Turning Sound Into Wall Art: a Step-by-Step Guide

For my entry into Decorate 2025, I created a soundwave art work inspired by the Corvette ZR1 along with instructions how to turn any sound piece into a wall decoration. For a while now, the ZR1 has been my all-time favourite car, and this piece is sort of a way of showing my love for this car in an art piece

One of the most compelling aspects of sport cars are the roars of their engines. So rather than just creating an image of the car to go on my wall. The design is purposely simple and semi-minimalistic, made to suit a large empty wall space and match the poster I already have up there.

As a 16-year-old with only around two weeks of experience using Fusion 360, this project also represents a learning process. Some steps may be more manual or time-consuming than necessary, if you have any advice, feedback or suggestions on how the design or instruction could be improved, please let me know!

1. A computer capable of running Fusion 360
2. Fusion 360 (or another design software if you can make work)
3. 3d Slicing Software
4. A 3d Printer (I use a Bambu Lab A1, does not need AMS)
5. Wavevisual.com for creating the sound wave
6. Superglue + gloves
7. Printer (or can display on computer)
8. Paper, pencil and ruler
9. Small Picture hanging strips
10. Choice of Coloured Filament

First, determine the audio you want for the project. In this case, I used royalty-free Corvette ZR1 revving sound from Pixabay. Download the audio file and convert it to MP3 format to be turned into the soundwave

Load up the internet and look for "wavevisual.com". Then using the tools they have provided, select the audio from your downloads and create an image out of a snippet from your audio - the less amount of audio you do, the easier it is to create the soundwave in the design software, in my case I did about 7 seconds, which was overkill - once you are finished creating the image of your soundwave, take a screenshot and send it to your paper printer.

For this step, print out an image of your soundwave; the exact size does not matter, but it must be flat and not distorted on the page. Using a ruler, measure the height of each individual bar and record the values. If a printer is not available, open the soundwave image in an online image viewer and measure the bars directly on-screen, ensuring the image is not resized or zoomed, so the measurements remain accurate.

Determine the height you want the tallest bar of the soundwave to be, e.g. The largest my print bed can print is 256mm, to be safe I decided to make the tallest piece 255mm. Next, you convert your soundwave into this size format. Get the height that you want the tallest bar to be, then divide by the largest height that you measured on the piece of paper previously (in my case, the largest bar I measured was 10.6cm, so my equation was 255÷10.6= 24.056). The number you get out of this equation will be your scale factor, the final step is to convert the rest of the heights you recorded measuring by this scale factor.

To start it off, load up Fusion 360, create a sketch on the XY and use the two-point rectangle feature to size out the bars, the width and depth are entirely up to you (I made mine 0.8mm in width and 1mm in depth). Next, use the rectangular pattern tool and repeat according to how many bars your soundwave has, in my case 72 bars. Size the distance of the pattern, so there is roughly a 0.4-8 gap in between each one, doesn't have to be exact.

Next is creating the bars with their individual heights. Since at the time, I was unsure if there was a straightforward way to automatically give each bar a different height from a data set in Fusion 360 (let me know if there is), So I did this step manually, and I'll explain how. To make this work, divide each of your scale factor height numbers by two. Then, select each square in the rectangular pattern one at a time and extrude it by its corresponding divided value. Repeat this for every bar until all heights are set correctly. Then, you want to mirror all the extrusions. Select the front face of the navigation cube, and use the mirror tool to select each of the extrusions and set the mirror plane as the bottom edge of any bar, doesn't matter what one. The model you are left with should match with the soundwave, feel free to add a canvas like I did to make moderations to your design to make sure the model matches with the image.

Again, another slightly tedious process. Flip to the back face of the navigation cube, and select all the faces of the bars (use reference image above if confused what faces to select). Finally, use the shell feature and set the value to 0.8m. This will save a lot of filament in the printing process.

