A receiver that turns the electromagnetic world around us into sound: the hum of power lines, the chatter of chargers and screens, the bursts of phones and wifi, and on a quiet night the crackle of lightning thousands of kilometres away.
three zones of electromagnetism (and some audiowaves too)
- VLF: an antenna input for very low frequencies, from mains hum and magnetic signals from the city to the sferics and whistlers of distant thunderstorms.
- Induction: a coil that picks up the magnetic fields of transformers, motors, screens and phones.
- Ext In: an input for (contact)microphones, sensors and more extended radio experiments.
A Character stage filters the signal into DARK or SOFT, all goes out through a proper headphone buffer to a set of headphones or a recorder’s Line In.
Here are a few audio examples, check out more on my instagram.
Build your own!
The Threshold Receiver is a DIY kit, built by participants in my radio workshops, right now I will take the kit on tour and will be at COSMOS in Lisbon on 14 and 15 November 2026, at NEXT Festival in Bratislava on 27 November 2026 and 12 December 2026 at Keith in Berlin.
More on listening to the electromagnetic spectrum, and its history in art, in the book Tune In! An Artist’s Guide To Radio And The Electromagnetic Spectrum (2026)
Sonic Artefacts, 2026. Designed by Wouter Jaspers. DIY kit on a black circuit board.
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Add-on board in the making:
Electromagnetic Experiments
A companion board with six passive sensors on one rotary switch, plugged into the receiver’s input, currently under development and coming end of Nov 2026:
- Light: flickering LEDs, screens and lamps as sound
- Tape head: a tiny magnetic pickup for listening up close
- RF sniffer: radio signals from nearby transmitters and devices
- VLF loop: a loop antenna for the natural radio of the atmosphere
- Earth probes: currents running through the ground
- Coil on cable: a pickup coil to place anywhere