11 replies to this topic

[Annie H]

One night, my friend and I decided to record our voices while we were playing Ouija board to see if we could get an EVP. We used her video recording on her digital camera. The lights were out, so you couldn't see anything on the video, all you could hear was our voices. A few months later, my friend came up to me and asked me to listen closely and you could hear a faint voice saying "please help me" after I said something really goofy.

Tonight I feel an urge to try to capture an EVP. Would it be okay if I used my digital camera video recording thing? I do not have a tape player, and it's 10:20 pm. And I don't feel like going to get one, lol!

[Justa]

I'm going to move this thread to the Equipment thread, where it should get the attention it deserves. If you do catch an evp, please post it here for us to hear, if possible.

Thank you.

[aloha_spirit]

Sorry that you haven't received much help yet.

Digital equipment records distinct values at specific intervals (known as the sample rate). Analog equipment records and infinite number of values continuously. When you convert from analog to digital, you lose all that additional information. You must decide if that loss is significant to you.

You already captured "please help me", so you could continue to use the same recording device for now, but be sure to use fresh media for each recording session - you don't want any artifacts (the digital equivalent of double exposure).

[CaveRat2]

Anything you capture on a camcorder is subject to the limitations of the recording medium. Camcorders generally don't have very good quality audio circuitry. (Of course if you are using high end equipment that may not be true. (Depends on your equipment). Also the gain on many camcorders is not on a par with audio only equipment so it won't be quite as sensitive. Which doesn't mean you can't use it, only that it may not be as effective as audio recorders are.

I prefer using analog audio tape to avoid the loss of data that occurs with digital recording. Again, the better quality equipment will respond better witha lower noise level. But it comes with a higher cost factor, you get what you pay for.

[YankeePyrate]

That, and shoeboxes upon shoeboxes full of dud tapes that you can't reuse.

[CaveRat2]

Actually that is a misconception. You can reuse tapes. But there is a caveat...

All tapes, even new ones should be bulk erased before use. Even new tapes may have magnetic anomalies embedded on them from the manufacturing process. Thus they should be bulk erased before use to insure these anomalies are removed. Now, if you are going to bulk erase them, doing the same to a previously used tape will also insure it is clean. Thus you can reuse tapes provided you do what you should be doing anyway; bulk erasing. The limiting factor on number of times to reuse is tape condition. Obviously if a tape shows signs of wear, slipping, or binding in the cassette case it should be trashed. Otherwise reuse them.

[YankeePyrate]

Interesting! Thanks for the tip! Maybe I'll dig out my cassette recorders and have another go at them. FWIW, they always did seem more likely to pick up strong evp than the digital toys....so what is involved in bulk erasing? Need any special gear?

[CaveRat2]

It is a device made for that purpose. I use a Geneva PF-215. It has a stronger field and will do video tapes as well as cassette, some others are weaker and will only do cassette tapes. You can do a search on them, they are available from many sources online. Prices vary depending on make / model. $50 - $200,

[tiedyekeith]

Audacity is a multitrack recorder but, that doesn't mean you can use it to record a single track or stereo, for that matter.......and it functions off your computers standard sound card input/output connections....meaning, you can use your laptop, and if you have a headset for talking in chat rooms or the like, you can use that headset as a MIC and plug it into your laptop, fire up audacity and it's pretty easy from there to start recording.....plus audacity records in WAV format which is superior to mp3 formats which compresses the data to make you think you are hearing all the data is cuts out.....

audacity is free and shareware...... CLICK HERE
to get the free download......it's one of the better digital recorders out there...and
you didn't hear this from me but, you can make it record whatever comes out of your computers speakers (thus going through your sound card) meaning you can capture streaming audio from any web site and capture it to reply whenever you desire.!

Peace and Love in all their forms to you and yours,
Tiedye Keith

[Jez]

Hey i am new here but i recently got an EVP using Audacity 1.3 If any1 would like to here it or check it out let me know. I am not sure where or how to send it as i only have a 56k modem and it may be a bit big but its worth it as it's pretty conveincing and a bit scary for me anyways. I am living in this house and been haunted constantly by what so far i read up on is a succubus so it ain't hard to get more even though from this evp you can tell she or it don't like it much. I used silence removal and amplification to get it.

Jez

[OMPRDave]

Noise removal and amplification only enhance what you already have. If you enhance your recordings too much, they are virtually useless as far as trying to prove a possible EVP.

[CaveRat2]

Jez, on Oct 18 2008, 04:36 PM, said:

Hey i am new here but i recently got an EVP using Audacity 1.3 If any1 would like to here it or check it out let me know. I am not sure where or how to send it as i only have a 56k modem and it may be a bit big but its worth it as it's pretty conveincing and a bit scary for me anyways. I am living in this house and been haunted constantly by what so far i read up on is a succubus so it ain't hard to get more even though from this evp you can tell she or it don't like it much. I used silence removal and amplification to get it.

Jez

First of all, if you use a high quality recorder, not one of those cheap voice recorders with limited bandwidth, noise is generally not a problem. Also EVPs which require a lot of processing just to be heard likely are not EVPs a t all, rather simply artifacts from the recording process. Those I discard.

I recommend using a good quality recorder and forgetting any processing at all. Most valid EVPs come through quite clearly without creating them on a computer. I use all analog filtering for any EVPs I get, and that only to clarify something I already hear just to be sure about it when some doubt exists. And the original is, in all cases , preserved unaltered; the filtering is only applied as I play it back during study.