Flanging and the Shepard Tone: Vibrational Maps for Spiritual Ascension

Above: Spectrum view of ascending Shepard tones


Greetings my brothers and sisters. A lot of us are opening up real fast these days, we know that "something is up," even if we cannot or do not know all the details.

Allow me to add another piece of the puzzle.

Today we are going to talk about Flanging and the Shepard tone. These are musical phenomena, but but music is a matter of WAVEFORMS and VIBRATION, which makes it a very good metaphor for spiritual matters, as we experience reality as vibrating waveforms on many levels. Our sensory input, of the eyes and ears, comes to us in the form of vibration. Our thoughts and feelings can be eletomagnetically mapped as vibrations. Our experience of time is in reperated cycles: Day/night/day/night, summer-autumn-winter-spring, the cycles of the moon and the rotation around the sun - these can be mapped as repeating waveforms. Even the cycles of history (empires rise and fall) or personal experiences (relationships and jobs come and go, good days and bad, etc.)

In short, we live in a cosmos of VIBRATIONS and WAVES, on every level.

I would like to introduce two concepts that can be used metaphorically as maps for spiritual experience, or any experience involving waves: FLANGING and the SHEPARD TONE. Although they are presented as musical concepts, I would like you to think about how these ideas can be mapped onto ANY experience of vibration or waveform.

By understanding how to tune our cycles (cosmic, emotional, spiritual) into FLANGE experiences we can gain DEEPER UNDERSTANDING, as the oscillation of repeated waves is experienced as an expansion of "knowing."

By understanding how to tune our cycles (cosmic, emotional, spiritual) into ASCENDING TONES like a shepard tone, we can ASCEND and TRANSCEND our mundane realities.

I offer no comprehensve answers, just pieces of the puzzle. Let's fill in the blanks together!

First, FLANGING:

Flanging /ˈflændʒɪŋ/ is an audio effect produced by mixing two identical signals together, with one signal delayed by a small and gradually changing period, usually smaller than 20 milliseconds. This produces a swept comb filter effect: peaks and notches are produced in the resultant frequency spectrum, related to each other in a linear harmonic series. Varying the time delay causes these to sweep up and down the frequency spectrum. A flanger is an effects unit dedicated to creating this sound effect.

Part of the output signal is usually fed back to the input (a "re-circulating delay line"), producing a resonance effect which further enhances the intensity of the peaks and troughs. The phase of the fed-back signal is sometimes inverted, producing another variation on the flanging sound

Next, the SHEPARD TONE:

A Shepard tone, named after Roger Shepard, is a sound consisting of a superposition of sine waves separated by octaves. When played with the base pitch of the tone moving upward or downward, it is referred to as the Shepard scale. This creates the auditory illusion of a tone that continually ascends or descends in pitch, yet which ultimately seems to get no higher or lower. It has been described as a "sonic barber's pole".

reply to post by KarensHoliday

Very interesting. I've always suspected there was a hidden dimension to sound.

I'm almost obsessive about my love for music which has led me to an interest in sound in general.
I've heard of secret chords the Vatican knows about. I've heard references to ancient builders using sound to levitate things. Frequencies that activate chakras. I'm still digesting your post.

This is definitely something I want to know more about.
s&f

Cool thread. Neat sounds.

By understanding how to tune our cycles (cosmic, emotional, spiritual) into ASCENDING TONES like a shepard tone, we can ASCEND and TRANSCEND our mundane realities.

Reality is not that mundane if you look away from the screen for longer than a minute. Maybe a long walk down a rugged earthly path is in order.

You do realize ascension means death, correct? Although I must say, watching a man 'tune' himself to death would be mildly amusing, if not hilariously futile.

Thank you for allowing my opinion.

reply to post by KarensHoliday


Wow, had to stop the shephards tone vid. started interfering with my heart chakra.

This is a very interesting subject. I am big on vibrational energy. I agree with a lot of spiritual teachers who claim that matter is simply energy vibrating.

Last week-end I did a 1 hour meditation with 9 crystal bowls. My head was literally 1 foot away from the bowls when they were being played. They started oscillating big time at one point which was pretty cool.

thought of this vid while reading your thread. s & f

Haha yes its def the quickening. Love waveforms, you have given us a gift, thanks. I will be able to use this.

Many picture waveforms as oscillating lines as per computer displays. They are actually 3D cymatic patterns, complex and mandala like. We live in an astonishingly intricate waveform pattern. Our right brain (subconscious) can see these waveforms, our left brain observes and collapses these waves into particles down to the point of our idividual comprehension via the senses.

Human movement is also formed by wave patterns. I train in Systema - Russian martial art, it is based on wavemotion and breath.





Awsome thread S + F

Oh and that is one seriously flanged avatar you have there

reply to post by nimbinned
That is a really cool and thought-provoking video, nimbinned!