I've used reversed sound in the theatre more than a few times. It's very effective at unsettling the audience without them understanding why they're unsettled. Reversed ambient sound is subtly disturbing. There are few sounds more disturbing than a scream in reverse.
Jazz relative beginner, starting at a much older age than was helpful. AVL:MXE Linux; Windows 11 BIAB2025 Audiophile, a bunch of other software. Kawai MP6, Ui24R, Focusrite Saffire Pro40 and Scarletts .
OK... interesting topic. Subliminal advertising.... very similar.... you insert images of one thing that look like something else to the subconscious. Movie theaters have flashed single frames of popcorn and drinks on the screen to encourage folks to visit the snack bar.
I saw a magazine in a store one night. It was US magazine. I asked my friend what he saw on the cover. He said Farrah Fawscet. I told him to look closer. After I described what I saw, he saw it too. The letters E and X were clearly visible in the way her hair was done.... with the S in US.... SEX was clearly visible across the cover of the magazine.
Musically.... I've been fascinated by this for a long time.
So this is easy to do in the studio. You simply reverse the audio and put it in..... However..... knowing the story of Stairway To Heaven..... One day, the movie THe Song Remains The Same came on the TV. SO knowing that they would perform STH, I set up a mic to my Tascam 1. I recorded their LIVE performance. Knowing where in the song it was supposed to be located.... If there's a bustle in your hedgerow don't be alarmed now,it's just a spring clean for the may queen..... I flipped the tape. On the live performance at Madison Square Garden, you can still hear the words Satan my sweet satan.... including to a lesser degree the remaining part of that sentence of 26 or 27 words.... kinda interesting that it happens on a live recording from a concert.
Zep and the Beatles are just the tip of the satanic iceberg with backwards masking....
Is there anything satanic to this? I'll let you decide.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.com Add nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both.
The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
I'm not a fan of this loose, clicky use of the term "backmasking" to label all reversed audio. It implies some kind of "hidden" (possibly Satanic!) content, which is usually not the case.
Zappa reversing an entire passage in "Mother People" because the lyrics had been censored, fine, let's call that backmasking.
But any of that Beatles stuff? Call it reversed audio. There's no hidden message being "masked", it's just a production technique.
BIAB. CbB. Mixbus 32C 8 HP Envy. Intel core i7. 16GB RAM W10. Focusrite Scarlett 18i 20. Various instruments played with varying degrees of proficiency.
It worth bearing strongly in mind that the human brain tries very hard to make sense of what is sees and hears. That's why we see faces in fairly random shapes and blotches in toast, fruit, tree trunks and what have you, and why we start to hear, or think we hear voices in almost anything that's at a vocal-region pitch and even faintly in white noise.
It always puzzled me why anyone would play music backwards looking for hidden messages.
If one really wants to make a reverse message, a vocoder-type device would be an easy way to do it. Reverse the sound, code it, play it forwards.
Jazz relative beginner, starting at a much older age than was helpful. AVL:MXE Linux; Windows 11 BIAB2025 Audiophile, a bunch of other software. Kawai MP6, Ui24R, Focusrite Saffire Pro40 and Scarletts .
It always puzzled me why anyone would play music backwards looking for hidden messages.
Or TV theme songs. The theme from “Mr. Ed” supposedly contained the lines “the source is the Devil” and “someone sung this song for Satan”, both of which you can indeed hear if that’s what you want to hear.
The reverse song got some airplay at the time and I remember reading that royalties still had to be paid.
My view is that songs that use 'backmasking' where the subliminal message is barely legible and takes a massive amount of very 'adventurous interpretation' (whether played forward or in reverse) is most probably purely coincidental.
BIAB & RB2025 Win.(Audiophile), Sonar Platinum, Cakewalk by Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M Monitors, Pioneer Active Monitors, AKG K271 Studio H'phones
I'm not a fan of this loose, clicky use of the term "backmasking" to label all reversed audio. It implies some kind of "hidden" (possibly Satanic!) content, which is usually not the case.
