By Tim Johns
PHOENIX – Tattoos have been a form of self-expression for generations, tracing their roots back thousands of years. But with the advent of soundwave tattoos, that expression can be even more personal.
The concept came from a California company called Skin Motion, which developed an app that can read a soundwave stencil tattooed on skin and play back a recording over a smartphone. Users upload a short recording to Skin Motion, which creates a waveform design stencil a tattoo artist uses to apply the ink.
Since then, Hallock has done dozens of soundwaves, but one client was especially important.
His wife, Caitlin Hallock, got a soundwave of a voicemail her late mother left Caitlin on her birthday.
“It’s just a different type of tattoo,” Caitlin said. “I have other stuff of her, but the sound of her voice, it’s just totally different than anything else that I have on my body. It means so much more to me because it’s her voice, and I can hear it, and it’s on my skin.”
For Caitlin, it’s a gift that never gets old.
“It took 24 hours to activate,” she said. “But I woke up for work at four in the morning, and I went and I tried it, and I was late for work because I kept playing it over and over and over again that morning.”
And for Shane, he said being able to give his wife something so special is a feeling he’ll always cherish.
“It means a lot to me to be able to tattoo my wife,” he said. “Especially giving her the soundwave of my mother-in-law’s voice that passed away, because she was very near and dear to us and has always been there with us through thick and thin.”
The company charges $39.99 to activate the tattoo for the first year and $9.99 for each additional year.
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