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Lofi air traffic control – LAX

607 points| hot_gril | 2 years ago |lofiatc.com

129 comments

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[+] reset-password|2 years ago|reply
This is great. I'd love this with the same style radio chatter, but from a bot that watches my news sources, tweets, emails, and radios itself to discuss interesting things happening.

"An email just came in at 0743 AM from Steve.. over" ... "Yeah that looks like an interesting followup to the one from John last week. Someone should reply to this one. Over."

[+] mackopes|2 years ago|reply
Oh this would be awesome. For very long time I’ve been looking for an unintrusive way to receive important notifications on time. And since I almost always listen to music this would work well.
[+] nine_k|2 years ago|reply
Hear, hear. A real side project opportunity!
[+] MrGilbert|2 years ago|reply
It would require some APIs to be incorporated, and I'd really appreciate if that would be done locally, but… Sounds cool!
[+] nathanmcrae|2 years ago|reply
Some others have mentioned SomaFM and the Apollo missions separately, but SomaFM has a station that combines ambient music and the Apollo mission audio: https://somafm.com/missioncontrol/
[+] SllX|2 years ago|reply
I didn’t know I needed this in my life until now. Thanks!
[+] theK|2 years ago|reply
Soma is such a great station! If you are a Hardcore listener some channels might appear a bit repetitive from time to time but in my experience this self corrects over time.
[+] TigeriusKirk|2 years ago|reply
Are there any feeds of live current space mission audio?
[+] 4ndrewl|2 years ago|reply
This (well EHAM) is one of my standard daily listens whilst WFH. That and the Flying Fortress over at MyNoise (a service I pay for) https://mynoise.net/NoiseMachines/propellerNoiseGenerator.ph...
[+] ashton314|2 years ago|reply
MyNoise is the best. Stéphane seems like such a respectful, down-to-earth guy. I don’t pay for many subscriptions—I go out of my way to avoid them—but I put some good money into MyNoise regularly because it’s been such a valuable service. It’s optional—I don’t actually use many of the paid features—but I appreciate it so dang much.
[+] lofi8320948|2 years ago|reply
Boston College's FM station WZBC has a program No Commercial Potential, which plays lots of experimental sounds, some of it sounds like MyNoise Flying Fortress. Everything depends on the DJ and their mood, but some of it has this vibe.

https://www.wzbc.org/after-hours-ncp

[+] samstave|2 years ago|reply
HAHA - I came here to say the same (I pay for it as well, and I love the flying fortress with radio chatter...

I just spent some time adding layers of sound to the actual ATC chatter, then I add individual layers, like distant thunder, b29, singing bowls and rain etc...

https://i.imgur.com/8jJkh1B.png

Ill try to share an MP3...

[+] t0mas88|2 years ago|reply
EHAM tower or the high speed ballet of the radar guys?
[+] Justin_K|2 years ago|reply
Super cool. United used to let passengers listen to the flight's atc comms, which I really liked. Then they merged with Continental and got rid of it. I always wondered why the took away that feature.
[+] 1659447091|2 years ago|reply
They didn't take it away completely, but it's now at the flight crews discretion. You can kindly ask a flight attendant to ask the pilot if they will have channel 9 on or ask if they will.

Found this about it[0], but there is still the occasional person asking about it on FF boards and the answer is still, to politely ask the FA about it

[0] https://simpleflying.com/united-airlines-channel-9-story/

[+] lucb1e|2 years ago|reply
I recently saw a video where ATC made a mistake and nearly let two planes get too close (one landing, another taking off, on crossing runways). They caught it in time (some ATC automated checking system was still doing its announcement as the controller saw and diverted them both) but hearing that as a passenger, I can imagine the panic that's not going to help anyone.

Don't know if that is the reason, or if that's even a legitimate reason (it's about your life after all, even if you're powerless to save it), but I could imagine that being a consideration.

