Subliminal

Cookbook

Copyright © 2005-8 MindWaves.co.uk

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Reproduction in whole or in part strictly prohibited.

List of Contents

You Are The Sum of Your Programs.......................................4

Understanding ‘The Rest of You’...........................................9
Recent discoveries.........................................................10
The ‘alien being’ inside you.............................................11
The nature of the subconscious mind.............................12
How the subconscious mind decides what is important to you
...................................................................................14
Emotional loading.......................................................14
Association.................................................................15
Repetition..................................................................16
Bringing The Power of The Subconscious Mind on to YOUR Side
......................................................................................18
How to change your mind...............................................21
Re-writing your ‘programs’..............................................22
The problem with many 'self-hypnosis' recordings..............23
Problems with conventional 'subliminal recordings'.............25
Over-masking.............................................................25
Distracting or irritating sound masks.............................26
Incorrect phrasing of embedded suggestions..................27
Lack of focus..............................................................27
The ‘I don’t know you’ problem.....................................28
The answer - ‘Personal’ subliminal recordings....................30
How To Create Personal Subliminal Recordings On Your Own PC
......................................................................................32
Setting up your ‘audio engineering studio’.........................32
Hardware...................................................................32
Software....................................................................35
The components of a subliminal recording.........................40
Compiling your first subliminal recording...........................47
Check your recording levels..........................................47
Record your ‘suggestions’ track.....................................50
Setting up the ‘sound mask’ tracks................................51
Extending short tracks.................................................53
Mixing the master ‘mask’.............................................56
Adding subliminals......................................................57

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 More Advanced Techniques..............................................61
Multi-layering.............................................................62
Pitch shifting..............................................................64
Reversed playback or ‘back masking’.............................64
‘Hypnotic’ techniques.....................................................66
‘Stereo Confusion’ recordings........................................67
Adding binaural beat tones...........................................68
‘Supercharging’ self help recordings you already own.........76
Using ‘neuro-acoustic’ recordings.....................................76
Commercial software......................................................79
Brainwave Generator (Noromaa)...................................79
How To Use Your Recordings..............................................81
Using subliminal recordings.............................................81
Using recordings with ‘hypnotic’ content...........................82
The listener experience (hypnotic recordings).................83
Falling asleep..............................................................84
Waking up..................................................................85
Some more things you can do to optimize the effect of
hypnotic recordings. ......................................................86
Progressive Relaxation.................................................86
Eye Roll.....................................................................87
Controlled breathing ...................................................87
Focussing...................................................................87
Imaging.....................................................................88
Freeware Visual Subliminal Program.................................89
The nature of brainwaves................................................93
Altered states of mind....................................................97
Brainwave 'entrainment'...............................................98
Hemispheric synchronisation........................................99
Example subliminal script (prosperity)............................105

Copyright © 2008 MindWaves.co.uk Page 2

The Software

The techniques for creating your own personalised subliminal

recordings which are described in this e-book can be carried out
using any suitable software. However several carefully selected
freeware programs have been chosen for this purpose, and the
instructions in this e-book relate specifically to this software. If
you use different programs you will need to work out how to do
the same things in whatever software you decide to use.

Included with this e-book you should have a file called

‘cbsoftpak.zip’. This is a zip archive file containing the
installation files for the programs, plus support files and a visual
subliminal programming application.

To manage these files you will ideally need a file manager that
can handle ‘zipped’ archive files. Unless you have a similar
application already installed I suggest you now install the
FreeCommander program, as this will make installing the
software far easier than otherwise. It is a two-pane general
purpose file manager that is able to open zip files as if they are
folders, so that you can copy zipped files into folders of your
choice.

If you did not download the installer for this program with your
'scb' files, please get a copy now from this link:
http://www.paradigm-shift.org.uk/scb/fc_setup.exe.

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You Are The Sum of
Your Programs....
Most people have some vague idea that they have something
called a ‘subconscious’ mind, but tend to see this as more of an
interesting theoretical concept than something that is is a very
real part of them, and relevant to them and their everyday
lives.

Which is a pity, because the fact is that their subconscious

minds control virtually every aspect of their lives, even to the
extent of doing much of their 'thinking' for them! This makes
understanding the workings and power of the subconscious
something that should be given rather more than the odd
passing thought.

The latest research indicates that during the normal daily

routine, most people are only actually conscious for about 12-
15% of the time! That is just a couple of hours per day or even
less. The rest of the time, their subconscious minds are in the
driving seat.

It sounds pretty weird when put this way, but the fact is that
your life is only partly what 'you' think, do or want to make of it
- the rest (by far the larger part) is actually determined by what
your subconscious mind wants you to do.

When you think about it, you can easily see the truth of this:
From the moment you wake up, your actions are probably much
the same each day - you are literally not 'thinking' about what
you are doing. For most of the time you are on autopilot, with
your conscious mind just ticking over, rehashing memories from
the day before, vaguely planning, fantasizing or idly generating
other inconsequential patter of one kind or another.

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Even when you consciously engage with a problem or a change
from normal circumstances, your ideas and reactions and even
your thoughts will largely be drawn from your stockpile of
previously stored concepts and reactions to similar
circumstances.

And when someone speaks to you, do you really think about

what you are going to say, or does a reply normally just 'come
to you' automatically? (that is, without conscious thought).

So it is no secret to anyone who has looked into almost any

aspect of 'self improvement' and ‘self help’ that the key to real,
effective and permanent personal change is in the
'subconscious' mind - specifically the beliefs and assumptions
we hold deeply within ourselves.

We are barely aware of this hidden belief system. For most

people it has usually been accumulated more or less at random,
and for the most part consists of illogical junk built on negative
comments by others, and unfounded associations. Yet the
subconscious part of our minds uses this junkpile as the source
of the ‘core directives’ that drive and control almost every
aspect of our lives!

We may think that 'we' are in charge of running our lives, that
we have 'free will' and make our decisions on the basis of sound
judgement and logical reasons. But the actual truth is that our
actions and even our very thoughts are largely governed by
subconscious prompting – by our habits and by the way we feel
at any given time.

The subconscious mind constantly directs our behaviour by

'pulling our strings' and 'pushing our buttons'. When we act in
response to one of these cues, we may supply logical ‘reasons’
for our actions so that we can maintain an illusion of being in
control, but in reality we are, to a very large extent, under
control.

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This subconscious control mechanism has only our best
interests at heart - it is in a very real sense who we are; our
personality, habits and beliefs. As well as ensuring that we eat,
drink, sleep and carry out all the other biological imperatives we
have inherited, it 'automates' all the skills we acquire as we
develop (such as walking, talking or riding a bike) and keeps us
alive by supplying the 'unthinking' reactions that keep us out of
obvious danger (such as making us fearful when we approach
cliff edges or suddenly realise that we are driving too fast).

But along with all these basic and generally beneficial

'programs', the subconscious also accumulates a ton of garbage
that leads to inappropriate fears, self-defeating behaviour,
feelings of inadequacy, unnecessary limitations, 'personal
problems' and a host of other response patterns that either
don't serve us well, or actively conflict with our conscious needs
and wants.

Some people - just a very few, and often from 'privileged'

backgrounds - are lucky enough to develop internal programs
which are largely positive. These people tend to be successful in
whatever fields they choose to enter, are usually confident and
outgoing, enjoy wealth and success, and generally lead rich,
fulfilling lives.

Put simply, they expect 'success' and never doubt that this is
how things will be. In response, this is what their subconscious
minds ensure that they receive.

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Unfortunately, most of us are NOT that lucky. The fact is that
much of the input the subconscious gathers up when it 'writes'
the internal directives that shape our lives is irrelevant rubbish,
such as negative comments made by others (particularly during
childhood), hurtful and damaging experiences of almost any
kind, unfounded associations, misunderstandings and so on. But
because of the non-judgmental way in which this part of the
mind works, ALL perceived experiences, whether useful or
damaging, accurate or misleading, are stored away and used to
construct the system of internal 'beliefs' used by the
subconscious mind to direct our lives.

This means that without assistance, our conscious desires and

efforts to lose weight, quit smoking, be more confident, stop
procrastinating, or to effect personal change of almost any kind,
stand little chance of success against what our subconscious
minds direct us to do. For most of the time we are at the mercy
of our subconsciously generated 'habits'.

Our efforts to change by using our 'willpower' are almost always

doomed to failure because our subconscious minds will
invariably sabotage anything which would result in a movement
beyond the limits it has set. In virtually every way we are
unconsciously tethered by a short leash, yet most of us have no
idea at all that it is even there.

These limits can be placed on

almost any aspect of our lives,
from body weight to financial
or social success. As soon as
we find ourselves approaching
such a limit, we will be
automatically hauled back to
our internal 'set points' to (as
the subconscious sees it)
protect us from risk and
uncertainty. Because of this,
anyone seeking intentional
change, whether it involves

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dieting, exercising, increasing their income, behaving more
confidently in social situations, or getting rid of inappropriate
behaviours and habits, will find themselves in conflict with their
subconscious guidance system.

And make no mistake - in this battle there can be only one

outcome: they will lose!

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Understanding ‘The Rest
of You’
The term ‘subconscious
mind’ (which the
professionals prefer to call
the 'unconscious' or ‘non-
conscious' mind) is a
convenient catch-all phrase
to describe anything that
goes on in our heads
without us being
consciously aware of it.

But this concept covers a

vast range of processes
from completely automatic
systems that regulate our
basic body functions,
through those that process
‘raw’ nerve inputs from the
body and senses and store
(remember) information,
to actual independent
thought processes that go
on without our conscious
awareness.

For some time, a widely accepted theory has been that the
‘subconscious’ mind could be compared to a huge warehouse in
which all our experience is stored, with the conscious mind
being likened to a narrow flashlight beam that can focus
attention on a small part of this heap of stuff in response to
sensory input or communication.

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This picture of how the subconscious ‘works’ has largely been
guesswork based on empirical observation of people with
normal and damaged brains, electro-encephalology (measuring
electrical currents on the scalp), experiments in meditation and
hypnosis, and on pure supposition.

Recent discoveries
It is only very recently that scientific instruments have
progressed to the point where the actual facts are beginning to
emerge. These instruments include a variety of tools with
‘alphabet soup’ names such as SPECT (single photon emission
computed tomography), fMRI (functional magnetic resonance
imaging), CAT (computer assisted tomography) and PET
(positron emission tomography). However, the actual
technology is less important than what these instruments have
revealed.

By scanning in ‘real time’ the brains of normal people engaged

on a variety of simple mental tasks, various areas of the brain
can be seen to ‘light up’ as the task is carried out, indicating
which areas of the brain are involved in a particular task. This
has allowed a certain amount of
‘mapping’ to be carried out, which is of
great interest to brain specialists,
especially brain surgeons. Of more
interest in the present context however
are some slightly extreme experiments
that have been carried out quite recently.

Volunteers were placed in a fMRI scanner

and asked to concentrate on particular
mental tasks. They were then given an
anaesthetic intravenously until they passed out! By actually
suppressing consciousness in this way, it was shown that
although the areas associated with conscious thought close
down, ‘thinking’ continues in various other areas of the brain

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(usually in 4 or 5 other locations at any given time) even when
the conscious mind is non-functional.

The data clearly demonstrates several things, in particular that:

(1) ‘subconscious’ thought processes are not located in any
particular spot or lobe, but are distributed throughout the brain,
(2) they are independent of normal consciousness, and (3)
conscious thought represents only about 15-20% of the mental
processing involved in any given task.

At first sight this would seem to be consistent with the

‘warehouse’ idea, with the subconscious being simply a passive
mass of information and skills which are drawn on by the
conscious mind as required. However, more detailed
investigations have shown that this not the case. What these
further experiments are beginning to reveal is actually quite
astounding.

The ‘alien being’ inside you

The picture emerging is of a conscious mind (the part of you
that is reading this e-book and considering these words) that is
in effect only a ‘brain within a brain’ - a small and isolated
entity that exists within and is governed by, a much larger
system – the ‘subconscious mind’. This is NOT the ‘subconscious
mind’ that runs the body and interprets incoming sensory data -
these are automatic processes that the subconscious mind can
control, but they are not a part of the subconscious ‘mind’ itself.
Instead it is an actual thinking apparatus that is largely
independent of the conscious mind and far more powerful than
it, and which has its own thoughts and objectives.

The brain tissue that generates and supports the subconscious

mind is physically separate from the ‘wiring’ of the conscious
mind (which seems to be located primarily in the frontal lobes
of the brain) and consists of vast numbers of superfast neural
connections extending throughout the structure of the brain. As
such it can access a host of processes not available to the

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conscious mind - it is effectively a supercomputer of enormous
potential that can direct all the ‘automatic’ functions we need to
stay alive, and manage and control all parts of the brain,
including the areas which generate our ‘consciousness’.

For anyone who has not previously come across this idea, it can
be more than a little frightening to suddenly realise that most of
the time they are simply not in control – that almost everything
they do and achieve is actually done and achieved at the
prompting of an internal ‘entity’ that may even have completely
different aims and intentions from their own.

And this entity is immensely powerful. It has encyclopaedic

knowledge of you and all the people you come into contact
with, powers to 'make things happen' that we are only just
becoming aware of, and a single-minded, inexorable driving
purpose.

This purpose is to ensure that our life experience conforms with

what we believe is 'safe', deep down in our inner selves. Against
this power, 'willpower' is a feeble thing indeed, as the almost
universal failure of diets, attempts to get fit or to climb out of
the financial rut amply demonstrate.

The fact is that WHEN THERE IS DISAGREEMENT BETWEEN

YOUR CONSCIOUS DESIRES AND YOUR SUBCONSCIOUS
DIRECTIVES, YOUR CONSCIOUS DESIRES WILL ALWAYS
LOSE THE STRUGGLE.

So if you are involved in such a fight right now, you might as

well give up and save yourself further pain and hardship.
Fortunately there are much less painful, and far more certain
ways to achieve the changes you want, and that is the aim of
the methods described in this e-book.

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The nature of the subconscious mind

Despite its tremendous power over our lives, this rather

mysterious entity is in many ways neutral, and by our
(conscious) standards may seem very strange, even stupid. The
subconscious mind doesn't appear to question the directives it
follows – it’s only concern is that they ARE followed.

It seems to lack initiative and logical reasoning powers, and so

cannot (or at least appears not to) apply judgment to the data
it receives from the conscious mind. Experiments have even
been conducted that demonstrate that the subconscious does
not distinguish between an actual experience and an imagined
one, between truth and a lie. This is easily demonstrated by, for
example, thinking of a highly embarrassing or frightening
experience you have had. Very quickly, you will find your toes
curling or your heart rate increasing in sympathy with the
memory!

The subconscious mind ‘thinks’ primarily in pictures and

symbols, and its language capabilities appear to be limited to
those of a 3 or 4 year old child.

For example, the subconscious is apparently unable to properly

understand negatives (no, not, none, never etc.), or to be able
to correctly interpret complex ‘nested’ sentences or subclauses
(if…, provided that..). Its understanding of sentences appears to
be completely literal, with no consideration of context, and it
seems to be confused by ‘homophones’ (words that sound the
same, such as pair/pear, hear/here, sense/cents/scents,
their/there/they're, etc.).

The implications of these observations are very important when

communicating with the subconscious mind, as we will see later.

In many ways the subconscious mind seems to operate in a

manner that has been called 'savant autistic', with enormous
resources and power being controlled by an emotionless
computer-like entity with few of the reasoning and

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communication capabilities we associate with the conscious
mind. (As an aside, it is remotely possible that the condition
labelled ‘autism’ may reflect a failure to develop or express a
normal conscious mind to one degree or another, leaving the
undirected subconscious mind partly or completely in control at
all times.)

So we seem to have evolved a rather curious mental structure

in our incredibly complex brains; an enormously powerful but
essentially passive ‘subconscious’ mind and a rather faulty but
very active ‘conscious’ mind which is largely governed by the
subconscious, but which in turn supplies important input to it.

The fact is that the subconscious mind relies on the

conscious mind to ‘interpret’ the world, especially the
world of human society, and to determine the goals and
'instructions' it should act on, based on this
interpretation.

