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Electronic Voice Phenomena Recording Advice

Here I have outlined below some very basic guidelines to follow when attempting to record EVP.

EVP Recording Procedure

You have made the decision that you would like to attempt to record EVP and you have an audio recorder with an inbuilt or external microphone, what next?

If you would like to conduct experiments in your own home, like many researchers do, always opt for a quiet time of the day when noise contamination is at an absolute minimum.

When choosing an area to record, be sure to take into account any possible noise that may occur and always look out for items such as televisions, computers, mobile phones, barcode scanners and other electrical appliances that could cause interference.

Reducing noise contamination and the risk of electromagnetic or radio interference will make the analysis of your audio recordings much easier and will help to keep your experiments controlled.

Be sure to ask everyone who is taking part in your experiment to remain as quiet as possible.

Waterproof jackets, the shuffling of feet on wooden floors and even so much as somebody breathing heavily can provide much contamination to your recordings.

Always take the common sense approach.

At the start of your recording session it is best practice to always state:

The time
Date
location of recording
The name of persons present at the experiment and the type of equipment that you are using before attempting to receive any communication.

This will assist your analysis greatly, as it is very easy to lose track of recordings when conducting multiple experiments regularly. It is also recommended that you note down the weather conditions and the moon phase at the time of recording, sooner or later you may see a pattern emerging of the best times to record. Try making up a data sheet that you can fill in for each seperate recording session.

Now, imagine opening the front door of your home and inviting in everyone and anyone who passes by, sooner or later you are bound to encounter someone who has bad intentions, someone who will attempt to harm you, your home or your family.

Let us assume for a moment that we are indeed communicating with discarnate souls, people who once lived as we are now.

Your recording session has to be treated in exactly the same way, with the possibilty that you are indeed opening a doorway that everyone and anyone may enter.

This is why it is always important to focus on asking for positive communication only when attempting to record EVP.

Please always show the utmost respect to your would be communicators.

Ready to attempt communication?

It is not recommend using recorders set to 'voice activation' mode as there can be a short delay of a second or so when a voice is sensed before your recorder activates, which means the first word of any message picked up could be missed.

It is always good to prepare a list of questions before hand that you would like to pose during your experiments.

Try to initially focus on receiving information such as names, dates and locations as these are all checkable and can help to provide the best evidence.

Although it is nice to receive clear voices with random messages, it is sometimes difficult to work out their relevance without any additional information.

Always ensure that anyone asking questions does so loudly and clearly, as whispers can be mistaken for EVP!!

It is recommended that you leave at least 30 seconds in between questions for a response and try to remain as quiet as possible in that time.

By not leaving enough time in between questions, you risk losing part of any message that you may receive.

If any noise contamination does occur during the recording session, always note down the exact time that it occurs from the recorder's timer or tape counter.

This again will make analysis of your recording much easier.

If you are using a digital recorder, try to record only for a few minutes at a time, before stopping the recorder and then recommencing.

This will break down your recordings into smaller, separate files and will assist your analysis process greatly.

It is important to work on the basis that 1 minute of audio recordings can take up to 1 hour to analyse no matter whether you are using digital or analogue recorders.

Always try to keep your experiments short and controlled as there is no sense in sitting down to analyse hour after hour of audio recordings which can be quite exhausting.

Recordings need to be meticulously analysed and you may find, if you have many hours of recordings, that you are rushing through them.

Rushing the analysis process can be extremely counter-productive.

Audio Analysis Of EVP's

Are you ready to analyse your recordings?

Any audio recorder that has a headphone socket can be connected to a desktop or laptop computer that is equipped with a sound card.

Connect an audio lead from your recorder's headphone socket directly to the microphone socket on your computer and you are ready to go.

Many of the newer digital recorders on the market have the ability to load files to a computer via a USB port.

Your recordings can be analysed sufficiently in software programs such as:

Adobe Audition

Sony Sound Forge

Goldwave

Or the free program Audacity

which is available for download at http://audacity.sourceforge.net/.

Once your recorder is connected to the microphone socket on your computer, press the record button in your chosen software program and press play on your audio recorder simultaneously, your sound file will now be loading. The volume level that the recorder is set to will determine the decibel level of the sound file that is loaded to the computer. If you find that your recordings are not loud enough after loading them to a computer, simply turn up the volume level on the recorder and reload the audio file.

