Question for Ghost Hunters and paranormal investigators re: equipment.?

Question

Hi there. When using audio tapes, regular casette, or mini... do you ALWAYS use brand new tapes and... do you listen to the blank tape before using it? Am I being too scientific?

Also, when you catch an EVP do you ever "play" with the speed and/or other gadgets to make the voice sound more normal? If they are on another "wavelength" but trying to talk with us... can't we attempt some sort of adjustments? Some EVP's are low and slow growly, ok, maybe demons, but... maybe just on a lower frequency than ours?

Answer 1

When I was in elementary school, I remember a rainy day, listening to the squeaky school bus wipers go back and forth. After listening to them for a few minutes, I thought I heard them saying "keep out" over and over again.

This is the same effect used to interpet EVPs. You hear ordinary sounds and just let your mind imagine that its a ghost or something saying something.

It would be impossible for a spirit to create sound in the first place. Think about it. What physical parts does a ghost have to create sound waves?

Oh yeah, I forgot, ghosts are about the size of dust particles, and they show up when you use the flash and they are close to the lens of the camera.......So they must have mass.

Answer 2

www.coasttocoastam.com often has - and I can't remember the name right now, but you can go to the website and punch in your search, evp's, whatever - such people that specialize in exactly what you're talking about.  The show is on the radio every night.  In NY it starts at 1 am, so adjust the time for where you are.. And they play many of the recordings on the air.  Some are just, well, totally too awesome!

Answer 3

I use digital now, no more tapes. It's so much easier not to deal with tapes and the direct-to-computer transfer is very convenient.

If I can't hear a voice right away, there are several proven techniques you can use to bring the voice out of the background.

* First, amplify it as much as possible.

* Then, use a noise reduction option to remove the hiss

* Try reversing the audio (run it backwards)

* Amplify it some more

* Expand the waveform to hear the ghosts talking really fast

* Speed it up and increase the pitch to hear the ghosts talking in the very low frequenies.

* Overlay a white noise generator on top of the waveform, then run a sequence of bandpass filters on it and another noise reduction step

* Amplify it some more.

* If all else fails, create multiple copies of the waveform and overlay them on top of each other, and offset each by 1 second. Then add some more white noise.

Good science in ghost hunting requires specialized techniques, as you can tell. Follow this procedure and I'm sure you'll get some outstanding EVPs.

Answer 4

I dont use tapes, I use a digital recorder, a digital camcorder that uses a hard drive, and digital cameras. that way there is no questioning the quality of the tapes or discs. I dont enhance any recordings. The use of tapes or discs can be affected by any magnetic source. They can be affected by temps and humidity. The evidence that is digital goes directly from the device to your computer eliminating human touch. Of course once on a computer they can be retouched or tampered with if the person is not honest.And yes, evps come in all languages, not just english.

Answer 5

Uh-oh.  It looks like some scientific skeptic is at work here.  If you keep asking these kinds of questions EVPs will fly out the window.

One thing I've always wanted to ask--are EVPs only in English?  This would be a good experiment: pull in a person who doesn't speak English in to listen to the recordings and I am almost certain he would find as many EVPs in Spanish as the ones found in English.  Or we could send TAPS to Argentina to investigate and see if they can find any English EVPs there.

Answer 6

Inkypink, a question that a paranormal investigator NEVER has to worry about is, "Am I being too scientific?"

If you're recording EVPs, then yes, use a blank tape every time. You can't be sure that it is completely erased if you re-use them. (EVPs are scientifically inadmissible anyway for a host of reasons, but if you're going to record them, might as well try to give it the best you can). Even better, use a digital voice recorder.

As far as manipulating the sound to make it sound more like a voice, well at that point I have to ask -- ghosts don't have vocal cords, so how can they create audible speech in the first place? And if they use electromagnetic fields to directly "imprint" their voice on the tape, why do EVPers use microphones? If you're going to jump into that level of speculative assumption, you might as well assume whatever you want about what's best to digitally manipulate the sound you've recorded.  Sorry I couldn't be of more help, but I am trying to be scientific here as well and there is very little about EVPs that is scientific.

Answer 7

I stopped using tapes a little while ago.  Most new digital recorders are much easier to use.  Tapes are a hassle and more likely to pickup junk like radio interference from ham radios and CB'ers.   I like to dump the audio into my iBook and use a program like Audacity to adjust levels and remove background noise. Some times you need a little help to clear up the sound.

Olympus makes a good line of low priced digital voice recorders that work well.

Answer 8

If I use a cassette recorder I always use sealed new cassettes.  I think it is a pretty good bet that they are clean if they are sealed.  And if it is sealed then there is no need to listen to it first.  With digitals, you don't have a tape, but you must check and recheck that you have nothing on the file you are using.  I am not into changing the tape speed etc.  not so sure that I would know how if I tried.  If you have anything on tape..you will be able to hear it .