The Curious Case of My Self-Remixing Tape

A Journey into the Human Mind

Before I take you down this rabbit hole, let me explain what subliminal audio tapes are. There is a general background noise like for example the surf. Mixed into that are spoken messages, also known as affirmations. These are mixed in at such a low level that they can no longer be heard. The belief is, however, that the subconscious mind will still register these messages and that their effect will be even stronger than when listened to consciously.

A number of years ago I had an interesting experience. It offered me a firsthand glimpse into the workings of the human mind. Let's set the scene. I was living in a humble cottage in Washington state. I was fascinated with the concept of changing my reality with the help of subliminal tapes. Did I have spectacular results? Not really, but that's not the point of this story.

Being someone who sometimes tends to make things more complicated than they need to be, I mixed the tapes in two stages. In the first stage you could still clearly hear the spoken messages. Then in the second stage I mixed in another layer of the sound of the surf. As a result the spoken messages were completely inaudible. I had the tapes clearly marked: initial mix, final mix.

I played the finished tape for many hours hoping for the amazing results. They didn't really happen, but something else happened.

The next day I went back to my tapes to review my production process. I pulled out the stage one tape and listened to it. This was the tape with the partially hidden messages. The way I mixed it was that the sound of the surf was pretty dominant but you could still clearly hear the messages. So I put the tape in the cassette deck and pressed play. Fade in of the surf, so far so good. I expected to hear the messages next.

Then it happened: nothing! I did not hear any messages. I was puzzled because I had worked systematically and the tape was clearly marked. But just surf, no messages. I began to doubt myself. Did I somehow mix up the tapes?

After about fifteen minutes the messages the messages slowly faded in, in a really strange way. So apparently I had messed up somehow. I rewound the tape and played it from the start again. This time the messages were there from the beginning, exactly where they were supposed to be. Then I really began to doubt myself. Was I hallucinating?

I was not drunk of in any other way inebriated. I didn't feel dizzy. I was fine. But then there was this tape that magically appeared to remix itself. This perplexing situation stayed with me and led me to ponder a possible explanation.

The best I can come up with is this.

While listening to the final mix with the completely hidden messages for many hours my brain somehow categorized what part was meant for my conscious mind and what part was meant for my subconscious mind. Then, when playing the tape where the messages were normally audible, it applied this decision to this tapes as well.

Put differently, the sound processing part of the brain (which is quite big) curated the incoming sound and decided the messages did not need my conscious attention. Then this filter remained in place and was applied to the exact same content, even though it was mixed differently. The more I thought about it, the more plausible this explanation seemed. After all, your brain is constantly deciding what sound needs your attention and what doesn't. What was remarkable about my experience though is that I was listening for the messages and still didn’t hear them.

I have often wondered if this effect has been observed by other people or has ever been studied. Given the specific circumstances in which it occurred, maybe not. I have also wondered if this effect could be used for anything but so far I haven't been able to come up with anything. If you have any ideas please let me know in the comments.

Even though this happened many years ago the experience still stands out because it offered me a rare first person glimpse into the mostly mysterious workings of the human mind. If you have experienced anything similar please share in the comments.