Zappa reversing an entire passage in "Mother People" because the lyrics had been censored, fine, let's call that backmasking.
But any of that Beatles stuff? Call it reversed audio. There's no hidden message being "masked", it's just a production technique.
I strongly agree, it's just a production technique. I've played around with it a couple of times, but usually it makes very little sense, to try to hide any messages as 2022 gives you so many platforms, where you can share you real message, rather than trying to cover it up into something intended for the subconscious.
MacMini M1 - BIAB2021 - Logic Pro X - iZotope Music Production Suite - Scaler 2 - far too many Waves plugins and Line 6 Guitars and boards + a fantastic Yamaha THR10ll mini Amp - Avid MBOX Studio
Peters' Garage is available on all major streaming services
The theme from “Mr. Ed” supposedly contained the lines “the source is the Devil” and “someone sung this song for Satan”, both of which you can indeed hear if that’s what you want to hear.
I'm not hearing it.... but it does kinda sound like someone is using German.
AND.... I'm more concerned about the demonic aspects of a horse that talks.
Yes, I agree. As I mentioned, the words (syllables?) can be more-or-less identified, but they are just phonemes, and purely coincidental.
Re said horse: I read somewhere that they placed string or cotton between the horses teeth which it attempted to dislodge with mouth/lip movements. Must've been very annoying for the horse. These days, improper animal welfare might rightfully be used to describe the technique. However, keeping this thread musically orientated, the song "Mr Ed" was composed by Jay Livingstone and Ray Edwards
BIAB & RB2025 Win.(Audiophile), Sonar Platinum, Cakewalk by Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M Monitors, Pioneer Active Monitors, AKG K271 Studio H'phones
I did this once. Some time back I did an experiment with looping and layers and the like and Rog did some guitar for me. (I asked him for ANGRY guitar and he knew just what I wanted.) Because the chord pattern was palindromic his guitar work fit both forward and backward. I have played that song for many people and when they finished listening I asked them if they could tell that one of the guitar parts was backward masked. Not too many could tell which one. It's an interesting concept.
I use bits of backward music often...it's very easy in Reaper...record a chunk of audio. click on the item, select item properties or similar and select reverse...BAM...the image is reversed as well as the audio. With spoken language it becomes more complex as a phoneme needs to convey/change meaning and a reversed phoneme may not, necessarily, do that. These days there's a lot of "backmasking" done for fun & because the technology is so simple to acquire and use that experimentation occurs and many folk get a thrill from the "subversive" possibilities. Revolution #9 has some but it's nothing particularly exciting. In fact it sounds much better forward than reversed...no shock in that. Bowie used an Iggy Pop backing track in reverse for himself...he wrote the piece so that's fine. I wouldn't call it "backmasking" if it's not actually masking something though.
Cheers rayc "What's so funny about peace, love & understanding?" - N.Lowe
OK, I'm gonna slip this non-BIAB cover in here 'cos it's way on topic (and pretty good, too, I think.) It uses reversal extensively, there's a whole layer of backwards audio that fades in and out:
OK, I'm gonna slip this non-BIAB cover in here 'cos it's way on topic (and pretty good, too, I think.) It uses reversal extensively, there's a whole layer of backwards audio that fades in and out:
OK, I'm gonna slip this non-BIAB cover in here 'cos it's way on topic (and pretty good, too, I think.) It uses reversal extensively, there's a whole layer of backwards audio that fades in and out:
Production by moi with Ruby Dubidoux on vocal, an online collaboration from 2009.
OOOOH, noice.
Thanks. I am well pleased with myself on this one, and I am certainly ever delighted by Ruby's singing. I forget now how I did the backward stuff, I think it was a region-based plugin, so it would have been clip by clip. FWIW there's a bit of reversed guitar at 2:48–2:52 that is possibly the most perfect bit of musical sound I have ever emitted.
