Free Online Player
Old Clock
Old Clock is a mechanical clock ticking roughly once a second, with the slightly uneven tick–tock spacing of a real escapement rather than a metronome. A faint tonal hum from the mechanism and the room runs underneath. Suits reading, writing, and anyone who finds a ticking room companionable.
Ready to play
Stack this under rain or a fire, keep the blend, and play it with your screen off. Slo, on iOS, Android and Mac.
A real escapement, not a metronome
The transients arrive at about one per second, but the gaps are not equal — tick and tock alternate with slightly different spacing, which is the signature of a mechanical movement and the main thing a synthesised tick gets wrong. Behind the ticks sits a low harmonic hum, a set of steady tones from the case and the room, and it is this bed that gives the recording its old, enclosed feeling.
The ticks themselves are bright and broadband, sitting well above the hum. The recording is effectively mono, so the clock stays in one place on the wall. The loop is 32 seconds.
A pulse you can work to
Some people write and read better with a slow pulse in the room and others find every tick impossible to ignore; there is no middle ground and you will know within a minute. It is a poor masker — the ticks are discrete events with quiet between them — so treat it as character rather than coverage.
For other mechanical pulses, hear keyboard typing and old vinyl record crackle, or slow right down with heavy church bells; everything is on the sound library index. To soften the ticks, open the old clock and rain blend in the free sound mixer.
Frequently asked questions
How fast does the clock tick?
About once a second, with the slightly uneven tick–tock spacing of a mechanical escapement rather than an even metronome beat.
Is there a chime?
No. The loop contains ticking and a faint mechanism hum only.
Can it mask room noise?
No. Ticks are discrete events with quiet between them, so use a continuous sound if you want coverage.
Is it stereo?
Effectively mono, so the clock stays in one fixed position.