It does this by ‘listening in’ on the conscious mind at all times,

and giving priority to the things that it decides the conscious
mind regards as important. Unfortunately, the way in which the
subconscious decides what is important to us is not necessarily
the way we would want it to be. This is probably because the
conscious ‘chattering’ mind generates volumes of totally
inconsequential thoughts during any given day, and so the
subconscious needs ways of filtering out all the ephemeral
rubbish to get at what is genuinely important.

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How the subconscious mind decides what
is important to you
The ways in which the subconscious mind filters output from the
conscious mind in order to estimate the ‘importance’ of
conscious thoughts and desires are quite simple:

Emotional loading

Thoughts that are charged with emotion are taken to be

important. As we have seen, the subconscious mind itself is
essentially neutral - it simply ‘observes’ the stream of data
coming from the senses and bodily feedback without applying
interpretation or value judgements. But at the same time, it
notes the reactions of the conscious mind to these inputs
together with the emotional reactions they have given rise to,
and takes these emotional ‘tags’ as cues that indicate what is to
be considered important and what is not.

In other words, the subconscious mind attaches importance to

what you (conscious mind) have perceived throughout your life,
rather than the more neutral and objective reality that it
observes. This includes all the social and emotional baggage
you have attached to every situation and set of circumstances
you have ever experienced, including all those you acquired
through childhood and puberty, when (to put it mildly) you were
not in control of yourself or your world.

This fact can work against you, or it can be a very useful

asset.

If you think negative thoughts charged with emotion – in other

words if you worry and fret about possible future events, or
beat yourself up over some incident or aspect of your behaviour,
then the subjects you are worrying about or beating yourself up
over (financial problems, getting fat, missing out, stuttering,

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blushing, something you did, or whatever) become focal points
of the subconscious.

By attaching negative emotions to these things you are actually

making them into negative subconscious ‘goals’ and so pretty
much guaranteeing that they happen, or that similar things will
continue to occur.

On the other hand, if your conscious mind experiences positive

emotions such as desire or pleasurable anticipation whenever it
thinks of some object, future event or condition, this too
attaches importance to the thoughts concerned, but in this case
turns these mental pictures into desirable objectives.

Association

‘Importance’ can also be conferred by association. The emotion

that is experienced in connection with something feared or
worried about, or conversely with something desired and
anticipated does not have to be direct. It can be ‘by association’
that is, indirectly by connecting one thought that starts out
neutral with another which already has an emotional loading. If
the association is strong, the emotional loading attached to the
associated idea or experience will be transferred to the new
thought.

This is a potentially powerful tool for deliberately adding

‘weight’ to a desired outcome. For example, if you tend to be
rather unexcitable by nature, you can deliberately think of some
occasion in the past in which you did feel strong positive
emotion and then suddenly switch to a new thought such as
getting promoted, finishing a long drawn out project, getting a
new car or whatever.

By repeating this process you will gradually transfer some of the

emotion you recall to the objective you have in mind, and in
turn make this a stronger goal for the subconscious mind.

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Repetition

The third criterion the subconscious uses to establish the

importance of a thought is repetition.

If the same or similar thoughts are repeated often enough,

even if no particular emotions are attached and there are no
established associations, then the subject of these thoughts will
gradually edge up the scale of importance. If the repetition
continues for long enough (usually 3-4 weeks) then a ‘habit’ is
formed and the thought will enter the subconscious ‘goal list’.
This of course is the main basis of all ‘affirmation’ and ‘goal
setting’ type of self help programs, although some of these will
also make use of emotional loading and association in order to
strengthen the effect.

However, in the absence of any ‘important’ goals set by

conscious direction (intentional or otherwise), the subconscious
simply runs in default 'safe' mode - ensuring that we stay out of
'danger' by never venturing beyond the internal limits we have
set for ourselves. If we were fearful, hesitant, unsure, worrying
or procrastinating the last time we encountered a particular set
of circumstances, our subconscious minds will ensure that this
is exactly how we feel and act the next time around. Even if we
have simply imagined a situation at some time and reacted
emotionally to this 'virtual' scenario (usually by worrying about
some negative possibility), the reactions will be absorbed by the
subconscious because they are a part of our experience, even
though it is imaginary.

The bottom line is that we are continuously and unconsciously

compelled to do more of the same so that we get more of the
same.

It's rather like possessing a large, powerful car which is capable

of effortlessly taking us huge distances to exciting new places
whenever we want….. but only ever using it to amble aimlessly
and without purpose around our local back streets.

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Bringing The Power of
The Subconscious Mind
on to YOUR Side
Unfortunately, as humans do not seem to come with an
instruction manual, there is no way we can know all this until
we (if we are lucky) discover the truth in adult life. And by then
of course a great deal of damage has usually been done. At
best a random selection of mostly negative ‘goals’ has by
default become our ‘guidance system’ and the power we
actually have to get what we want is either wasted or actively
used against us.

But if, instead of placing yourself in conflict with your

subconscious directives, you can take control and deliberately
change these to match what you consciously desire, then the
situation becomes entirely different.

Now, instead of opposing your wishes, the enormous power of

the subconscious becomes your greatest ally, working on your
behalf to bring what you want into your life, often almost
without conscious effort and in ways that can seem almost
magical at times.

You will quickly find yourself just naturally doing those things
you need to do to achieve your goals, even if these previously
seemed difficult or even impossible. Old ‘bad habits’ will just
seem to fade away, you will discover internal reserves of
energy, drive and persistence you never knew you had, and
tendencies to procrastinate or flit from one thing to another will
just gradually disappear. New ideas and ways of doing things
will become 'obvious' and you will find others, even people you
have never met, actively co-operating to bring about your
objectives.

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Your circumstances will suddenly start to be more benign, your
way more easy, and more and more you will experience
apparent co-incidences and 'serendipitous' events that all
contribute to your success, and which often seem to come right
out of the blue. Soon the excitement, anticipation and wonder
that you may not have experienced since childhood will return
to your everyday life as you find yourself more and more in
control.

This may all seem hard to believe, but this kind of life 'in the
flow' is becoming reality for increasing numbers of people who
are discovering how to bring it about, and it could very soon be
your reality too. And once you are in this 'flow' it becomes
almost impossible to remember why you once chose to struggle
so long and so ineffectually, letting opportunities pass you by,
always doing things the hard way. Why you spent so long just
'getting by' and vaguely hoping for better things in the future,
rather than enjoying what life has to offer right now.

Now, the tremendous power that may have worked against you
for most of your life will finally be working with you - an
unstoppable combination, just as it was 'designed' to be. This
mighty ally is ready and willing to bring into your world
everything that you desire and need in order to live your life to
the full.

All it lacks is your direction - your specific instructions

and clear goals, delivered in a way that it understands.

Once it has these directions, your subconscious mind will set

about its new purpose with total dedication - to quickly and
effortlessly bring you whatever you want.

There is only one problem - but it is quite a large one.

Just how exactly do you go about changing the deep-seated

and apparently inaccessible directives that may have taken
decades to form, and of which you are probably almost
completely unaware of at a conscious level?

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How to change your mind

All successful methods of bringing about lasting personal

change have revolved around one idea - to actively change the
internal instruction set that determines behaviour. In short, to
replace subconscious 'junk' directives that result in limitation,
unhappiness, bad habits and dysfunction of any other kind, with
new 'positive' directives that reflect and support your conscious
desires. The concept is simple - change the 'program' to change
the outcome, i.e., the pattern of our lives.

As we have seen, the subconscious mind is powerful enough to

ensure that you fail, no matter how much you consciously want
a thing, or a situation, or some change in yourself, if it's internal
directives conflict with your desires. The most burning conscious
desire is no match at all for an opposing subconscious directive,
even when this directive arises from faulty or even laughable
'beliefs' embedded deeply below conscious awareness in the
subconscious mind.

But the subconscious mind is not in any way hostile to your

conscious desires – it simply ignores them because they have
not yet been presented in a way it recognises!

So in theory, this makes your task relatively uncomplicated:

(1) Identify an area where you want change. This can be

anything from earning more money, through losing
weight to stopping an unwanted habit like smoking,
(2) Formulate this desire in a way the subconscious
understands,
(3) Communicate this information to the subconscious in a
form it will pay attention to, WITHOUT simultaneously
communicating any conflicting messages.

A simple idea, but how in practice can it be achieved?

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Re-writing your ‘programs’

Over the years many methods of 'reprogramming' the

subconscious have been evolved – ‘positive thinking’, ‘goal
setting’, repeating affirmations, hypnosis, subliminal suggestion,
and methods such as psycho-analysis and neuro-linguistic
programming (NLP) which make use of language and
symbolism to try to access the subconscious.

However, some of these methods require either a ‘practitioner’

or ‘therapist’ who must be present to facilitate and manage a
session, or alternatively they require a great deal of
introspection and work on the part of the recipient. As a result,
many of these techniques are not practical in an everyday
context – they either cost too much because another person
has to be involved, or they are too complicated and take too
much of the time that busy people cannot spare.

What is really needed is an effective, repeatable system for

bringing about personal change that is within the financial reach
of most people, which can be delivered to anyone who wishes to
make use of it, and which does not demand enormous amounts
of time or effort. In practice, the only two methods which at
present meet these criteria are hypnotic induction and
subliminal suggestion – both ideal candidates for the
production of relatively inexpensive audio recordings which can
be used at home at any convenient time.

Of course, both of these methods have been employed in a vast

and growing range of commercial audio recordings supplied on
tapes, CDs and more recently in MP3 format. They have been
promoted for relaxation, meditation, stress reduction, weight
loss, increasing confidence and self esteem, pain management,
improved sleep, super learning, enhanced creativity and
intuition, and even more esoteric phenomena such as body
changes, remote viewing, telepathy, out-of-body experience
and lucid dreaming.

Copyright © 2008 MindWaves.co.uk Page 21

The quality of these products has always varied wildly, ranging
from shoddily-made rubbish produced by uninformed marketers
hoping to cash in on public interest, to well designed and
produced recordings based on the best research available at the
time.

Unfortunately, until the results of some very recent research

became available, even the very best products were
compromised by a lack of information on subconscious mental
functioning, and by some widely accepted (but incorrect)
assumptions that have often crippled their effectiveness.

The problem with many 'self-hypnosis'

recordings
Hypnotherapy was accepted by the American Medical Society as
a legitimate therapeutic technique in the late '50s and since this
time a great deal of research has confirmed its effectiveness.
Clinical and experimental evidence indicates that repeated 'one
on one' hypnosis sessions conducted by competent professional
hypnotherapists can bring about success rates of up to 90% for
smoking cessation, substance abuse, alcoholism, overweight,
phobias, depression, anxiety and many other problems which
have their roots in 'faulty programming'.

Multiple, individualized and tailored hypnosis sessions are

therefore one of the most effective methods available for
bringing about desirable changes in a relatively short time. But
of course, such personalised therapy is not available to
everyone, not least because of the cost, which could amount to
£500 ($1,000) or more for the five or six sessions that are
necessary to bring about permanent changes. There is also the
sheer inconvenience of having to keep a whole series of
appointments, possibly miles away from where you live and
work.

The best compromise available is to record ‘hypnosis’ sessions

so that a listener might receive the benefits of professional

Copyright © 2008 MindWaves.co.uk Page 22

hypnosis without the cost and inconvenience. Of course, there
are literally thousands of recordings on the market that promise
just that, nearly all using some variation of the classic
'progressive relaxation' method combined with guided imagery,
and followed by a list of affirmations relating to the subject of
the recording. The spoken words may often be accompanied by
relaxing music or natural sounds, or a combination of these.

The problems with such recordings are very fundamental: most

people listening to them simply do not achieve a useful hypnotic
state, and in any case the ‘suggestions’ are usually too
generalised to be helpful in specific instances.

In a personal hypnotherapy situation, the practitioner

establishes just the right conditions and will constantly monitor
the feedback from the client. He or she will adjust the
‘induction’ patter accordingly until the desired hypnotic state
has been obtained, and only then will the desired affirmations
be introduced. A reasonable level of hypnotic 'trance' is
absolutely essential if suggestions presented in this way are to
reach the subconscious levels of mind and be incorporated
within the subconscious ‘instruction set’.

But when people listen to hypnosis recordings, even under ideal

conditions, most of the time one of two things happens. Either
the listener remains in a normal, distracted, fully conscious
state, or he or she passes straight through the ‘hypnotic state’
to full sleep! In the first case, spoken affirmations are almost
completely ineffective, and in the second case, are less effective
than they would have been in a true hypnotic state.

Problems with conventional 'subliminal

recordings'
'Subliminal perception' refers to the ability to perceive and
respond to stimuli that are below the 'limen' or threshold of
conscious perception. There is now a vast amount of anecdotal

Copyright © 2008 MindWaves.co.uk Page 23

evidence and testimonials and a growing body of research
evidence that subliminally presented verbal suggestions can
and do alter thought patterns and behaviour in those exposed
to them, providing certain conditions are met.

But because of the misconceptions and misunderstandings that

often guide the production of many commercial ‘subliminal’
recordings, their potential for effecting personal change is often
seriously compromised. At best this means that only modest
changes are bought about, and often no change is experienced
at all.

These are some of the most common problems:

Over-masking

Many designers of subliminal recordings work on the

scientifically unsubstantiated premise that the subconscious
mind has the ability to hear and understand speech signals that
are hundreds, even thousands of times quieter than the music
or nature sounds that cover them, or which have been shifted
to very high frequencies ('silent subliminals'), played back at
very high speeds, or even played in reverse ('back-masked').

Unfortunately, what little scientific research that has been

carried out to determine the actual limits at which spoken words
can be heard and understood at a subconscious level by any
normal listener provides little support for the idea of the
existence of literally superhuman abilities of this kind.

Instead what has become clear is that while subconscious

perception definitely extends beyond the conscious ability to
understand speech masked by other sounds, or distorted by
frequency or speed shifts, the limits are only slightly extended
relative to normal conscious perception. Sound is simply a
signal transmitted by pressure waves moving through the air,
which then vibrates the component parts of the inner ear. If the
signal is too weak, or too deeply buried under a much stronger

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‘masking’ sound, the ear will just not pick up the vibrations and
the signal might as well be entirely absent.

In practice this means that in order to have an effect, subliminal

suggestions embedded in recordings must in fact be within the
normal range of detection and (at most) only just below the
level at which they could normally be consciously understood,
or replayed at a speed or pitch which is only just beyond normal
perception limits.

The vast majority of 'subliminal' recordings fail to meet this

very basic criterion, and are in fact completely undecipherable
by the subconscious mind because the speech signals contained
in them are too weak, distorted or highly pitched to be heard or
understood at any level.

Distracting or irritating sound masks

Because, by their nature, commercial recordings are made for a

mass market, it can be difficult to choose a ‘sound mask’ (the
audio track you hear, as opposed to the ‘subliminal’ track
hidden by it) that suits everyone.

Nature sounds such as ocean waves or running water are

generally the safest option, but many manufacturers also use
‘ambient music’, classical music or other sound tracks that be
immediately irritating or which become so with time and
repetition.

If the listener becomes irritated this will immediately reduce the

degree of relaxation and create a positive barrier to the
suggestions embedded in the recording. And of course there is
always the ‘OFF’ button…! Neither of these outcomes is likely to
improve the effectiveness of a recording.

Copyright © 2008 MindWaves.co.uk Page 25

Incorrect phrasing of embedded suggestions

Because of widespread confusion over the nature of the

subconscious mind, the language used in the ‘subliminal’
suggestions embedded in many commercial recordings is often
not appropriate.

In fact the subconscious mind processes information primarily

in symbolic or directly graphical (picture) form. Spoken
language is basically a tool the conscious mind uses to
communicate with other conscious minds, and so reflects the
way in which the conscious mind works. For this reason it is not
an ideal tool for communicating with the subconscious mind,
which has very limited language processing capabilities.

For this reason it is important to limit ‘suggestions’ to short and

simple phrases and to avoid ‘qualifying’ words, especially
negatives such as no, none, never etc. In addition, because the
subconscious mind does not seem to deal with the concept of
time in the same way as the conscious mind, the use of tenses
other than the present tense (I am, etc.) should be avoided.

