After months of learning, I've been experimenting with neurofeedback! But I don't recommend doing it yourself...yet. Daily dorky stuff on Instragram: Bennjordan My music ($upport me!): theflashbulb.bandcamp.com/
Benn, I'm an ER physician, musician, writer -- I'd just like to say the amount of labor involved in learning to interpret EEG's or even develop an understanding of the nervous system that you have invested independently -- and which I paid for dearly in formal education -- all in pursuit of your own goals and interests is very impressive. I hope that whatever you do next furthers the marriage of science and creativity and is in no way guided by public or cultural opinion. Thanks for this.
You know!? Your scholastic sponsors choose to remain anonymous.... they really ought to 🐝 be brave. And share Human advancement. No Shame there, in fact I'd love ❤️ you more.
Man, the serenity on your face during "the moment" was so perfectly reflected by the resulting music. A seriously magical feeling moment. I watched this for my first time a few weeks back and I'm back for more. Mind still thoroughly blown.
It is hilarious! But the Muse sorta gamifies the learning--you get scores and achievements and stuff. I find myself regularly tempted to see how I measure up, and then remind myself that comparing and competing is the opposite of the goal. Which I learned from yoga class, but there are a ton of people who do yoga in a rather competitive way as well. It's a very human tendency to get competitive.
I've been watching your videos for months, and only just recently found out you produce music as The Flashbulb. Growing up your music was a constant in my life as soon as I discovered it, so it was a fantastic surprise to connect you and your content to your music. Thanks for posting and sharing such great content.
PLEASE post more of your amazing, artistic-yet scientific-work. I‘m currently in school for biochemical engineering and all I can say is WOW! This combination of neuro/music research is unexplainably remarkable. Thank you for sharing and I hope that you’ll continue to! Your passion is freaking contagious dude
PLEASE! This "techy and sciency" stuff is so inspiring! This video just gave me a very needed push to give another try at finishing my projects that feel a little ambitious and that require heavy research on fields I'm not very familiar. As an artist/designer, I always feel anxious when it comes to studying deeply topics that at first seem to stray very far from my field, as if doing that would be a waste of time and I should instead focus on working on more "conventional" skills. Seeing how much effort you invested on this makes me feel less afraid of being creative.
This was the most impressive and inspiring thing I've seen on RU-vid since... perhaps since I started watching RU-vid... You took a hiatus and returned in a blaze of glory with the jaw-dropping results of a self-motivated research project that centered around cutting edge human understanding of our own brains, a.k.a. the mass of tissue responsible for how we understand *anything*, and how to hack it to modify your own behavior from the inside out. Starting from the outside. Outside inside out. And then you created a proof of concept relevant to your channel's subject matter (clearly just one of many of your varied interests). And the results were so amazing they invoked a mild physiological response of goosebumps in this audience member when your patch achieved a beautiful positive melodic crescendo and the triumphant plucks of joy cascaded from your every blink. The fact that these sweet harmonious tones were literally an effect AND cause of the psychological and therefore chemical harmony within your brain is a thing of staggering majesty. Bra-fucking-vo my friend. This was absolutely brilliant. And the fact that you began the video with such casual humor is a testament to your character as well as intellectual prowess. 👏👏👏
Seriously the coolest thing i’ve seen in many many months. I’ve been doing neurofeedback for years, and i’ve also been super interested in generative music. Keep this up!
This is so cool!!!! As you say, so many rabbit holes. A particularly interesting part of the video is watching you get chills as your brain rides a calm wave. Gave me chills too. I wonder if there's something in that, how our brains empathize or want to experience things together?
Quick note, I can't tell you how much I appreciate that your "Benn & Gear" intro is direct, to the point and about 3 seconds and in no way shape or form, annoying, distracting, over produced or loud. Great channel!
I found your channel based on a review of the Empress Reverb. (which I love too but the way!) I recently watched your video on vinyl which was eye-opening, but purely from a bystanders perspective seeing as how I've never had any interest in vinyl. In that video, I learned you are The Flashbulb. I went back and saw that one friend of mine sent me one song of yours, and I really liked it, but never followed it any further. Now, here I am, just getting off a mild LSD experience, right out of being way too inside my own thoughts and feelings, deciding to follow my curiosity of this video RU-vid showed me. I was all smiles thorough out the whole thing, and was amazed at what your personal desire as a creator, and fellow musician lead you to do. This is way too long, and you'll probably never read this, but I just want to somehow express my unimaginable gratitude to you. Please continue to make videos about your passions.
