Earsanon's take on how to make a good hypno audio file

This wall of text remains with the formatting it had on 4chan because I am too lazy. It is a writueup is largely based on my opinions of what makes for a good hypnosis audio file. I might reformat it or condense it down in time, but for now it should highlight a lot of what makes for a good hypno audio file, at least by the pony hypno thread's standards:

 

Okay, I know literally nothing about this subject and there are probably tutorials out there on how to do it but there's nothing I like more than talking with implied authority on subjects I have only a middling understanding of.

Simply put, it's going to require at minimum Audacity and some recording equipment to capture your voice, de-noise and level it out so you aren't blasting out some poor subject's ears out, and export the file in a format people can download.

You can also use Audacity to throw on some relaxing music or binaural beats in the background, but that's beside the point.

As for the theory of what makes for a good hypno track? Well I'd say just listen to the Vairaki ones linked at the start of the thread. It's been a long time since they were made so I imagine they probably aren't the person's best work at this point but they've been effective on me and many others in the thread so they seem to be a good start.

You'll want a calm, quiet delivery free of any distracting language or audio queues, not so bland as to be impersonal but not so casual as to be distractingly laden with slang. I imagine in tone and delivery you'll want to sound like you're reading a nice story to help someone go to sleep, as that's more or less what you're doing. Use calm, soothing, descriptive language without spending too much time on any single point and ensure your pace is slow-ish but not sluggish.

 

(cont)

How should the content of a hypno file go? What kind of "structure" should it have in order for it to work?

Well if I were to dissect my memories of them working, the first thing pretty much every hypno file starts off with (besides disclaimers that it may be lifechanging, a reminder to get as comfy as possible before listening to the file, etc) is some kind of induction. Even hypno files for subjects who are easily tranced or seasoned with your work will likely benefit from a little bit of induction at the start. Some files are all induction because some people just struggle with trancing that much, some files have very brief inductions at the start that get listeners right into the action if they're intended to be used in the middle of a playlist of hypno or are just for already experienced subjects who need little more than a trigger word and some nice calming reassurances to get into a trance.

 

The heck is induction? That's the part of the hypnosis where you sit there going "you are feeling veeerrry verrrry sleepy." Obviously do not take that example literally, but you get the idea. As mentioned prior, kind reassurances, soothing language, comforting descriptions and the like make up this part of the hypnosis. I'll note is that while inductions are necessarily soothing and calm in tone, it's generally very self-assured. You'll want to assure, if not state without question how nice, relaxing, and easy it is for your listener to reach a trancing state; leaving any room for doubt is generally a bad idea unless it's for the sake of affording your listener further comfort. Think of it as someone dying in your arms but an ambulance is on the way (albeit less of a life or death emergency), maybe your subject won't make it to trance but they've got much more of a chance of making it if you assure them they will.

 

Exactly what kind of language, speech patterns, and whatnot makes for a good induction? Practically varies from person to person, and no wall of text is an adequate substitute to listening to files that have reported to work and seeing how they do things, but I think there's a couple of things that seem to work (on me if not on most). Obviously as previously (over)stated you'll want to assure the subject that they'll be reaching trance, and that it'll be natural, comfortable, soothing. Maybe even assure them they've already reached a trance state and that you're going to "bring them even deeper". There's a lot of language talking about going "under" and "deeper" in hypno that seems to convey a kind of idea of sleeping or being submerged and it does conjure up the right mental image when you are actually trancing. There's also describing the relaxation the subject is feeling as being "heavy" or "tired" or "too comfortable/not bothered to move". It's been discussed in thread that it can be likened to a feeling of something weighing you down as you reach trance, but it shouldn't be entrapping (not comfy) in description.

 

(cont)

In some cases, inductions will use structured mental images or guide the thoughts of the listener with some exercise. The one that stands out in my head as obvious is when the hypnotist uses some kind of countdown in their hypno to guide the listener's mind. I can only assume that on a subconscious level this appeals to the pattern-seeking part of the mind, it's a pattern of numbers familiar and easily followed and it comes packaged with the notion that once it reaches its completion so too will the trance have fully taken effect. There's also the use of trigger words to make the subconscious expect and react to things in a similar manner but those have to be implanted while the subject is in a trance state to be most effective. After all, helping hands... etc.

 

The file that got me to trance in the first place was Vairaki's "conversation" inducer. It was casual, unafraid to acknowledge the user's conscious mind, and took a kind of prescriptive yet casual one-way conversation in structure. On the one hand any conversation implies some kind of dialog, and this was a bit of a tripping point for at least one anon here as their mind sought to actively engage and respond with it but otherwise I think it did some smart things for a file aimed at first time subjects. It reassured the listener's waking mind that it was okay to have some conscious thoughts; this is good because active, conscious thinking is a big distraction when the goal is to get the subject to a point at which they're almost entirely absorbing information with an entirely passive mind. Letting the listener know that it's okay if they think about what they're hearing because their subconscious is still picking up on the important stuff and their conscious thoughts can let go of concerns and relax stops people from worrying that it's "not working" because they're still thinking at all. The same goes for reassuring the subject that they have permission, if not should naturally, let themselves itch their nose or adjust their posture to be comfortable.

