American Association
of
Electronic Voice Phenomena

EVP Techniques

Perhaps the most important function of AA-EVP is to facilitate the exchange of information about techniques members are using to record.  This section will focus on techniques and ideas for EVP.

Following then is the techniques Sarah Estep often uses 

The electronic voice phenomenon is the appearance of intelligible voices on recording tape which have no known physical explanation. Certain equipment, which is easily obtained and need not be expensive, and a good deal of patience and persistence is necessary. It is not necessary to be a psychic superstar or gifted medium to communicate with unseen worlds.

Tape Recorder--Paranormal voices have been recorded on all types of tape recorders. Because of the vocal quality of the voice, however, it is advisable to use either an open reel or a cassette tape deck rather than a portable tape recorder with a built-in microphone. Tape recorders of this nature tend to be noisy and in most cases will overshadow the faint voices which first begin to speak. Whatever type of tape recorder is chosen be sure it has a counter.

Amplifier--Since a tape deck does not have an amplifier it will be necessary to use one into which the tape recorder can be plugged. There is a wide price range. The one you choose should be of high quality with low noise characteristics but it is not necessary to buy the most expensive one on the market. Many home stereo systems have an outlet for a tape recorder. If you have a stereo, check and see if there is a connection for a recorder. If so, you can play your tape recorder through that and avoid the cost of an amplifier.

Microphone--A microphone should always be used while recording. In this way, you will have a record, on tape, of the date and time you made your recordings as well as questions asked during the recording. Some entities also seem to use the microphone in order to answer your questions as well as make comments of their own. The omnidirectional electret condenser microphone is sensitive and gives good results.

Headphones--Headphones should always be worn when playing a tape back. Since the paranormal voice is not load, especially in-the early months of recording, many voices will be missed unless headphones are used. These should be plugged into the amplifier. The ear-muff type which completely covers the ear are better than the flat type.

Tape--Any low noise, high sensitivity tape may be used. Regular tape is recommended rather than high-density tape which generally has a higher residual noise level than regular tape. If a cassette tape deck is used for recording, I prefer the 60-minute tape (30 minutes each side). Longer tapes at times become entangled with the inner mechanism and parts may be destroyed as you free it.

Speaker--A separate speaker is not necessary but is a welcome addition. Without the speaker, only someone wearing headphones can hear a tape as it is played back. With the speaker, everyone in the room can hear. It is also helpful to the experimenter. When he hears an unusually loud, clear voice during playback, he can take off the headphones and replay the segment through the external speaker. Then he can classify the voices as Class A, B, or C.

It is not necessary to spend a great deal of money in order to start recording voices. If you have some of the equipment mentioned, use it. Later on, if you decide to continue working in the field, you will have a better idea what needs to be replaced, or the type of equipment you prefer.

Scheduling-- Although voices will speak on tape at any time of day or night it is advisable, especially at the beginning, to have a regular time and place to do your recording. The time chosen should be that which is most convenient for you. Wherever you set up your recording equipment, try to find a place that will be quiet and free of interruption as you record. A seldom used room, or a corner in the basement, might be considered. It is better to make one or two short recordings every day, or as frequently as possible, than one long recording once or twice a week. Those in the next dimension will learn when and where to expect you, and then will begin to try to speak

Announcements--A short prayer and then an invitation to friends, known and unknown, in the unseen world to join you, who come in love, peace and truth is recommended as you start to record. This can be followed with the date and time and the question: "Do I have spirit world friends here?" After a pause of a minute or so to allow those on the other side to reply who are able to, another question can be asked, followed by a pause and so on. All of this should be done with the microphone turned on and the tape recorder recording. If the taper wishes to speak to a specific friend or loved one in the next dimension, he should ask helpers on the other side to please get this person for him. For best results, it is advised to make this request as you end recording for the day. As an example: "When I return tomorrow, I would especially like to speak to my mother, Mary Smith. If you would please try to bring her to me, I will be very grateful."