There are a number of similar issues that arise when

constructing effective subliminal suggestions, and these will be
covered in greater detail later. For the moment it is only
necessary to recognise that the precise phrasing of subliminal
suggestions is of great importance, and that failure to get the
phrasing right will render suggestions ineffective, or even cause
them to have effects opposite to those intended.

Lack of focus

The subconscious mind is exactly that – a mind! For this reason

it must be treated with respect, and not bombarded with
hundreds of unrelated demands simultaneously. Many
commercial recordings try to use long lists of suggestions often
covering a wide range of topics which the designer sees as
related, but which the subconscious does not.

Copyright © 2008 MindWaves.co.uk Page 26

For example, if ‘overweight’ is the problem, many subliminal
product manufacturers will work with the frequently voiced, but
scientifically unsupported assertion that the actual issue is a
lack of ‘self esteem’ which is causing overweight people to over-
eat. This being the case, there may well be a long list of
suggestions designed to improve self-esteem, plus perhaps
some more dealing with ‘body image’ and ‘social confidence’
and finally perhaps some well-meaning suggestions about
eating smaller portions and avoiding fatty foods.

But the issues are separate, even though there may be

connections, and should be addressed separately. In the ‘weight
loss’ example above, all the suggestions embedded in an
effective ‘weight loss’ script should address the problem of
overweight directly, because the subconscious simply doesn’t
make the same ‘connections’ that the conscious mind does.

Attempting to deal with unrelated issues simply weakens the

central purpose of the suggestions, and confuses the issue.

The ‘I don’t know you’ problem

The purpose of using subliminal suggestion is to ‘implant’ by

repetition desirable ‘beliefs’ at a subconscious level in such a
way that they displace or over-write the negative and damaging
store of ‘self image’ phrases previously acquired at random.

But consider for a moment how most of this negative trash got
there in the first place – it was put there by the people you
have known!

All though your childhood, your parents, relatives, teachers and

so on will have said things to you that were highly negative –
often with the best of intentions, sometimes out of anger
(‘You’re lazy’, ‘It’s simple, Why can’t you understand?, ‘Stop
that’, ‘Don’t do that’, ‘Try harder!’, ‘No that’s wrong!’, ‘Stop
pestering me!’, ‘Why can’t you be like x?’, ‘You’ll never be a
success if…’). It has been estimated that such negative

Copyright © 2008 MindWaves.co.uk Page 27

admonitions outnumber positive loving comments by anything
up to 100:1 in an average family.

At the same time you will probably have experienced more

negativity from siblings, friends and schoolmates (‘You’re
useless’, ‘Pratt!’, ‘Fatty’, ‘You wimp!’, ‘B****r off’, ‘x thinks
you’re ugly!’, ‘I hate you!’, ‘Teacher’s pet!’). Later on, at one
time or another you will have probably been criticised by people
you work with or for, and by your flatmates, spouse, partner or
other adults in your life, and although the effects of such
criticism or put-downs will be much less than during formative
years, it still all adds up.

But what do all these ‘inputs’ have in common, apart from the
fact they are negative in nature? Simply that they have
virtually all been said by people you know. Other people –
strangers - may have called you names at one time or another,
perhaps while driving or in a crowd, but these occasions are
rare and in any case who cares what such people say? The
opinions you take notice of are those of people you know, and
the closer they are to you, the more their negative opinions
matter to you, both consciously and subconsciously.

When the subconscious mind perceives spoken input, it

automatically grades its ‘importance’ to you by the familiarity of
the voice, and the emotional association you have with it. So if
the voice is unrecognised, it is assigned a relatively low
‘importance’ status. This means that when you hear a
subliminally-presented voice that your subconscious doesn’t
recognise – that is completely unfamiliar – saying things ‘at
you’ from the depths of a recording, it is not surprising that the
subconscious mind can fail to pay much attention to the
message.

Many commercial recordings are made using professional

‘voiceover artists’ or simply the voice of the technician who
makes the recording, and this virtually guarantees an
‘unfamiliarity’ problem. The best ‘commercial’ solution, adopted
by some manufacturers (including MindWaves ‘Core Change’
programs) is to use voices that are deliberately manipulated to

Copyright © 2008 MindWaves.co.uk Page 28

result in a high degree of neutrality, with ‘androgenous’ pitch,
as accent-free as possible, and then further processed to
produce a ‘whisper’, largely stripped of identifying
characteristics. Not a perfect solution, but a pragmatic method
of minimising the familiarity problem, which unfortunately is
only adopted by a tiny minority of manufacturers.

The answer - ‘Personal’ subliminal

recordings
The solution to all of these problems is surprisingly simple –
just make your own ‘personal’ subliminal recordings!

We’ll look at the technicalities in the next chapter, but for now,
lets just look at the advantages in the light of the potential
problems with commercial recordings listed above.

You have complete control over the ‘components’ that go into

the mix. This means that you control the exact phrasing of the
‘subliminal’ content, so that it will exactly match the issues you
want to address, in exactly the way you want them to. It also
means that you can insert specifics that would be impossible in
a commercial recording, for example, ‘I weigh 145 pounds/70
kilos’, or ‘I now earn £45,000/$90,000 per year’, or ‘I live in a
4-bedroom Victorian villa in Surrey’.

Similarly you have complete control over selection of masking

tracks and of relative sound levels, which you can adjust for
your own hearing. Not only that but because creating such
recordings becomes very simple once everything is set up, you
can easily make a series of recordings with different ‘sound
masks’ or just make a new one each time you begin to find a
particular sound mask boring or irritating.

And most importantly, you can employ the simple ‘ace up your
sleeve’ that NO commercial manufacturer can use – your own
voice. The opportunity to use your own voice in subliminal
recordings is an asset that should not be underestimated. Your

Copyright © 2008 MindWaves.co.uk Page 29

own voice is the ‘ultimate’ in familiarity – you hear it all the
time as you speak. It is so familiar that you even recreate it in
your head when you ‘self talk’ or think in words.

For this reason, when you use your own voice in a subliminal
recording, it is almost as if you are thinking to yourself, just as
you would when you think to yourself ‘I could never do that’,
‘what a moron!’, ‘God, I’m clumsy’, ‘I wish I was like that’,
‘S**t, why did I say THAT!’ and all the rest of the self abuse
that most of us are prone to. Only this time, the stream of ‘self
talk’ is NOT negative, it is completely positive; a stream of
supportive and inspiring suggestions in place of negative self
put-downs.

If you have only ever used commercial subliminal products and

experienced little or no change in yourself or your
circumstances, here is your opportunity to ‘turbocharge’ the
subliminal effect, in absolutely any area of your life, and
experience one of the most powerful life-changing technologies
available to you.

So now lets get on with making your first recording.

Copyright © 2008 MindWaves.co.uk Page 30

How To Create Personal
Subliminal Recordings
On Your Own PC

Setting up your ‘audio engineering studio’

If you have never ventured into digital audio before, you may
be feeling a little intimidated by the idea of actually creating
your own professional-quality recordings on your PC using audio
engineering techniques.

Fortunately there is no need to worry - this is one technology

that has been getting steadily simpler (at least from the user’s
point of view) as time has gone by. Even better, the hardware
you need is minimal (you probably already have most of it) and
the few extras you may need are inexpensive by any standards.

The software that makes all this possible has similarly become
easier to use as it has been developed, and as the same
standards are now universally accepted, programs can work
together without problems.

So lets go through exactly what you need, starting with your

computer and the peripheral equipment you may need to add.

Copyright © 2008 MindWaves.co.uk Page 31

Hardware

Uncompressed high quality audio files can be huge, and audio

operations need plenty of processing power. For these reasons
you will need a reasonably powerful computer with a large
amount of storage capacity. You also need an ‘input device’ to
get your voice onto your hard drive and an ‘output device’ if you
wish to use your recordings away from your PC.

So with the above in mind, here is a suggested computer

hardware specification for this job:

(1) A moderately powerful processor. This should be around

800Mz at least, preferably 1.5GHz or faster. These are quite
slow specifications by modern standards, and most computers
will easily exceed them. Audio processing is carried out at a
speed that is dependant on your CPU’s speed, other factors
being equal, so although a slower machine can be used, some
audio processing operations might take a while to complete.

(2) A large hard drive. Audio editing is often carried out using
high-quality ‘PCM’ audio files rather than compressed formats
such as MP3, and a single recording may be built up using
several layered PCM recordings. Audio files eat disk storage at a
rate that is difficult to believe, with file sizes that may run into
hundreds of megabytes (about 6Mb per minute for ‘average’
quality stereo recordings in .wav format). While you could get
away with 40Gb (gigabytes), a couple of hundred ‘gigs’ would
probably be more realistic once you really get going.

Note: If you are using a desktop PC a second hard drive is

quite easy to add. Alternatively, a laptop or desktop PC can
easily be connected to a separate external hard drive via a USB
port. Having a large second HD has a number of other
advantages, including the ability to keep a second copy of your
operating system available and to back up all your critical files.

(3) Plenty of RAM. Many audio processing operations involve

temporary storage in memory of ‘chunks’ of audio files. The

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larger these chunks can be, the faster the processing will go.
RAM chips are cheap and easy to install so go for as much as
you can afford, preferably 800 Mb or more (RAM memory is
relatively inexpensive and many PCs come with much more
than this).

(4) A high quality ‘full duplex’ sound card. This just means that
it can process input and output simultaneously – most sound
cards can do this (check your computer’s ‘spec’ if you are not
sure). You will quickly discover if your sound card is not up to
the standards required from the number of irritating clicks and
pops that appear as if by magic during recording.

Note: If you have a sound card built into your motherboard,

and this does not seem to be up to the job, you can disable it
from your ‘BIOS’ and then fit an add-on sound card of better
quality to the motherboard.

(5) Hi-Fi quality headphones. Some of the techniques we will be

using require accurate audio reproduction across a wide range.
Make sure that the headphones you use to create
and listen to your recordings with, cover a range of
30Hz to 18kHz with less than 2dB (decibels – a
measure of loudness) loss at the top and bottom
ends of this range.

(6) A good quality mono microphone. This can be

an independent unit or may be more conveniently
combined with the headphones. Some high-quality
microphones may require an adaptor for use with
a computer sound card. There seems to be a lack of
standardisation in both sound card input circuits and
microphones, and you may find that volume problems are
solved by changing one or the other (usually the microphone,
for obvious reasons!).

As an alternative, you can record to an external MP3 recorder

then transfer the file to the PC via the USB connection.

Copyright © 2008 MindWaves.co.uk Page 33

(7) PC Speakers. While you could use headphones for all editing
and listening, for routine control of operations and for listening
to simple subliminal recordings, using standard PC loudspeakers
will be adequate, and less uncomfortable than wearing
headphones for extended periods. Unfortunately, the quality,
especially of speakers built into a monitor, can be appalling, and
in this case, add-on external units may be needed (or just stick
to headphones!).

(8) A CD-R drive or combined CD-R/DVD-R drive (if you want to

make audio CDs or DVDs). CD-R drives are inexpensive and
easy to fit, although you can always opt for an external unit
(normally USB connection).

(9) A free USB port on your PC (if you want to export MP3
tracks to a portable MP3 player).

Note: While it is entirely possible to transfer your subliminal

tracks to old-style audio cassette tapes instead of CDs, this is
not recommended where loss of quality which could affect
critical frequencies, for example when using ‘binaural beat’
frequencies. However for simple subliminal recordings a taped
copy will usually be fine. The now obsolete minidisk
recorder/players are also an excellent way of listening to
recordings away from your computer.

Software

The software you need to create subliminal recordings is fairly

basic, but there are a number of additional tools that will
provide you with some very useful extra facilities. We’ll look at
the basics first, then move on to some ‘bells and whistles’.

(1) File manager

You will need to keep track of numbers of files and may need to
maintain several separate ‘folders’ (subdirectories) for various
types of file used during the various audio processing
operations. File Commander is an excellent 2-pane file manager

Copyright © 2008 MindWaves.co.uk Page 34

that is perfect for the purpose. The installer, fc_setup.exe is
included in the SCB download, and you can also download a
copy from
http://www.paradigm-shift-org.co.uk/support/fc_setup.exe.

(2) Audio player

Windows™ comes with its own audio file

player, Windows Media Player, and this is
adequate for most purposes. However if
you would like a more richly-featured
player with a better interface, I
recommend Domino Player. The installer
for this is in the zip file (sc_softpak.zip)
that comes with this e-book. The file
name is ‘domino.exe’

This is a multi-format audio player which

supports continuous (looped) play - ideal

Copyright © 2008 MindWaves.co.uk Page 35

for background subliminal playback while working at your
computer.

(3) Multi-track audio recorder/editor

This software lies at the heart of the techniques described in

this e-book. Audio editing programs allow you to take audio files
in uncompressed PCM format (xxxx.wav) and to manipulate
these by changing volumes, applying effects, superimposing
and joining files, and building ‘multi-layered’ composite sound
files. Most programs also allow you to record directly from your
sound card inputs (‘line in’, and ‘microphone’) or indirectly from
the sound card output.

There are many audio editing applications on the market,

offering a vast range of controls and effects. However, for our
purposes most of the ‘extras’ these elaborate programs offer
are of little or no use.

All we need is a basic ‘mixing desk’ environment, and ease of

use is much more important than a ton of esoteric functions
that only an audio engineer could understand. The software we
have chosen as best suited to our purposes is ‘Audacity’ from
SoundForge.net, an ‘open source’ program developed by
enthusiasts for anyone to use.

The installer for this is in the zip file (sc_softpak.zip) that comes
with this e-book. The file name is ‘audacity-scb-133.exe’. To
install the program just run the installer, and follow the
directions.

You may also need the LAME MP3 ‘codec’ if you plan to export
your files from Audacity in this format. Open 'Free Commander'
file manager and navigate to ‘sc_softpak.zip’. You will find a
sub-folder called /lame. This contains a number of files you
don’t need to worry about (they have to be distributed together
under the terms of the license). Just copy the file ‘lame_enc.dll’
anywhere on your computer (/windows/system32/ is
recommended).

Copyright © 2008 MindWaves.co.uk Page 36

The first time you use the ‘Export as MP3’ command in
Audacity, you will be asked where lame_enc.dll is saved. Once
you have given this information, Audacity will remember the
location and will not ask for it again.

An introductory guide to Audacity is included in the software zip

file. The file name is audacity_guide.pdf, and it is suggested
that you familiarise yourself with the main controls before doing
much more. If you have any .wav, .mp3 or .ogg audio files on
your computer you can use some smaller ones to experiment
with track loading, adjustment and mixing, and with some of
the effects available.

General Note: Usually only one program that makes use of the
PC’s sound card can generate sound at any given time. It may
be necessary to close down one audio program before another
can work. For example, if Windows Media Player is open, it
must be shut down before Audacity can work.

Copyright © 2008 MindWaves.co.uk Page 37

(4) Multi-format converter/normalizer

It is sometimes necessary to convert audio files between

formats, to change their ‘sampling rates’ (quality) or to
standardise sound levels (‘normalization’). This can be done
individually or in batches. Note that some editing programs
cannot directly use compressed formats such as MP3, and these
files may need to be converted to ‘.wav’ format before use.

One of the best freeware applications for carrying out such

conversions is dBPowerAmp. The installer for this is in the zip
file (sc_softpak.zip) that comes with this e-book. The installer
file name is ‘dmc-r11.exe’. The installation includes the LAME
MP3 converter you will need to convert to and from this
compressed format.

(5) CD ripper

You may wish to use music or other recordings that you own as
backgrounds for your subliminal recordings, in which case you
will need a CD ‘ripper’ to convert the audio tracks on the CD
into ‘.wav’ format suitable for use in sound editors.

Copyright © 2008 MindWaves.co.uk Page 38

The law on this practice is rather vague, but the consensus
seems to be that it is legal provided that you own the original
CD recording, and that you do not give or sell copies to others.
The installer for this is in the zip file (sc_softpak.zip) that comes
with this e-book. The file name is ‘freeripmp3.exe’ – just run
the file to install the application.

Copyright © 2008 MindWaves.co.uk Page 39

The components of a subliminal recording

The following list refers to the basic component parts that are
combined to build a layered ‘subliminal’ recording. Some of
these components are fairly general purpose and can be re-
used in different recordings, while others will be specific to
particular projects.

