Audio Software

[1love]

Deos anyone know any good audio software? one where i can add multiple tracks togeather, and cut and chop it how i see fit? basically something like garage band, but without the price tag?

[demigraff]

If you're using windows, linux or mac, [url=http://audacity.sourceforge.net]Audacity[/url] is the standard recommendation, and it will do everything you want.

Its a bit short on non-destructive editing, and the interface isn't the best for this kind of work, but it is the best I've found.

On windows mobile (like my phone), there's an app called WavePad that just about does the job, but you need a separate utility to convert the results to mp3.

[1love]

Thank you demigraph. downloaded istalled and ready to go. Kinda hard to get the hang of though. Like putting a different track underneath one to enhance the effects that kinda thing is difficult haven't figured it out yet.
I guess like any new program there is a learning curve

[davelowe1977]

I can't recommend anything better that is free - but if you need any tips on editing in general, just ask.

[1love]

Ok well ive pretty much figured out how to use it, its straight forward and easy. Two more questions if anyone knows the answer. Is it possible to change a mono track to a stereo? and also does anyone know where i can get binuarals tracks or beats or even if i can make them myself and wich frequencies are safe?
Im pretty sure a subliminal is just one track layered under another but at a very low volume so you don't pick up on it right?

[dottie]

Is it possible to change a mono track to a stereo?

Take two tracks, use the pulldown at the top of the track control box (on the left of the screen) to make one a "left" track, and another a "right" track. And then you can go to the top track and use the same menu to "make stereo track". I've only done this with the "right" track immediately below the "left" track, so it might be necessary to use the "move track up/down" to make them adjacent on the screen.

However, the mono tracks which aren't "Left" or "Right" do appear to move around if you move the L-R slider.

does anyone know where i can get binuarals tracks or beats or even if i can make them myself and wich frequencies are safe?

You can download some binaurals from this site and import them, or you can make some using audacity. You can create two (empty) mono tracks, set the position slider all the way to the left on one and all the way to the right on the other. Then use the generate tone control to make a wave at a desired frequency in one track, and a slightly different frequency in the other track.
See the binaural article in wikipedia for accurate frequency ranges, but essentially <3Hz differential is "Delta", and 3-7Hz is "Theta" which are the most often used ranges.

Use a base frequency that is in the audible range for both people and stereo audio equipment (>60Hz <21,000Hz). Virtual Hypnotist software uses something around 160Hz +/- 3Hz as a default. ( For a 6Hz Theta binaural )

Some sophisticated folks will start at an "Alpha" ("waking") frequency, then gradually drop it to a Theta or lower during the induction and maybe slide it between Theta & Delta during the body before dragging it back up during the awakening. I doubt Audacity can do a gradual slide between frequencies.

Several of the folks here like to hide the binaurals behind music or relaxing sound effects, and they are supposedly effective at reasonably low volumes. Personally, I don't mind the in-your-face "YOU'RE BEING TRANCED NOW DAMN IT!" effect of letting it be obviously audible.

Im pretty sure a subliminal is just one track layered under another but at a very low volume so you don't pick up on it right?

Yes. There are a few ways to do subliminals -- you can lower the volume, you can bury it in something else (like white noise), you can shift the pitch to the edges of the audible spectrum. I've heard of folks speeding up the messages so they are indecipherable. I've even heard of people reversing the sounds (backwards masking), but that smells like BS to me. Audacity can do any and all of these.

Essentially, you want to have messages that are on the hairy edge of perceptibility. If you can nearly get it when listening for it, your subconscious is probably getting it just fine. I find that for me, repetition (especially of several related messages) is key for effective subliminals.