That moment when the music started to reflect a calmer mental state was amazing... I imagine there's a feedback effect in both calm / stressed directions, since when it starts sounding weird and atonal you might naturally feel disappointment about that. Then when it starts to swing the other way, you might start to relax and just enjoy the sounds, then feel good that it's working, which is further reflected in the audio, eventually leading to that blissful "it's all ok" sensation. Brilliant stuff.
And the Melody of Life brought me to this Channel. Amazing Channel! And especially what you did in this video I ...I am so...wow'd by this...can't close my mouth, so amazed I am!
100% the case.. look at channels like Corridor Crew, Casey, PewDiePie.. they make whatever they want to make, and it works. Your interest in things is part of your personality
I got to know your creations from "It Never Ends" song ..."accidentally". This song along with "What I Imagine You To Be Like" help me get aligned & bring myself into a really tranquil state due to the images it creates. Your creations have got something & believe me, I just found out about this channel. The first video I clicked was this one which confirmed a lot to me about your connection to music & the brain. It's great power. Truly thank you for these two tracks, they mean a lot to me.
I'm not a musician. I'm an artist by trade, but raised by a nurse and an electrical engineer so I've always been learning about medicine, tech, science, architecture, art...Dad was big into pro home audio when I was growing up. He still gets Stereophile magazine at 73 yrs old though we have no budget for any of it...he was trained in biofeedback for pain relief and he still uses it a lot at the doctors office to drop his blood pressure right before they check him, lol. I can shave a few points off my score, but that's just with visualization techniques with the help of a therapist. I had plans to see a pain psychiatrist for chronic migraines, but insurance denied it...I have new insurance, so perhaps I can go now! With your big warning intro it reminded me that back in college I used to listen to these binaural beats tracks that were supposed to help with my anxiety, sleep, focus, etc. I had a bunch of them. I always wondered if it was just woo woo bs or if I could have messed up my head given my current daily head pain and intermittent worsening pain. Hmm...
I've always thought this would be so cool to do, i would of been overwhelmed by the amount of work to setup. I love this, definitely would be more interested in this type of concept being explained and shown on your channel!
Welcome back BnG. You looked so calm and blissed at the end there - how can that not be a good thing? I like the techy stuff as well as the music stuff. Mixing 'em up's fine with me. 🐨
I love it. Extremely interesting, to say the least. I’ve very much enjoyed all your videos and would love to see more science/tech stuff. I’d also love to hear more of the music you create with this process, the patch at the end was really nice.
Fascinating stuff! More content like this is more than welcome! Recently became obsessed with the idea of a dream to obj/3d model converter (not thinking that it would remotely work or anything) and started diving into eeg-interfaces and tensorflow but kind of gave up before I even really started, seeing how far you have come with dedication and time is really motivating.
So good, Benn! Would absolutely be interested to see more vids from you on a wider range of topics. You've got great talent across a range of complementary areas (music, coding, tech generally) plus you present really well. Get to it!
Thanks for the incredible video, Benn! This was super cool. I'm always stunned by the amount of time and effort you put into your videos. The science-y/techy videos you make are some of my favorite. It's a fantastic combo. Good luck with the neurofeedback, and don't turn into a potato!
I'm amazed by this. Incredibly interesting stuff, of which I would love to see more. You do a great job giving us content, follow your bliss and we'll be happy to come along for the ride. (I would love to see any strange projects that you are interested in). So awesome Benn!
Daamn, this was the exact thing I wanted to see. Thank you so much for making this video, I loved every bit of it. Even if it's just me thinking this, it was a masterpiece
This is most definitely one of the most interesting videos I've seen on RU-vid, having just discovered your channel and watched a few videos which were all good, this one blew me away. You're an interesting curious dude and I like it a lot, as a fellow big music and science nerd
Dude I am loving your channel. Id never heard of you or your music before and found via the modular vid. Hooked now, cant believe you dont have a few hundred thousand subs! Would love more of this science stuff, this vid was fascinating and I love your approach/delivery.
