x
therecordingart 3 March 2005

I was contacted by someone to ask if I'm familiar with EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomena). In a nutshell, this person wants me to record silence in their house and see if I would record spirits talking. I'm somewhat familiar with the techniques that the paranormal scientists use to do this, but I wanted to first find out from you guys if you think it is bogus. This lady is willing to pay me handsomely, but I'm a little wishy-washy about doing it.

If any of you have done it with success. how did you do it? :?

Comments

drumist69 Thu, 03/03/2005 - 17:47

from what I've seen...

Never seen this first-hand, mind you, but everything I've seen about this usually involves a plain old tape recorder...so if someone's willing to pay you nicely to bring in high-end gear to record what may be nothing, why the hell not!!! I'd say, if she's paying you, make the most of it! Bring your best gear, try recording with a variety of mics, etc...have fun with it!

Reggie Fri, 03/04/2005 - 09:02

"Home Recording" That's funny. :lol:

I think recording this stuff works better with previously used tape, on a recorder that is not grounded. This way you can possibly pick up some sound (maybe even backwards ooOOoo) from the tape that didn't get fully erased, and perhaps a little RF interference for added effect. Boost up the volume afterwards so your client can hear "the voices" well, and let them make their own interpretations. Works like a charm 8-)

moonbaby Fri, 03/04/2005 - 09:39

I have recorded a few EVP sessions in the last 3 years. Make a point of keeping the mics away from windows and mirrors...I tell the client that spirits avoid these...I use an Otari MX5050 analog reel-to-reel. That monster looks very imposing, with the big 10" reels rolling at 15ips and lit-up meters. If you run the mic pre/mixer through a DSP effects processor set to "stepped-flange" type of program, it will yield a more ethereal "voice" to whatever the mics pick up.

anonymous Sat, 03/05/2005 - 07:18

Arthur.. I would take this lady seriously. Don't do anything that would alter the recording. Do a professional job as you would do recording a band. If nothing comes out , nothing comes out. On the outside chance "something" does get recorded she will most likely have you back. More money. A word of caution. They do say that people who seek such things opens themselves up to what ever they might find :twisted: No, I'm am not joking. If it was me I would pass :shock:

therecordingart Sat, 03/05/2005 - 10:01

Yeah....I think I'm going to stay away from this. I attempted some white noise recordings and plain cassette recordings. Just using noise filters and amplification I was able to find voice patterns in both wave forms, but was unable to make them clear. Keep in mind I was the only person in my house at the time and all of our televisions/radios were off.

That was enough to scare the hell out of me because I did this is my own house.

took-the-red-pill Sat, 03/05/2005 - 21:13

Phantom power. Now THAT'S funny

I tried to record the voices in my head once, but all that came out sounded just like me.

This reminds me. Go listen to Bill Cosby, "The Chicken Heart" Just make sure you're close to the bathroom.

Actually I have always...hey...did you hear that? No not that. That's just the furnace kicking in. I meant the other thing. It sounded like a big huge hairy AAAAUUUUGGGGHHH!!!!............

anonymous Mon, 03/07/2005 - 02:21

therecordingart wrote: I was contacted by someone to ask if I'm familiar with EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomena). In a nutshell, this person wants me to record silence in their house and see if I would record spirits talking. I'm somewhat familiar with the techniques that the paranormal scientists use to do this, but I wanted to first find out from you guys if you think it is bogus. This lady is willing to pay me handsomely, but I'm a little wishy-washy about doing it.

If any of you have done it with success....how did you do it? :?

The customer is always right, isn't he/she? So take her money seriousley, and record that silence, and let her find what she wants in it.

anonymous Mon, 03/07/2005 - 08:10

actually you will find EVP in just about any recording you make anywhere as long as there is sufficient noise. that is because it doesn't depend on what you are recording, but rather how you are listening to it. the ear + brain system "likes" to find patterns in things (just as the eye + brain do) and so it will "try" to recognize things even in random noise. this has been proven again and again by psychologists, for just about all the senses: our perceptual mechanisms make the patterns that we recognize as real so we tend to hear things like voices in noise.
[i don't know much about professional recording processes, but part of my research involves creating haunted sensations through physical phenomena!]

Reggie Mon, 03/07/2005 - 15:56

Whoa, whoa guys. Who said pointing a mic in an empty house is going to summon demons and such? Maybe we should all be careful next time we record guitars or whatnot in our houses then. Sumaya have seen a few too many movies....
I would just set the crap up, hit record, and leave. Come back the next day, put it on some CDs for the crazy lady, and let her have a good ole time jamming to her white noise CD's. She'll probably wind up thinking that cars driving by and furnaces blowing are spirits, but don't let that convince or worry you.
I fail to see how humoring a crazy old lady by recording her house is evil in any way.

anonymous Tue, 03/08/2005 - 00:23

acousticman wrote: Mr Phil.... Hoax?

Chundle ...Psychologists?

If you don't believe in a higher force than I can see where your coming from. But if you DO believe in a higher force than you best believe in a WAY lower one. Enough said.

Yes, well I'm sorry. "The truth" just isn't "out there".

anonymous Tue, 03/08/2005 - 08:42

MrPhil wrote:
Yes, well I'm sorry. "The truth" just isn't "out there".

i dunno what that is suppose to mean. but if you believe in anything, god, the bible, you better believe that there are demons. not that this is any proof but it reminds me of a quote from a movie "The greatest trick the devil ever played was convincing the world he didn't exist. "

Reggie Tue, 03/08/2005 - 12:13

MrPhil wrote:

Yes, well I'm sorry. "The truth" just isn't "out there".

