For pluviophiles (people who love rain), the sound of rain is one of the most beautiful things ever. Even if you’re not a complete pluviophile, learning how to make rain sounds by yourself can be a fun party trick! You could use a rain stick, clap your hands or even use a thunder drum. Read ahead to see detailed methods of accomplishing this very task.
How do you make a rain sound?
YouTube or a Rain App
The simplest answer out there to making rain sounds when there isn’t any rain is using your phone! Through YouTube or a similar rain app and some nice speakers, you can get a complete thunderstorm going right in your living room!
Using a DIY Rain Stick!
Rain sticks aren’t actually as complicated as they seem. In fact, you can make one on your own! Rain sticks can easily be created by using just the following materials:
- Cardboard tube
- Construction paper
- Toothpicks or nails
- One of the following: rice, dried beans, beads, tiny pebbles
First, take the cardboard tube and cover one opening with construction paper, then seal it with some tape. Next, put some nails or toothpicks into the sides of the cardboard tube at random angles, creating barriers for our beads to hit. Then, pour in whatever material you’re using from the following: rice, beads, dried beans or tiny pebbles. Finally, close off the other end of the cardboard tube with construction paper and you’re good to go! All you have to do now is move around the cardboard tube and turn it over to listen to the sounds of rain.
Frying something in the oil
Yes, you heard that correctly! Frying something in oil surprisingly makes a sound so similar to rain that if you play the two side by side, you can barely tell the difference! So go ahead, get some bacon or a burger patty, lay it on hot oil and let it sizzle. Remind yourself of rainy days while enjoying the scent of whatever you’re frying. Win-win!
How do you make rain sound in class?
When you’re in class and are trying to make some rain sounds (hopefully not to trouble your teacher), you can do one of these things!
- Tap on the desk using two pencils
- Use your fingernails and tap on the desk one fingernail at a time to create your very own rainstorm.
- If you want to get your whole class involved, you can tell everyone to start clapping at varying intensities and speed. This will create a varied clapping sound that will eventually sound exactly like rainfall!
How do you make rain sounds with your hands?
There are many ways of making rain sounds with your hands, they’re listed ahead with the intensity of the sound produced described in front of them:
- Rubbing palms – a shower of rain
- Snapping fingers – large individual droplets
- Tapping fingernails on a desk – sprinkle on a roof
- Patting thighs – torrential downpour on the street
- Clapping hands – slow rain
How do you make thunder by hand?
While there is no direct way to make thunder with your hands, there is something called a thunder drum that can help you.
A thunder drum/tube is a drum-like hollow cylinder with a spring attached inside to a diaphragm. When the drum/tube is shaken, the spring moves too. The spring’s movement causes vibrations throughout the drum/tube, making a sound that closely resembles thunder.
One possible way to make a thunderstorm by yourself could be to add stomping your feet on the ground to the clapping for the rain we suggested earlier.
Another simple device that could help you create thunder sounds is the humble thunder sheet. A thunder sheet is nothing but a thin metal sheet that is used in movies/plays to create dramatic sound effects that suit the scene. The sheet is first slowly shaken to warm it up, then it is either struck or shaken quickly to create a sound that is very similar to thunder. This thunder sheet can be made out of any scrap metal. The sound produced by the sheet will be louder and more pronounced, based on how thin and large it is.
What color noise is rain?
Before answering this question, let’s see why noise is named after colors in the first place. The colors that different types of noises are made out of are “derived from a general analogy between the spectrum of wavelengths of sound wave present in the sound and the corresponding spectrum of light wave frequencies” – Wikipedia.
In simpler terms, we could explain it as the following:
- White noise comprises all audible frequencies equally distributed across the spectrum
- Pink noise also has all audible frequencies but is unequally distributed, with the lower frequencies getting more weight.
- Brown noise allocates the most amount of energy to the lower frequencies.
- Black noise is absolute silence, the lack of any noise.
So what color noise is rain? Rain is pink noise! Pink noise sounds deeper than white noise while not being as deep as brown noise. Rain could also be brown noise when it pours in large volumes and is heard from a distance.
Pink noise has been shown to help people stay in a deep sleep and feel more relaxed. Rain, being a kind of pink noise, also has a similar effect. Alongside the cozy atmosphere created by the rain, the noise itself helps too! So if you were wondering why you sleep better while it’s raining, there’s your answer!
To wrap it all up
All in all, to have the sound of rain whenever you want is a trick we could all learn. Whether it’s by using a rain stick, thunder drum, clapping our hands in a group or just playing a youtube video, all of these methods are simple ways to transport yourself to the middle of a thunderstorm! We hope that through this article, you learned how to make rain sounds, happy learning!
