Binaural Beats [Part 2]

As mentioned in the first part of this discussion, the phenomenon which is most commonly exploited by those seeking to harness the potential of binaural beat frequencies is something called the Frequency Following Response (FFR), a physiological reaction of the brain stem wehere the brainwave patterns of the brain will gradually synchronize with a continuous infrasonic tone (a tone below the range of human hearing, replicated in this instance by means of binaural beats) near or identical to the frequency of the brain's original frequency, which is then gradually shifted over time to a different desired frequency, "pulling" the brainwaves of the listener along with it until they mirror the resulting frequency as well. I will reiterate that while this phenomenon has been documented and has a solid scientific basis, much of the material discussing the therapeutic uses of its effects falls well within the arena of 'new age' or other pseudo-science. Still, the possibilities of using binaural beats in this fashion are intriguing, and here are some further examples I didn't previously explore or explain.

In the following clip, the FFR is utilized to pull the brain from the low alpha state of normal inattentive wakefulness to the high beta state of concentration and focus by sweeping the binaural frequency within from the respective 12Hz to 17Hz. Physiologically, this should produce an increase in focus and concentration. For the sake of time and data constraints, I have condensed this sweep into a sixteen-minute clip, but it should prove even more effective if the shift is presented as an even more gradual change.



Binaural beats can also be used in the opposite fashion, holding a brainwave pattern steady at a certain frequency when other stimuli might otherwise cause it to drift towards a higher or lower frequency, altering physiological levels of alertness, anxiety, creativity, or slumber as it changes. For instance, this is a steady tone of 6Hz, which would reflect the middle of the theta state of brain activity, similar to the brainwave state of a person in deep relaxation or meditation and the optimal state for insight, creativity, and conscious retention of information. Synchronization with this waveform would prevent the concentration of someone studying or analyzing data from wavering or succumbing to distractions.



Finally, there is the possibility that the manipulation of brainwave frequencies can also counteract not only external stimuli, but internal as well. This is the application of the FFR with the most dubious scientific basis, but the theory itself is interesting enough to bear mentioning. The following template, for example, a combination of steady 5Hz and 10Hz tones corresponding to the low theta and mid-alpha brainwave frequencies, is said to alleviate headaches, while other frequencies are said to stimulate and heal even areas of the body far removed from the brain.

Shroud

Discreet Mutations (Collection 2)

[Gallus Gallus]

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[Gold]

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A raw blast of pure noise to clear the way for the second stage of Void Sigil releases.

Mission Update

I'd like to make a couple of quick notes about the progress of the Void Sigil project and the role of this site within it.

Firstly, with the release of the fourth Cultural Propaganda Archive, I have now made available all of the accumulated Void Sigil material from the first year and a half since the inception of the project, a period which I'll title the 'first stage.' As I've explored the parameters of the project in that time, I've both refined and expanded the auditory aesthetic of the Void Sigil, and going forward into the second stage of releases, I will be adapting the visual aesthetic to bring it closer in line with the concept of Void Sigil as truly culturally and systemically unburdened. With this in mind, I will be moving away from the restrictions of track and album titles, and will avoid written language on album covers and other visual materials. There will be two transitional pieces of material released very soon as a sort of palette cleansing, then I will resume further Void Sigil releases, titling them simply in the order of their composition.

Secondly, I've instituted two new areas of this site; an archive section where all of the recordings of Void Sigil Records can be easily accessed, and a dedicated "mission statement" area, to condense and codify the written explorations of the Void Sigil aesthetic which I've added here.

Discreet Mutations (Collection 1)

Void Sigil track index: May 2013 - October 2014

This is an index provided as a reference indicating on which Void Sigil album (from the first eleven full-length releases) each track has appeared. I compiled it primarily for my own reference, but will provide it here for whatever use anyone may glean from it.

Track	Compilation
Abiogenesis	MoBH
Anomie	VCPAv2
Antlers Through Glass	MotPE
Awaiting Atrophy, Part 1&2	MotPE
Binary Putrefaction	MoBH
Brumation	EoAS
Buunjill, Part 1&2	MoNT
Caged Stone	MotID
Carapace	MoBH
Chokhmah	EoAS
Dada Slaughterhouse	VCPAv2
Denser Cores	VCPAv1
Drilling Past	MotPE
Duct Trap	VCPAv3
Dust Etchings	MotID
Dustfall	MoBH
Fen	MoBH
Heretic's Canticle	MoNT
Hermeneutica	MoTR
Hive	MoNT
Hunger	EoAS
Ion Ladder	MotID
Kusazuri	MoVP
Lactiferrous Forms	MoBH
Ladders	MoBH
Liminality	MoTR
Metarhizium	MoBH
Monarch	MoTR
Naphthalene	VCPAv4
Oviparous, Part 1&2	VCPAv3
Pilgrimage	MotID
Pragmatic Apocrypha (2014)	VCPAv4
Prenatal Pyriscence	MoBH
Quadruple Helix	MoBH
Rime	EoAS
Ring Shepherd	VCPAv1
Rite Of Affliction	MoTR
Secondary Respiratory Surface	VCPAv1
Silver Skin	MotID
Steppes	VCPAv1
Stretcher Bearers	VCPAv2
Tarnstellung	VCPAv4
The Bitter Soil	MoNT
The Karst Dweller	MoBH
The Last Butcher	MotID
The Purge	MoNT
The Taste Of Lies	MotID
The Vigil	MoNT
The Waning	VCPAv3
Through The Kirkwood Gap	VCPAv4
Thunderblight	EoAS
Unpurified	VCPAv3
Walls Of Amber	MotPE
Xerocole	MoVP
Yapok	MoBH
Yarkovsky Effect	VCPAv4
Zapotec Nest	MoVP

EoAS: Edict of Aesthetic Salvage
MoBH: Manifesto of Biological Horizons
MoNT: Manifesto of Nullified Topography
MotID: Manifesto of the Illuminated Dominion
MotPE: Manifesto of the Predatory Edifice
MoTR: Manifesto of Totemic Ritual
MoVP: Manifesto of Veiled Phase
VCPAv1: Cultural Propaganda Archive volume 1
VCPAv2: Cultural Propaganda Archive volume 2
VCPAv3: Cultural Propaganda Archive volume 3
VCPAv4: Cultural Propaganda Archive volume 4

Cultural Propaganda Archive volume 4

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Tooth Reaper

Manifesto of Veiled Phase

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Womb Salvage

Audio-visual propaganda intended for cultural deprogramming.



©2014 Void Sigil Records.

Womb Salvage (Original Soundtrack)

The original recording around which the Womb Salvage video was constructed, presented on its own as an audio track for download or distribution.

Lacuna De Luxe: An Asemic Graphic Novel

Lacuna De Luxe may also be downloaded as a PDF booklet here.

Asemic writing is a form of written language which utilizes symbols such as script, typefaces, or calligraphy which are composed and arranged purely for aesthetic value and not as the vessel of any language or other inherent symbolism. The lack of any cultural predisposition in this art form is of obvious value in the pursuit of a true, viable post-cultural aesthetic; the titular "void sigil" itself is innately asemic.

The Voynich manuscript, the source of the script used in Lacuna De Luxe, may be viewed online through Yale University's Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. While the possibility remains that the manuscript is actually written in a coded or untranslated script, the lack of any means of deciphering it (for the time being) renders the writing within purely aesthetic in nature, and places it well within the realm of asemic art. 

Manifesto of the Illuminated Dominion

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Season Of Naked Flame

Sketches For Oscillator And Textural Elements

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Cultural Propaganda Archive volume 3

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Glitch art: the digital mask

Seven Hermetic Landscapes