[+] mmaunder|2 years ago|reply
Know-it-all PPLs on the flight giving other passengers blow by blow commentary while critiquing the captain. That and not wanting pax to think about being in an aluminum tube traveling 0.7 Mach while in said tube.
[+] johnchristopher|2 years ago|reply
SomaFM has https://somafm.com/player/#/now-playing/sf1033 (ambient with real-time chat from LAPD) and https://somafm.com/player/#/now-playing/missioncontrol (ambient and Houston old chit-chat I think).

They also have this new n5md channel that has sooooo many good tracks :).

I don't get Lofi, it's way too sad/nostalgic to me to be relaxing but the oversound here is okay (for a bit).

edit: BUT. Sometimes somaFM will sing tunes that sounds like Ross from Friends or weird 32 minutes "dzing-dzin" loop. When it happens I click on "wtf ?!" in the app and switch to another channel (that I flood with "I love this").

[+] lostlogin|2 years ago|reply
> Sometimes somaFM will sing tunes that sounds like Ross from Friends

Add a laugh track and your descent into hell will be complete.

[+] Balgair|2 years ago|reply
I love lofi streams on YT. I especially love them combined with ambient nature bathing.

Something about it is sad/nostalgic, for sure. But when you get that ambient nature bathing in there, it becomes, to me, more hopeful and ... healing, in a way. Nostalgia is still there, but more of the hopeful/relaxing vibes than the sad ones.

I got way into them during lockdowns, obviously, but have kept it up. The trick is finding a real nature bathing track. Not just some soundboards that loop or are set at random. Real high quality audio from real places over hours of time are rare, but very worth it. My post history has more on the specific tracks I've found, with a few other commenters chipping in every once in a while.

You get a bit more wanderlust, tempered by the lofi. It's a strange brew, but gets me through the days.

[+] dadzilla|2 years ago|reply
I love these stations. SomaFM carries this and others (or maybe they are just similar mash-ups). I have tinnitus 100% of the time, and silence is the enemy. This kind of sound - indistinct, with variety and high frequencies, is the most helpful.
[+] SomeBoolshit|2 years ago|reply
Very reminiscent of the soma FM station where they have music over an SF police scanner.
[+] nine_k|2 years ago|reply
Speaking about an opposite thing: am I the only one who gets terribly distracted by any hint of human speech in the ambient sounds? In my case, it completely destroys concentration; my mind immediately switches to listening mode, trying to understand the speech and tune in to the conversation.

This is why I only listen to the instrumental music during work, and pain to hear an occasional phrase dropped into a perfectly good IDM / synthwave / electronica track. I wish a "speech-free" tag existed e.g. on Bandcamp; some artists helpfully put annotations on their albums, e.g. Master Boot Record's "100% dehumanized", but apparently most artists and likely listeners do not see the presence of words as a large differentiator.

I know 2-3 of my friends who exhibit a similar effect. I wonder if it's rare, or not so rare but not noticed much.

[+] mhink|2 years ago|reply
I experience something similar, but it seems to have more to do with *how familiar* I am with the song. If it's something I've never heard before, it's much more distracting- even if it doesn't have words. On the other hand, if I've listened to it a lot, it seems to have the opposite effect, and helps me concentrate.

I get this when trying to fall asleep, too: I can't fall asleep while watching something new! But give me an episode of Futurama I've watched about six hundred and thirty-two times, and I'll be out like a light. :)

That being said, this site is interesting because the speech is somewhat less distinct and has the odd cadence of aviation radio. I'll give it a listen for awhile and see if I get the same effect as you.

[+] chungus|2 years ago|reply
Yup, same here. It's why I also mostly listen to instrumental music. A lot of Aphex Twin. On top of that, when I listen to (catchy) music with lyrics, it keeps looping in the background of my brain non-stop, sometimes multiple days. A positive -sort of related- thing: it's very easy for me to listen to audio-books while driving or doing other things and not miss anything because I'm so focused on the speech.
[+] VBprogrammer|2 years ago|reply
I definitely get where you are coming from. I've been known to listen to music in languages I don't know as a bit of a work around for that.
[+] hnarn|2 years ago|reply
> am I the only one who gets terribly distracted by any hint of human speech in the ambient sounds? In my case, it completely destroys concentration

I’m the same, which is why my favorite ambient music for work is black metal. You still get music that mirrors how troubleshooting kubernetes makes you feel, but you couldn’t hear the lyrics if you tried :-)

[+] andrepd|2 years ago|reply
True, but on the other hand I also get distracted at instruments x) Classical music especially is a no-no, I'll get too interested and stop paying attention to what I'm doing lol.