Benn, I can’t tell you how much it means to me to see this & I can’t thank you enough for going to the trouble of doing it. You must be a brilliant individual. I can’t wait to see what else comes of this. I’m finding this video as a life long musician (well, I started lessons at age 5) who has always suffered from depression & anxiety & who has recently lost every belonging I ever had including tens of thousands of dollars in music equipment to a fire (the list of losses in modern & vintage equipment is enough to bring any musician to tears). I’m still in FFF mode mentally & physically & now suffer from heart arrhythmia as a result. I can’t imagine how to move on. I can’t even try to heal through playing or teaching music for lack of instruments to do it on (I took a bunch of PTO to try to deal with this & wasn’t allowed to return to work, so I lost my day job, too). If I was hooked up to your system, would it function the same for me or would it be a little different for everyone?
i started watching your videos about a 2 years ago and very much enjoy the science stuff way more as much as i love music and learning about new cool gear i i do say you are a teacher of things and do it well . For me every day i try to learn something new and think every one should each day.
I just LOVE this channel so much. I love how you can have a variety of interests and how you're not afraid of running a youtube channel that has miscellaneous content...and yet you manage to bring it all back to music. Please keep making more random geeky videos like these.
Awesome job. Speechless. You've inspired me in ways I can barely describe. I'd love to work/collaborate with you Benn. Been into psychology and the mind for the past 10 years, through therapy, reading tons of books. I am a musician & electronics engineer as well. Been paralyzed by fear about daring to go down those rabbit holes you mentioned. Nevertheless went through them and feel passionate about any reality & mind related studies and questioning. Cheers, awesome job! Keep it up!
That's wonderful ! I'm starting out in psychology studies, and this direction is definitely something I'd like to explore if I were to do research some day ! Thanks Benn, you're inspiring
I stumbled upon you when finding your episode on how animals perceive reality as opposed to how we do, and I was hooked. I didn't have to think twice about subscribing, it just felt necessary. Then I found this episode. I didn't know this early on that your focus was actually on music, using DAW, synths, etc., and that piqued my interest as well. As that was my focus some twelve years ago, having just finished my undergraduate fine arts degree. Initially my focus was on fine art photography, and in my final year I had been awakened to using sound as an art form. That lead to a couple synths, Logic, etc., and then applying for my Masters through Washington State. They were only a handful of universities at that time whose Masters program took into consideration sound as an art form. However, I never made it to Seattle and I didn't get to work on that Masters. A handful of months before relocating across country, I developed a terrible neurological condition before leaving for the West Coast. It was discovered that I was suffering from Atypical Trigeminal Neuralgia on the left side of my face, head, etc. Needless to say, I became bedridden due to the excruciating pain and spasms for ten months before it became so bad, that surgery couldn't be avoided. However, what was seen on the MRI to be an enlarged blood vessel rubbing up against the TN, actually turned out to be a mess of capillaries that had sprouted from a blood vessel and had wrapped themselves in a bundle, ensnaring the nerve. It was also the fact that at the age of 42 that these capillaries began to calcify and then proceeded to crush and inevitably damage the nerve beyond repair. And yes, there is a reason I mention all of this, so please bear with me. Of course being that it was a congenital issue, as the capillaries had been there all my life having formed before birth, it took until I grew older and those capillaries began hardening, etc. It was also found that I had occipital neuralgia (same side) which we do not know why, but it is the reason why I keep my eyes close most of the time when I'm under any level of stress talking, around unfamiliar people, etc. In essence I have become a recluse, home bound, and my circle is non-existent except for a handful of family members, a visiting nurse, home health aide, etc. No others, no friends, just me. Because my nervous system is constantly dealing with pain, it hasn't much tolerance for more. So, my environment is quiet, (no synths, blaring monitors, etc., lol), no people, no nada. Because too much external stimulation triggers the pain, etc. And I am fine with this, really. But now, having given a very, very lite version of the situation, this is what I really wanted to mention. During those ten months in bed, and the damage progressed worsening my situation, none of the less invasive treatments had any effect. However, in those times when the pain wasn't so bad that I could remain awake, the only thing I could do and did all day long, for hours and hours, was to imagine and think. Everything from mentally collating and organizing my entire life of memories. That and mentally write (sort of) two books, lol. Yes, it sounds silly, but in those times when the pain was not so dire that I didn't need to sleep through it, that is what I would do. And it became very easy to do day by day as time passed, until. . . Late one afternoon the pain was beginning to ramp up again, the pain