XPro and Xtra Styles PAKs Special Extended Until August 31st!
XPro & Xtra Styles PAKs Special Extended Until August 31st!
The XPro Styles PAKs and Xtra Styles PAKs special offers are now available until August 31st at 11:59pm PDT!
Ready to take your Band-in-a-Box® 2025 experience to the next level? Now’s the perfect time! Expand your style library with XPro and Xtra Styles PAKs—packed with a wide variety of genres to inspire your next musical creation.
What are XPro Styles and Xtra Styles PAKs?
XPro Styles PAKs are styles that work with any version (Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition) of Band-in-a-Box® 2025 (or higher). XPro Styles PAKS 1-9 includes 900 styles!
Xtra Styles PAKs are styles that work with the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition of Band-in-a-Box® 2025 (or higher). With over 3,500 styles (and 35 MIDI styles) included in Xtra Styles PAKs 1-20, the possibilities are endless!
Get the XPro Styles PAKs 1 - 9 for only $29 ea (Reg. $49 ea), or get them all in the XPro Styles PAK Bundle for only $149 (reg. $299)! Listen to demos and order now! For Windows or for Mac.
Note: XPro Styles PAKs require Band-in-a-Box® 2025 or higher and are compatible with ANY package, including the Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, and Audiophile Edition.
Get Xtra Styles PAKs 1 - 20 are on special for only $29 each (reg $49), or get all 19 PAKs for $199 (reg $399)! Listen to demos and order now! For Windows or for Mac.
Note: The Xtra Styles require the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition of Band-in-a-Box®. (Xtra Styles PAK 19 requires the 2025 or higher UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition. They will not work with the Pro or MegaPAK version because they need the RealTracks from the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition.
Don’t miss this chance to supercharge your Band-in-a-Box setup—at a great price!
Mac 2025 Special Upgrade Offers Extended Until August 15th!
It's not too late to upgrade to Band-in-a-Box® 2025 for Mac® and save! We've extended our special until August 15, 2025!
We've added many major new features to Band-in-a-Box® 2025 for Mac®, including advanced AI tools like the amazing BB Stem Splitter and AI Lyrics Generator, as well as VST3 plugin support, and Equalize Temp. Plus, there’s a new one-stop MIDI Patches Picker with over 1,100 MIDI patches to choose from, all neatly categorized by GM numbers. The MultiPicker Library is enhanced with tabs for the SongPicker, MIDI Patch Picker, Chord Builder, AI Lyrics Generator, and Song Titles Browser, and the tabs are organized into logical groups. The Audiophile Edition is enhanced with FLAC files , which are 60% smaller than AIFF files while maintaining identical audio quality, and now ships on a fast 1TB SSD, and much more!
Check out all the new features in Band-in-a-Box® 2025 for Mac® here:
Purchase your Band-in-a-Box® 2025 for Mac during our special to save up to 50% off your upgrade purchase and receive a FREE BONUS PAK of amazing new Add-ons. These include the 2025 RealCombos Booster PAK, Look Ma! More MIDI 13: Country & Americana, Instrumental Studies Set 22: 2-Hand Piano Soloing - Rhythm Changes, MIDI SuperTracks Set 44: Jazz Piano, Artist Performance Set 17: Songs with Vocals 7, Playable RealTracks Set 4, RealDrums Stems Set 7: Jazz with Mike Clark, and more!
Upgrade to the 2025 49-PAK for just $49 and add 20 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks and 20 RealStyles, FLAC Files for the 20 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks, Look Ma! More MIDI 14: SynthMaster, MIDI SuperTracks Set 45: More SynthMaster, Artist Performance Set 18: Songs with Vocals 8, and RealDrums Stems Set 8: Pop, Funk & More with Jerry Roe.
Learn more about the Bonus PAKs!