Component #1: A list of ‘affirmations’

The entire objective of creating your subliminal recordings is to

transfer a written list of ‘suggestions’ into your subconscious
memory as rapidly and effectively as possible. Therefore a great
deal of care MUST go into writing your lists of carefully and
correctly-phrased suggestions in such a way that they directly
address the particular issue you have in mind, and do this
unambiguously and in a way that will be understood and acted
upon at a subconscious level.

We have already looked briefly at the limitations of

subconscious verbal processing, and all of your suggestions
must be constructed in a way that takes account of these
limitations.

Because of the literal way in which suggestions are likely to be

interpreted, the phrasing must be precise, simple and
unambiguous. Because they will be spoken, this also means
avoiding any words that have ‘homophones’ (words that sound
the same but have different meanings) that could make the
suggestion ambiguous. When writing these suggestions, it is
safest to try to imagine that you are talking to a literal-minded
4-year-old lawyer!

Here are some specific guidelines for writing your suggestions:

(a) Always use the ‘first person’ in suggestions (I, me or my).

For example “I am slim and fit”, “I weigh xx pounds/kilos”, “My

Copyright © 2008 MindWaves.co.uk Page 40

body burns all excess fat”, rather than “You are slim and fit”,
“You weigh xx pounds/kilos”, “Your body burns all excess fat”,
etc. The purpose of using your own voice to make these
recordings is to capitalise on the familiarity of this voice, and
using you/your would quickly introduce an unfamiliar note.

Note: Most manufacturers of commercial subliminal products

assert that the ‘first person’ form should be used in all cases, at
all times. However, most negative comments from others are
received in the ‘second person’ (you, your, etc.) and practical
experience suggests that when a suggestion is delivered in an
unfamiliar voice (as is always the case in commercial
recordings) then ‘second person’ suggestions are acceptable,
probably preferable.

(b) Use the present tense, as in the examples above. Your

conscious mind knows these statements are not true YET, but
your subconscious doesn’t care. The object is simply to ‘install’
these statements at a subconscious level so that they can do
their work. If you use the future tense (“I will exercise for 1
hour every day”) then this will be taken quite literally; as a
‘statement of intent’ for the future. Unfortunately, it is always
‘now’ and the future never comes!

Some people state that time-dependent goals (“By June 10th I

will be earning £xxxx per month”) are an exception to this rule,
but my own experience is that it is actually very unwise to try
to tie the subconscious to a particular schedule in this way. It is
generally better to include a phrase such as “as soon as
possible” rather than a date.

Also, including a deadline is likely to give rise to increasing

anxiety if nothing seems to be happening as the date
approches. This in turn may generate 'negative self talk' which
can cancel the original goal.

Likewise, avoid using suggestions such as “I wish to weigh xxx

pounds” or “I want to earn over $100,000 per year”. These and
anything in the same vein are in effect requests that you

Copyright © 2008 MindWaves.co.uk Page 41

remain in a state of wanting.wishing, which is certainly
something you DON'T want.

(c) Try to use only positive words. If you use negative

‘qualifying’ words such as ‘no’, ‘not’, ‘never’, ‘none’, etc., these
may be ignored, actually reversing the effect of the suggestion.
Remember that the subconscious thinks in pictures, so ‘smoker’
and ‘non-smoker’ will both produce the same image – a
smoker!

So for example if you write: “I do not eat fatty foods” the

meaning will be rather counter-productive when the ‘not’ is
ignored. Even using a phrase such as “I avoid fatty foods” still
involves an image of exactly what you do NOT want. Instead
use a phrase that avoids negatives, and try not to use words
that generate images of what you DON’T want. You could re-
write the ‘fatty foods’ example as “I always eat the foods my
body needs” or similar.

(d) Avoid any other kinds of ambiguity or unwanted association.

For example, if you tried to establish an aversion by using a
suggestion such as “Cigarette smoke makes me sick”, you
might end up actually vomiting after you next smell tobacco
smoke, because your subconscious has interpreted ‘sick’ as
meaning ‘vomit’. Or even worse, ‘sick’ might be interpreted as
‘ill’ – definitely to be avoided.

(e) Aim for precision. For instance, a suggestion such as “I earn

more money” is almost meaningless. More than what? Even if it
is correctly understood, ‘more’ could mean a few pence/cents
more than you earn now! Instead, either use an unambiguous
generality such as “I earn all the money I need and want”, or
“Money flows to me easily” or even just “I am a wealthy
man/woman”, or a specific target such as “I earn at least two
thousand pounds/dollars every week” (see box below).

Copyright © 2008 MindWaves.co.uk Page 42

 If you are going to specify an exact income, exact amount of
weight to lose or any other specific target, make the target
figure realistic and conceivable – NOT a fantasy figure that
you could absolutely never hope to achieve. I don’t mean
limit yourself unnecessarily; you should still aim high. But
don’t choose a target that is so far from present reality that
it is literally impossible given your present circumstances.
The more realistic your aims, the more quickly they can be
achieved. Then you can simply make another recording
setting a higher target, and so on……

(f) Keep it simple. Spoken language is not the primary means of

communication of the subconscious so try to avoid anything too
complicated. Also avoid colloquialisms such as ‘200k’ for two
hundred thousand (pounds, dollars etc.). Subconscious speech
processing simply doesn’t encompass this sort of shorthand.

(g) Stay ‘on topic’. Each set of suggestions should be aimed at

one issue or goal – don’t try to create ‘multi-purpose’ scripts
intended to help you lose weight, make more money, stop
biting your nails and become a magnificent guitarist all at once
– this would just cause confusion!

You can find some examples of correctly-phrased suggestions in

the Appendix at the end of this e-book.

Component #2: A recording in your own voice of the edited

suggestion list

At its simplest, a subliminal recording can just be a series of

recorded suggestions (‘affirmations’) that you play back at a
level that is just below the threshold of conscious
understanding. This means that although you will not be able to
understand the words at a conscious level while the recording is
being played at the right level, the words will still be heard and
understood subconsciously. Simple recordings made in this way
can in fact be highly effective, especially when recorded in your
own voice, and the possibilities of this simple and quick
technique should not be ignored.

Copyright © 2008 MindWaves.co.uk Page 43

In any case, you will need to create such a stream of
suggestions spoken in your own voice, as this type of recording
will form the basis of all of your creations. It does not need to
be too long – just a half dozen carefully designed suggestions
will be adequate.

Ww will look at the practicalities later.

Component #3: A ‘sound mask’

Although the recorded list of suggestions can be used on its

own as described above, most people prefer to create
something a little more elaborate, i.e., more closely resembling
the many commercial recordings available. These almost
invariably consist of a stream of spoken suggestions overlaid by
some kind of ‘sound mask’, usually ‘nature’ sounds or bland
‘ambient’ music, or a combination of these.

Recordings suitable for use as sound masks can be easily made

by transferring commercial recordings that you own to your PC,
in the form of ‘ripped’ .wav files, using software such as
FreeRip.

The most suitable music will usually be of the style sometimes

called ‘mood music’, which includes various electronic ‘ambient’
sounds. You should avoid anything that contains singing, wide
variations in volume, heavy beats or anything else that is likely
to either over-mask the suggestions, or get in the way of
relaxation. As we have noted, the limits of subconscious
perception are not far below the conscious limits, and if the
sound mask is too intrusive, the meaning of the suggestions will
be incomprehensible at all levels.

The alternatives to music are ‘nature sounds’ such as rain, surf,

streams, wind in trees and similar, other low-impact background
sounds such as constant traffic noise, or simple artificially
generated sounds such as ‘white noise’ (a constant hissing
sound).

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Almost anything that has a more or less constant volume with
no gaps where the underlying spoken track could ‘break
through’ can be used. There is no need for such recordings to
be more than about ten minutes long (or less) and with a bit of
editing most such recordings can be repeated throughout a
recording to extend their length.

You can make your own background recordings of any suitable

sounds in your vicinity, using a tape recorder. For example, I
live not too far from both a working waterwheel and the coast,
and have made recordings of the waterwheel and sea surf for
use in my own personal audios. You may be able to record
traffic noise from your window if you live by a main road, or
improvise by for instance recording a bath filling, or a shower
spraying against a shower curtain!

However, to save you the trouble we have included another

piece of software which is able to generate background sound
effects based on short samples which are automatically looped
to extend play to any length you want.

The software is called 'Raindrop.exe' and you will find the

installer, setup_raindrop.exe, in a folder inside sc_softpak.zip
called /binaural and sound mask generator.

The program comes pre-configured with an assortment of

background sounds including nature sounds, chants and
modern ambient sounds. Up to three of these can be selected to
run simultaneously and volumes are individually selectable by
simply typing a number (percentage of full volume) into a box.

But probably the most useful function of Raindrop is its ability

to generate binaural entrainment tones, which you can use in
your recordings to facilitate rapid entry into an 'alpha'
brainwave state. We will look at making use of this function a
little later on.

The [Play] button starts the selected sound output, and [Stop]
ends it. You can also enter time periods for a one-off delay
before play starts, fade-in and fade-out times and total paying

Copyright © 2008 MindWaves.co.uk Page 45

time before automatic shut-off. Note that adjustments to
selected tracks, playing time etc. can only be made when
playback is stopped.

Finally, the [Mixer] button opens the Windows audio 'slider'

controls,where you can make adjustments to your Windows
system audio settings. This may be useful when adjusting
Audacity so that it records audio output from Raindrop at the
correct levels. When everything is ready, just start Audacity's
Record function and then start Rainbow's audio output using the
[Play] button, and allow recording to continue until the required
track length has been recorded (make sure that the time in
seconds set in the [Stop playing after...] box is set to longer
than the required recrding length.

Copyright © 2008 MindWaves.co.uk Page 46

We have also included another piece of software that might be
useful for creating sound mask components. This is a ‘noise
generator’ called Saccara. Once more, the installer for this is in
the zip file (sc_softpak.zip) that comes with this e-book. The file
name of the installer is ‘saccara.exe’. Just run this to install the
noise generator software, then open the program.

There are several ‘slider’ controls but the easiest way to find out
what noises it can generate is just to have a play.

The sounds can range from sharp ‘white noise’ through to a sort
of ‘dull roar’ similar to the sound an open microphone picks up
when outside. Sounds like this can be used to add depth and
continuity to almost any recording, real or artificial. Once you
hit on a noise you like, use Audacity to record it for any length
of time you want, then save the file as one of your ‘stock’ items.

Copyright © 2008 MindWaves.co.uk Page 47

Compiling your first subliminal recording

OK, its time to begin turning theory into practice. For the first
step (creating your basic spoken recording) you will need your
list of ‘suggestions’, your hardware up and running (sound card
and microphone working in perfect harmony) and Audacity
installed and working.

Check your recording levels

The first thing is to test your sound levels. Fire up ‘Audacity’,

and in the [Edit] menu select ‘Preferences’. Another window
entitled ‘Audacity Preferences’ will open. In this window click on
the [Quality] tab and set the ‘Default Sample Rate’ to 44100
(high quality – large files) or 22050 (medium quality – smaller
files). Click on [OK] to save and exit.

Now select [Tracks] then [Add New] followerd by either ‘New

Audio Track’ (mono) or ‘New Stereo Track’ (stereo) to open a
blank track in the window. You can mix both mono or stereo
recordings into the finished track, but stereo recordings allow
the use of some more advanced techniques, as we will see a bit
later.

Using a mono microphone while recording in stereo simply

produces identical left and right tracks, and the file can then be
used just like any other stereo recording.

Make sure your microphone is connected to the sound card

input and click on the [Record] button in Audacity to begin
recording.

Speak a few words at your normal speaking volume. The

recorded trace should look something like the one below (with
two identical traces if recording in stereo):

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In the illustration above, the maximum volume is a bit on the
low side and it might be worth adjusting the computer's input
settings through the 'Volume' icon in the system tray (see
below).

If the input from your microphone is too energetic, the ‘excess’

will be cut off, resulting in distortion and possibly in pops and
clicks on the final recording, and again volume levels should be
adjusted. Recording levels can also be controlled simply my
moving the microphone nearer or further away, but avoid
having the microphone closer than about 3 inches or you may
start picking up breath noises.

To change the ‘gain’ of the microphone, use the Windows

‘preset’ sliders. Double click on the little ‘speaker’ icon in your
system tray (the small panel which normally contains a digital
clock and icons for various programs running in background).
This will open an ‘Audio Panel’ window from which you can click

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on the Sound Volume ‘slider’ icon to open the main sound
control window. If an input for microphone is not shown, click
on [Options] then [Properties]. Select the 'radio button' for
Recording and then make sure the 'Microphone' check box is
ticked. Click on [OK] and then adjust the microphone slider as
required. You can do the same thing for the ‘Line in’ slider when
using input from a tape recorder or other external source.

At various other times you may need to set the sliders on both
the Recording Control and Master Volume windows to get the
right balance of sound, and there is a separate window for
‘Speakers’ on the Audio Panel window.

Copyright © 2008 MindWaves.co.uk Page 50

Record your ‘suggestions’ track

OK. With the ‘levels’ set, it is just a question of setting up your

list of suggestions in front of you, and reading it out slowly and
clearly into the microphone as you
record. Leave a space of about two
seconds between the items on your
list – these pauses can be adjusted
later if necessary.

Speak in a reasonably conversational

tone, and try to keep the volume
steady. Avoid emphasising
consonants, especially ‘p’ and ‘t’, and
in particular try to avoid loud sibilants
(hissing ‘s’ sounds) as all of these can
become noticeable in the final
recording, even when replayed just
below the normal hearing threshold.

Keep the spacing between suggestions

fairly even and don’t worry about
‘muffing’ lines or any other obvious
errors. Just leave the recording
running and begin again at the point
where you messed up. You can easily
edit out the mistakes later.

When you have finished, click on the ‘yellow square’ button to

stop recording. Use the [View] menu to zoom out a little
(expand the horizontal scale). In the track window, click on the
beginning of your recording to move the cursor to the ‘start’
position and click on the ‘green triangle’ Play button.

You can edit as you go. To chop out mistakes or excessive

pauses just highlight a section you want to lose, then hit the
[Delete] button on the keyboard or use the [Edit] menu. There
is an ‘Undo’ option if you make a mistake. You can increase
pauses by placing the cursor where you want more silence and

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selecting the appropriate ‘Insert Silence’ option in the
[Generate] menu, and change the volume or balance from the
slider controls at the left of the track. You can even highlight
and copy a short section of the existing ‘pause’ and immediately
paste this in to extend the overall length of the pause.

A separate more detailed document covering basic operations in

Audacity is included in the download package
(audacity_guide.pdf).

As you will quickly discover, Audacity is a very ‘intuitive’

program to use, and all the features you need are there,
including a number of ‘effects’ that can be experimented with in
due course. So with a bit of tweaking and maybe a couple of
‘takes’ you should end up with the basis of a useable recording.
It doesn’t need to be perfect because it is going to be used at a
relatively low volume, but you might as well go for the best
quality you can manage.

Setting up the ‘sound mask’ tracks

The ‘raw materials’ at your disposal for creating a sound mask

will be any recordings you have made for the purpose (either of
real sounds or of ‘effects’ generated by Raindrop, Saccara or
other software), downloaded ‘ready made’ background
recordings such as those offered for feedback for this package,
and/or ‘ripped’ music taken from CDs.

Obviously whatever you are going to use must be in a digital

audio format that Audacity can use (wav, ogg, mp3) and free
from clicks/pops or other glitches.

Alternatively, audio files can be standardised by using the

dBPowerAmp software, either individually or in batches. Just
start up the program, select the files to be adjusted or
converted and click [OK] to open the main screen.

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On this screen you can select the file type to convert to (wav),
the sampling rate and the destination of the converted file. You
should also opt to ‘normalize’ the file to set its volume to a
standard listening level. It is generally a good idea to keep a
temporary folder for converted files, so that if there is a
problem with the conversion you still have the original
unconverted file
available.

If you want to use

recordings on cassette
tapes, an external CD
or a minidisk player,
these will need to be
patched through the
sound card ‘Line In’
jack and recorded by
Audacity, more or less
as described for the
suggestions script.