spasms in my face, head, and left eye, began to increase and become more constant but all without any stimulus. Then that pain spread out from my head, down to my chest, and then further until as funny as this sounds. . . the big two of my left foot (keep in mind, this was down the left side of my body). At one point I would begin to shake uncontrollably at the slightest provocation, be it the slightest movement of air, the feeling of the sheets against my skin, cold air, or anything touching my body. This sudden degradation in my condition went on for a few weeks until late one afternoon, while thinking, I was finding it increasingly more difficult to do so without triggering a new and awful pain in the front of my head. At first, it was subtle, but it quickly became far from subtle and triggered simply by trying to think, imagine, etc. To the point that whenever I tried to visualize, or think linearly or with verbal thought, the pain would be too much. Remarkably, it was during one particularly bad episode that my brain did something I never thought possible. Suddenly, without any effort on my part, I found that I was no longer thinking. That elusive and golden concept of "no thought" that so many meditators spend years trying to achieve, had suddenly manifested all on its own, purely out of necessity for me. It was truly an experience that I have never been able to explain satisfactorily then, or since. It was because of this new development that the neurosurgeon said it was time, we couldn't wait any longer. I needed to go into surgery and pronto. Needless to say, he discovered that I was very, very close to a nasty stroke. But thankfully, after that first of two craniotomies and someone else's hands noodling about in my brain, that was avoided. But just the same, the damage had been done. The nerve was not going to heal, nor did we ever find out what caused the Occipital Neuralgia, and he found numerous other instances of idiocy that god committed when putting my neurological system together lol. But, it was those sudden experiences of no thought through no effort of my own, that eventually drove me to meditation for the better part of two or so years when I was finally able to do such a thing. And it changed me for the better in so many ways for as long as I maintained the practice. Just as you had noticed, as time went on I became increasingly calmer, non-reactive to provocative situations, and generally more content and serene. I have to say those handfuls of years afterwards were some of the calmest and mentally balanced I had ever experienced. Unfortunately, my life situation changed and since then my life is no longer conducive to maintaining a meditation practice in the manner I had developed. It was not unusual for me to meditate for at least one to three hours every day. But when my life became less controlled by me, which is too long a story, I had stopped meditating as a result. However, when watching this video, seeing the look on your face, and hearing the change in the music as you gained better control over your thinking, brought me back to all those years ago. Also, I had been considering the effects of sound and its effects on the brain as part of what I had hoped to investigate on my own before my condition sent me packing to bed. I had been very much fascinated with the idea of sound, tonality, and how the brain waves would or could respond to it and I had only just discovered that aspect only two months before leaving for the West Coast. In the end, I lost total hearing in my left ear due to the nature of the first surgery. As a result, I am no longer able to tell you what direction a sound comes from anymore, as you need two ears for stereophonic hearing just as you need two eyes for depth of field. But just the same, this video brought back a ton of memories. And now I would like to say in answer to your question, I really do hope you continue in this vein, working both with music, electronic and otherwise, as well as how you can use it to change your thinking. I really believe that sound and how we manipulate it can very much affect how we evolve in life and despite the real dangers of messing about with neuro pathways, it sounds to me like you have a very good handle on this. I will definitely be following to see what happens and how you progress, wishing you well along the way.
That was awesome. I see a future where those dreams I had as a kid, where you could have your own soundtrack to your life, serving a real and healthy purpose for people. Next level!
I LOVE these kinds of videos by you. I’m a music producer now branching into sound healing and sound therapy. There’s so many cool connections between sound and consciousness. I look forward to more vids!
AWESOME!! So much respect to you Benn. I know this must have been a tough one but wow you are living the dream brother. I really hope you continue this work.
Truly lovely, Benn. I teared up a bit when you smiled around the 16:-something-ish mark. Just listened to Our Simulacra and I'll enjoy listening to the different layers, details, perfectly synthesized syncopations and nuances you've so painstakingly poured over for months to come. You've got a heart in your brain, too. ❤️🧠 ::Raises a shotglass of apple pie moonshine::
Benn, I've discovered your channel just now and got hooked momentarily. I have to say, your content is simply amazing, laid out in an interesting scientific, yet artistic approach. I'm a software engineer, fascinated by technology, brains and spirituality and you just prove that a human being can do many things, completely non-related (or just so it seems on the surface). Keep it up!