We’ve expanded the Band-in-a-Box® RealTracks library with 202 incredible new RealTracks (in sets 449-467) across Jazz, Blues, Funk, World, Pop, Rock, Country, Americana, and Praise & Worship—featuring your most requested styles!
Jazz, Blues & World (Sets 449–455):
These RealTracks includes “Soul Jazz” with Neil Swainson (bass), Mike Clark (drums), Charles Treadway (organ), Miles Black (piano), and Brent Mason (guitar). Enjoy “Requested ’60s” jazz, classic acoustic blues with Colin Linden, and more of our popular 2-handed piano soloing. Plus, a RealTracks first—Tango with bandoneon, recorded in Argentina!
Rock & Pop (Sets 456–461):
This collection includes Disco, slap bass ‘70s/‘80s pop, modern and ‘80s metal with Andy Wood, and a unique “Songwriter Potpourri” featuring Chinese folk instruments, piano, banjo, and more. You’ll also find a muted electric guitar style (a RealTracks first!) and “Producer Layered Guitar” styles for slick "produced" sound.
Country, Americana & Praise (Sets 462–467):
We’ve added new RealTracks across bro country, Americana, praise & worship, vintage country, and songwriter piano. Highlights include Brent Mason (electric guitar), Eddie Bayers (drums), Doug Jernigan (pedal steel), John Jarvis (piano), Glen Duncan (banjo, mandolin & fiddle), Mike Harrison (electric bass) and more—offering everything from modern sounds to heartfelt Americana styles
And, if you are looking for more, the 2025 49-PAK (for $49) includes an additional 20 RealTracks with exciting new sounds and genre-spanning styles. Enjoy RealTracks firsts like Chinese instruments (guzheng & dizi), the bandoneon in an authentic Argentine tango trio, and the classic “tic-tac” baritone guitar for vintage country.
You’ll also get slick ’80s metal guitar from Andy Wood, modern metal with guitarist Nico Santora, bass player Nick Schendzielos, and drummer Aaron Stechauner, more praise & worship, indie-folk, modern/bro country with Brent Mason, and “Songwriter Americana” with Johnny Hiland.
Plus, enjoy user-requested styles like Soul Jazz RealDrums, fast Celtic Strathspey guitar, and Chill Hop piano & drums!
With your version 2025 for Mac Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, Audiophile Edition or PlusPAK purchase, we'll include a Bonus PAK full of great new Add-ons FREE! Or upgrade to the 2025 49-PAK for only $49 to receive even more NEW Add-ons including 20 additional RealTracks!
These PAKs are loaded with additional add-ons to supercharge your Band-in-a-Box®!
This Free Bonus PAK includes:
The 2025 RealCombos Booster PAK:
-For Pro customers, this includes 33 new RealTracks and 65+ new RealStyles.
-For MegaPAK customers, this includes 29 new RealTracks and 45+ new RealStyles.
-For UltraPAK customers, this includes 20 new RealStyles.
Look Ma! More MIDI 13: Country & Americana
Instrumental Studies Set 22: 2-Hand Piano Soloing - Rhythm Changes
MIDI SuperTracks Set 44: Jazz Piano
Artist Performance Set 17: Songs with Vocals 7
Playable RealTracks Set 4
RealDrums Stems Set 7: Jazz with Mike Clark
SynthMaster Sounds and Styles (with audio demos)
128 GM MIDI Patch Audio Demos.
Looking for more great add-ons, then upgrade to the 2025 49-PAK for just $49 and you'll get:
20 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks and RealDrums with 20 RealStyles,
FLAC Files (lossless audio files) for the 20 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks and RealDrums
Look Ma! More MIDI 14: SynthMaster,
Instrumental Studies Set 23: More '80s Hard Rock Soloing,
MIDI SuperTracks Set 45: More SynthMaster
Artist Performance Set 18: Songs with Vocals 8
RealDrums Stems Set 8: Pop, Funk & More with Jerry Roe
New! Xtra Styles PAK 20 for Band-in-a-Box 2025 and Higher for Mac!