You can use an

external recording
device as an alternative to recording your suggestion script
directly to Audacity if you prefer. There is an option in the
[Effects] menu to apply a noise reduction filter if there is a lot
of background hiss from taped recordings. This is a two stage
process; you need to highlight and copy a section of blank
‘noise’ so that Audacity knows what to remove, then select the
entire track and apply the filter.

If you want to use a sound made by software such as Raindrop

or Saccara, just set the software running, adjust the sound to
your liking, adjust the volume using the ‘system’ slider settings,
then use Audacity to record it directly from the sound card. As
joining together short recordings can be fiddly (see below), it is
usually worth making such ‘home made’ audio files slightly
greater in length than the recording they are intended to be
used in.

Copyright © 2008 MindWaves.co.uk Page 53

Mixing the master ‘mask’

Now for the creative part. Open a new project in Audacity and
from the [File] menu select ‘Import Audio’ and navigate to your
first background track. This will normally be your main music or
sound effect recording. Click on [OK] to import a copy of the
track.

Repeat this process for each track you are going to use in your
sound mask (if you are only going to use one recording, then
you are done with this stage and can move on to ‘Adding the
subliminal track’). Your masking track should be a stereo
recording to provide depth and interest, although as we noted
earlier, mono tracks can be incorporated, for example as a
‘centre’ background, or by placing ‘out of phase’ copies in the
left or right stereo tracks.

Now you can play around with the volume settings for each
track to get the overall ‘balance’ right. The world is your oyster
here. You can mix ambient music with sound effects, or
combine different sound effects to create a ‘soundscape’. You
can fade out tracks or bring them in at various points, or apply
audio effects from the [Effects] menu. You can mix in ‘white
noise’ or other artificial sounds to mask gaps or add depth. At
any time you can adjust the volume or balance of a component
track using the sliders at the left side of the track window, or
you can temporarily mute a track (‘Mute’ button) or mute all
other tracks so that you can work on a single track alone (‘Solo’
button).

Don’t forget that you are only working on copies of the original
sound tracks, so you cannot damage these. In any case there
are several levels of ‘undo’ available if things don’t work out, or
you can just return to your last good ‘save’ point by re-loading
the project.

Your aim should be a single continuous track with a running

time a few seconds over the desired final length. Don’t forget
that you want something that can play continuously in the
background almost unnoticed, so avoid strong musical themes

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or anything else that could get irritating. Blandness is the
objective.

There should be no obvious ‘glitches’, no pops or crackles that

will intrude when listening, and no silences where underlying
subliminal tracks could be heard. (You can copy short sections
from other parts of the track and arrange these to overlay gaps
in order to hide these). Keep experimenting until the overall
track sounds as professional as you can make it.

And finally, export a copy of your composition in .wav format,

and make sure that you save the final Audacity ‘project’ file
(*.aup). You will almost certainly be able to use this again for
related projects.

Adding the subliminal suggestions

Building background tracks is a fairly creative part of this

process, but adding the subliminal component is definitely a
technical process which needs some fairly fine tweaking. So
long as you keep a copy of your Audacity ‘project’, you can
come back to this as many times as it takes to get the exact
balance right.

So, at this point, you should have your finished stereo ‘masking’
track to the required length, preferably already recorded at a
moderate sound level that is neither too faint nor loud enough
to risk distortion. Now we are going to add the subliminal track
itself. Firstly, we’ll look at a simple ‘basic’ method, and then at a
couple of refinements.

Initially, just import your ‘sound mask’ track as track 1 and

import into track 2 the spoken sound track that you created
earlier. You may wish to insert a few seconds of silence at the
beginning of the spoken track to allow for any fade-in you apply
later.

The first thing we need to do is to remove the upper

frequencies from the ‘subliminal’ sound track. This is for two

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reasons; firstly it gets rid of the inevitable loud sibilants (‘sss’
sounds) which might otherwise be audible on the final
recording, and secondly it will make the voice recording sound
more like your own voice as you hear it.

As we have seen, the power of using your own voice comes

largely from the familiarity factor. However, the voice you are
familiar with is not the one others hear; it is heard largely via
the air passages and bones in your head and tends to lack most
of the upper frequencies. It is this voice we want to imitate as
closely as possible.

Click on the ‘Solo’ button for the spoken track and highlight the
entire track. In the [Effects] menu select ‘Low Pass Filter’. When
the settings window appears, just move the slider control until
the cutoff point is set to around 1500 Hz (the exact figure is not
critical) and then click on [OK]. If you play back the filtered
voice track you will now find that it is considerably reduced in
volume, and sounds quite flat and distant, which is what we
need.

It has also been shown that adding some 'echo' to the

subliminal suggestion track increases its effectiveness. The
reason for this is unknown, but it is worth using every trick at
our disposal.

So once again highlight the entire spoken track and from the
[Effects] menu select 'Echo'. Start with a delay time of 0.1
seconds and a decay factor of 0.2. You can preview the effect
before applying it. Adjust the two values if you wish and finally
click on [OK] to apply the effect to the whole track.

Now it is time to adjust the subliminal track so that it is

obscured by the masking track.

Make sure that all Mute/Solo buttons are off (grey) and start
the Audacity playback somewhere near the beginning of the
combined track area. If necessary, set the ‘master’ playback
level (slider control marked by a small ‘loudspeaker’ icon near

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top left of the control panel) so that the masking track is
playing at a comfortable sound level.

Now, using the slider at the left end of the voice (subliminal)
track, first raise the level of the voice track so it can be clearly
heard over the sound mask, then gradually adjust the volume
downward until you can just hear the voice but can no longer
understand the words.

It is important that you do not continue to reduce the volume

much below this level; as we have seen, the subconscious
hearing threshold is below the conscious level but not by as
much as is often claimed.

At the end of the day you are entirely limited by the ability of
your inner ear’s mechanism to physically respond to the
vibrations produced by the voice recording. It is better to leave
the sound volume where you can still hear that someone
(yourself, obviously!) is talking, but you cannot make out any
words, than to reduce the level below the level where it can be
heard and understood at all.

If you have a hearing disability in either ear, you could make

use of the ‘balance’ sliders at the left hand end of each track
in order to even things out. As you are making these
recordings for your own use, this is just one of the many
‘personalisations’ that you can apply. Of course it may be
just as easy to leave things as they are and apply balance
corrections during payback.

And that’s about it for a ‘simple’ subliminal recording. When you

are happy with the sound volumes, save your Audacity project
with some suitable name, and export the final sound track
either in .wav format for recording to CD, or to MP3 compressed
format if you want to listen on your PC or an MP3 player. You
can carry out this conversion later if you wish, using
dBPowerAmp, which gives you more control over the quality of
the MP3 and the file size.

Copyright © 2008 MindWaves.co.uk Page 57

More Advanced Techniques
The sequence described above will produce a fairly simple ‘low
tech’ recording consisting of a central subliminal track (i.e.
appearing to be in front of you when listening in stereo)
partially hidden behind a stereo ‘masking’ track. This is usually
what you are buying when you purchase a commercial
recording, and can be fully effective when you follow the
instructions given above.

However, because you are creating this product for yourself, you
may wish to add a few advanced features, if not to your first
recording then perhaps to some later ones. The final analysis of
what is effective and what is not is by no means settled, and
experimentation is the best way to find out.

Here are some more advanced ‘bells and whistles’ for you to
try.

Multi-layering

When you were putting together your voice track I suggested

that you might want to make a stereo recording from the mono
(microphone) input, because this would allow for some more
creative effects. One of these is ‘multi-layering’ – the addition of
two or more subliminal voice tracks to a single recording.

Because the subconscious mind is able to ‘multi-task’ at an

much higher rate than the conscious mind, it is not easily
confused by hearing several voices simultaneously. After all it
already processes and integrates information from many
sources, both internal and external, so it can present an
‘executive summary’ to the relatively slow and limited conscious
mind. One or two additional ‘feeds’ will present no problem at
all!

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So you can make use of this enormous capacity to present
several voice sound streams to the subconscious
simultaneously, provided that they are separated in some way
that allows each to be discriminated from the others.

One of the simplest ways to achieve this is to arrange for each

voice track to appear to be coming from a different direction
within your stereo ‘soundscape’, normally from either the left
side or the right side, or the centre if a third track is used. The
experimental evidence indicates that up to three tracks can be
simultaneously disentangled in this way by the subconcious, but
that adding more tracks (for example from 45 degrees left and
right) would not be worthwhile and might even generate
resistance. It is suggested that you initially try just two tracks,
left and right, if you want to try this technique.

It is sometimes suggested that separate subliminal tracks for

the left and right sides should be phrased differently, as the left
ear connects to the right hemisphere (more pictorial and
abstract than the left) and the right ear connects to the left
hemisphere (more logical and spatially aware).

Unfortunately this suggestion is based on a misunderstanding of

how human auditory processing works. In fact because of some
internal ‘wiring’ of the brain, a sound heard at either ear is fully
available to both brain hemispheres, so it is simply not possible
to ‘talk’ to either hemisphere separately in this way. Some
recent experiments have indicated that there is a slight bias in
the way in which the left and right inner ears ‘pre-process’
verbal information but the effect is too slight to make use of in
practical terms.

You will need two separate sound recordings, both in stereo

format. Although you could simply use two copies of the same
recording played back out of synch, there is little value to this.
The simplest approach is to simply divide your full suggestion

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list into two approximately equal lists and then record each of
these separately.

‘Import’ the masking track plus these two voice tracks and then
‘process’ each voice track to remove upper frequencies and add
some echo, in just the same way as for a simple single voice
track recording, i.e., as described earlier.

Now adjust the ‘balance’ slider controls at the left end of each
voice track so that the two voice tracks are shifted to the right
and left sides of the soundscape respectively. The balance
control does not need to be ‘full over’ in each case, just so long
as there is a clearly discernable directional separation between
the tracks, and the balance offset is the same (but in opposite
directions) for each track.

Now it is just a simple matter of adjusting the volume of each

track to bring it just below the level where individual words can
be made out, exactly as for a single track recording. You should
do this by ‘muting’ each track while you adjust the other.
Because the conscious mind will be confused by hearing two
voices in this way, you may be able to set the volumes slightly
higher than for a single track and still not be able to understand
any words when both are playing back simultaneously. Just
experiment a little.

Pitch shifting

If you do decide to add a third

track in the centre, you can make
this easier for the subconscious to
discriminate by adjusting the
‘pitch’ of the centre track by using
another of Audacity’s effects. You
will need to highlight (select) all of
the third track after you have
imported it, then click on [Effects]
and select ‘Change Pitch’.

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This effect allows you to shift the pitch of your voice upwards or
downwards by any amount you specify without changing the
speed of the recording, and the ‘shifted’ voice will then be more
easy to distinguish from the left and right channels.

I suggest that you do not use more than about one full
semitone as more could render your voice completely
unfamiliar, and lose the asset that your own voice represents in
this context. You can shift pitch upwards or downwards, and
this will be a matter of choice, depending on your natural voice
qualities.

Reversed playback or ‘back masking’

This is an effect that is simple to incorporate into a recording,

but one that is the subject of a great deal of controversy. ‘Back
masking’ came to fame in the 1970s when some religious
groups began to suggest that certain rock music contained
subliminal messages encoded in this way. As proof of their
claims, they played the records backward and came up with
messages promoting drug use, extolling Satan, and similar
negative messages.

The recording industry immediately rebutted the religious

argument, but it is clear that there is at least some truth in the
allegations, when the recordings in question are listened to.
However, a recording gimmick probably aimed at increasing
sales through the ‘dangerous’ associations and the positively
helpful religious groups is one thing; whether or not such
reversed ‘subliminal’ messages had any real effect is another.

More recently, most interest in this field has been provoked by

an individual called David Oates, who maintains a web site on
the subject at http://www.reversespeech.com/home.htm. You
should be aware however, that many respectable researchers
and commentators in the field maintain that it is all bunk!

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For the moment, this is an area where you must make up your
own mind whether ‘back masking’ is worth a try. If you decide
to test it out, Audacity makes it easy.

Take as your starting point a ‘project’ file already set up with a

suitable ‘sound mask’ and a subliminal audio track. Firstly,
because the spoken sound track will be incomprehensible when
reversed, you can increase its volume to the point where it
sounds like audible and just-comprehensible ‘muttering’ behind
the masking track.

Next, simply select (highlight) the entire spoken track, click on

[Effect] and then ‘Reverse’ and Audacity will begin processing
the track to make it replay in reverse. When processing has
finished, play the whole thing back and make any final
adjustments to volume before exporting the file as your finished
‘backmasked’ recording.

Instead of reversing the entire track, you could instead leave

the original subliminal tracks in place and add, for example, a
centre mono track that is then reversed. In view of the fact that
reverse-masked subliminals are such a controversial area, this
or some other similar ‘mix and match’ process would be my
recommendation.

Advanced technique using a 'vocoder'

The majority of commercial 'subliminal' recordings use the
methods described up to this point. However a few (including
MindWaves) use a more advanced method of embedding the
spoken track, called 'vocoding'. This is a method of 'modulating'
one sound, called the 'carrier' with another, called the
modulator.

What happens is that the modulator is analysed for frequency

and volume changes, and these patterns of change are then
imposed on the carrier. The result is a copy of the carrier
(background sound) which varies in frequency and/or volume

Copyright © 2008 MindWaves.co.uk Page 62

following the modulator – the speech recording. In this way, the
speech track is not hidden behind the sound mask, but actually
becomes a part of it – the 'Rolls Royce' method of choice when
making subliminal recordings.

We use a hardware device to utilise a number of vocoder tricks

and techniques, but you can do something similar using the
software vocoder included in the SCB package.

This is Zerius Vocoder – one of the best programs available for

mixing two tracks in this way. However, I must warn you that
using any kind of vocoder is tecnically quite challenging, and
you may want to hold this technique in reserve until you are
fully familar with all the software involved.

The installer, vocoder_install.exe, is located in the folder

/vocoder software in the software pack.

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'Vocoding' is carried out in two stages.

In the first stage, your recorded voice track is mixed with a

steady bacground noise track to remove all silences. The reason
is that if the modulator track falls to zero, as it otherwise would
between words, then the output will do likewise, and the words
would be too clear in the finished track.

A 'white' or 'pink' noise track can be generated using the

Saccara software, or use the 'Electric fan' or 'Air conditioner'
loops in Raindrop. Load this and the spoken track into separate
tracks in Audacity and adjust the volumes until the words
remain clear, but there is a constant noise in the background. If
the 'high pass filter' has not been applied to the spoken track,
do this first as described earlier.

Now export the mixed track as a mono recording, under a new

name.

You will also need a 'carrier' track which will be encoded with
the track you have just made. This should be continuous with
no gaps, with plenty of high frequency content, and should be
almost as long as you intend the final recording to be (it can be
a few minutes shorter to allow for fading in and out. Generally,
sound masks such as ocean and surf sounds, rain and rushing
water are most successful for this purpose. Some variability is
desirable to further mask the speech that will be embedded.

Again, this track must be in mono only and you can use
DBPowerAmp to make a mono version of a stereo sound mask
(make sure you don't over-write the original stereo version!).

The second stage is the actual vocoder mixing. In Zerius, load

your combined speech/noise mono track as the modulator, and
the chosen mono version of the sound mask as the carrier. Start
with the default slider settings and click on [Vocode and listen].
Generally it is best to leave the 'Window' settings (top two
sliders) where they are and experiment with the [Band count]
settings. Decreasing the band cound will make the output sound

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more like the carrier (sound mask) and increasing it will make
the output sound more like the modulator (spoken track).

Choose a file name and location in the 'Output file' window,

then click on [Vocode] to create this file. It may be worthwhile
creating vocoder tracks with different 'Band Counts' for testing
in your final creation, or you can just come vack to Verius if
necessary and over-write the output file later (the software will
'remember' your most recent inputs and outputs).

Now all that is needed is to load both the vocoder track and the
original stereo 'carrier' sound mask into Audacity, and adjust
the relative volumes until it just becomes impossible to make
out the words in the vocoder track. The tracks will normally be
out of phase and so there is unlikely to be any 'echo' effect
where both tracks are nearly synchronised. However, if this
does turn out to be the case, just add or remove some silence
to one track, to push them well out of synchronisation.

