Did you ever think of buying a self-improvement CD? Perhaps one to boost your confidence, help you quit smoking, or just release stress? Well, the average cost for such CDs is $20 ~ $25 a piece. Yet SHARM, at $50, comes with at least 15 CDs worth of self-help sessions. So, it is great value for the money. Only minutes after installing it, you’ll be able to load and listen to one of the many predesigned sessions.

Yet, that is just the beginning, for with SHARM you can design and produce your own CDs. Not only is the number of sessions you can design unlimited, but instead of using a generic session created by someone else, you can design CDs to serve your own specific needs.

Does the idea of designing your own self-help CD sound intimidating? It did to me, for I had no experience working with sound files and sound mixing. I wouldn’t have thought I could do it, but SHARM is so well thought out and easy to use that in no time at all I had produced my first CD. And you’ll be able to do the same.

Believe it or not, you can easily add, edit, and mix up to one dozen tracks. Some of the tracks are used for the special effects that come with SHARM. These are the tracks for prerecorded hypnotic suggestions, sounds of nature, background noise, binaural beats, bells, OM chanting, Yoga breath counting, and ambient sounds.

Now, each special effect track is adjustable, thereby making it possible to create thousands of unique effects. Take the sounds of nature track, for example. This one track allows you to select from 12 different sounds of flowing water. You even have the choice of playing one of the 12 sounds or mixing any two of the 12 sounds on the same track. But there’s more. For you can also include and adjust the number of birds chirping in the background.

The binaural track is especially exciting as it allows you to entrain your brain. That is, you can change the frequency of your brain waves with this track. For example, you can design a one-hour session in which your brain waves gradually change in the first 20 minutes from BETA (alert or awake) to ALPHA (deep relaxation or light hypnosis), and then gradually change in the next 20 minutes from ALPHA to THETA (deep hypnosis). Finally, in the final 20 minutes, you can gradually shift from THETA to BETA. You could also use one of the extra three audio tracks to play your own prerecorded hypnotic suggestions while you are in a deep hypnotic state.

The additional audio tracks can also be used to add music, affirmations, or your own collection of sound effects. The volume of each track is adjustable and you can instantly test tracks as you edit them, as well as instantly test mixing. So, you always know what the overall effect sounds like. Once you are happy with the results, you can export the session as a wave file, burn a music CD, pop it into an MP3 player, lay down with your headset on, start the CD, and drift into a world of your own creation.

More articles by Chuck Gallozzi