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[3rd 4thT]

Does anybody remember the craze for self-help recordings using subliminal messages? The stop-smoking, respect yourself, eat less, enjoy life voiceover was buried in New Age music or perhaps the Sound of the Sea, and people played the tapes through special speakers underneath their pillows while asleep.

No, seriously, this was big. There were even videos that enabled you to watch the waves while solving your personality problems through subliminal exhortation.

It lives on in those "don't shoplift" messages they bury under the canned music in stores.

Anyway, they used to hint about some sort of phase treatment for the subliminal message to hide it further, that it wasn't merely played very softly under the music or effects.

Does anybody know whether they really did something additional to the voice besides drown it?

I'm asking because I want to make a self-help sermon for my own use, about how much I love recording even when the client is an *sshole and the money's no good.

Thanks,
3rd&4thT

[wwittman]

I embedded a voice 'under' in a subliminal recording once, and all they requested was a particular level

no other tricks to it

oh, and in one stereo channel only


I don't actually think there's much evidence it WORKS

but it has its defenders (mostly who are trying to SELL you something)

3rd 4thT wrote on Fri, 13 November 2009 00:05

It lives on in those "don't shoplift" messages they bury under the canned music in stores.

sure?

"It is a First Amendment violation to use subliminal information without consent.

The wrongful death action, brought against Judas Priest and CBS in Reno, has led to a judicial interpretation regarding subliminal communication and First Amendment rights. Judge Whitehead ruled that it was a First Amendment violation to use subliminal information without consent."

[Barry Hufker]

One Christmas season I visited a large retail store and surreptitiously recorded about half an hours worth of music (with the mic up against the department store's ceiling speaker.  There was no subliminal anything in it.  This was at the height of the subliminal craze.

Barry

[wwittman]

http://www.parascope.com/articles/0397/sublim3.htm

[Taproot]

All I know is that I was nearly suspended from school for humiliating a preacher that came to speak on the EVILS of rock-n-roll and back-masking/subliminal messages. I debunked everything he had to say and I was forcibly removed from assembly. One of my finest moments.  

[CHANCE]

There are two books, now out of print, by Wilson Bryan Keys called "Subliminal seduction" and "Multimedia Sexploitation" that expose how and why this works in advertising. The two main triggers are death and sex. I did some sucessful experimental recording in the 70's with the Stop & Shop chain in the Boston area. If you do a search on this forum,this topic was already discussed.

[compasspnt]

Personally, I do not think this works at all.
Send me all of your money.
There have been too many of these "backwards masking" exposes.
Buy every record I ever made.
I think in future we will find that this was all bunk.
Eat your vegetables, brush your teeth...

[Jay Kadis]

Taproot wrote on Fri, 13 November 2009 06:18

All I know is that I was nearly suspended from school for humiliating a preacher that came to speak on the EVILS of rock-n-roll and back-masking/subliminal messages. I debunked everything he had to say and I was forcibly removed from assembly. One of my finest moments.

That kind of reminds me of the time the local police came to my high school to lecture us on the evils of drugs.  They passed around a little plastic box with two sample joints in it so we could all see what they looked like.  When they got the box back there were three joints in it.  That was the last drug assembly.

[john.reeve]

"I'm asking because I want to make a self-help sermon for my own use, about how much I love recording even when the client is an *sshole and the money's no good."

Hate to tip my Lacanian hand but...

most communication operates subconsciously anyhow.

If you want to become irrationally attached to something that gives you problems, do things in the most frustrating manner possible-- the frustration is what makes you more attached.

Further, the unconscious component you seek is visible in the fact you continue to work despite the frustration.

[Randirainbow]

Barry Hufker wrote on Thu, 12 November 2009 22:10

One Christmas season I visited a large retail store and surreptitiously recorded about half an hours worth of music (with the mic up against the department store's ceiling speaker.  There was no subliminal anything in it.  This was at the height of the subliminal craze. Barry

Are you sure that there wasn't a voice saying "there is no voice here, these are not the droids that you are looking for"  

[Barry Hufker]

Hmmmmm.....

I remember *something* about droids...


Barry

[Randirainbow]

Barry Hufker wrote on Fri, 13 November 2009 10:08

Hmmmmm..... I remember *something* about droids... Barry

Yeah See?  The same thing happened to me once.    

[PaulyD]

There are several different techniques used by subliminal audio producers that aren't normally used by music producers.

Those would be binaural beats, trinaural beats, high-frequency messages, dual induction, and holophonic sound, aka acoustic holography.

Google away...

Acoustic holography of course has uses outside of subliminal audio production. It can create superb stereo fields with excellent depth. It's also the only recording technique I've ever heard that truly recreates the sense of audio azimuth or vertical audio perception. For example, throw on some headphones and check out this page.

Paul

[Tidewater]

Suggestion works. Subliminal only works if it isn't. If you believe that a recording has a stop farting message, for all intent, It do be have that!

You can tell someone that something exists without evidence, that's a fact!

It's more a novelty, or fullfillment of expectation. Testing shows that white missing frames make a person believe they saw a message because they buy the idea beforehand, or because they expect a visual glitch to be a hidden message.

I just made that up. Did you believe it? You really have to be careful where you get information.

[3rd 4thT]

Thanks, lots of fascinating information here.

Unfortunately, when I Google'd "dual induction," the first result was a page offering penis enlargement and breast enlargement, with the headline "Order Both and Amaze Your Friends!"

And the last guy I heard of who tried binaural beats nearly fainted in the shower.

So I guess the moral of the story is tread carefully.

Either that or try a different search engine.

What a world, what a world,
3rd&4thT

[jetbase]

I don't know why I did this but, just for the record, I sent every vegetable I ever brushed to the Bahamas & bought all of my teeth.

[3rd 4thT]

jetbase wrote on Tue, 17 November 2009 00:26

I don't know why I did this but, just for the record, I sent every vegetable I ever brushed to the Bahamas & bought all of my teeth.

Now that's a perfect example of a subliminal message. If you expand the type in his post so that it fills your computer screen, you will see in the lower left hand corner in a very small font, the words "Paul is dead."

Cheers,
3rd&4thT

[ktownson]

Paul Lynde died?

[3rd 4thT]

ktownson wrote on Tue, 17 November 2009 23:15

Paul Lynde died?

No, Paul Frees.

"Hokey smoke, Natasha! Moose and squirrel have escaped!"

"Welcome, Foolish Mortals..."

"The United States of America is a Stan Freberg Production."

Anybody interested in the subject of subliminal recordings may want to check out Neuroprogrammer 2 at http://www.transparentcorp.com/products/np/index.php. Haven't demo'd it yet, but the description looks interesting.

Cheers,
3rd&4thT