Electronic Voice Phenomena otherwise known as EVP is the communication with spirits using tape recorders and is a very interesting subject which should not be ignored.
If you are a keen paranormal investigator, you would already have heard of EVP and perhaps have an idea of what it is all about. For those who are not familiar with the topic we will explain to you what it is: EVP is what you are looking to find by performing an audio recording during your investigation, to pick up disembodied sounds and voices which may be present. In another article we discussed the use of still cameras and the fact that they are capable of detecting things that our human senses can not. The same goes for electronic recordings - tape recordings can help us detect more than we can with our own ears. Not to mention that the ability to rewind and listen to sounds which we hear time and time again, to help us explain what we hear. One great thing about performing an EVP investigation is the fact that technology available today can make the reviewing of our recordings very easy and interesting. The ability to transfer recordings to a personal computer allows us to adjust the speed of the playback and perhaps even reverse the recording so that it plays backwards. Often slowing down the recording provides some interesting listening.
If you do not have access to a PC or do not have the software required, you can use a cassette recorder to adjust the speed. Many Dictaphones (excluding digital Dictaphones) have two speed settings which allow you to playback at different speeds. Cassette recorders that can play the tape backwards are available in a very limited supply now, due to the extremely low demand for cassette recorders, which have largely been replaced by digital machines.
The most popular setup to record EVP is to use a cassette recorder in conjunction with a sensitive microphone (we use a boundary microphone). The external microphone is far more sensitive than the cassette recorders internal microphone and has a wider listening angle which is effective at picking up sounds within an entire room. Some investigators use white noise as a background, to help identify EVP when listening to the recording. The use of white noise is a personal preference and by no means a necessary addition.
Before you start your recording it often pays off to try to determine the best locations and times for it to take place. If you are visiting a location that is known to be haunted or a haunting is suspected. What time of day do eye witnesses report strange happenings and in which rooms etc? You would then place your recording equipment in the room that activity has been reported, at the time when activity is at its greatest, to increase your chances of obtaining some exciting results. If you are visiting an unknown location you may wish to place your equipment in the coldest room or a location which your experience using EMF meters indicates activity.
You may wish to put some security measures in place, to ensure that the room which you are performing the recording is not tampered with during the investigation. If you are unable to lock the room, using an alarm will alert you to anybody disturbing your recording.
Once you have finished your recording, ensure that you write the location, time and date on the cassette and place it into its case to protect it. When you sit down to review your recordings, overcoming the urge to fast forward can be extremely difficult - Do not fast forward. It is important that you listen to the entire tape and make a note of the tape counter reading when you hear something. If what you hear can not be understood, you then adjust the playback speed to try and make sense of the sound. It is often very hard to keep concentration when listening to a recording with largely contains little sound. We would advise listening to perhaps 10 to 20 minutes at a time and take a break. Ensure that you do not have any background noise such as a TV or radio when listening to your recordings as the sounds can sometimes been extremely feint (voices often appear as whispers).
Next time you take part in an investigation, experiment with EVP. The results may surprise you. Get hold of a cassette recorder, a good external microphone, a pack of 90 minute tapes and plenty of batteries and go capture those voices.
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