That’s really cool...I think it’s all entirely connected. The moment I realized modular synthesis was like looking at a reflection of the universe and reality in its design and function, I was awestruck. And taking it further is just what one should always be doing. Thank you for sharing you’re inspirations..
I’m blown away by that. When the relaxed vibe all came together that was pretty special. Music production and techhy science mix is fine and would fit this channel no prob. Certainly Clever, possibly dangerous. Top work.
Hell yes, rabbit holes all the way down! Your commitment to rationality and chasing the shiny objects has me completely locked-in. I'm going to stop before I completely embarrass my fan-boy ass but if you're not dependent on the YT grindstone, please hunt down those interesting things, geek out, and surface occasionally to show us what you found - I believe (without credible sources, sadly) that there will be plenty of us here for that. (Ah. I was too late on the stopping in time thing, having now noticed I just breathlessly gushed over a 3 year old vid. But Imma stand by it).
Welcome back! I'm one of those fuckin' bastards who use Bing btw. :) For the neuro feedback stuff, I don't see any point or purpose to doing this. It's like fucking with electricity when it first came out. Imagine all the deaths during the initial exploration of that. Last year, I got interested in the Muse but the bad reviews & the $200 price tag shunned me away. Most people say you can just meditate & that you don't need this stuff. I used to meditate regularly for 2-3 years & now I don't feel much stress anymore. If I was stressed out, I'd find safer ways to cope with stress. In fact, at this point, I'd say I don't feel much of anything...perhaps I turned into a zen devil. There's at least one other RU-vidr I've watched for a few years who turned to substances: 5MEO-DMT, mushrooms, & other stuff to chase the enlightenment. It was intriguing for a couple of years, but I again, didn't see the point of it. Everyone I asked about taking it that wasn't on RU-vid or a RU-vid commentor, vehemently shook their heads no to the idea of it or me doing it, even people I knew that had taken LSD before in the past. Based on the comments here on this RU-vid video, you appear to be an accomplished musician & artist for a 2.5 decades now. I'm trying to figure out how the hell you can be stressed about anything! You got to do what you want, while many of us had to hunker down & grind away at a day job & for me, still haven't put out an album or a single track!!. Women leave. That's why they have the MGTOW movement now. Having watched or read a lot about it, it's not really surprising to me if a woman decides to leave or do the actions they do. Seems to be their nature. Nothing really to be stressed about unless they took your money with them. I'm checking out your music now. This is good stuff!
Interesting field of research. Diversification could be a good thing for your audience, and these other avenues are worth pursuing. Just visited your bandcamp page...you've been very productive...am following. Excellent stuff Benn.
You may not have invented these things but this is still pioneering work; if only for the way you're applying the tech and for the exposure you're providing for it. Very inspiring. I love the diversity of content all still with a theme around sound and music. Watch out for the new Moog EEGerwave!
I've been doing something kinda like this using a light and sound therapy system to try and get my Debarkation Syndrome symptoms to calm down. There's research into using transcranial magnetic stimulation to cure it, but it's experimental and expensive. Finally getting in for a full work up with a neurologist who understands the condition and is willing to help with my brain hacking experiments. I'm an MdDS researcher too from an engineering perspective but getting doctors on board with the idea of using "woo woo glasses" has been difficult because of all the crackpottery surrounding it. Hoping to get some traction soon with the latest Alzheimer's research using flashing lights. Right now though, I'm my own guinea pig.
As a music neuroscientist in training, I have to say this makes me so happy!!! Also a big EEG buff and a decade long Flashbulb fan. I am learning things from you! Great ! Thank you. I definitely did this non-scientifically by having to limit my consumption of heavy and sad music - that led me to a lot of minimal electronica which I found was different enough to permanently rewire my brain patterns which have been quite robust over time. Actually, I find your music is very helpful because of its inherent novelty and beauty.
Saludos de México Benn.. this was some of the most inspiring videos I`ve ever seen. Thanks for your dedication and I all ways dream abaut this subject but never feel prepared or else... and when I see this video I now know why. This is no easy busniess at all, And do what ever thing comes to your mind, you are like a madscientist in the best way possible. Thanks! Gracias!
