sound...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

great views nonetheless

[Andyman3k]

They sound like this because of the wind vibrating them. It has basically nothing to do with the voltage or current.

[xlqex]

Very interesting. How much of the noise is caused by the current, and how much is mechanical?

[nilsjc]

All sound are mechanical vibration. However, the vibration comes from the current and the magnetic field, the wind, and sounds nearby the poles, like birds, cars or whatever.

[zep4life]

very cool

[kydoes]

Just like a slikny. The only time I have ever "heard" power lines is when I stand under them. 500-600kV lines make a nice sound that you don't have to use things to hear. you can hear the electricity in the air.

[brophildotNET]

aolean vibration occurs on pylon conductors due to high and low pressures around the line caused by wind

[feek404]

Great sound...

7:15 - 7:45 is ultimate...

[saitanus]

thats a good 300k or so volts resonating at 60 hzs

[forskingslogen]

No. It's the wind maintain the wires til physically oscillate. BTW in Europe we have 50 Hz not 60 like in US.

[paulbrockenhagen]

Hauntingly Melodic!

[Drummelskrudd]

I've heard the same type of sound from low voltage telephone wires. It's the wind setting the wires in motion and just like on musical instruments that produces sound.

[xXtortionXx]

fake!!!!! the buzzing noise you here never comes from power lines unless it arcs but the buzzing comes from a transformer produceing electromagnetic waves through its wires

[HrnyGoat]

Ive heard it myself. Its not fake. You dont even have to put a mic to the tower. If you stand under lines that are 130kV and up, you can hear the crackling/popping noise the lines produce as they ionize the air around them. Its especially evident on 350kV lines or higher.

[sackese]

I've been working at a power plant. Believe me, the wires sing! What happens is that the high current going through makes the steel contract and relax. But due to different resonances the different parts contract different creating different sounds.