Backmasking is my latest E-book, and I'm giving away 3 free copies, in return for a review back here on the Café.

Thank you. X

HOw about if I give it a go?

E-book sent Fonda 57

All free copies sent out, thank you. Reviews to follow.

Hi All,

I was one of the three Café members who received a free copy of "Backmasking" from Michael. For those unfamiliar with the concept, "backmasking" is an audio technique wherein a phrase is recorded normally, but played backward. Oftentimes, the backward audio clip sounds like gibberish. In some cases, however, the backward audio clip sounds like a completely different phrase. For example, the phrase "another one bites the dust" recorded from Queen's hit song, sounds like "it's fun to smoke marijuana" when played backward.

Michael (inspired by Joshua Quinn's recent work) has taken that relatively unexplored idea and developed a very clever and entertaining routine in which a volunteer is given a deck of cards with a random word written on the back of each card. She (or the performer) shuffles the deck and goes through what appears to be a fair process to select three random cards. The volunteer is asked if any of the three words on the back of the selected cards has any personal significance. Once the volunteer has indicated which word has some personal significance, she is asked to say the words on the backs of three additionally selected cards into a smartphone app (iPhone or Android) that can play her voice backward. When the clip is played backward, a card value can be heard. The card which had the word of personal significance is turned over and found to have the matching card value heard in the backward masked audio clip. All the other cards in the deck are turned over to find all the faces are blank!

CONs:

You need to have a smartphone (presumably one that is able to use apps designed for the iPhone or Android). The deck also requires some preparation time on your part (about five minutes to write a random word on the back of each card) and you should be aware that the deck cannot be used for another effect (if pocket space is a concern). I also think it would be difficult to perform in a noisy environment, especially when trying to listen to the backward masked audio clip on the phone. In my opinion, it is probably best suited for one-on-one or very small groups.

PROs:

The instructions are quite clear and the methods used to achieve the effect are simple (most people should have little or no problem with them). Michael provides a script to use, but there are other possible contexts in which you can present the effect if you want to put your own spin on it. It should be quite startling when the volunteer hears the sound of her voice backward on the app and should add to the overall feeling of the effect (I downloaded an app and it was pretty eerie hearing my voice backward). I like the kicker ending of showing all the cards blank except the one which had the word of personal significance written on it and the card value matches the card value heard in the backward masked clip. Finally, you can use more than one volunteer for the effect, but that would likely take a bit of audience management to obtain an intelligible backward masked message.

Overall, I quite like the idea of using backward masked clips… they sound strange and are unfamiliar to many people. Few will have seen anything like it before in a mentalism routine. If you are comfortable with the cons mentioned above, I would recommend this without reservation.

Regards, Steve

I liked this, too. It would work well in a formal performance kind of setting, as long as you instruct the spectator to repeat what is said on the phone. You need a good performance ability since there is a lot going here, and if back masking is not explained well, that will take away the whole effect.

Fortunately, as mentioned above, a script is provided. Once you get used to explained back masking, the rest should come easy.

Overall, there's a good mentalism and magical thing here.

Well I'm the third of 3 reviewers so I've tried to flesh out any other aspects that might be of interest for potential purchasers.

I would fully endorse Steve's earlier review: I think he covers all the pertinent points.

You get a 14 page pdf that takes you through a bit of history of backmasking, an overview of the set-up, a performance script, and a few afterthoughts. For the people it matters to the text is quite spaced out (There is lots of blank space in the 14 pages). I think the bit that matters more is that you can learn the effect from the instructions. I read it through, easily found the app I needed in the Google Play store, and set up ready to go.

The pocket space may be an issue for some people, but with a bit of consideration it may be possible to set this up as a KK style effect using 'random words' written on business cards to reveal a single card placed on the table. It may be self-evident but I wouldn't recommend this for a table-hopper as it wouldn't stand a repeat performance. This will look the same each time it is performed with the exact same outcome. Just mention in case it is important to your performing conditions.

I think that if you like the Backmasking idea as a novel reveal, and had your interest piqued by Joshua Quinn's work on his Penguin Live lecture, then Michael has taken out most of the hard work for you in identifying a sequence that will reveal a certain playing card. And on that basis it is recommended.

Yeah, that's one of the reasons I think it would be good for a formal show, you can carry it all with you and set up and make it a show piece.

Mike and myself often have a session - he showed me this last weekend and totally fooled. If you ever need anything email Mike he will be happy to talk.

Thanks very much everyone for your feedback, really appreciated. Just to let you know Backmasking is now live and available here if you'd like to get a copy.

http://www.magicshop.co.uk/p145647/Backm......nfo.html



Best wishes,

Michael x