As I said, this is a complex technique, but if you take the time

to master it you will be creating subliminal recordings that are
technically superior to most commercial 'subliminal' recordings,
and much more effective.

‘Hypnotic’ techniques
The methods we have looked at so far are purely ‘subliminal’ –
that is, the aim is to play back lists of suggestions recorded in
your own voice, but ‘mixed’ in a way that hides the words from
conscious perception while allowing the subconscious to process
the information.

Subliminal suggestion works, but for the reasons described in

the earlier part of this e-book, the effects can be relatively slow.
This is primarily a result of the cumulative nature of the
process.

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For faster results you need to add another factor to the mix –
deliberate manipulation of the listening ‘state’ aimed at inducing
a deeply relaxed mental condition.

In a deeply relaxed state, as we have seen, the dominant

brainwave frequency will tend to be in the ‘alpha’ or even in the
‘theta’ wavebands, and the mind will then be in a state which is
relatively open to outside suggestion. Appendix 1 at the end of
this e-book looks at the whole subject of brainwave frequencies
in much greater detail.

The following are techniques aimed at inducing such ‘hypnotic’

states, which you can incorporate in your recordings. If you
make recordings of this type, you can generally re-use the
‘components’ (masking tracks and voice tracks) you used for
the subliminal recordings, with a few ‘added extras’.

Never listen to recordings made using any of the techniques

described below while driving or doing anything else that
requires concentration in order to ensure safety. Always
allow at least two hours after listening before you undertake
any such task as effects can linger in some individuals.

‘Stereo Confusion’ recordings

This is simply an extension of ‘multi-layering’ that makes use of

the fact that the conscious mind is easily overloaded and
confused, while the subconscious is not!

A ‘stereo confusion’ recording contains separate left and right

hand tracks as previously described. The difference is that the
volumes of the spoken tracks are not turned down to the point
where they cannot be consciously understood. Instead they are
made relatively loud – at a level which could be fairly easily
understood at the conscious level if either track was played

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alone against the masking track, which is in this case simply a
background.

Each of the two tracks is recorded in stereo by using a mono

microphone to record to a new stereo track opened in Audacity.
With both tracks loaded, push the L-R slider of one track to the
left (80-100%) and push the L-R slider of the other track to the
right an equal amount. When played back, you should now hear
the tracks separately, apparently coming from the left and right
hand sides respectively.

Next, load a third sound mask track which is restful and

relaxing.

The aim is to present the two ‘suggestion’ tracks continuously

to the left and right ears in such a way that a voice is always
present in both ears at the same time for the full duration of
your recording, and is clearly understandable over the sound
mask. For this reason the gaps between phrases should be
short so that there are few discernable pauses where a voice
can be heard in one ear but not the other.

This may call for a certain amount of editing, although the

‘Repeat’ function in the [Effects] menu makes it possible to
endlessly repeat a relatively short but tightly edited pair of
recordings. The result should be carefully balanced to ensure
that the left and right channels sound equal in volume, and are
matched to the background track in such a way that they
neither disappear behind it, nor dominate it. This is largely a
matter of judgement, making such ‘confusion’ recordings more
difficult to get right than most other formats.

However, when correctly constructed these recordings can be

immensely powerful. Often within just a few minutes of
listening you will find that you are dropping ‘out of it’ into a
meditative state. This effectiveness more than compensates for
the fact that you will be able to understand some or all of the
suggestions before the effect ‘kicks in’.

Copyright © 2008 MindWaves.co.uk Page 67

You can also use a variation of this method where the two
audible voices can be something other than your list of
suggestions, perhaps something like a couple of pre-recorded
‘audio books’ of stories read by the same individual.

Narratives of this kind are particularly effective because the

conscious mind tries to follow both, and in the process, quietly
overloads. In this case their purpose is simply to induce a
receptive state, so that you can arrange for the real suggestions
to come in after a short period. Some experimentation will
quickly establish how long your conscious mind can resist!

Adding binaural beat tones

Appendix 1 looks at the phenomenon of brainwave

‘entrainment’ to a binaural beat, and this is a very effective
method for artificially inducing deep relaxation and the
‘suggestible’ state of mind in which suggestions are most easily
accepted and incorporated at a subconscious level. It is also an
extremely simple technique to incorporate, with the right
software.

A ‘binaural beat’ can be set up in the brain when separate pure

tones (sine waves) of slightly differing frequencies are
presented at each ear. A third, ghostly, ‘binaural beat’ is then
created within parts of the brain – it is actually created
separately in the auditory processing centres of each
hemisphere – and the brain can then ‘lock onto’ this third
frequency and begin electrically ‘pulsing’ at the same speed.

The best basis for a binaural beat recording is probably a saved

Audacity project (.aup) which already contains the sound mask
and voice recording(s) you want to use. Just re-open the
project and save it to a new name to protect the original
project. Next, highlight all of the voice track (or one of them)
and amplify this ([Effects] – ‘Amplify’) by about 1-2 dB to bring
it to into borderline audibility (it should sound like muttering).
Apply exactly the same amount of amplification to the second

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voice track if you are using one, leaving the left/right balance
controls where they are.

Now highlight the voice track (or one of them) for about the
first 15 minutes of its running time, select [Effects] and then
‘Fade In’. Click on [OK] to apply the long fading-in effect, and
the sound level will then start at zero and reach full volume
after the 15 minute period. If you have a second sound track,
repeat the process for this.

You will now have a recording consisting of the masking track in

its unaltered state, plus one or more ‘suggestion’ tracks which
only begin to become audible at all after about 8 or 9 minutes
and reach borderline conscious audibility after 15 minutes.

Next you need to add the binaural beat tones, and two
programs are included that can produce these complex
recordings.

The first of these is Raindrop – the software you may already

have used to generate plain sound masks. The controls for the
binaural beat function are located in the central panel. All you
need to do is set two frequencies, left and right, so that the
difference between them is the bianral beat frequency you wish
to generate. For example if you set a frequency of 100Hz in the
left hand channel and 108Hz in the right hand channel, then a
binaural beat frequency of 8Hz – mid alpha – will result.

The carrier freqencies should be kept in the range 50-300Hz.

Above this range, the resulting beat frequecy becomes very
faint due to the chracteristics of the human sound processing
system. As for the background sounds, the volume of the
output is determined by the '%' setting, and this should be
adjusted to suit your sound recorder's settings. Of course, if
you wish, you can produce a combined sound mask with
binaural beat frequencies all in one go, simply by adding one or
more of the sound mask loops to your settings.

Important note: Although up to three beat frquencies can be

generated by the software, only one should be used at a time.

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Because of the way the 'ghost' beat frequency is produced by
the parts of the brain that process sound, it is simply not
possible to effectively entrain to more than one frequency at a
time using this method. If you attempt it, all you are likely to
get is a headache!

In order to entrain to more than one frequency simultaneously

(a process that has only limited uses) another entrainment
method such as isochronic (regular) sound variations must be
used alongside binaural beats. The 'phaser' effect in Audacity
can produce isochronic variations in any stereo sound mask, but
only up to around 5Hz.

'Stepped' binaural entrainment recordings

While Raindrop can produce binaural beat frequencies at

frequencies that are fixed by the program settings, it may
sometimes be desirable to have the 'beat frequency' varying in
order to allow, for example, a gradual transition down into lower
alpha frequencies or beyond.

This is because the brain does not easily shift very far from
wherever it currently is in the brainwave spectrum, and it is
normally necessary to arrange a series of entrainment sessions
at progressively lower frequencies to get down to the lower
frequencies.

Using Raindrop, it will be necessary to make a series of 5-10

minute recordings, each of a beat freqency around 3 or 4 Hz
below the previous one. Each of these can then be loaded into
Audacity, and periods of silence added in front of each so that
they form a series of 'steps'.

Start Audacity and from the [File] menu select [Import Audio]
and navigate to the first (highest frequency) entrainment track.
Click on [OK] to load a copy of the track into this first track
register.

Copyright © 2008 MindWaves.co.uk Page 70

Now do exactly the same for each of the series of short
recordings, so they each occupy one track register in Audacity.

Next, go to the point where track 1 ends and insert or delete

silence in front of track two until the two tracks overlap by
about three seconds. Highlight the last three seconds of track 1,
click on [Effects] and select ‘Fade Out’. Now select the first
three seconds of track 2, click on [Effects] and select ‘Fade In’.
Move the cursor to a point just before the ‘join’ and play back
the recording. With any luck the overlap should be smooth.

If there is a noticeable increase or decrease of volume at the

point of overlap, you may be able to fiddle around with the
volume settings of track 2 to fix it, or it may be easier to undo
the changes and try again with slightly different lengths of
overlap and fading in and out. Save the project under some
suitable name when you get to the point where the transition
between track 1 and track 2 is acceptable.

Now repeat the process of inserting silence and making the

'join' at the end of track 2, then track 3 and so on. At the end of
the recording you can reverse the sequence of tracks if you
wish to create a smoth transition up and out of entrainment.

However, for the more technically inclined, we have include

another application, a 'programmable' binaural beat generator.

Winaural programmed beat generator

This software is ‘ready to run’ and does not come with an

installer. I suggest that you create a suitably-named folder
beforehand, using Free Commander or similar, then transfer a
copy of winaural.exe (in the software zip package) to this.

All you need to do to run the program is then to click on

winaural.exe from the File Commander window, use the ‘Start…
Run’ option in Windows or add a desktop icon. (You do this by

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dragging the file from the File Commander window to your
‘Desktop’ and choosing the ‘Copy to’ option).

When you run the file you will see a window like the one above.
Winaural generates both a pair of offset tones at specified base
and offset frequencies, and a ‘white noise’ sound mask, and can
operate in programmed and manual modes. We’ll look at the
more complex programmed mode first.

WinAural programmed mode

When you run Winaural it will look for a text file called
‘schedule.txt’ in the same folder it is located in. If it doesn’t find
this file it will create a default copy.

This text file is a sort of program that Winaudio can ‘read’ to set
its operating parameters and then follow a predetermined

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sequence of changes in ‘offset’ frequencies in the left and right
channels.

This is most easily explained by looking at part of a sample

schedule.txt file as it appears in Notepad or any similar text
editor application. The comments in red are mine, by way of
explanation:

# This default schedule file was created for you by WinAural

# NOTE: WinAural ignores lines starting with "#"

# Base frequency for tones: (40-1000) In practice it is best to stay in the range 50-300 Hz.
[BASEFREQ=110] This number sets the frequency which is used as a starting (reference) point.
# Noise Volume: (0-100)

[NOISEVOL=20] Programmed setting for the background (masking) noise level. Set to 0 if you do
not want the pink noise sound masking.

# Tone Volume: (0-100)

[TONEVOL=84.9976] Programmed setting for the binaural tone volume levels.

# Times to repeat schedule: (0 means infinite)

[LOOPS=1] The sequence below will be performed this number of times (0 = repeat indefinitely).

# Use Stereo Noise 1=true, 0=false

[STEREONOISE=1] A setting of 1 produces independent noise output in both channels (leave as
default if you want to add additional masking noise).

# Runtime: 73 min. 30 sec. (4410 sec.), 45 Entries Your own summary of the settings below.

#FreqLStart FreqRStart Duration

0, 0, 9,
6, -6, 45,
4, -4, 60,
3, -3, 60,

etc.

Columns 1 and 2 define the tones that will be heard in the left and right channels respectively. The
binaural frequency will be the difference between the channels (see below). Column 3 controls the
duration (seconds) of the tone defined in columns 1 and 2.

The figures in columns 1 and 2 represent the deviation from the base frequency (set earlier in
program). For example, if the base frequency is 100Hz, a figure of 6 would result in a tone of
106Hz. Similarly a figure of -6 would result in a tone of 94Hz. The actual binaural beat frequency is
the difference between columns 1 and 2, regardless of the base frequency. For example, if the left

Copyright © 2008 MindWaves.co.uk Page 73

 channel is set to 6 and the right to -6, the binaural beat frequency will be 12Hz. There can be any
number of rows, to define a program of any complexity.

Using this simple ‘programming language’ you can build a

binaural tone pattern to match your recording, by for instance
setting the binaural tone to ‘step’ down from a typical ‘wide
awake’ beta frequency through intermediate levels, holding at
each level to allow entrainment. You can then hold this
frequency for the rest of the recording except, say, the last 5
minutes which can be used to step back up to beta to allow an
easier transition out of the entrained state.

As another example, below is a program sequence that will do

this for a 30 minute recording, ‘stepping down’ from 15 Hz
(awake) to 10Hz (alpha), holding for 15 minutes then more
quickly stepping back up. In this case, the carrier frequency
(the base frequency as adjusted by the programmed settings)
will stay roughly constant. You could just as easily have it
descending with the binaural beat frequency then rising again,
or any other pattern.

This is just an example, and you should experiment with all

settings for best effect. Again, the comments in red are mine,
by way of explanation and of course should not be copied into
an actual program:

# Runtime: 30 min, 6 Entries, 3 steps down, hold for 15 min, 2 steps up

#FreqLStart FreqRStart Duration

7, -8, 120, 15 Hz for 2 minutes
6, -7, 360, 13 Hz for 6 minutes
6, -6, 480, 12 Hz for 8 minutes
5, -5, 600, 10 Hz for 10 minutes
6, -6, 120, 12 Hz for 2 minutes
6, -7, 120, 13 Hz for 2 minutes

Once you have these settings working to your satisfaction, you

do not need to make a recording. Instead simply select the
[Create Audio File] button. You will be asked for a file name and
destination, and when these have been set it is just a matter of
clicking on [OK] to create the ‘binaural beat’ file.

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Next, simply import the file into Audacity, and adjust the
volume so that the carrier frequencies are audible but not
obtrusive, and perhaps applying a few seconds ‘fade in’ and
‘fade out’ to the beginning and end of the track.

WinAural manual mode

I hope that you can see that the programmed mode of

operation is quite simple once you get the hang of the program
format. However, the software does offer the option to just
generate a constant binaural beat tone in much the same way
as the Raindrop program.

In manual mode you can ignore all the various status messages
on the control panel as these refer to programmed settings. You
will only be concerned with the four ‘slider’ icons and the
[Start/Pause] button.

To set up the binaural beat tones manually, click on the boxes

under ‘Manual Frequency Control’ and adjust the sliders as
required. The Base frequency should be in the range 50 to 300
(Hz). Higher than this and the ear may be unable to reconstruct
the required beat frequency, lower and you risk going below the
audibility threshold. Choose a Base frequency that blends in
best with your chosen background sound track.

Some researchers, including Bill Harris of Holosync fame think

that deeper base tones give rise to increasingly more profound
entrainment, but there seems to be little actual research to
corroborate this. You could simply make several recordings at
different tone frequencies and see which you prefer. I personally
find tones around 100Hz most effective, but others may prefer
higher or lower frequencies.

Next you need to set the actual ‘offset’ or difference in left and
right frequencies which will determine the frequency of the
‘binaural beat’ you experience when you listen to the recording.

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Remember that the further away the ‘target’ frequency is from
the normal beta range, the longer it will take to entrain to this
level.

If you are planning to use a binaural beat frequency lower than

about 9 Hz and you are not an experienced user of entrainment
techniques, you should make several recordings at
progressively lower binaural beat frequencies and use these as
described earlier for creating 'stepped' recordings in Audacity.

The relative volumes of the binaural beat tones and the

masking white noise are set using the slider icons at the lower
right of the window; the ‘noise’ level can be set to zero if you
wish.

When the program is running to your satisfaction, in Audacity

click on [File] and then ‘New Audio Track’ to open a blank stereo
track, then click on the ‘Record’ button (mauve circular icon) to
begin recording. Adjust the Tones volume slider in Winaural to
obtain a recording level averaging about 20% and then allow
the recording to run for the required length of time. Later on
you can highlight and delete the initial part where you were
adjusting the volume, but don’t forget to allow for this in the
overall recording length.

Finally, as described for incorporating a programmed binaural

recording, adjust the volume and add any fading effects you
want. You now have the complete recording ready for ‘export’ to
the final ‘wav’ file.

