Homemade Subliminal CDs 305
An anonymous reader writes "Hello Slashdotters, I am totally stumped on how to do this. I would like to create custom subliminal CDs for my own use. I don't trust the CDs for sale in the stores, after all, who regulates that industry and ensures there actually is a message on them, and if so, what is the message? I would like to create positive motivational CDs, or even recite text from study guides/trivia, you name it, and lay it underneath tracks from a custom CD of my favorite bands. What is the best software to use to create such a beast on Windows, Mac, and Linux systems? And conversely, has anyone used any of the music software on these platforms to actually analyze the contents of commercial subliminal CDs? Any advice would be of use...thanks!"
Subliminal Messaging (Score:5, Interesting)
Just spped it up (Score:5, Interesting)
Aphex Twin has subliminal pictures (Score:5, Interesting)
Lucid Dreaming (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:Subliminal Messaging (Score:2, Interesting)
Multitrack editor (Score:4, Interesting)
DO NOT make it an mp3/aac/ogg or any other compressed format as that will drop the "unheard" information from the file. That would defeat the purpose. You need to save the file as aiff or any other PCM format.
Studies on whether or not this actually works are inconclusive. It may depend on your receptiveness to the method. Good luck.
Re:Submliminal advertising is hokum (Score:5, Interesting)
Anyone in the UK see the program where someone (Derren Brown?) asked a load of advertising people to design a logo and a catchphrase? They made pretty much the exact one that he had put in an envelope before they started. And how? He got the taxi that they came to the office in to drive a certain route, and he planted certain things, logos, words, and images along the way. It all goes in. Everything that you experience is in your subconscious somewhere - that's why you can get it back out under hypnosis. Anyway, back to my circular-breathing Zen chanting back-slapping.
Re:Subliminal Messaging (Score:5, Interesting)
I told the students they were being tested on the ability of typing in words to help them remember their meanings. Meanwhile other words and definitions were being flashed on the screen. At the end of the session (10-15 mins i think) they were given a test with both sets of words, and only the subliminal words were counted.
I tested 3 varying durations of the messages, and one of the durations actually had noticeable score above the statistical average for guessing. I was getting psyched. Then I realized I needed a control group too, where I didn't flash anything on the screen. It turned out the control group got nearly the same score as that one above-average group.
I did statistical ANOVA analysis, and basically there was no significant correlation between the group scores and the flashing duration.
It was still a fun project to do. And I got to present the project at the Monmouth Junior Science Symposium [monmouth.edu] too, which ironically happens to be running today and tomorrow.
Re: EPUD (Score:2, Interesting)
The trolling of April's Fools threads should actually be rewarded. In fact, they should just invert the whole karma system for the day and be done with it.
Better than last year (Score:4, Interesting)
Remember last year when every story (almost twice the normal amount it seemed like) was obviously completely false? I have to say that the stories this year a much better. Likely false, but there is enough behind them that they could be true. Slashdot is doing a much better job this year, I'm enjoying the stories.
Re:Subliminal Messaging (Score:2, Interesting)
Thank you.
Re:Submliminal advertising is hokum (Score:3, Interesting)
When you are driving down the road and you see the big golden M, do you suddenly get hungry?
When asked for a beverage do you ask for a "Coke" or a "Pepsi" or a "Sprite"? (For giggles I ask for a cola, around my parts people look at me funny.)
When you are buying something at the store, and are presented with 3 options, do you automatically assume the most expensive is the best?
When you need to blow your nose, do you ask for a "Kleenex?"
You may not, but your average Joe on the street does. These are bits of information we picked up from our environment, largely from billboards, commercials, and having certain brands drilled into our heads from birth.
Use Cool Edit! (Score:3, Interesting)
This is a real way of influencing your state of mind, not necessarily exact content, but being able to train your brain's rhythms (alpha, beta, theta) at a certain frequency where the effect your meditation or excitement is most useable.
Not bullshit: Take two tones, one at 700 hz, the other 705 hz, and play them in stereo headphones, left/right configuration. What you perceive is the classic 'beat note' you might hear while say, tuning a guitar. This beat note is a FIVE hz tone (the difference), which under normal circumstances is waaay to low to hear. What ends up happening (this has been studied) is that your brain unconsciously begins to train itself at the frequency of that note you 'hear'. so if you want meditational frequencies (theta: 1-3 hz?) you set it to that and then put those tones behind some listening material. You can also do something like change the tone from a 3 hz seperation up to a 17 hz one over the course of 15 miunutes --- listening to this can 'move'' your state of awareness from a deep mediation to a state of extreme awareness. or vice versa, if you just got off of work and want to relax. anyway, all this talk of subliminal messages; this is the real thing.
njoy.
Mini-mini-HOWTO (Score:3, Interesting)
A few years back I ran across patent #5,159,703 [uspto.gov], which claims a method for subliminal audio. The jist of the method is to frequency- or amplitude-modulate the "message" with a carrier wave sufficiently higher than the range of hearing (for me, about 16KHz, YMMV). You then mix this with the music track.
CDDA supports up to 22KHz, and most speakers/headphones claim a frequency response up to 20KHz, so this gives about 4KHz of bandwidth for the message, which is roughly the same bandwidth as voice telephony.
I never got around to actually seeing if it actually worked (just because it's patented, doesn't mean it's valid), but you're welcome to try ...
Subliminal... (Score:4, Interesting)
Subliminal messages are in the range above conscious hearing. This is generally agreed to be 20KHz. Therefore, you would take the spoken portion, and boost it by 20KHz, then add in the music at the normal frequencies.
Now, the real trick here isn't how you record it, but how you play it back. If your audio goes up to say, 25KHz -- you better make sure your speakers/headphones go that high, or it will be a completely useless excersize.
Now, depending on what you are trying to achieve, you might try something else instead. Look into doing binaural audio beats. They are very simple to produce (20 lines of Java, for example). To work correctly, they would require headphones and for best results you do NOT mix it with any other sounds.
The goal behind the binaural audio beats is to cause your brain to resonate at the same frequency as the sounds, thus putting you in a different mental state (alpha, beta, theta, etc) which could result in a hypnogogic state (between sleep and awake) which might help achieve whatever results you are looking for.
Self-suggestion, not subliminal (Score:3, Interesting)
And on that note, let me point out that what this guy wants isn't exactly best described by "subliminal messages". I think he meant "self-suggestion messages". The difference is that you don't have to be tricked by it. You know it's there, you want it to work, you just let it slip out of your immediate attention, and that's where it makes its effect.
As for the technical means, you just have to record a message and simply mix it with audio tracks. For best results: the message should be spoken by the person intented for; it should be uttered in a low, monotonous voice; the exact same message should be repeated over and over, with the exact same length and contents; it helps if it's something fairly short; the music shouldn't drown it completely ie. it should be barely but still audible.
It also works if you just relax and listen to the message by itself, without music, but it's harder to slip out of focus and let the message make its effect. A good alternative case is simply to play it while you sleep, or when you do something that involves a lot of focus, such as working on something important.
Now this probably sounds like gibberish and I don't have anything to show for proof, except my word: I've read it in a book quite a while ago, can't recall the author or the title, and I've tried it myself for a while when I was having a real hard time and I think it helped. (It was personal and illness related so you'll excuse me if I don't tell you what it was about). Maybe it was just a placebo effect, maybe not. Anyway, you'll know for sure if you try, I guess.