Recordings should be limited to five minutes. Since playback of the recording just completed takes so long (a five minute recording may take half an hour to play back to be sure none of the voices have been missed) short recordings are strongly recommended. Announcements, questions and comments should be to the point, courteous and conducted in a matter-of-fact way. Although it is natural to want to establish contact with a friend, try to limit these contacts. Remember they have their own, new busy life to live and we do an injustice to them if we try to call them forth continuously. We can better spend our time tying to find out, through our tape recorder, as much as possible about the next dimension. It is helpful to those on the other side to give feedback as you start each new recording. Briefly mention, on tape, what you have succeeded in picking up from them in the previous recording. In this way, they know what has come through and what hasn't. It is also a good idea when you end recording to say, "I'm going to stop recording for now but I will try to return soon and I hope I will have many friends present at that time who will be able to speak in a good, clear Class A voice and answer my questions. Thank you for being here today."

After this, let the recording run for about a minute. Frequently after your final announcement a paranormal voices will have a final message of its own. When recordings are made at night it is not necessary that they be done in the dark.

Playback--As mentioned, it takes a long time to play a recording back. The paranormal voice is not heard until tape playback. Eventually they become stronger and clearer but at first we cannot expect many Class A voices. The voices may speak in whispers so the experimenter should be alert for this. We should also not expect to tape voices every time we sit down to record. It may take several months, or longer, for the first voice to come through. This is why patience and persistence and a regular schedule are so important. Once voices begin to speak, they seem to learn through practice how to come through more frequently as well as to improve in quality.

There are different techniques that can be used to record paranormal voices. We will look at the two which are used the most often.

Straight Microphone--Turn on the microphone, push the record button on the tape recorder and begin your first announcement. Some individuals prefer this method. There is less background noise and with straight microphone recordings, there is less controversy. At the same time, the voices, which are recorded this way, are usually faint with few Class A voices being taped.

Microphone with Background Sound Source--Since the paranormal voice uses sounds in the environment to help with its voice manifestation, the experimenter can deliberately supply these sounds. This can be done in several ways, The best, and the one the voices seem to prefer, is to turn a radio on, volume low, to an inactive channel. Some radios have an air-band channel, 108- 136 MHz. Tuning such a radio to 125-130 MHz can bring good results. It is good to tune your radio between two channels (FM or Air-band) where there is some earth plane break-in. The paranormal voice will use, at times, the voice of the earth plane radio operator to help in his own communication. The experimenter needs to be careful, however, not to attribute the earth plane break-in to a paranormal voice. He also should be careful to keep the volume down or it will overshadow the paranormal voice. At the same time it needs to be loud enough to be faintly heard in order for those in the next dimension to be able to benefit from it.

Keeping a Log-- The experimenter should develop a good record-keeping system for recordings and their results. As soon as a message is recorded, the date, time, place on the counter where the message is received, the message itself, and the question asked should be entered in the log. Each tape should be properly labeled, including tape number and side to correspond with the log.

Some EVP experimenters have discovered that they have voices on the reverse side of recorded tapes. The taper makes a recording in the usual way and then upon the conclusion he turns the tape over and plays it in reverse. If he has recorded from 0-50, he would turn it over where he has stopped--in this case 50--and play it back to 0 or the start of the days recording. It is at this point that the voices are heard. They are not heard on the forward side of the tape. Take the following procedure step by step.

First: Take both reels off your recorder. Turn both reels to the other side.

Second: Place the right reel on the left spindle and the left reel on the right spindle,

Third: Give one twist to the tape on the left side, just before it starts to play back through the recording head. In most tapes the shiny side of the tape is now up.

Fourth: Push your play button and the tape will start to play in reverse. As soon as you hear your voice speaking gibberish, you will know you have completed the transaction correctly. The paranormal voice will be clear and easily interpreted.

The reverse voices need sounds, just as the forward voices do. Best results are obtained using your radio. If you want to preserve these reverse voices, you must duplicate them or else continue your next recording a counter or two after the last reverse voice is received. Unless you do this, they will be erased, as the forward voices are, when you rerecord the next time. Reverse voices are not an occasional thing. They speak almost as often on the reverse side as on the forward side. There are also reverse voices on the wrong side of cassette tapes. After making a cassette recording, have it duplicated onto a reel to reel tape. Then turn the reel tape over as described above and play it in reverse. This will be, in effect, a play through of a cassette tape on its wrong side. If you don't

have a reel to reel recorder ask a friend to duplicate the reverse side of your cassette tape as he is playing it on his reel recorder, back onto a cassette tape. You will then have a copy of the cassette recording you have made--as it sounds in reverse and can listen to it at your leisure.

