Mix a background wash from six noise layers, save the recipe, and play it with an automatic stop — no audio files, no streaming.
Sometimes the problem is not the song, it is the room: a practice space that is too quiet to relax in, or a backing track that sits in a dead space with nothing around it. This builds a background wash from six noise layers generated in the browser — rain, wind, fire, waves, room tone and night insects — each one filtered noise rather than a recording, so nothing is downloaded and nothing is streamed. Set the levels, build the mix, and play it for as long as you set. The recipe is printed out as numbers, so you can get the same wash again next week without remembering anything.
Layers are synthesised from filtered noise, not recordings. Keep the master level modest if you are wearing headphones.
Set the layers and build a mix.
Why noise layers rather than recordings
A recording of rain is a fixed five or ten seconds looped, and loops are audible once you know to listen for them. Filtered noise does not repeat: it is generated continuously, so the wash has no seam and no recognisable event to latch onto. It also means this page weighs nothing — there is no audio file to download, and it works with the network switched off.
The trade-off is character. Synthesised rain is convincing as texture and unconvincing as weather; it will not fool anyone who is listening to it rather than working alongside it. For background that is usually the right trade, and the recipe printout means the mix you liked is reproducible rather than lost.
How to use the result
- Start from a preset, then move one slider. Presets get you into the right area faster than six sliders at zero.
- Keep the master around forty to fifty. These layers stack, and six of them at full level is louder than you expect.
- Use the auto-stop. A wash you forget about running is a laptop fan and a battery you did not need to spend.
- Write the recipe down if you like a mix. The six numbers are the whole thing — there is nothing else to remember.
- If it sounds thin, add room tone before adding anything else. It is the layer gluing the others together, and it is the one people leave out.
Questions people ask
- Why is there no birdsong or traffic?
Those have audible events — a specific bird, a specific car — and synthesised versions sound wrong in a way noise textures do not. Six texture layers cover most of what a background wash needs.
- Does it use my microphone?
No. Nothing is recorded, nothing is analysed, and no permission is requested. Every layer is generated from noise in the browser’s audio engine.
- Can I leave it running?
Yes, up to an hour with the auto-stop, or indefinitely on the “keep going” setting. Browsers throttle background tabs, so a very long unattended session may behave differently if you switch away.
- Why does Play do nothing on my browser?
It needs the Web Audio API, which every current browser has, and a user gesture to start sound — which is why Play is a separate button rather than starting on load.
What this tool does not do. Everything runs in your browser. Nothing is uploaded, nothing is stored, and it works with the internet switched off. These are synthesised textures, not field recordings, and the names are descriptions of the filter shape rather than claims about accuracy. Loud sustained noise at high volume is not good for your ears; keep the master level low, especially on headphones. See the site disclaimer. Written by Nico, who builds these tools and writes about writing at WrittenTone.