[1love]

Use a base frequency that is in the audible range for both people and stereo audio equipment (>60Hz <21,000Hz). Virtual Hypnotist software uses something around 160Hz +/- 3Hz as a default. ( For a 6Hz Theta binaural )

What did you mean by this? Ive made a binaural, I used 4Hz and 7Hz. but played togeather they sound way to high pitched all other binuarals ive herd have lower pitch, if im using the right word here(pitch tone?). It just sounds really peircing and squeeky.
When it asks what Hz, im putting in 4.00 Hz AND 7.00 Hz. Is there something im doing wrong? I feel weird after listening to it for a few seconds. im kinda dizzy. This cant be right right?
sorry but there it seemed you where talking math. Math is a language i dont speak fluently, or like at all.
But thank you for all of your help so far and everyone who has commented. Ive learned so much just today.

[MN_FriendlyGuy]

It can seem confusing at first...

Two different things both measured in Hz.

Pitch is measured in Hz. And you're aware that your binaural recordings sound way too high-pitched.

Binaural beats are measure in Hz too. The 'pulsing' effect is caused by a slight difference in pitch (left vs. right). So if you use a pitch of 130.8 Hz (low C) for both left and right - there is no binaural effect. But if you adjust the pitch slightly - left channel down and right channel up an equidistant amount, then the binaural effect begins.

When the the left channel is 130.3 and the right channel is 131.3, our brains blend the two - believing it hears 130.8 with a pulsing effect.

When the left channel is 129.8 and the right channel is 131.8, our brains blend the two - believing it hears 130.8 with a greater pulsing effect. The pulsing effect is greater because the difference in pitch is greater.

All good things come to an end though. There's a limit to how different those two pitches can become (left vs. right). Eventually, our minds perceive the difference in pitch as two distinct tones. And when that happens, the binaural effect ends.

To wrap this up - theoretically, it's unimportant whether your binaural recording is high-pitched or low-pitched. The effect can be the same. Practically speaking, though, we strive for a pitch that's comfortable and easy to listen to.

[davelowe1977]

MN_Friendly guy explains things very well.

Just to clarify, the binaural effect is due to the difference in frequencies that you put into the left and right channels. You literally subtract one from the other. So to get a binaural of 5Hz, you could have 100Hz in the right ear, and 95Hz in the left (or 1000 and 995).

Human hearing is from about 60Hz to 15,000Hz (15kHz), but the range of say a telephone is only up to around 4,000Hz (4kHz).

It's best to experiment and research the most appropriate difference in frequencies on the web. Some of the people who contribute here have made many binaural recordings using lots of different techniques in combination. It would be an idea to ask them what they did. Most people are willing to share.

[1love]

Still rather confusing but i see where i went wrong. one more question thought. If its best to get the listner into a certain brain state and the brain state i want to get them in is say alpha at 7Hz, would i put say left channel 7.1 and right channel say 7.4? just for experiments sake.
Where are all these huge numbers in the thousands coming from?

[demigraff]

7Hz is inaudible. That's why you need to trick the brain into hearing it using binaural beats.

You'd probably use something like 4000Hz on one side and 4007Hz on the other to create a 7Hz binaural.

[Blink]

Still rather confusing but i see where i went wrong. one more question thought. If its best to get the listner into a certain brain state and the brain state i want to get them in is say alpha at 7Hz, would i put say left channel 7.1 and right channel say 7.4? just for experiments sake.
Where are all these huge numbers in the thousands coming from?

Binaural beats are still more theory than science. The theory is that you can entrain the brain to a particular frequency by playing a sound.

Here's the trick. The frequency range you're trying to get in the brain is measured in cycles per second (hertz, Hz). But your audio equipment can only play, and you can only hear, frequencies in the range of thousands of cycles per second (kilohertz, KHz).

The "binaural" part is how you make your equipment and your ears do something they can't do.

If you play one tone in the left ear and another tone in the right ear, your brain recognizes the difference between the tones. Therefore, if you're trying to target the 7 Hz frequency, you'd want to play two tones that differ by... 7 Hz. That means you'll need to play two audible tones (KHz) that differ by 7 Hz. Google for the frequency range of human hearing. More importantly, check to see what your headphones/speakers/etc. can produce. If it's not coming out of your speakers, it's not going into your head.

When you get something that sounds a little like the Emergency Broadcast System warning tone (US television and radio), you'll know you're in the ballpark.

