The EVP Guide

p>Posted on Paranormal Newsbreak by Amanda

EVP's have been prominent since the 1840's. So, how does a person begin to try to capture EVP's? And are some recording devices better than others?

I suspect that if a person interested in learning more about how to capture EVP's asked several teams how they do it, the answer would be different every time. So this is just my guide to EVP's, and how my team and I have gotten great success.

First, lets start with recording devices. There are several different ways you can try to capture an EVP. Some prefer to use analog recorders (the big recorders that take cassette tapes), so lets start there. The first thing to remember when recording onto an analog recorder is to never reuse tapes, and never tape on both sides of a tape. The reasoning behind this is: If you record on both sides of the tape, or even record over the one side you use, there is possible bleed through on the tape. So, the main rules to using analog recorders is to never reuse tapes, and to never record on both sides.

Next, we have digital recorders. Most digital recorders to come with a USB Port of some kind to make it very easy to upload all recorded files onto your computer. However, some do NOT come with the USB Ports. So when shopping for a good recorder, that is the first thing to look for. If you buy a recorder that does not have a USB Port, uploading the files onto your computer would be very difficult. The next thing to keep in your mind is: The higher the price, does not mean a better recorder. You can find recorders on EBay, Amazon, and other online stores. However, in most cases, they do put 'Ghost Hunting', 'Paranormal', or other similar phrases some where in the title, to help raise the price. I have noticed this in my research for paranormal equipment. The main type of recorder my team uses are RCA, which you can find at Wal-Mart, for very cheap. We have captured some amazing EVP's since we've began investigating with the RCA recorders. So always remember, price doesn't mean quality.

Now, we'll talk about techniques. In my opinion, there is no right or wrong ways to do things in this field. Everyone has their own opinions, and techniques. And a huge variety of things work differently for other people. It's all about experimenting, and finding out what works best for you, or your team. With my team, we try to ask as many questions as we can, no matter how 'silly' it may sound. We always space each question out at least 15 seconds between each other. However, we have also had very good luck discussing things we see/hear/feel during that moment, and have captured some Class A EVP's talking over us. So we always keep the rule in the back of our heads that if they want to be heard, they will talk over you. This does NOT mean you should be loud during EVP Sessions. This just means that if you're discussing things among yourselves, that the chances of you capturing good EVP's is still there.

Next, when doing EVP Sessions, always try to set your recorder on a flat surface. If you're holding your recorder, the slightest move can transfer onto the recording, and you could have ruined your best piece of evidence. Always try to set the recorder down, to eliminate the possibility of contamination.

The last tip I'll give is to always try to put your recorder some where where there will not be any type of interference. Many investigators have multiple recorders, so while they're at a location they can have one in several rooms, while they go to other parts of the location to investigate, leaving the recorder(s) on its own. You do not want to leave a recorder some where for several hours, only to find during review that half of your file was contaminated by someone's random talking.

Now that you know a few tips on EVP's, go out, and see what you can get, using these tips.