I just ordered the plastic version of this effect and noticed that Barry Mitchell has a music CD for the routine. Has anybody tried it yet? I don't mind paying $10 for a song, but would like to hear a review or two first. Here is the link:
http://www.barrymitchell.com/products/in......07090101

Thanks,

Eddie

Me too!

I am most interested in hearing a snippet as well!

=Frank=

Ditto... I went to the creators site, Nathan Roberts and find that he has other recordings useful to magicians available. Unfortunately, there are no samples of anything. http://www.nathanjroberts.net/view/?pageID=296011


Lyndel

I happen to own the Shrinking Head CD. It is a 30-second CD with GREAT Music for the Shrinking Head. I took the CD and had it converted to play for a total of
4-Minutes. I really get a lot of play out of this illusion. Barry's CD also comes with a carrying bag for the Disc. So what you are paying for is the CD and a Carrying Bag for the Disc.

Can you use your own Music YES! Just use any music that is scary in nature. The music is a suspense piece of music. Barry used to carry the whole DISC, CD, and Bag but there was a problem with the person who originally came up with the idea. So Barry stopped carrying the Disc and just is selling the Bag & CD.

Do you need to purchase this from Barry, NO but if you are like me I am not talented and cannot sew. Plus I bought mine all-in-one from Barry when he first started selling the whole package.

It is worth the money in my opinion.

Rodney

P.S. I also have Nathan Roberts Royalty Free Introduction Music and that is worth its weight in GOLD. I use his music all the time in my shows.

Anyone else buy this music CD & want to chime in here?

Me thinks folks who don't include samples don't want to sell their music that badly

I keep trying to go to the website for Nathan Roberts, but it's not there anymore. Did a search, but came up with the site that is defunct. I'd like to get his music. Anyone know what his new site is?

Brian

Well, I broke down and ordered it. Honestly, I was a bit disappointed in it. I guess I was expecting a bit more. I found it was a bit short as First Class Magician stated above. The entire CD consists of two identical 30 second tracks of music with a "Twilight Zone" feel to it.

I wound up using it, but only after I took it into a music editing program, stretched it and added a "growing" and a "shrinking" sound effect (slide whistle), and a tada fanfare at the end myself. These are things that should have been thought of and included on this CD but wasn't.

I could have easily created my own from scratch and if had heard a sample beforehand, I probably would have.

Love Barry Mitchell, Love most of his products, but I've got to give this one low marks.


Lyndel

Thank you for the honest feedback. That is what makes this forum great!

Yep...thanks Lyndel.

Mark.

Big Head Music
Bruce Kalver’s Growing Head Illusion is a powerful piece of illusion magic for every age audience. Nathan Roberts has created the perfect music to make your routine even better. We’ve added a cloth carrying bag to help protect your spiral. You may order the Growing Head wheel directly from Bruce Kalver at http://www.tophatprod.com.

You receive the bag, music CD, and Barry’s performance suggestions for only $10.00

I'm wondering about the performance suggestions from Barry? You get the music, cloth bag and some performing tips. Some might say that $10 for anything in magic that you can actually use is a bargain.

Does the growing head illusion a always work. It didn't work for me while watching Capeheart's video, but I thought that may be because it was on T.V.

just curious,

john

I think it probably works on 97% of the people. That's not a scientific figure... Just my estimation.


Lyndel

When I watched the performance section of the Capehart video the illusion did work. However, during the explanation section, the camera did a close up on the disk and the illusion had no effect on me then.

However, I did add this to my shows for this past weekend, and the reaction was fantastic. Adults and children gasped.

I don't use any music. I merely asked if everyone has heard of mass hypnosis. Then went on to tell them that that is what I'm going to attempt. I told the audience that it would be best seen from the more central seats and then went into a pseudo-hypnosis routine. One of the shows was even a birthday party in a very small house. But it worked great. I love this thing!

Scott .

How far do you all stand from your audience to make the disc effective. Doing it for a few kid shows, I learned that the further back I stood, the better the reaction of the audience. I know stand back as far as posible (while still "connecting" to the audience) and it plays great. A no-brainer, easy wayto fill up 5 minutes of your show.

As for music, I use the Twilight Zone theme for one direction and Jaws theme for the 2nd. Parents usually chuckle- especially at the twilight zone!

Robert Haas

I think in a normal performing situation (if there is such a thing) like in a hotel ballroom, or stage situation - it works better than in situations where the audience is right on top of you which is usually the case in birthday party type shows.

Not saying it won't work in a birthday type show, but you're right Robert, the further back you are, the better the likelyhood of the audience being able to experience the effect.


Lyndel

Has anyone performed this on TV? I wonder how it will work for the viewing public. Stare at the disc for 20 seconds then look at the person beside you.

The illusion will work very well but only if the audience members follow your instructions. They must understand that they need to hold perfectly still and stare at the center of the spiral without looking away. Even then, if you are looking at too steep an angle, you may not see the illusion, which is why it's generally better when the audience is further away. It's not the distance, really, but the angle of view. The best place for it to work is looking right straight on at the disk, but not everyone can be in that "sweet spot."

I don't use any music, and keep talking, reminding the audience to stay focused, not look away, don't talk, etc. And, you should always do it twice. Sometimes some people don't get it the first time, but on the repeat they may.

While Bruce Kalver makes a nice version of this, it goes way back in time and the identity of the first person to realize that a spinning spiral would produce this "accomodation" illusion is lost to history.

This is something I do which is almost always requested in repeat shows, so you know it's strong.

Dennis Loomis

Its interesting that this topic has come up in "The little darlings." If I've had any trouble with it, its with kids. Especially younger children, they do not seem to be able to concentrate long enough. I've been using some twilight zone music myself, but Bruce Kalver prefers no music at all like Dennis. He feels the effect is stronger that way.

The CD has two tracks one 35 seconds, and one 37 seconds, which is the same track.

It is background music and a sampling of it would be giving the music away free.

The cloth to keep the card clean is worth the $10. And the music is an added bonus.
It is an erie music made by Nathon just for Barry Mitchell with permission to resell it. The drawback is it becomes a minute and an half illusion.

If the music causes laughter, that movement will destroy the illusion.

Most of the time, if one moves their head and does not follow instructions, the effect faulters.

As for TV "Has anyone performed this on TV?" A friend did this on a cruise and it didn't work as well as expected, however, the show was taped for those who missed it and the TV portion did work.

To get two minutes out of this routine, like Lyndel, I extended the music, using an editing program. I am going to re-edit it and daa a ta-da at the end.

Dennis