Observing the spectrogram of "Tomorrow's Harvest"

kommando208 · Post by **kommando208** » Thu Jun 13, 2013 3:09 am

I've been fiddling around with analysing the tracks off this new album, and I think I need a second opinion about what I'm seeing here.

As a reference point, take the FEZ soundtrack from Disasterpiece. That was an album enjoyed for weeks before the community realized that "hidden" messages lurked in the song's spectra in the form of images. Here, for instance, is the last few seconds of the track "Puzzle", and here is the resulting "secret" image.

Now, compare the sound of that snippet from the FEZ soundtrack with the track "Transmisiones Ferox" from :10 to :25 seconds. They sound fairly similar. When the spectra of this track is taken, this is produced in the right channel.

This at first looks like useless static, but notice the distinct absence of static, the lines of silence that form in the middle of this spectra, especially that "hook" that appears in the middle of this image. Also notice that, when compared to the rest of the track here, there aren't any discernable lines in the rest of the track.

I can't make out what this object is, but I think it might represent one of the way's BoC has attempted to hide hidden meaning within Tomorrow's Harvest.

Perhaps someone with a better understanding of audio could add validity to these claims.

kommando208 · Post by **kommando208** » Thu Jun 13, 2013 3:15 am

Also, look at the left channel of Uritual from 1:01 to 1:36.

Here is the result. On the upper left, a "floral" object is visable.

EDIT: And here is the number "42" on the 1:29 mark in Gemini.

GeometricPish · Post by **GeometricPish** » Thu Jun 13, 2013 3:18 am

I've just viewed it in the spectrogram in Foobar, there's nothing of interest there that I can see.

tripone · Post by **tripone** » Thu Jun 13, 2013 3:21 am

Well if you really want to get this thread moving, swap the link to Fez image with any of the BoC ones. Kidding, kidding.

Interesting analysis though. Looking forward to seeing if anything else turns up.

kommando208 · Post by **kommando208** » Thu Jun 13, 2013 3:23 am

GeometricPish wrote:I've just viewed it in the spectrogram in Foobar, there's nothing of interest there that I can see.

For reference, here is what the FEZ snippet looks like in the Foobar visualizer.

It seems like Adobe Audition, the software I used for the images, is better able to represent the intricacies of the spectrum.

PlacentaSand · Post by **PlacentaSand** » Thu Jun 13, 2013 4:40 am

kommando208 wrote:Also, look at the left channel of Uritual from 1:01 to 1:36.

Here is the result. On the upper left, a "floral" object is visable.

EDIT: And here is the number "42" on the 1:29 mark in Gemini.

hm... i do see a flower and i do see a double digit number with a 2 in the tens place... very interesting... i cant help but think that creating something like that is impossible though... the music just happens to have a life of its own.

re-phaelam-ed · Post by **re-phaelam-ed** » Thu Jun 13, 2013 5:36 am

kommando208 wrote:Also, look at the left channel of Uritual from 1:01 to 1:36.

Here is the result. On the upper left, a "floral" object is visable.

EDIT: And here is the number "42" on the 1:29 mark in Gemini.

uh....

i DO see 94 on the far left of the image. but....

In_The_Annexe · Post by **In_The_Annexe** » Thu Jun 13, 2013 7:51 am

spectrograms are an entire dimension unto their own, I'll just stick with sinewaves.

tripone · Post by **tripone** » Fri Jun 14, 2013 1:34 am

Played around with a spectral analyzer for a bit of fun tonight and found this within the last 10 seconds of Gemini. I'll leave it open to interpretation instead of giving my take, as I'm interested to find out if anyone else sees anything besides random dots.

lankydoom · Post by **lankydoom** » Fri Jun 14, 2013 1:41 am

Kind of like two people standing there, with perhaps what could be seen as a star shape above them.

Quite the 'gemini' by description.

Interesting indeed.

Although I see random shit in clouds all the time, maybe my imagination wants me to see that.

North by North · Post by **North by North** » Fri Jun 14, 2013 1:57 am

tripone wrote:Played around with a spectral analyzer for a bit of fun tonight and found this within the last 10 seconds of Gemini. I'll leave it open to interpretation instead of giving my take, as I'm interested to find out if anyone else sees anything besides random dots.

I'm I high (actually no, just had a few whiskeys), but it seems to look like:

http://www.junodownload.com/plus/2013/0 ... canada-lp/

Jesus- have we gone mad?

Although Mike is actually higher in this pic, but there are others were Marcus is higher (because he's taller, right?).

