Within all things audible, sine waves are arguably the simplest, yet most fundamental elements. They are consists of a single frequency and cannot be stripped back any further. On the other hand, as stated in the Fourier theorem, virtually all complex sounds can be broken down into a series of simple sine waves.

In 2020, I was invited by Nicolas Bernier to create a work centred on sine waves as part of his collaborative research-creation project at the University of Montreal. Thinking about such unique qualities of sine waves directed me to a somewhat similar phenomenon elsewhere: prime numbers. A prime number cannot be divided by any number other than 1 and itself. At the same time, any other number can be expressed as a product of a series of prime numbers. Defined based on this seemingly simple premise, prime numbers have been pivotal to many significant mathematical conjectures and theorems for centuries. Therefore, at their core, just like sine waves, prime numbers are the simplest, yet most elegant and foundational entities within their respective systems.

Prime Frequencies explores the sonic qualities of different prime number categories through sinusoidal sound waves. The series is structured into 47 pieces created using a number of algorithmic and aleatoric compositional techniques developed in the programming language ChucK. Each piece presents a unique sonification of the prime number category it is titled after, with all frequency and time-domain values determined by primes within that category.