Now, that your recordings have been loaded to computer, you are now able to listen to them, break them down and save them accordingly.

You can also use features in the software programs such as hiss reduction, noise reduction, amplify and various filters that can be used to enhance the quality of any inexplicable voices contained your files.

These features should be used sparingly and the recordings should be kept as close to their raw state as possible.

Using these features too much on any recording is deemed 'over processing' and can damage your file.

You will know that you have 'over processed' a recording when it becomes difficult on the ear, which is when the 'Undo' feature comes in very handy!

Equally, these features can be extremely useful if used correctly, so please take time to experiment with and learn about the software that you are using.

Much information can also be learnt about your recordings within the software itself with features such as frequency analysis and spectral view.

It is recommend the use of earphones during analysis, although, please be aware of any sudden loud noises that occur during your recordings which could cause damage to your ears.

You will find that over a period of time you will develop an ear for hearing the distinct fast rhythm of an EVP voice and will naturally start to focus on other levels of noise within your recordings that you never noticed previously.

We liken this to listening to someone that speaks with a foreign accent, you may find them difficult to understand at first, but the more you hear them the more you get used to the distinct nature of their voice.

If you find that you have not successfully recorded any inexplicable voices then please persevere, you will find that during experimentation you will gradually receive more and more voices.

Once you capture that first elusive voice, there is no holding back.

For best results, we always recommend recording regularly at the same time of day.

It is very much like opening a doorway and waiting for somebody to walk through.

After their first visit, they will return many times if the doorway is opened regularly, and they may even tell their friends.........

EVP File Classification

It is important to label each EVP file depending on the clarity of the voice.

EVP researcher Dr Konstantin Raudive developed a method of classification in the 1970s that was far too complicated to remain practical.

This was reviewed by researcher Sarah Estep who developed a much more useful classification system that is now used as standard with EVP researchers around the world.

The classification sytem is as follows:

Class A: A voice that can be understood without the need for headphones and that people can generally agree on the content.
Class B: A voice that requires headphones to hear and not everyone can agree on its content.
Class C: A voice that requires much filtering and even by wearing headphones nobody can agree on its content.

Analogue Recorders

Up until the late 90's, analogue recorders were the only means of capturing EVP available to researchers.

From early reel to reel recorders to solid state professional audio recorders, there are many variations available.

It traditionally takes longer to capture EVP on an analogue recorder, but when you do, you will find that the voices are much clearer than that of digital with a higher volume of class A voices.

Many of today's researchers still prefer the use of analogue recorders during their experiments due to the clarity of the voices coming through.

You will find that analogue recordings contain a high level of background hiss, which is where many of the voices can be found during analysis.

We recommend the use of an external mic which should be positioned a few feet from the recorder to avoid the noisy mechanism of the recorder contaminating your recordings.

Always use a fresh tape when starting a new recording session as tapes can get worn over time.

Previous recordings may not be overwritten properly and may bleed through the tape into newer recordings.

Digital Recorders

The digital age is upon us and there are many digital audio recorders available on the market, from basic digital dictaphones to solid state professional digital audio recorders.

Digital recorders are extremely portable and most have an in built microphone. Many of them have a built in flash memory that can give you hours of recording at the touch of a button and files can be managed easily.

We have found that digital recorders are most effective for capturing EVP when used on the lowest quality settings.

These settings appear to generate a higher degree of background hiss which is where many of the voices can be found.

This is much like using white noise as carrier signal for EVP voices to come through.

One of the most talked about digital recorders for recording EVP is that of the Panasonic RR-DR60 IC Recorder.

The RR-DR60 is a voice activated recorder that has shown over time that it is highly effective for capturing EVP.

Inexplicable voices seem to come through on this recorder in abundance, even when used inside a Faraday Cage to rule out external interference.

Unfortunately many of voices captured on the RR-DR60 seem to be extremely distorted and require much work using filtering software.

None the less, these recorders are extremely interesting from a research point of view and many more experiments are required to find out why this recorder is so effective in comparison to other digital recorders.

Unfortunately the Panasonic RR-DR60 is hard to come by these days.

The Sony ICD range of recorders are also highly effective for capturing EVP and like many other digital recorders, can be slipped into your pocket and taken just about anywhere for experimentation purposes.

We recommend experimenting with many different digital recorders and comparing the results.

Digital Recorders