This question was submitted by Carl from New Jersey. Carl’s first question can be found HERE.

“Thanks for your response. Yes, we both have Sony digitals. The one I purchased came with all those things you listed, USB port, software, etc. However my bro, being a penny pincher opted for the basic Sony digital which we will return for another like mine. I did manage to utilize your tutorial, and got enough info out to cut an EVP, and I took your advice and didn’t make any modifications to it.

Now, if I were to investigate this EVP further what should I use? Let me best describe what I have, and that might help. Ok, we set up two digital. One is on what I considered a hotspot, the second floor hall. The other is in a bedroom. Now, you can hear us on the hall digital, setting up bedroom digital, and then you hear us leave the house. It seems as soon as we left the house, a saddened long moan happened. I managed to cut it, and make a file for it. I tried to figure out what it’s saying. I read on your tutorial that we shouldn’t mess with the EVP because then we might end up creating it through our own imagination. So what’s my best thing here to do with this voice EVP if I can’t work on it? Whats another way I might be able to hear what its saying?

Thanks again

Carl”

Hey Carl, I’m glad you got the technical side working well. Also, if you look at the comments submitted on your last question, you’ll notice that Bigdogg795 had some GREAT advice for anyone who may need software for their Sony digital recorders. If any of you reading this have a different brand then Sony, you might want to check out the company’s website for the recorder you have. They may have software available for download as well.

As for your EVP questions. The whole thing can be a touchy subject. On one hand you believe that you have an EVP. On the other hand, filtering will distort, and take away the credibility, and authenticity of the file, and not to mention it will sway YOUR opinion of it.

Some readers may not understand those points I’ve just made, so I’ll briefly explain. (If you don’t care to read the explanation, skip down to the next bolded black sentence.)

First off, if you alter your ‘evidence’ you take away from its purity, and you make it a LOT less credible. Take evidence that has been tampered with into a court of law. Watch what happens. ANY lawyer or judge will tell you that it is a VERY bad idea to tamper with evidence. It’s just my opinion that we should hold the paranormal community and our evidence to equally high standards. If not, what’s the point? We’re risking looking like fools to anyone with an independent thought… or even a brain.

Secondly, I’m sure that many of you have visited other paranormal sites that display their ‘evidence’ for the world to see. This happens in pictures, video, AND audio where we, as readers are being told what to think, or see. Personally, I don’t go for that crap. I think for myself… If I’m allowed to.

For example, you go to a website, and see a picture of a “ghost’s face”. The investigation team was kind enough to digitally circle the face on the picture so you know exactly where to look for this ‘face’. At that point, you DO see the face. Why? Because they showed you a face. That doesn’t mean a face is actually there(doesn’t mean that it’s not either). It means that the people that own the picture saw a face, and want YOU to see what they see. Because you’re told ahead of time, and shown exactly where to look, your brain sees it.

It’s the same thing if I look up at a cloud and say, “Hey look, it’s a turtle!” That’s when you look at the cloud, and see a turtle.

The same thing happens with EVP, and audio anomalies, but even MORE often than it does in pictures. You visit a site, they show you their “EVP’s” and right next to EVERY file, they tell you exactly what the “ghost” is saying. You read that this so-called EVP is saying “Help me.” You listen to it, and that’s EXACTLY what you hear because that little phrase has been put into your mind. It’s impossible to control the things that pop into our heads and sway our opinions of other things. And when we’re being TOLD what to put into our heads… Theres no way to avoid it.

Frankly, I see this on sites, and I don’t even bother to listen to them anymore. It’s a waste of time, for the most part. I wish these sites would stop this practice, and allow us readers to think for ourselves… But I digress. (I do that a lot)

So, back to your first question… “So what’s my best thing here to do with this voice EVP if I can’t work on it?”

Filter it. Work on it.

I’m not saying that you can’t filter it, or clean it up. All I’m suggesting is that you be VERY careful about the work you’re doing. We briefly had a member of our team that would take his ‘EVP’, and filter them to an extent that it sounded robotic, otherworldly, and who knows what else. We tried very hard to show him what he was doing, but to no avail. Needless to say, we had trouble keeping him on. This is very bad. I’m just saying keep the filtering to a minimum, and WHATEVER YOU DO, KEEP THE ORIGINAL!

The second question is my favorite because the answer is so obvious that MANY other investigators, and ghost hunters don’t realize it. That question was, “Whats another way I might be able to hear what it’s saying?”

The answer… You don’t.

Why is that so bad? Why is capturing a possible EVP considered a failure if you can’t understand it? I would consider the recording to possibly be NOTHING AT ALL. BUT… It is ALSO possible that you have recorded sounds from the other side. WHY is that a bad thing? I just don’t understand why we have to keep playing with our ‘evidence’ to understand it.

It is what it is. Let it be that.

Filtering and cleaning won’t miraculously make your evidence better.

Let it be what it is, and be happy.

If you find yourself wanting more, that answer is also very simple. You’ve already captured one. YOU KNOW where you captured it. YOU KNOW what time of day it was. YOU KNOW the equipment you used. YOU KNOW what you were doing at the time.

DO IT AGAIN!

AND AGAIN.

Change it up a little if you need to. Experiment. Use different frequency mics, maybe some white noise…whatever else you can think of.

If you can’t go back and do it again, it’s ok. Be happy, and move on.

That’s the answer. Don’t try to make the evidence that you’ve already captured become better. That’s impossible. Instead, go get some NEW evidence.

Hey Carl, I enjoyed these questions. They helped me articulate some things I had running around in my goofy mind. I appreciate it.

I hope that I’ve answered your questions, and that it’s helped you, and other readers as well.

Bill

For those of you out there reading this… If you have any paranormal, or spooky related questions, or even comments, you’re welcome to ask away. Please send them to Beyonderbill@yahoo.com or click the image below to go to our “Questions & Feedback” Page!

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