(Shannon) Subliminal MP3's - Placebo ?

[Shannon]

You bring up a good point, and thank you for giving me the opportunity to explain the facts on this. I'll do it in chunks below.

Unlike digital music (CDs), mp3s are compressed versions of digital music. What this means is that, unlike unaltered and uncompressed digital music such as CDs, mp3s are a "lossy" audio file format, meaning that the mp3 compresses the music file but at the expense of the sound quality.

This is true. MPEG Layer III encoding does discard audio data, which is what makes it "lossy".

It does this by analyzing the entire spectrum of a song and then removes all the frequencies that the human ear can’t hear. This removes quite a lot of data (since humans can only hear between 20Hz to 20,000Hz) resulting in a much smaller audio file at the expense of sound quality.

Here your author reveals his ignorance of how MP3 encoding works. As with all forms of compression, MP3 encoding has various levels of compression that it can be set to achieve. At the standard settings you will find for most automated encoding programs, the statements made here are true. That is because in normal audio, the pitches that cannot be obviously discerned by the human ear are in effect wasted data space. They are only noticed by the subconscious, or those who really pay attention. So stripping that data out produces a much smaller file without much perceptible loss of audio fidelity.

But, if we do not compress the audio so aggressively, we get less and less data loss, and more and more of the original data remains. Since CDs cannot record below 20 Hz or above 20 kHz according to standard Redbook specs, ultrasonic audio must be preserved within this range. If you use some special settings when encoding an MP3, you can preserve about 90 to 95% of the audio data at high pitches up to 20 kHz. That is how I encode ultrasonic audio in an .mp3 format successfully.

snip

So, can you see now why the very concept of subliminal mp3s doesn’t work at all?

This makes two errors. First, a subliminal .mp3 encoding an ultrasonic subliminal cannot work using standard settings (180 kB/s encoding, and some other stuff), but using the settings I use it preserves at least 90% of the data, and that is well beyond sufficient for successful use.

Second, it assumes that all subliminal audio is ultrasonic (pitch differenced), when masked subliminals are volume differenced instead. They would be completely ignored by the pitch filtering of mp3 encoding.

Why Subliminal Mp3s Don't Work!

A lot of websites selling sublmnl. mp3s out there are going to hate me for this. But as I promised, this website is all about giving you all the facts so that you don't get conned or cheated.

Giving you the facts requires that you know what you're talking about, as we have already demonstrated that this author does not. This is common when people start off with an answer and then construct a path to it in order to prove it. (See my signature.)

To summarize how most subliminal audio tapes or CDs are made; the affirmations are usually recorded about 5 decibels below the foreground sound, so that you can’t hear the affirmations at all.

Another failure of "factuality". Masked subliminals are made with a volume difference that is usually between 20 and 80 decibels between the mask and the subliminalized audio. At 5 dB you'd hear both plainly.

Since mp3s discard all data and sound that can’t be heard by humans, it also removes all the affirmations and sublmnl. messages. All that’s left is the sound of the foreground, the music or sound of ocean waves.

In other words, the process of creating mp3s destroys the subliminal messages embedded in the sound file.

This again is true only if you use standard settings, and only if the encoder you use is set to strip out sub-audible volumetric data AND supra-audible pitch data. You can turn those settings off.

RIPPING CDs TO MP3s...

Besides the obvious copyright issues, the way mp3s are created also means is that if you try to rip a sublmnl. CD to your pc or mp3 format, you’re wasting your time. The only thing that gets ripped is the foreground, so you’ll end up listening to the sounds of nature or easy-listening music. Possibly relaxing but not much use if you’re after sublmnl. messages.

This is why I warn that when you make a CD from a subliminal mp3 which is altered in the process, or you allow a player to re-encode it, you are probably going to lose the subliminal data. The standard settings can and will strip out subliminal data.

The only way you can record sublmnl. messages in a digital format so you can listen to it on computer or lap-top is to use a "lossless" format, which is a bit like Zip for audio. As far as I’m aware, there aren’t any subliminal message products recorded in a lossless audio file format such as 'Monkey’s Audio' or FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec). Also, WMA also has a lossless version.

False, as I have already shown. If this was true, I would be already offering my subs in .WAV, .AIF or FLAC file format.

So, bottom-line, if you want to use subliminal audio tapes or CDs, you’re better off buying the original subliminal CD’s or cassettes and not trying to record, burn or rip them onto an mp3.

It is true that you should never attempt to re-encode a subliminal .mp3. But, bottom line, know when you are dealing with someone who knows what they're talking about, versus someone who assumes they know what they're talking about. If you take a subliminal audio CD and encode it to a lossless format, you're fine. If you send one of my subs to a lossless format (effectively decompressing it without altering it), you're fine.

You're welcome to do spectral analysis on my mp3's and see for yourself that the audio on the ultrasonics exists in a band between about 14.5 and 20 to 23 kHz. You're also welcome to see for yourself how well they work. I am not so stupid that I would risk my reptutation by selling something that doesn't work because I encoded it in a way that strips out the relevant value.

Know that there are a lot of people out there who have a vested interest in keeping you from discovering and using subliminal audio. Some because they will lose face over it (simply having bet their credentials on that it doesn't actually work, so they will look stupid when they are proven wrong); others stand to lose money.

You cannot let other people think for you. Do the research. Think for yourself. That's why we have a live uncensored forum and free samples. It works. Even when properly encoded as an mp3.