For you, no. Keep in mind "the truth" is a matter of faith. As far as I know, there is no way to prove/disprove either way. Except for all the eerie coincidences that have created our extremely diverse and complex existence. And I guess all those old dudes' writings and such.

But I'm with you on one thing: Pointing a microphone in a house is very unlikely going to open a portal to hell.

This unique thread gets a 8-)

anonymous Tue, 03/08/2005 - 23:50

Reggie wrote: [quote=MrPhil]

Yes, well I'm sorry. "The truth" just isn't "out there".

Keep in mind "the truth" is a matter of faith.

I would say that the truth is a matter of fact, not faith. But that is just my opinion of course.
People can believe in santa, or trolls, or faireys or whatever. But I can't take them seriously. 8)

anonymous Wed, 03/09/2005 - 00:12

imloggedin wrote: [quote=MrPhil]
Yes, well I'm sorry. "The truth" just isn't "out there".

i dunno what that is suppose to mean. but if you believe in anything, god, the bible, you better believe that there are demons. not that this is any proof but it reminds me of a quote from a movie "The greatest trick the devil ever played was convincing the world he didn't exist. "

No, I don't believe in God, nor Allah or Shiva. I don't believe in the devil or demons either. Nor do I believe in ghosts, aura, witches, zombies, UFOs being space ships, spirits of your ancestors, the loch ness beast, the sun rotating around earth, or santa claus.
The devils best trick? Or is it the church's best warning to keep people under preasure? Religion and faith has been THE greatest tool for control and power along human history.
"On the day man discovered his own death, he created God."

Cucco Wed, 03/09/2005 - 08:38

MrPhil wrote: I would say that the truth is a matter of fact, not faith. But that is just my opinion of course.
People can believe in santa, or trolls, or faireys or whatever. But I can't take them seriously. 8)

Truth and Fact are 2 completely different things.

The truth is - the sky is blue.

The fact is - the sky is transparent, but due to the bending of the light based on the shape of the planet and the elements within the atmosphere that block certain colors, the sky appears blue.

We have "faith" (a word I associate with ignorance in many situations, but not all) that the sky is blue and therefore, we hold it to be true.

However, that does not change the fact that, non of the gases in the sky emit a blue color.

Just some thoughts.
J

anonymous Fri, 03/11/2005 - 03:51

Cucco wrote: [quote=MrPhil]I would say that the truth is a matter of fact, not faith. But that is just my opinion of course.
People can believe in santa, or trolls, or faireys or whatever. But I can't take them seriously. 8)

Truth and Fact are 2 completely different things.

The truth is - the sky is blue.

The fact is - the sky is transparent, but due to the bending of the light based on the shape of the planet and the elements within the atmosphere that block certain colors, the sky appears blue.

We have "faith" (a word I associate with ignorance in many situations, but not all) that the sky is blue and therefore, we hold it to be true.

However, that does not change the fact that, non of the gases in the sky emit a blue color.

Just some thoughts.
J

It just comes down to how you define "sky".
Is it what you see, standing on the ground looking up?
Or is it a layer in our atmospeher at a certain height from sea level?
The sky appears blue, but the fact and truth is, it isn't. :wink:

anonymous Fri, 03/11/2005 - 09:36

It just comes down to how you define "sky".
Is it what you see, standing on the ground looking up?
Or is it a layer in our atmospeher at a certain height from sea level?
The sky appears blue, but the fact and truth is, it isn't. :wink:

Let me just say this is a very intersting topic. It is was a fun read and then your brought philosophy in it and made it that much better. So this brings in my two favorite interests. Philosophy and audio recording. I'm a undergrad student in philosophy right now so this is really interesting to me.

So let me throw out my views. First God's existence can not be proved. If God's existence could be proved he would lose some of his powers and most importantly your ability to choose. Because part of an religion is you have to make the choice to choose to believe or not.

Secondly concerning truths and language. There are objective truths apart from our experiences. Though since we are fallible we get things wrong. Like saying the sky is blue is not a truth. The it is an truth that "the sky appears blue to us" Anything you say that starts of It appears to me will be a subjective truth and will always be correct, as long as you are saying what you truly percieve. The main problem is our language is not perfect so we can't fully describe everything.

In regard to recording white noise. I think of this as a placebo effect. If your looking for something, you'll find it in the white noise. Another thing to realize is that there are radio frequencys floating around in the air. What you could be hearing is just the equipment picking up those weak signals. I used to have an acoustic that if you plugged it into an amp you could pick up radio signals. The point of this is that there probably is a reasonable explanation but because we are looking for something else we jump to conclusions.
Andrew

John Stafford Sat, 03/12/2005 - 09:26

There's a device called a goniometre that was invented by an Estonian-born scientist (I think) in the early part of the Twentieth Century. This has nothing to do with the similarly named device that is used in medical imaging equipment!

To do this properly isn't easy, and plugging a mic into a tape machine is not the same as using a goniometre as far as I know, as the source of the hiss is important. Someone PLEASE correct me if I'm wrong about this, because it's a long time since I last read anything on the subject.

Even if this stuff ever worked, an original goniometre probably wouldn't work today given that there's so much electronic pollution.

I remember hearing some of these recordings and they sounded really cool!

John Stafford

PS I thought the sky was black with lots of tiny white bits. Maybe it changes when I return to my coffin for my nap :lol:

x

User login