Xtra Styles PAK 20 for Mac & Windows Band-in-a-Box version 2025 (and higher) is here with 200 brand new RealStyles!
We're excited to bring you our latest and greatest in the all new Xtra Styles PAK 20 for Band-in-a-Box! This fresh installment is packed with 200 all-new styles spanning the rock & pop, jazz, and country genres you've come to expect, as well as the exciting inclusion of electronic styles!
In this PAK you’ll discover: Minimalist Modern Funk, New Wave Synth Pop, Hard Bop Latin Groove, Gospel Country Shuffle, Cinematic Synthwave, '60s Motown, Funky Lo-Fi Bossa, Heavy 1980s Metal, Soft Muted 12-8 Folk, J-Pop Jazz Fusion, and many more!
All the Xtra Styles PAKs 1 - 20 are on special for only $29 each (reg $49), or get all 209 PAKs for $199 (reg $399)! Order now!
Note: The Xtra Styles require the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition of Band-in-a-Box®. (Xtra Styles PAK 20 requires the 2025 or higher UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition. They will not work with the Pro or MegaPAK version because they need the RealTracks from the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition.
New! XPro Styles PAK 9 for Band-in-a-Box 2025 and higher for Mac!
We've just released XPro Styles PAK 9 for Mac & Windows Band-in-a-Box version 2025 (and higher) with 100 brand new RealStyles, plus 29 RealTracks/RealDrums!
We've been hard at it to bring you the latest and greatest in this 9th installment of our popular XPro Styles PAK series! Included are 75 styles spanning the rock & pop, jazz, and country genres (25 styles each) that fans have come to expect, as well as 25 styles in this volume's wildcard genre: funk & R&B!
If you're itching to get a sneak peek at what's included in XPro Styles PAK 9, here is a small helping of what you can look forward to: Funky R&B Horns, Upbeat Celtic Rock, Jazz Fusion Salsa, Gentle Indie Folk, Cool '60s Soul, Funky '70s R&B, Smooth Jazz Hip Hop, Acoustic Rockabilly Swing, Funky Reggae Dub, Dreamy Retro Latin Jazz, Retro Soul-Rock Fusion, and much more!
Special Pricing! Until July 31, 2024, all the XPro Styles PAKs 1 - 9 are on sale for only $29 ea (Reg. $49 ea), or get them all in the XPro Styles PAK Bundle for only $149 (reg. $299)! Order now!
XPro Styles PAKs require Band-in-a-Box® 2025 or higher and are compatible with ANY package, including the Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, and Audiophile Edition.
New! Xtra Styles PAK 20 for Band-in-a-Box 2025 and Higher for Windows!
Xtra Styles PAK 20 for Windows & Mac Band-in-a-Box version 2025 (and higher) is here with 200 brand new RealStyles!
We're excited to bring you our latest and greatest in the all new Xtra Styles PAK 20 for Band-in-a-Box! This fresh installment is packed with 200 all-new styles spanning the rock & pop, jazz, and country genres you've come to expect, as well as the exciting inclusion of electronic styles!
In this PAK you’ll discover: Minimalist Modern Funk, New Wave Synth Pop, Hard Bop Latin Groove, Gospel Country Shuffle, Cinematic Synthwave, '60s Motown, Funky Lo-Fi Bossa, Heavy 1980s Metal, Soft Muted 12-8 Folk, J-Pop Jazz Fusion, and many more!
All the Xtra Styles PAKs 1 - 20 are on special for only $29 each (reg $49), or get all 209 PAKs for $199 (reg $399)! Order now!
Note: The Xtra Styles require the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition of Band-in-a-Box®. (Xtra Styles PAK 20 requires the 2025 or higher UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition. They will not work with the Pro or MegaPAK version because they need the RealTracks from the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition.
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