-- Blink

[1love]

Still rather confusing but i see where i went wrong. one more question thought. If its best to get the listner into a certain brain state and the brain state i want to get them in is say alpha at 7Hz, would i put say left channel 7.1 and right channel say 7.4? just for experiments sake.
Where are all these huge numbers in the thousands coming from?

Binaural beats are still more theory than science. The theory is that you can entrain the brain to a particular frequency by playing a sound.

Here's the trick. The frequency range you're trying to get in the brain is measured in cycles per second (hertz, Hz). But your audio equipment can only play, and you can only hear, frequencies in the range of thousands of cycles per second (kilohertz, KHz).

The "binaural" part is how you make your equipment and your ears do something they can't do.

If you play one tone in the left ear and another tone in the right ear, your brain recognizes the difference between the tones. Therefore, if you're trying to target the 7 Hz frequency, you'd want to play two tones that differ by... 7 Hz. That means you'll need to play two audible tones (KHz) that differ by 7 Hz. Google for the frequency range of human hearing. More importantly, check to see what your headphones/speakers/etc. can produce. If it's not coming out of your speakers, it's not going into your head.

When you get something that sounds a little like the Emergency Broadcast System warning tone (US television and radio), you'll know you're in the ballpark.

-- Blink

Thank you blink im starting to understand

[Squirrelous]

I make homemade files for myself and my boyfriend (online for the time being). I have a mic but I'm not confident with the hypnobility of my voice, so I just use Speakonia. I use the lowest voice possible.

What I do is to write a long script than has two main halves. As in, somewhat repeats what it says but with different wording. I render the whole thing as wav, then I take the half and cut and paste it to the beginning of the file. I render that, then I go in audacity and import both the wav files. I put one on the left channel and one on the right. This makes it so two voices are saying different things at the same time.

What you can do is to take a memorable loop and play it in the center channel, slightly higher than the other channels, in fact I sometimes pitch down the back channels 1.5 semitones. I use:


"Your subconscious, is opening to suggestions. Your mind, is training to more easily accept and obey, all suggestions in this audio file, and to keep them active in your subconscious throughout the day, every day."

The file should be a minute or two, depending on the script, and loopable.


I've had great effects with my boyfriend, just this way. We're both furries, so I made furry files for him, and tried a couple myself. Fun ensues.

[1love]

I had another question. Audacity wont let me export files as mp3. How do i get it to do that?

[MN_FriendlyGuy]

You're making good progress, 1love. The frustration of setting-up Audacity is a minor inconvenience. Here's some guidance to help:


Fire-up the audacity application.

Once it's open, click 'edit' (on the menu bar). A drop-down menu is displayed.

On the drop-down menu, click "Preferences". The Audacity Preferences dialog opens.

On the Audacity Preferences dialog, click the tab for "File Formats".

Toward the bottom, locate the section for "MP3 Export Setup". Click the <Find Library> button. Then, follow the instructions that are displayed:

Audacity does not export mp3 files directly, but instead uses the freely available LAME library to handle mp3 encoding. You must obtain lame_enc.dll separately, by downloading the LAME mp3 encoder, and then locate this file for the Audacity application. You only need to set this up once.

Would you like to locate lame_enc.dll now?

Go get 'em!

[1love]

Cooool thanks for being a friendly guy friendly guy.

[1love]

Ok so i cant find this lame.dll file anywhere. where do i g to download it? cuase its nowhere on my comp.

[1love]

never mind Google yielded appropriate results:) got it working

[TeishaTV]

for a great explaination of Binaural effects see http://www.bwgen.com/theory.htm

[madmedusa]

Another program I find useful is Goldwave...mainly for editing. It is very user friendly and I have taken many files from here and edited and reassembled them to my own personal tastes and needs...e.g. taking out awakeners to make loops, combined my fave inductions with file bodies and tacked on my fave awakeners. I am not sure if it is available anywhere for free but it was worth the price since I do a lot of editing of various sound files.