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Believe it or not! This app can make your tattoo speak

Mohit Mohanan | Updated on: 20 February 2018, 10:51 IST
These soundwave tattoos works with an app called Skin Motion to translate pictures to sounds.

The trend of Tattoos has been around everywhere for centuries. They're very personal, meaningful, permanent and constantly evolving with time. If you're looking to get a new unique tattoo and by unique I really mean it. What I am about to tell you is absolutely amazing and will blow your mind. I am not so sure if you have ever heard of this. It's about getting a tattoo that really speaks to you. Yes, you read, it right. It's unimaginable, unbelievable and it's true. The kinda tattoo you can listen to.

Introducing Soundwave tattoos
This new technology was launched worldwide last year. Like they say, “the sky is the limit.” The technology itself is very crazy to get inked for the rest of your life. A tattoo that you can "literally hear". This Los Angeles company has developed something revolutionary for tattoo lovers which everyone would love to try it at least once in their lifetime. These soundwave tattoos work with an app called Skin Motion to translate pictures to sounds.

What I am saying is for everyone who loves to get inked. A lot of people get tattoos for an image of something that’s meaningful to them — like a quote, a picture, or a symbol — but this new tattoo trend just added a new dimension of getting a meaningful ink design. This is a way of making tattoos both visual and audio, and they work by converting sound clips into printed sound waves, which can then be played using a Skin Motion app.

You can say it is basically or sort of a QR code for your body, the only difference is instead of a code, it’s sound waves.

Who designed it?

Nate Siggard created the first Soundwave Tattoo in Los Angeles, California and then founded Skin Motion to bring augmented reality tattoos to life. Siggard is an Artist, Tattooer, Inventor, and Entrepreneur who founded Skin Motion to bring Soundwave Tattoos to life. He designed after his friends got a waveform of “Tiny Dancer” tattooed and his girlfriend Juliana asked, “Wouldn’t it be cool if you could play it back?”. Nate decided he needed one of his own, with Juliana and their 4-month-old baby saying “I love you” and filmed it to share online. He posted the video on Facebook the next day, and it immediately went viral. He tattooed a Soundwave Tattoo of Juliana and their daughter on his leg to share the idea with everyone. After the video of his tattoo was viewed over 70 million times and over 10,000 people signed up for the waiting list to get one. Nate founded Skin Motion to build the platform and make Soundwave Tattoos a possibility for everyone.

When someone whom you loved dies, the first thing you want to do is to hear their voice all the time. You can pick up your phone, you can listen to it whenever you want, but having it on your skin, there's a bigger meaning behind it because it's actually on your body and you can hear it all of the time. It's unbelievable but these new tattoos bring voices back to life. So far, this little art is loved by everyone in the United States of America is just beginning to gain popularity in Canada.

While some choose to have the sound wave itself tattooed on their body, This girl opted to have her sound wave be negative space within a larger tattoo

There are around 200 artists in the world who are licensed to create the “Skin Motion” sound wave tattoos. In order to get this, first, you have to find a licensed tattoo artist to get this tattoo done on your skin. The app is allowing people to listen to their tattoo. It can be anything like a recording of a mother’s voice or a child’s laughter, an animal’s bark, a baby’s heartbeat trees rustling, birds chirping or even a voicemail or a recording from a loved one who's passed and that’s the beauty of this app, it can be anything you could have possibly imagined with your tattoo. Basically, a waveform gets registered to a user, then the wave is tattooed. You play back the wave on the app and you get the audio associated with the tattoo.

Tattoos that can actually be played back as real audio files

This tattoo lets you remember someone in a really special way
There’s nothing more personal or customised.How does it work? In theory, the app should scan a picture of the waveform and converts the digital image data into a digital sound file, which it can play. The company website states: “We invented a way to play soundwave tattoos on your phone or tablet. “Record a message from a loved one. Wear your lyrics. “With our unique patent-pending technology, turn up to 1:00 minute of sound into a tattoo you can listen to with your mobile device.” Soundwave Tattoos said it has already received applications from hundreds of artists from 15 different countries who want to train up.

A girl from Arizona, Caitlin Hallock paid tribute to her late mother Leslie Ann Bando by having her voice broken down into sound waves and tattooing the unique pattern onto her arm. Caitlin can 'play' the tattoo by hovering her phone over it while using an app (Skin Motion). Anything that makes a sound, you can get done. You upload your sound to skinmotion.com, and that's going to turn it into a tattoo-able image, which is the sound wave," People will then take that image to a certified Skin Motion artist, who will then turn it into a tattoo that speaks. The tattoo is applied just like any other tattoo, starting with an image that becomes a stencil, which then becomes forever. Once the tattoo heals, scan your tattooed skin using the Skin Motion app in order to listen to the sound your tattoo. The sound waves have to be precise for the app to read them. It is like the classic ink is now being blended with this super technology, making sound come alive on the skin. You can say it is basically or sort of a QR code for your body, the only difference is instead of a code, it’s soundwaves.

First published: 19 February 2018, 18:30 IST