However, ambient sounds are perfect. I'll never get tired of plugging this: mynoise.net

[+] CalRobert|2 years ago|reply
Me too, but only when my work involves words. When I was in photoshop all day I listened to podcasts constantly and did fine.
[+] Metacelsus|2 years ago|reply
Same. That's why when I'm working, I listen to either classical music, or metal music where the words are unintelligible.
[+] dado3212|2 years ago|reply
I have this, but I also love lyrical music as opposed to just instrumental tracks. My solution was listening to music in languages I don't understand (French, Icelandic, etc) where there's still the tonal patterns and vocal layering, but doesn't flip my brain into "speech processing" mode.
[+] goodpoint|2 years ago|reply
No, it's absolutely normal. It's difficult to ignore voices.

The same way it's difficult to tell the color of a written word if the word itself is a color.

[+] mdekkers|2 years ago|reply
I was just thinking exactly the same thing - this is nice, but _so_ distracting. I typically listen to the Lounge channel on DI.FM for happy chillout background vibes that don’t distract
[+] imbnwa|2 years ago|reply
Late 10s Chillwave works for me though
[+] oakmad|2 years ago|reply
https://listentothe.cloud/ Is my favorite. There’s something really soothing about certain regional accents and the rhythm of their comms. I really liked Hong Kong but it always seems to be offline now.
[+] olkingcole|2 years ago|reply
Great vibe. My only gripe is the music doesn't seem to be lofi at all, just like slow beats. Maybe it's just where I'm at in the playlist though.
[+] varenc|2 years ago|reply
I noticed that the KLAX audio feed is in stereo and isolates the voice chatter to either the left or the right channel. Which might be confusing on headphones.

I'm not sure how it's determined what audio goes to each channel but it seems very intentional. I'm guessing this is a way of listening to to multiple overlapping channels. Does anyone know more about this? Is separating radio chatter into distinct channels and listening over stereo something air traffic controllers do in practice or is that just for the benefit of this feed?

p.s. here's just the KLAX feed without the lofi beats: https://s1-bos.liveatc.net/klax_twr

[+] dafelst|2 years ago|reply
Why is this so strangely relaxing? What an amazing idea.
[+] eiiot|2 years ago|reply
If you're interested in listening to more ATC stuff, LiveATC[0] is a pretty good service for listening in while at airports or on a plane (or just while sitting around). I use it when traveling for fun, and it works really well! (The only issue is figuring out what frequency your aircraft is on)

[0]: https://www.liveatc.net/

[+] 8bitsrule|2 years ago|reply
Search doesn't accept city-names but ... if you find the 3-letter IATA airport-code for a particular city (say Pittsburg, PIT)... search for it with a K in front of it (KPIT), it's got many of them.

US: https://www.airportcodes.us/us-airports.htm

(Edit: At KFNT, e.g., you'll find much less talk !)

[+] chambo622|2 years ago|reply
None of the airport feeds I've tried have worked, unfortunately.
[+] Mr-Mercury|2 years ago|reply
KLAX South Tower has a pretty decent of traffic from what I've noticed.
[+] suby|2 years ago|reply
I've been listening to this all day. If you're the creator of this OP, thank you, it's very good.
[+] lispisok|2 years ago|reply
Being able to adjust the volume of the music and radio is an underrated and greatly appreciated feature. Great job whoever made this
[+] timthorn|2 years ago|reply
I live at the start of the final approach path to one of the London airports, and used to live at an equivalent point for one of the others. I started to put together a site that combined ATC audio, ADS-B data and a live webcam - but then found it would be illegal to include the audio in the UK. :/