Rain, waves, brown noise – what’s the difference?
Three ambient layers, three characters. What brown noise actually is, why rain sounds different from waves and when to use which layer.
Below Locoustic’s play button you’ll find three circles: rain, waves and brown noise. You can add them to the music, combine them or play them on their own. But what actually sets them apart – and when should you use which?
Noise comes in colours
Noise is a signal that contains many frequencies at once, without any recognisable melody or rhythm. Depending on how its energy is spread across frequencies, we talk about different “colours”:
- White noise contains all frequencies with equal energy. To our ears it sounds bright and hissy, like a TV with no signal.
- Pink noise gets quieter towards the high end. It sounds more balanced and softer.
- Brown noise drops off even more steeply. Its energy sits mainly in the low frequencies. It sounds dark and muffled, a bit like distant rumbling or the inside of a plane.
The name “brown” has nothing to do with the colour, by the way. It goes back to the botanist Robert Brown, after whom Brownian motion is named. That kind of random wandering is exactly what’s in the signal, mathematically speaking.
Brown noise: the deep carpet
Because brown noise carries a lot of energy in the low end, it’s good at covering steady sounds: ventilation, traffic, the hum of an open-plan office. This effect is called masking: a constant sound makes other, changing sounds less noticeable.
Many people find brown noise more pleasant than white noise because the sharp highs are missing. Locoustic generates it directly in your browser, and it loops without an audible seam.
Rain: noise with texture
Rain is essentially natural noise, but with structure: individual drops, small irregularities, a lively patter. That texture makes it feel less monotonous than artificial noise for many people. At the same time, rain is broad enough to cover voices in the background.
Rain is a good fit when pure noise feels too technical, but you still want a dense, even soundscape.
Waves: a slow rhythm
What sets waves apart from rain and brown noise is mainly their slow movement: the sound swells and recedes in a calm, irregular rhythm. That gives it a gentle dynamic without being disruptive.
Waves work well when you prefer things calmer and rely less on masking – at home, for example, when it’s quiet anyway and you’d simply like a sense of space in your ears.
Which layer when?
There’s no right or wrong. A few pointers:
- Loud surroundings, lots of voices: brown noise, possibly together with rain.
- Moderately loud, and you want it to sound natural: rain.
- Quiet, and you’d like some atmosphere: waves.
- You don’t like music while you work: turn on just one layer and leave the music paused.
And if you’re unsure: start with the music on its own. The layers are an offer, not an obligation.
Quiet is enough
Noise doesn’t have to be loud to work. Set the volume so that distracting sounds move into the background, and no further. Your ears will thank you after a long working day.