To export the binaural track as a separate .wav file for use

elsewhere, simply delete all other tracks and save the ‘project’
under another name, then ‘export’ the track to a suitably
named .wav file.

Copyright © 2008 MindWaves.co.uk Page 76

‘Supercharging’ self help recordings you
already own

Another exciting possibility that is opened up by the ability to

add ‘binaural beats’ to any other sound track, is ‘re-mastering’
any self help recordings you may already own. This might
include simple subliminal recordings or especially hypnotic
recordings in which a spoken hypnotic ‘induction’ is used.

By copying (‘ripping’) the sound tracks of such products to your

computer you are then in a position to modify these by adding a
suitable binaural beat to enhance the effect of the recording. Of
course you will need to check any specific conditions that come
with such recordings, but as for music tracks, making a single
copy for your own use only is generally seen as being legal and
ethical.

Using ‘neuro-acoustic’ recordings

Instead of (or possibly in addition to) using binaural beat tracks
as your ‘hypnotic’ component, there are a number of
commercially recorded tracks available on CD or via download
that you can incorporate into your recordings (this acceptable
for private use unless specifically excluded by a manufacturer).

In this way you can use the best available altered-state-

inducing recordings available as a part of your own ‘custom’
recordings – the ‘best of both worlds’.

The MindWaves ‘Synchrony’ recordings are particularly suited to

this purpose, and as an owner of this e-book you are expressly
granted permission to make use of these products in your own
personalised recordings (but please note that any commercial
use is not permitted). The recordings make use of a number of
advanced neuro-acoustic techniques including patterned phase-

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shifting, pulsed low pass/high pass filters and balance/volume
modulation, which are not generally practicable to generate
using home equipment.

The following text explains the ‘Synchrony’ program:

(Taken from our web page at

http://www.mindwaves.co.uk/entrainmentmp3.htm where you can
download the recordings).

The 'Synchrony' Program

This pair of recordings differs from most other MindWaves Core Change programs
fairly fundamentally. While the other recordings in the series are aimed at installing
various verbal suggestions at a subconscious level, the 'Synchrony' program is
designed to produce a more subtle effect that could have major implications in all
aspects of your life.

These two recordings have been processed to embed strongly entraining

frequencies aimed at bringing both hemispheres of your brain into synchronisation
- an effect that can be shown to occur by means of EEG measurement.
Hemispheric synchronisation leads to an increase in mental acuity and capability,
including clearer thinking, better abilities to visualise, improved memory access
and even better access to subconscious information.

This highly beneficial effect is cumulative, that is, the more the brain is exposed to
such neuro-acoustic entrainment patterns, the more easily it becomes able to bring
about synchronisation for itself. This means that you can gain access to better and
faster problem solving abilities, massively increased creativity levels, greater

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energy and enthusiasm and a host of other benefits simply by repeatedly listening
to these recordings.

Recording 1 ('Initiation') is intended to be listened to regularly for a minimum of

thirty times. This causes the brain to synchronise to high to medium alpha
frequencies that can be associated with mental clarity and creativity. While benefits
in personal performance are likely, the main purpose of this recording is to 'train'
the brain to move quickly and easily in response to the entrainment, and to begin
to retain the ability to increase synchronisation in the absence of entrainment.

Recording 2 ('Enlightenment') will help you enter a full meditative state in the low
alpha to high theta frequencies, where you may experience profound insights, and
will 'reset' the brain to bring about increased levels of energy and focus. Again, the
beneficial effects of listening to this recording will begin to become permanent
with habitual use.

Taken together, listening to these two recordings is not only a complete 'workout'
for the brain, but a shortcut to a new mental clarity and power that expert
meditators may take years, even a lifetime, to achieve.

http://www.mindwaves.co.uk/entrainmentmp3.htm

Copyright © 2008 MindWaves.co.uk Page 79

Commercial software
The following commercial application is highly recommended
for advanced users of ‘own voice’ subliminal recordings:

Brainwave Generator (Noromaa)

BrainWave Generator automatically produces complex

programmed binaural beat tracks and mixes them with any
background track you select. In addition to using the more than
20 built-in brain wave entrainment programs, you can create
your own programs (presets) or download other user’s presets
online.

The software can produce programmed binaural tracks on

demand, or can be used to generate complete MP3 tracks
directly (i.e. without needing any external recording software.

Copyright © 2008 MindWaves.co.uk Page 80

Because the programmed binaural beat tracks are set up using
a simple graphical interface, it is simpler to use than the
programmed mode of Winaural, and this is its main value when
creating personalised subliminal hypnotic recordings.

A free ‘trial’ version of this shareware program can be

downloaded from Noromaa’s site. The registration cost is $40
for a single user license.

Click here for more information (http://tinyurl.com/5n7gk)

Copyright © 2008 MindWaves.co.uk Page 81

How To Use Your
Recordings

Using subliminal recordings

The ‘subliminal effect’ is cumulative – that is, the effect is weak

in the short term but grows progressively stronger with
constant repetition. Ideally you should listen to your subliminal
recordings as often as possible, and for as long as possible,
preferably at least 5 days per week. You can use the recording
less, but the period needed for full effectiveness will increase.
The longer the listening time within any given period, the
greater the cumulative effect will be. Reproduction quality
should be clear, but extended frequency response (hi-fi) is not
necessary.

If you make a version without any masking (i.e. just the

‘suggestions’ track) or with constant ‘white noise’ masking, this
is ideal for playing quietly in the background on a constant
‘loop’ while you listen to a radio, TV or music player. To do this,
ensure that the main sound source (radio, etc.) is set to a
normal listening level, then start the subliminal loop. Turn up
the volume so that you can hear the spoken words easily, then
turn it back down until they just ‘disappear’ behind the sounds
of whatever you are listening to.

That’s it. By simply leaving this set-up running while you relax
or get on with some work, you will be exposing your
subconscious mind to a constant stream of suggestions that will
gradually build in strength until the first effects begin to appear.

For ‘conventional’ subliminal recordings, the sound mask would

probably become irritating if you try to listen to a radio, TV or

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music while it is playing, so this type of recording is best
listened to on its own. You can listen while working on your
computer or load the file into a personal MP3 player. The
volume of the recording should be set to a comfortable and not
too obtrusive level. Increasing volume will not increase
effectiveness.

You can also transfer your recordings to CD or an MP3 player for

looped replay, for instance while driving to and from your place
of work. Virtually all CD 'burning' software will automatically
convert the files to standard audio format during the CD
recording process.

Using recordings with ‘hypnotic’ content

If you make recordings using any of the ‘hypnotic’ techniques
described in this e-book (stereo confusion or binaural beats),
then these should be listened to through good quality stereo
headphones. Headphones should ideally be of 'hi-fi' quality with
a frequency response range of at least 30Hz-10kHz .

You will need to find a time and a place where you can be
comfortable and undisturbed for the length of your recording
plus about 10 minutes, ideally two or more times a week.
Because of the ‘mind altering’ effects of these recordings, they
should NEVER be listened to while engaged in any activity that
requires full conscious awareness.

Although your brain is gently guided toward a receptive alpha or

high theta states by the hypnotic tracks, remember that this is
emphatically NOT any kind of 'mind control' technique. Your
response is always under your own control, and you can return
to the normal waking state at any time you wish.

You should listen while sitting comfortably, rather than lying

down. Find a comfortable position, sitting reasonably upright.
Sit quietly for a few minutes before starting the recording,
concentrating on your breathing. Try to empty your mind, or at

Copyright © 2008 MindWaves.co.uk Page 83

least do not engage with the 'mind chatter' that will inevitably
start as your conscious mind detects a 'threat' and tries to
maintain control. Just acknowledge all the prompts you get
about other things you should be doing, and make a mental
note to attend to them later (if they still seem important!).

Disregard thoughts of how 'silly' the idea of listening to this

recording is by reminding yourself that you have absolutely
nothing to lose by trying it out, and a great deal to gain. If
necessary, try some of the suggestions in 'Some things you can
do....' (below) to increase your level of relaxation and the
probability of a successful session.

Begin playing the recording at a moderate volume. If you have

used the 'fade in' effect you may need to set the volume control
quite low to begin with. The sound of the background (if used)
should be clear but not so loud as to be overbearing. If you use
a ‘nature sounds, background it is often helpful to conjure up an
image that fits the sounds you are hearing - a sandy bank by a
woodland stream, the shore of a rough and stormy sea, the
mouth of a cave where you are sheltering from a rainstorm.
'Build' and explore this image so that more and more detail is
present, and try to remember the details of the imaginary place
you construct so that you can recall it and elaborate it further in
later sessions.

The listener experience (hypnotic recordings)

As you drift into the relaxed state you will begin to feel drowsy
and comfortable, with the amount of 'mind chatter' normally
falling away until you feel peaceful and possibly rather detached
from your surroundings. You may experience dreamlike images
and thoughts, but try not to over-analyse what you are
experiencing as this can get in the way of the process.

Once you enter the peaceful, relaxed state, with your conscious
mind disengaged and just enjoying the sensations of
comfortable detachment and drowsiness, then the way becomes
clear for communication with your subconscious mind.

Copyright © 2008 MindWaves.co.uk Page 84

The meditative state is associated with a fairly broad range of
alpha entrainment (binaural beat) frequencies ranging from the
lower end of normal consciousness to the upper edge of true
sleep. Because of this it is often accompanied by phasing in and
out of a low level of consciousness, and this is confirmation that
you are fully entrained to the beat frequencies in the recording.

With increasing use, it becomes easier to maintain a level of

altered consciousness even when fully entrained to alpha
frequencies - the true 'meditative' state that can take many
years to achieve using other methods. Following several
listening sessions, the brain actually learns how to function
more easily in this 'altered state' and it becomes progressively
easier to produce this state at will. If you also actively
participate by doing the simple exercises described later in this
section, your progress will be even faster, and the effects more
permanent.

However, you may also find that you are simply 'not in the
mood' on some occasions, and in this case you will either not
experience any change (and probably also become distracted by
thoughts of other things you 'need' to do), or will go through
the initial stages but re-emerge after a few minutes. In this
case, just forget it for the moment and try again at a better
time.

Falling asleep

When you listen to hypnotic recordings you may find yourself

apparently falling completely asleep. Absolutely no harm will be
done by falling asleep, but suggestions are less likely to have an
effect during full deep sleep. You can minimise the possibility of
sleeping by sitting upright in an armless chair, and particularly
by not allowing your head to 'loll' forward.

However unless you are particularly tired, or are listening late

at night, it is unlikely that you will have truly slept. Very often
what seems afterward to have been sleep is in fact the

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'hypnogogic' state (sometimes spelled ‘hypnagogic’) - the
mental state between being awake and being asleep that you
naturally experience twice a day when falling asleep and waking
up. This mind state is exactly what you want, because in the
hypnogogic state your conscious mind is almost non-functional
and the ‘suggestion’ process is at its most effective.

Quite often you will partially awaken at intervals throughout a

hypnogogic experience, feeling warm and drowsy. With a little
practice you will soon be able to maintain this intrmediate state,
which is an excellent way to allow subliminal suggestions or
hypnosis recordings to have their full effect.

The proof that you have been in a hypnogogic state is the way
in which you will 'wake up' when you reach the end of a
recording, showing that you have been paying attention at a
deep level throughout the experience.

Waking up

When you ‘awaken’ from the hypnogogic or meditative state,

you may remain in a relaxed, sleepy state for a while after the
recording has ended. This effect tends to reduce after a few
listening sessions, and you will normally 'awaken' naturally at
the end of the recording (sometimes before, if your
subconscious decides it has heard enough)). If you are
disturbed at any time you will also awaken, but you can
normally choose to quickly 'let go' again and resume the altered
state - this also becomes easier with repetition.

If you find that when you resume normal consciousness you feel
slightly groggy and disorientated ('phased'), then a suitable
'recovery' period should be allowed after listening. This
especially important before undertaking any task requiring full
concentration, as some slight feelings of detachment can persist
for some time following use. The 'awakening' period can be
reduced drastically by litening to a short entrainment recording
that focuses on 'beta' frequencies (12Hz or higher).

Copyright © 2008 MindWaves.co.uk Page 86

Some more things you can do to optimize
the effect of hypnotic recordings.
When you listen to a correctly constructed hypnotic recording,
90% of the work is done for you. The entrainment tones or
stereo confusion will gently but rapidly guide your brain to the
desired mind state without any work on your part, other than
just listening.

However, at least initially it is likely that your conscious mind

will respond to the gentle pressure by actively trying to stay in
the normal alert state.

It will normally do this by increasing the level of 'mind chatter'

and by suddenly finding a host of other things 'you should be
doing' in an attempt to stay in control. Normally this reaction
wears off after a few sessions, as the conscious mind discovers
the feelings of warm relaxed pleasure that come with the
hypnogogic or meditative state!

If you experience initial problems of the kind described, there

are a few things you can do to make a rapid transition to an
alpha state easier:

Progressive Relaxation

It is important to be physically relaxed before starting your

session. Make yourself comfortable, close your eyes, and begin
monitoring tension in various parts of your body. Start with the
feet, and work up the legs, then deal with the abdomen and
chest, followed by your arms and hands and then your neck.
Pay particular attention to the neck as many people store a lot
of tension in this area. Finally relax your facial muscles and let
the sense of relaxation move around to the back and top of
your head.

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You can try deliberately tensing up various muscles, then
suddenly relaxing them. It may also help to imagine a blue or
violet light washing over various areas and relaxing them,
and/or a feeling of warmth.

Eye Roll

Before you start, with your eyes open and your head remaining
still, roll your eyes upward and look at the ceiling. Now keep
them looking up and close your eyelids. Hold this for a minute
or so while focusing on an imaginary point 'inside' your head
and between the eyes. Concentrate on watching any images or
patterns that appear, and try to make out what they are. Begin
your listening session right after a few minutes of this.

Controlled breathing

After you have started your session, pay attention to your

breathing. It will help if you can slow your breathing and take
long, deep breaths, while paying attention to the sensations of
breathing to give your conscious mind something to do. Many
people imagine breathing OUT tension while breathing IN
relaxation. You can try mentally repeating 't-e-n-s-i-o-n' as you
breathe out, and 'r-e-l-a-x-e-d' as you breathe in.

Focussing

Focus your attention on what you hear. Let the sound wash over
you while deliberately NOT hearing any sounds from the outside
world. Remind yourself that this is YOUR time and you are going
to ENJOY it!

Copyright © 2008 MindWaves.co.uk Page 88

Imaging

Continue the ‘eye roll’ exercise described earlier with your eyes
closed, watching any patterns or shapes that seem to form in
your imaginary field of vision. Hold on to any passing images
that seem to represent recognisable people, objects or places
and try to bring out the detail. Don't concern yourself if they
just fade away, but just wait for the next one.

And finally.....
Chill out. If 'nothing seems to happen' just wait until the next
time - treat the session as a welcome break when you can grab
a bit of 'me time'. Don't force anything, and don't worry if you
start to feel a little strange - nothing dangerous can happen.

Copyright © 2008 MindWaves.co.uk Page 89

Freeware Visual Subliminal Program

One final piece of free software for you. Audio subliminals are
extremely powerful, but they are not the only ‘route’ that can
be used to get the messages you want into your subconscious
mind. By using additional methods you can reinforce your audio
subliminals and speed up the whole process of change.

In the software pack (sc_softpak.zip) you will find a folder

called /mindscript. This folder contains the MindScript visual
subliminal software. The program does not have an installer as
it is 'ready to run'. There is a separate set of instructions in PDF
format for installing and running MindScript included in the
folder. This software allows you to type up to ten subliminal
messages and to select a colour, transparency and times for
displaying the messages.

Copyright © 2008 MindWaves.co.uk Page 90

Some Final Words
And that’s it - you now have the information and software you
need to make the recordings that will help you change your life
in virtually any area you choose.

Start off with some simple, attainable objectives, and then

begin working on one more issue at a time.

You will be amazed at the results.

The rest of this e-book contains some useful technical

background to assist you in constructing your recordings.

Copyright © 2008 MindWaves.co.uk Page 91

Appendix 1
The nature of brainwaves
It is quite well known that the human brain produces electrical
signals which can be measured externally by means of an
instrument called an electroencephalograph. Essentially, these
machines measure and record minute electrical potentials
detected by electrodes stuck to the scalp.