Sarah Estep

Notes About Reversing a Cassette Tape Player

It is possible to reverse some cassette tape players.  The type of player that plays in both directions, usually have a mechanical mechanism to move the read head for reverse playing.  If you can disable that mechanism, so that the read head remains in the same  position as it is for forward playing, then it will in effect, read the reverse side of the tape.

I have modified a two-deck Pioneer component and a cheep hand-held player.  It just takes a sacrificial player and a little ingenuity.

AA-EVP

Recording Sound into a Computer

These instructions apply to a PC type computer.

Some EVP experimenters use the computer as a tool for editing sound tracks, reviewing what they have recorded either in a computer or on a tape recorder and for sending samples via email.  Getting sound into the computer can be complicated, and each version of Windows poses different solutions.  In general, these are the steps you should look for:

The computer should have a LINE IN somewhere.  It may be on a speaker, but it is probably on the back of your computer.  If all you have is a MICROPHONE IN jack, then you may need to use an impedance matching cord.  (It can get to be complicated trying to match inputs and outputs, so the best thing to do is plug in a see if it works.)  An impedance matching cord is designed to connect the low impedance of the SPEAKER OUT jack in a recorder (around 8 ohms) to the high impedance of the LINE IN jack of the computer (around 10K ohms).  Such a cord is available at Radio Shack.

You want to connect your tape recorder to the computer--ideally LINE OUT of the tape recorder to LINE IN of the computer.  Connecting the tape recorder HEADPHONE  or SPEAKER OUT jack to the MICROPHONE IN jack of the computer may work, or any combination of these.  If there is any problem, it will show up as a recording level problem or noise.

If you have Cool Edit, then you can use it as a tape recorder.  If not, on a PC, look under START, PROGRAMS, ACCESSORIES, ENTERTAINMENT for something like a SOUND RECORDER.  You can use that as a tape recorder as well.

Go to START, SETTINGS, CONTROL PANEL and open something like SOUNDS AND MEDIA.  (It is good to make a shortcut for this icon on your desk top so that you can get to it easier.)  You will see a SOUND PLAYBACK and a SOUND RECORDING VOLUME button.  Click on the recording button and you will see that you can select LINE IN or MICROPHONE IN volume controls (Windows 2000 me).  These need to agree with the input jack you use.

The rest is just like running a tape recorder.  Most of the time, you will be able to simply plug in and begin recording.  Also, different tape recorders and microphones work in different ways on the computer, so switch things around to make it work.  A very good microphone MAY not work while a cheep one designed for the computer will.

There are considerations about the best type of file you should use for saving sound tracks.  Some people are beginning to save in MP3, which has a higher compression ratio than the usual WAVE file, but WAVE is still the standard.  Cool Edit is by Syntrillium, and can be downloaded from http://www.syntrillium.com/cooledit/index.html.  Other editing software may be good, but Cool Edit seems to be the standard.  A license to operate their software is not too costly.

The higher sample rate you use, the more memory the sound track will take.  16 to 22 K is good, but in reality, much lower samples should work.  (Our target frequency range is around 100 Hz to 3KHz.  For 3 KHz, you only need to sample 6 KHz to recover the data in digital.)


Editing sound with Cool Edit

In Cool Edit 2000, we have found that you can select a few seconds of sound track that has typical noise but no voice (or no suspected voice).

• Under TRANSFORM, NOISE REDUCTION, you click on GET PROFILE FROM SELECTION.

• When the application has finished, click on CLOSE (do not click on OK) and then select the entire sound track.

• Then open the NOISE REDUCTION window again and click on OK.  This will filter the entire sound track based on the profile of the previously selected noise.  (You can undo this if you do not like the results.  Just make sure UNDO is enabled.)

• Depending on the uniformity of the noise on the track, what will be left is other "intelligence," such as the voices.