 

How long does an induction need to be to work? How do you know if your listener is in a trance state? Well simply put you don't, you'll just kind of have to assume. Most listeners generally listen to an induction only file for a while to get into the right headspace and then when they're ready they go to other hypno files that will have an induction at the start relative to the intensity of the hypnosis. Someone who's already used to your voice and even your hypnotic trigger phrase is less likely to need a long induction than a completely fresh face. This being said, files designed to impart quite drastic effects such as making someone feel like they have a pony body might have a very long induction at the start or a break during the meat of the file where they're induced a little more just to keep them comfortably entranced.

 

(cont)

Even during the suggestion in your file you're going to be weaving in the language of induction, assuring your subject how natural and good it is to do whatever you say, using things like countdowns to assure them that your suggestion will take hold of them. That being said, that brings us onto the suggestion itself. or more broadly just the rest of the hypno file.

This is the part of the file where you're naturally going to be more creative, granted all the stuff about calm, reassuring and non-distracting tone remains true here because unless your subject is extremely well trained there's every chance an especially outlandish suggestion, unfamiliar word or sudden change in tone will bring them out of their trance. This being said what exactly you'll be suggesting to them is entirely up to you, within reason at least, if not just because even discrepancy from what the hypno subject was expecting to get can activate their mind's thought processing once more assuming that surprise isn't pleasant.

 

This is where I feel the need to say please, do be careful with giving your listener any suggestions that could even slightly impair their ability to operate in day-to-day life, never mind anything that'd be as cruel as to be emotionally manipulative. Making someone unable to help themselves but feel sad when they aren't a pony or worshipping princess luna's butt or whatever isn't just mean spirited it's redundant, they wouldn't be listening to your hypnofile if they wouldn't already feel bad if it didn't have its intended effect. That and apparently someone of a supposedly poor mental state actually killed themselves over a negative suggestion and it's why all the communities that used to make pony hypno have schismed and now wither away on discord. Maybe feeling guilty or morose when I'm not myself willingly submitting to a master would be a cathartic hypnotic suggestion, but if the fact I made that statement at all doesn't give it away, it'd be wholly redundant.

 

So how does one structure suggestion? Again, probably just about as subjective as induction, though yet again there's are patterns or general approaches that seem to be of note.

You're quite actually guiding the subject's thoughts by the time they're in a nice trance, kind of like watching TV where you're just taking in whatever is happening on screen. As such, when it comes to making your suggestions consider your subject's perspective. Would it benefit you to have them imagine themselves in a location, engaging with that suggestion through some sort of narrative that they live out? It certainly has worked for Helping Hands, well, for me at least. I think it's fair to say also that you'll want to use familiar language so that they don't have to waste any time processing words they're unfamiliar with or that are rarely used. When it comes to describing one's experience in an imagined world created by the hypnotist I find that descriptions of an intimate, sensory nature have the best effect. I'd say conversely you don't want to end up lifelessly describing in checklist fashion the interior of some location leaving the subject quickly getting bored and the conscious mind bubbling back up (much in the same way you probably stop passively enjoying TV if it gets painfully boring and have the thought "I want to watch something else").

 

I'm not exactly sure what the benefits of hypno without making some small effort to create an image in the subject's mind might be, even in the absence of any thought or awareness of self I would think it'd be of some benefit to creating a visual metaphor in the subject's head, some fanciful scene of them comfortably dissolving into nothing until the scene in their mind is as equally blank as their mind itself is.

 

Of course it's now in trance when adding hypnotic triggers phrases would be most effective. Subtly weaving their verbiage into your descriptions of things and repeating their use in an inobtrusive way leads to their subconscious making an association with their present state of mind, the presumable pleasure they're deriving from it, and that phrase. Then you can make the suggestion that whenever they hear that phrase that they'll have the reaction you desire them to have, demonstrating it's effectiveness mid trance while their mind has no room to doubt it or simply repeating the suggestion enough that listeners accept it as fact like anything else you say. Again, do keep in mind the possibility that they might be exposed to this trigger on public transport or something and suggest that it only takes effect if they so desire it to or whatever, that or at least leave them with enough dignity to want to come back and listen again.

 

And that's just about all I can think of for now, largely based on my experience as a hypnotee, but I think it checks out. If you have any questions or just want to insult me for not linking a better article written by someone who knows what they're doing please do respond.