The recorded signals exhibit regular pulses of activity occurring

at a range of frequencies from around 0.5Hz (1 'wave' every 2
seconds) to about 40Hz (40 'waves' per second). To give you an
idea of the range of these brainwave frequencies, an old-
fashioned 'grandfather' clock might tick at around 1Hz, while
the hum you hear near a large electrical transformer is at
normally around 50-60Hz, depending on where in the world you
live.

Brainwaves occur across broad ranges of frequencies

simultaneously, but particular bands of frequencies tend to
dominate at any given time, and these bands are associated
with particular mental 'states' (see table below).

Because the neurons (the cells in your brain that create the
signals) have a limited amount of chemical 'fuel' available to
them, the energy level of brainwaves tends to remain roughly
constant, so that for example, while the frequency of 'delta'
(see table below) is low, the amplitude or strength of the
signals tends to be high, while in 'gamma' the reverse is the
case.

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 Frequency range Associated state of mind

0.5Hz - 4Hz ('Delta') Deep sleep / unconsciousness.

Deep relaxation, light sleep.
5Hz - 8Hz ('Theta') Associated with deep meditative
states and 'flashes of inspiration'.
Relaxed but aware (meditation) or
hypnogogic state. Associated with
9Hz - 14Hz ('Alpha' suggestibility, increased learning
ability and beneficial
neurochemical changes.
Normal focused awareness.
Associated with conversation,
15Hz - 20Hz ('Beta')
complex tasks and problem
solving.
High level of arousal, e.g., when
facing perceived danger or threat.
Subjective time is often slowed
20Hz+ ('Gamma') down when the brain is operating
in this fast state. Observed in
some long term expert
meditators.

The delta mind state is found during deep sleep and may also
be detected in the waking state in people suffering from
profound depression or extreme tiredness. Delta frequencies
are also associated with deep trance states produced by long-
term master meditators. Because this frequency band is not
well researched, and entering the 'waking delta' state is beyond
the ability of most people without long practice, these
frequencies are not used in MindWaves recordings.

The theta mind state is associated with light sleep and

deepened states of meditation. It also seems to be connected
with vivid visualisation and even with hallucinations of some
types. Many experienced meditators are able to enter a light

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theta state at will, and so gain access to subconscious imagery.
Some psychic researchers claim that deeper theta frequencies
accompany psychic activity, particularly 'out of body'
experiences.

The alpha mind state is probably the most common mental

state in most people's waking day. Light alpha states are most
frequently experienced while the body is resting and the mind is
idly preoccupied, for example when driving a familiar route or
watching television. It is the major 'default' state of the brain
when not engaging in conversation or actively thinking about a
problem or task. Deeper alpha states are associated with the
'hypnogogic' state (just before falling asleep) and meditation.
Subconscious suggestibility is greatly increased in deep alpha
and light theta states because the conscious mind is relatively
inactive.

The beta mind state is associated with active awareness and

directed thought, and especially with social engagement.
Intense focus and concentration tend to generate mid to high
beta frequencies in the frontal areas of the brain. As most
people live fairly 'automated' lives, higher beta mind states tend
to the exception rather than the rule except in people with high
levels of anxiety.

The gamma mind state is normally only experienced while

highly aroused, for example in response to a real or perceived
threat or danger. Because the mind can be running in
'overdrive' while it deals with situations involving extreme
danger, subjective (experienced) time can seem to slow to a
crawl until the brainwave patterns slow down again. Conscious
memory of events experienced in gamma states tends to be
poor, but deep subconscious imprinting seems to take place.
Strong gamma frequencies have recently been observed in
Tibetan monks who have taken part in experiments to
investigate the nature of deep meditation.

The brain does not actually operate exclusively in any one of

these frequency bands at any time, regardless of mental state -
there are brainwaves at most frequencies present most of the

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time, whether you are deeply asleep, watching TV, or being
interviewed for an important job! All that happens is that
according to what you are doing, brainwaves in one frequency
range or another tend to become predominant, i.e., more
common than others. However it is convenient to refer to
'alpha', 'theta' etc. as shorthand for the dominant brainwave
pattern under any given set of conditions, and that is what is
meant when these terms are used here.

Altered states of mind

When it is operating at differing brainwave frequency bands, the
brain actually functions in different 'modes', rather than just
being more or less active, as many people assume. Each mode
represents what we experience as 'altered states of mind'
ranging from intense concentration then down through various
states of external awareness to meditative and hypnogogic
states, and finally to deep sleep (unconsciousness).

The mechanism that determines which mode we are in at any

particular time is buried deep within our brains. The dominant
neuronal firing rate is registered by parts of the brain called the
reticular formation and the inferior colliculus. Between them,
these parts of the brain actively modify mental functioning by
means of neurochemicals, altering the ways in which each brain
cell operates to change overall mental functioning.

From our point of view this is very useful. It means that if the
brain can be guided into producing more of any particular
brainwave frequency, it will automatically begin to drift into the
'mode' that is associated with that frequency band. In other
words, it opens the way to actually controlling the active 'state
of mind' in a safe, natural and completely temporary way. This
is made possible by a phenomenon called 'entrainment'.

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Brainwave 'entrainment'

When certain rhythmic or pulsating sights or sounds are

processed by the brain, the 'timekeeper' parts of the brain tend
to move towards synchronisation with this signal, provided that
it is fairly close in frequency to the active brainwave frequency.
This phenomenon was first reported in 1839 by a German
'gentleman amateur' experimenter called H. W. Dove, and
became known as the 'frequency following response' or
'brainwave entrainment'.

What happens is that the neurones that deal with this

information are naturally forced to fire at a rate that matches
the pulsating sound or flashing light, as they transmit or
process the sensory input. This in turn generates electrical
signals that become added to those parts of the brainwave
spectrum that are already naturally firing at this frequency,
automatically strengthening them. Other parts of the brain then
detect this overall frequency and in turn become 'entrained',
further strengthening the effect through positive feedback.
While areas of the brain are tending to fire at the 'entrained'
frequency the brain's 'control system' then tries to match the
'mind state' to this dominant frequency as described earlier.

If the 'entrainment' frequency is too far from the brain's natural

dominant frequency at any given time, the effect becomes weak
or entirely absent. This ensures that the brain can never be
'taken over' by any form of entrainment, merely guided gently
in a direction that is desired. Entrainment is completely
temporary and as soon as the entrainment stimulus ceases the
mind state simply reverts to normal, although if the transition is
too rapid there can be a slight feeling of disorientation or
detachment for a few minutes afterward.

The most commonly used form of audio entrainment is the use

of 'binaural beats'. Because of the way the ears are 'wired' to
the brain, the signals from each ear are split and fed to a
separate auditory processing centre (olivary nucleus) in each
half of the brain, where the signals are processed. When two

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pure but slightly different tones (offset sine waves) are
presented, one at each ear, as well as the tones themselves, a
'binaural beat' is perceived by the listener.

What happens is that during processing, the left and right ear
signals are compared and the difference in the tones is
detected. This ability to accurately detect the tiny differences
between left and right ear signals is thought to be a
consequence of our ability to 'direction find' the origin of a
sound by detecting minute phase differences (time lag) in the
signals arriving at each ear.

This tiny difference between the frequencies of the left and right
ear signals gives rise to a third 'ghost' frequency which causes a
part of the brain to resonate at this virtual frequency. The
frequency of this third tone represents the difference in
frequencies between the two tones fed to the left and right
ears, often referred to as the 'offset frequency'. For example, if
tones at 100Hz and 110Hz are simultaneously heard, a 'binaural
beat' tone at 10Hz will be 'heard'. Although this 10Hz tone will
have no physical reality, it will be completely 'real' to the brain
and will give rise to a detectable EEG pattern at this frequency.
Under the right conditions this electrical activity in the brain will
then lead to an actual shift in recorded brainwave activity as
entrainment occurs.

Any audio frequency below about 30Hz is outside the hearing

range of humans, and so this method of artificially creating very
low 'virtual' audio frequencies provides a means of using the
entrainment phenomenon to induce the production of
brainwaves at almost any desired frequency in the normal
operating range of the brain, and so of altering mind states
more or less at will.

Hemispheric synchronisation

Under normal circumstances, the two halves (hemispheres) of

the brain work semi-independently, exchanging information
across a bundle of nerve fibres called the corpus callosum. The

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left and right hemispheres process the same information in
rather different ways, with the left hemisphere breaking down
information and applying logical (deductive) reasoning
processes, and the right hemisphere looking for spatial and
sequential patterns and adding its own intuitive (inductive)
inputs. They continually exchange the results of their
processing about any particular sensory input or thread of
thought and the resultant 'executive summary' is what the
conscious mind perceives (in fact, this ongoing summary of
whatever is the focus of attention IS the conscious mind).

Because the two hemispheres are basically 'dong their own

thing' and so operating out of synchronisation, the exchange of
information is generally rather inefficient and the resulting
'thought' can be muddled, rambling and inconclusive (the
normal state of mind of many of us!).

However, if the two hemispheres can be brought into relative

synchrony, the exchange of information across the corpus
callosum becomes more rapid and accurate, resulting in a depth
and clarity of conscious thought that many people experience
only rarely at best. In this 'synchronised' state not only is
thinking clearer and faster, but visualisation becomes vivid,
memories flow more easily, and ideas can be approached from
different perspectives, giving rise to a new order of creativity.

The good news is that when you listen to binaural entrainment

tones, because both hemispheres process BOTH sounds (i.e.,
from both ears) independently, when they become entrained
they automatically move into synchronisation, with all the
advantages this brings.

And the even better news is that, unlike the other effects of
entrainment, this effect is not entirely temporary. For some
reason that is not clearly understood at present, the brain
seems able to 'learn' this trick, that is, following repeated
entrainment sessions, it gradually gains the ability to at least
partially synchronise the two hemispheres.

Copyright © 2008 MindWaves.co.uk Page 98

This means that you can gain access to better and faster
problem solving abilities, increased creativity levels, greater
energy and enthusiasm and a host of other benefits simply by
repeatedly listening to effective brainwave entrainment
recordings, which you can now make for yourself.

Isochronic entrainment

Another method of entrainment commonly used in the current

generation of commercial recordings is 'isochronic' entrainment.
Isochronic simply means 'same time', referring to the fact that
the entrainment signal consists of a series of audible pulses of
one kind or another. The pulses are delivered at the frequency
desired for entrainment, i.e., exactly correspond with the
intended brainwave frequency.

The pulsed signal can consist of a tone which has been

'chopped' into short pulses at the required frequency (normally
resulting in a simple clicking or 'drumbeat' sound) or can be
embedded in a sound mask using rapid changes in volume,
phase or filter effects. Most isochronic entrainment sounds are
very noticeable in a recording, and can be highly distracting. At
MindWaves, if we need to use an isochronic component in our
commercial recordings, we tend to use stereo phasing as the
method of choice as this is slightly less intrusive than the
alternatives.

It is sometimes stated that isochronic entrainment is more

'powerful' than binaural beat technologies, and to some extent
this is true. However, this claim about the relative 'power' of
iscochronic entrainment is based on a misunderstanding of the
EEG readings that are used to support the claim.

When measurements of entrainment using binaural beats are

taken, the EEG readings are usually taken after about 10
minutes, on the assumption that this is sufficient time to allow
the frequency following response to take hold. At this point, the
EEG is measuring the rhythmic 'ghost' signal generated in the
auditory processing system of the brain – a relatively small

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volume of brain tissue, which only gradually then affects the
brain's timekeeping system and the rest of the brain. This
'difference' signal is generated entirely within the brain,
responding to the audible tones.

In the case of isochronic stimulation, the auditory nerves are

stimulated by the rhythmic sound, as is the entire conscious
brain, responding directly to the beat. So it is not entirely
surprising that an EEG will record a correspondingly powerful
signal. However, the signal that is picked up is NOT a true
entrainment response, but merely a reflection of the sensory
processing of the beat – the rhythmic firing of neural tissue in
response to direct stimulation.

That isn't to say that a true frequency-following response

doesn't take place – it does – but this component is far weaker
than the sensory response. As for binaural beat entrainment, it
takes some time before the timekeeping functions of the brain
are directly affected.

This all becomes clear when an entraining sound is suddenly

stopped. In the case of a binaural beat, the brainwaves tend to
remain at the entrained frequency for 30 seconds or so, then
climb slowly towards normal beta frequencies. However, in the
case of isochronic stimulation, if the signal is stopped, the
brainwaves tend to return to normal far more quickly, indicating
that the effect is more superficial than for binaural beats.

Copyright © 2008 MindWaves.co.uk Page 100

 The Mindwaves System
Downloadable MP3 recordings ready for instant use

From www.MindWaves.co.uk
See the full range at www.mindwaves.co.uk/subliminalmp3.htm

The MindWaves ‘Core Change’ series of two-part, downloadable MP3

recordings were developed following our research into the REAL
‘subliminal effect’ and the shortcomings of many commercial
recordings available on the market.

They have been specifically and carefully designed to overcome the

problems we have looked at in this e-book using techniques that are
at the cutting edge in this field.

Each title consists of two recordings, Preparation (35 minutes) and

Activation (30 minutes). Both recordings are included in the
download so you will receive over an hour of running time with each
title. We are continually developing new titles, and you can see a full
list of current titles at www.mindwaves.co.uk/subliminalmp3.htm.

Each Preparation session is a 'Subliminal Pre-Conditioning' recording

that you can listen to anywhere and at any time, and as often as you
choose. All you will hear is a pleasant 'nature sounds' background,
but all the time it is playing, three powerful but masked streams of
suggestions will be pouring into your subconscious perception.

Copyright © 2008 MindWaves.co.uk Page 101

Two of these audio streams contain spoken affirmations embedded
in the masking track using a special ‘vocoder’ system we have
developed for the purpose, while the third (centre) track contains
carefully composed ‘attention getting’ phrases that alert the
subconscious to the importance of what it hears.

The Activation session which forms the second part of each

download is a hypnosis-inducing or 'hypnogogic' recording
containing superimposed and embedded neuro-acoustic patterns
designed to open the path to full subconscious implantation of the
subliminally presented suggestions. These suggestions are identical
to those on the Preparation recording in each case, but have been
processed into the recording in a slightly different way.

When you listen to these recordings in comfortable surroundings

where you are unlikely to be disturbed, you will drift into an
extremely pleasant meditation-like state in which your mind will be
highly receptive to the embedded suggestions. Following a period of
exposure to the suggestions on the corresponding subliminal
Preparation recording, just a few sessions will be sufficient to drive
these suggestions deeply into your subconscious mind, where they
will become a part of the core beliefs that guide your life.

We also have on offer our new 'Synchrony' recordings. This two-part

program contains two 30-minute recordings which contain powerful
neuro-acoustic entrainment sound tracks which will quickly allow
you to reach the alpha and theta altered states - something many
people have striven for over many years of patient meditation.

Each of the two recordings in each title are compressed to

manageable size (usually about 25 megabytes) using MP3
compression, so these files are suitable for playing in any portable
MP3 player, or on your computer. Check the current range of
MindWaves 'Core Change' subliminal/hypnosis programs at:

www.mindwaves.co.uk/subliminalmp3.htm

Copyright © 2008 MindWaves.co.uk Page 102

Appendix 2
Example subliminal script (prosperity)
I deserve wealth and success.
I am as good as anyone.
I can have what other people have.
I can have whatever I want.
I enjoy having money.
Money brings freedom.
Money is easy to get.
I am willing to be wealthy.
I allow wealth into my life.
I freely accept money.
I give value for money.
Money is flowing into my life.
I have financial security.
All my financial needs are met.
My wealth grows every week.
I easily find ways to earn money.
I earn all the money I need.
I am free from limitations.
I am open to wealth.
I am open to miracles in my life.
I am financially successful.
I deserve and expect wealth.
Money is my friend.
Money flows to me easily and effortlessly.
I always have even more money than I need.
My life is full of miracles.
My life is wonderful.
I am deeply grateful for my life.
I am a success in all that I do.
I am rewarded for my success.
Everything I do returns riches to me.
I am always productive.
I am constantly adding to my income.
I accept all of these things or something better.

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