Recording Electromagnetic Fields for Cheap ⚡

Electronic devices are inherently surrounded by electromagnetic fields, which cannot be heard but can be picked up using induction coils. The resulting sound can vary drastically between different devices, and can be handy for a wide variety of sound design purposes, most notably as source material for sci-fi sounds.

Perhaps the most well know commercially available products for EMF recordings are produced by LOM, such as the Elektrosluch or Priezor. LOM products tend to garner high praise, but unfortunately they are notorious for selling out quickly. At the time of writing this, both products are sold out!

Fortunately there are alternative products available too. You can find "telephone pickup coils", which are devices intended to be attached to telephones to record phone calls. I bought two from the brand "Electrovision" on Amazon for about £5 each (~$6 USD).

I found these to work excellently, and I recorded many different devices around the house. I compiled these recordings into my "Electromagnetic Fields" sound library.

Here are some examples of recordings made using the pickup coils:

My favourite sound captured during the process is probably the plasma ball. You can capture a wide range of sounds by touching different parts of the ball. You can even use it to get a fairly convincing electricity sound!