16:26... I'm at a loss for words. Watching that almost made me tear up from the overwhelming amount of creative musical potential of what you're doing could evolve into in the future. For funkin' years and years I have been wishing I could just create the music I hear in my mind, skip the time given ' to finding or creating or sampling the right sounds, ditch the steadily growing amount of VST's, physical musical instruments and hardware and just be able to "music now" while a mind's eye interface projects my musical thoughts through speakers. I want to be able to use my minds eye to create, control, manipulate sound. Next step (if it has not already been accomplished), is to think of a single specific note and then the brain-to-computer interface plays it... It's only a matter of time. Great video, man. Subbed. Jam on!
Hey Benn, I've been following your music/projects for almost 20 years now and this is definitely one of the most interesting ideas that I've seen anywhere in a long time. So glad that you've started a (somewhat) active youtube channel, your stuff absolutely needs to be seen by more people. 6700 views is criminal for a video this interesting and insightful. I'd definitely like to hear about why you're recommending against 'doing it yourself' and more about the supposed dangers and damage it can do. Superficially it seems pretty harmless and other than maybe annoying/frustrating yourself into a coma from trying to get everything to work together properly, I don't really see the risk of anything permanent.
I didn't know you had this channel, but as far as my vote, I would be happy with you sharing anything you're excited about. It doesn't matter the topic. I respect your POV and find a lot of what you have to say to be insightful or at the very least, thought provoking.
Creativity is the natural generative music machine. Once I tap into it, it’s doing most of the work. A symbiotic relationship occurs between what i creatively give to music and what the music gives back . A chemical & emotional reaction loop. The more relaxed and in the zone I get, the more the magic happens musically - and as the sweet spot in the music opens up, the more relaxed and in the zone and so on. It literally is a drug that changes the chemistry of my mind.
Hello Ben, this video was very important to me. I always dreamed about making music with thoughts, but the fun fact is that i only hoped it would be possile in some kind of afterlife. Seriously. Now that i've seen this video, it really makes me want to study neurology in order to be able to do it efficiently and maybe even help with the development of the idea, willing to achieve live concerts entirely and directly made from our brain. +1 subscriber!
Fascinating application. Please continue to share your progress. I see no need to compartmentalize. You have been good enough to share so much about your process and work whether wood working a rack, building a studio and your thoughts and sage advice on the tools and software out there and how to use them creatively. This is no different and I applaud your innovation. One channel, all Ben as usual please. Thanks again.
18:16 You do you, meng. I think we subscribe in part not because the information isn't already out there someplace, but because you bring it to us entertainingly and with fervor. It's because of that fervor that I think people will just follow you wherever the muse (you should pardon the expression) wants to take you. Hell, I saw the new video in my subscriptions feed and I just clicked on it almost without reading the title. Oh and anyone who isn't convinced that this sort of thing is worth further study and experimentation only needs to look at that beatific smile that breaks out when the music gets really consonant and sonorous. Holy-shit moments like that are worth the price of admission and I hope you get to that place a lot more often.
In 1982 I was 14 and a bit of an advanced reader for my age. I read Robert Anton Wilsons Schrodingers Cat Trilogy and it physically made me feel dizzy and lightheaded at times. This is the only time this ever happened to me. I started listening to punk etc. and when I moved back to NH in 85 people who knew me from grade school often asked me questions like "what happened to you?" and commented "your so quiet now" I think Wilsons experimental fiction may have rewired my brain.
I've just discovered your RU-vid output. Very entertaining. Clever? Yes. Dangerous? Yes. And so it should be, I'm stealing a quote here (can't remember where from) "Art becomes dangerous, when it stops being dangerous" There is a lot of evidence emerging at the moment, to suggest that we have a lot less free will than we imagine. It points to the fact we are driven by basic urges, dictated to us by DNA and it's desire to reproduce, any individuality we display, is a manifestation of the sets of neural pathways you mentioned, the ones that develop with age, connected together, resulting from our experiences. Although this seems depressing to some people, it's fascinating, especially as our understanding of it, can lead to hacking it, to make us less impulsive happier and hopefully better people. Keep up the good work. I'm tempted to go check out this Flashbulb guy now, he gets a lot of mentions in the comments section.