Ok, I need to walk away.

tripone · Post by **tripone** » Fri Jun 14, 2013 2:46 am

Thanks for the responses, its good to know I'm not the only one who sees it. I nearly jumped out of my seat after loading the file.

Who knows, maybe there's something to it. A lot can be done in seven years, and they knew we'd be looking. Gonna keep mucking about and see if anything else turns up.

Betterthanyourkids · Post by **Betterthanyourkids** » Fri Jun 14, 2013 2:51 am

North by North wrote:
tripone wrote:Played around with a spectral analyzer for a bit of fun tonight and found this within the last 10 seconds of Gemini. I'll leave it open to interpretation instead of giving my take, as I'm interested to find out if anyone else sees anything besides random dots.

I'm I high (actually no, just had a few whiskeys), but it seems to look like:

http://www.junodownload.com/plus/2013/0 ... canada-lp/

Jesus- have we gone mad?

Although Mike is actually higher in this pic, but there are others were Marcus is higher (because he's taller, right?).

Ok, I need to walk away.

Vostok · Post by **Vostok** » Fri Jun 14, 2013 4:07 am

tripone wrote:Played around with a spectral analyzer for a bit of fun tonight and found this within the last 10 seconds of Gemini. I'll leave it open to interpretation instead of giving my take, as I'm interested to find out if anyone else sees anything besides random dots.

almost reminds me of this picture of them

El Camino · Post by **El Camino** » Fri Jun 14, 2013 4:24 am

PlacentaSand wrote: hm... i do see a flower and i do see a double digit number with a 2 in the tens place... very interesting... i cant help but think that creating something like that is impossible though... the music just happens to have a life of its own.

Well Aphex Twin did manage to put a face in the spectrograph
http://i.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/artic ... 83.jpg?v=1

And Venetian Snares managed to hide cats in there.
http://i.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/artic ... 84.jpg?v=1

Wouldn't be a stretch for BoC to do something like this.

Keeoaddi · Post by **Keeoaddi** » Fri Jun 14, 2013 4:59 am

Seeing as people are looking at spectrograms, and people are overlaying tracks on top of each other, maybe the image would become more distinct once you see the spectrogram of the tracks overlayed on top of each other?

Just a thought since the 'twinning' hasn't provided any major revelations yet, perhaps this is what's intended, i.e. you only get the full spectrogram image(s) when you combine the 'twins'.

i would try it myself but i don't really understand the whole spectrogram thing, or how the tracks are supposed to twin up

purgruv · Post by **purgruv** » Fri Jun 14, 2013 8:49 am

Try inverting the colours to get a white background in an image editor an upping the contrast to get more details?

justin · Post by **justin** » Fri Jun 14, 2013 9:05 am

Keeoaddi wrote:Seeing as people are looking at spectrograms, and people are overlaying tracks on top of each other, maybe the image would become more distinct once you see the spectrogram of the tracks overlayed on top of each other?

Just a thought since the 'twinning' hasn't provided any major revelations yet, perhaps this is what's intended, i.e. you only get the full spectrogram image(s) when you combine the 'twins'.

i would try it myself but i don't really understand the whole spectrogram thing, or how the tracks are supposed to twin up

I tried that . Unfortunately nothing showed up
and unless something on the scale of this shows up as far as i'm concerned there's nothing there .

tripone · Post by **tripone** » Fri Jun 14, 2013 12:59 pm

justin wrote:unless something on the scale of this shows up as far as i'm concerned there's nothing there .

While something on that scale would of course make it much more obvious, I'm guessing it would also be extremely obvious sonically, adding a bunch of noise to the tune itself. Although I've seen the Aphex spectrogram before, I haven't heard the tune itself so correct me if I'm wrong on that.

With that said, while I'm still not 100% sold on the image being placed in Gemini intentionally, it certainly does fit the context and shouldn't be tossed to the side completely. Something a bit more subtle would fit BOC, as well as allowing it into the tune without making it noticeable when listening. Function over form.

saturdayindex · Post by **saturdayindex** » Fri Jun 14, 2013 1:39 pm

I don't see anything of note in any of the spectrographs you showed. I think if BOC were to hide something in the spectrographs, it would be much more clear, like the octagon in the FEZ clip or Venetian Snares' cats. I do find it pretty hilarious that the clip of Gemini appears to show Mike and Marcus standing, but I think that's just an artifact.

What we have so far is akin to discovering the face of saint Mary in a potato chip. But keep up the hunting!