Making subliminals with audactity

Gemgirl · August 25, 2015, 6:55pm

Hi,

Are there any links/info about creating subliminal audios with audacity? I tried with garageband but even when I turn the vocals down I can still hear them when I convert the file to a mp3. I can’t hear them when I’m playing in garageband though. Any info would be greatly appreciate. thanks

kozikowski · August 25, 2015, 7:24pm

The worst problem we have with sub-liminal is testing. When we produce an audiobook compliant clip, we have tools that clearly state whether the sound quality is up to snuff or not. So if you can come up with benchmark or quality control testing, we’re here for you.

Koz

Gemgirl · August 25, 2015, 7:31pm

thanks!! Im just so confused. Shouldnt it be as easy as turning the vocals down and the music up?

steve · August 25, 2015, 7:53pm

Yes that is one way to create “subliminal messages”

“Subliminal” means “below threshold”, so any method of making a message below the threshold of conscious perception may be called “subliminal”.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subliminal_stimuli

The absolutely easiest way to make a recorded message “subliminal” is simply play it so quietly that you cannot (consciously) perceive it.

A slightly more elaborate method would be to record the “message” in Audacity, then import some background music. The imported music will appear as a new track below the recorded message. Then use the track Gain control on the “message” track (http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/audio_tracks.html#gain) to reduce the playback level until you can’t hear it.

When you Export the project to create a standard audio file, the two tracks will be mixed together into the one file.

Gemgirl · August 25, 2015, 8:06pm

steve:

Gemgirl:

Shouldnt it be as easy as turning the vocals down and the music up?

Yes that is one way to create “subliminal messages”

“Subliminal” means “below threshold”, so any method of making a message below the threshold of conscious perception may be called “subliminal”.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subliminal_stimuli

The absolutely easiest way to make a recorded message “subliminal” is simply play it so quietly that you cannot (consciously) perceive it.

A slightly more elaborate method would be to record the “message” in Audacity, then import some background music. The imported music will appear as a new track below the recorded message. Then use the track Gain control on the “message” track (http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/audio_tracks.html#gain) to reduce the playback level until you can’t hear it.

When you Export the project to create a standard audio file, the two tracks will be mixed together into the one file.

thanks!!

kozikowski · August 25, 2015, 8:13pm

Shouldnt it be as easy as turning the vocals down and the music up?

I’m going with no, or it’s harder than that. One of the ways to kill a normal, good quality recording is to leave a TV running in the background very quietly by accident. There’s no way to get rid of that from the main show and it’s perfectly audible to anybody listening almost no matter how low it is. So yes, you can hide a voice behind music (that’s how MP3 works), but the instant the music stops, pauses or holds on one note for any reason, you’re dead. The voice stands out.

And that brings up another problem. MP3 works by deleting stuff you can’t hear. So any pass through MP3 generation management will kill off the subliminal message. And since there’s no quality control test, you can’t tell what happened.

Koz