For the backing support, refer to the printed soundwave image you measured earlier and sketch out a support design based on it. In my case, I drew two lines to follow the wave as it rises and falls, but the exact design is up to personal preference and can be adjusted to suit your project.

To recreate the support bracket, use the Fit Point Spline or any line tool to trace your design along the top half of the wave. Once complete, use the sketch mirror feature to mirror this line to the bottom half of the wave so both sides match. Offset the sketch by approximately 0.5 mm to give the support some thickness.

Next, switch to solid modelling. Fix the view by selecting the back face on the navigation cube, so the rear of the wave is flat and ensure the sketch is visible. Using the extrude tool, carefully select only the parts of the sketch that fall inside the bars; do not select the sections of the sketch that are in the gaps between bars. Finally, set the extrude distance to 9 mm in the negative direction (-9 mm) so the support sketch extends into the bars. This is to have a place for the main support bracket to fit onto that connects it to the wall.

For this step, you will want to create a new design with a component named "Frame", and create a sketch on the XZ axis. Revert back to your previous design and use the parametric timeline to go back to the support bracket sketch, select all the lines of the sketch, use Cmd/Ctrl C/V to copy the sketch into the sketch you created onto the new design sketch.

In the original soundwave design, go back to the very first sketch that contains the rectangular pattern of squares. Select and copy all of these squares. Then, in the new design, create a sketch on the XY plane and paste the rectangles into it. Adjust their position so the outer edge of the first square lines up with the start of the support sketch, and the outer edge of the last square lines up with the end of the support sketch. This ensures all the bars are fully contained within the length of the support bracket.

Select the support sketch and use the extrude tool. Set the extrusion direction to Two Sides. For the side extending toward the squares, set the distance to about 5 mm. For the opposite side, set the distance to however far you want the soundwave to sit off the wall, in my case, I choose 10 mm. Finish the extrusion

Use the extrude feature again and select each square in the rectangular pattern. Set the direction to Symmetric and change the operation to Cut. Set the distance to a value taller than the support bracket; this will not affect the design as long as the extrusion you create is taller than the support itself. This step creates the bar shapes into the support, so the soundwave bars can fit correctly. Refer to the images above

Measure the picture-hanging strips you plan to use. On the back face of the support (the flat side with no parts sticking out), create a new sketch. Use the Project tool to project the support edges so you have reference lines to snap to. Then draw vertical slots that are about 2 mm wider than the measured strip width and place them in areas where they can fit vertically. For example, if the strips are 55 mm × 16 mm, set the gap between the lines to 18 mm and make the height taller than 55 mm. You do not need many slots; at least three are sufficient to provide solid support on the wall. Finally, extrude the rectangles you have created about 4mm away from you. Refer to the image above.

Export the soundwave project as a .3MF file and import it into Bambu Lab Studio, or another slicer if preferred. Orient the model so the hollow or shelled face is facing upward. Use the slicer’s Cut tool to divide the soundwave into three pieces, or as many sections as needed, so the parts fit properly on one or multiple print plates. Finally slice the model

This step is straightforward: send the bars to the printer and wait for the print to finish. Once completed, keep the bars in order by laying them out on a desk or another flat surface so they are easy to track and assemble correctly. Colour doesn't matter, you could print in sections and create gradients, rainbows or stick to a single colour like I did.

Export the frame as 3mf and repeat the steps with the cut tool to separate it into pieces that fit across multiple build plates. Again, colour doesn't matter, I choose white to contrast against the black while matching with my bedroom wall

Next, use superglue to bond all pieces of the support bracket together, ensuring they are arranged in the correct order. Allow the glued parts to dry for about 3/4 an hour to ensure they are securely set before handling.

Finally, begin gluing the bars onto the support bracket. Apply two small drops of glue to the back of each bar, or alternatively apply the glue directly to the support and press each bar into place. Continue this process until all bars are securely attached.

For the final step, flip the model over and apply the picture-hanging strips to the designated areas on the back of the support. Once the strips are in place, mount the soundwave onto the wall. The project is now complete, well done!