I have posted this other places but this looks like the appropriate place.

I have adopted a theory of my own regarding EVP's. I still believe it is possible that EVP's may be spirits but that they are not physical sound but electronic impulses picked up directly by the recorder or tape, not by the microphone and then transformed into sound.

Simply put, microphones pick up changes in air pressure. The sound waves are picked up by a microphone which converts them into electronic impulses. These impulses are amplified in the recorder. Then pass through the heads which give out a magnetic impulse and then recorded on the passing tape. Now, roughly speaking, a microphone is designed to pick up physical changes in air pressure and the sound waves are in a range closely comparable to the human ear.

This being the case, any EVP picked up by a microphone should be heard by everyone present when it was recorded. However, they almost never are and if they are picked up by the human ear then they are most likely physical sound and probably not a spirit. Remember EVP is electronic voice phenomena not spirit voices.

I believe, that EVP's are the impulses made by the energy produced by an entity and not physical sounds emanating from the entity. So, maybe, in certain conditions it could be directly picked up by a recorder. Maybe the EVP's we are catching are bypassing the microphone and maybe microphones are even interfering with capturing EVP's because they pick up outside physical sounds and we are missing more than capturing.

Now, I am also experimenting using a tape (not digital yet) recorder with a disconnected microphone in conjunction with my regular & digital recording devices to see if there is a difference, if one picks up more than the other or if the mic'less one should pick up something the regular one doesn't. (this is for those of you who are doing or want to do research. Researchers know that you must use all methods available) So for me at least so far, this is the next step in recording for EVP's and so far so good.

(Yes I guess this could be compared loosly to the Bell Jar experiment. Which I have plans of implementing in an underwater enviroment. That's another experiment…)

Back on topic… You can easily disable a recorders microphone if you have an old one. However, you should always use two recorders. One next to the other when trying this method. One with a mic and one without. This way you cover all bases.

The results at minimum will be that you may have some white noise from the recorder itself but you won't get any physical sounds that might be confused as an EVP or spirit voice.

At best, when (and I mean when) you get a voice on your mic'less recorder then you will know you have something. That, paired with the recording from the one with the mic showing no physical sounds, becomes evidence of something not of the physical realm.

Now I know what you are going to say. "What if we get the same exact voice on both at the exact same time?" This is very unlikely because of the science of sound. However, should you get this. Then I would say you may be holding the golden chalice of EVP's because this might show proof of a non physical being crossing over into the physical world. And isn't that one of the things we are looking for?

FOOTNOTE: Don't disable your recorder unless you can afford to do so. I don't want people going around breaking their recorders for this one experiment. This is for those that can afford to and are prepered to do serious research.

Or… Rather than break the mic try this. Use a blank jack in the mic port to disable the recorder.

I saw this on your site and thought it looked like an interesting experiment. Any results thus far????

Some results but nothing conclusive so far. Nothing class A. However, there is a lot more to do like different type recorders in different places, etc. I'm not going anywhere so I will post again as things develope.

If your theory is correct, then what media seems to be imprinted? I think that this is important, because if cassette tapes and only certain other records seem "better", then it is possible that cheap recorders that use a chip as on-board storage instead of some sort of magnetic platter, such as an HDD could be a sure sign of which ones to stay away from.

Also, wasn't the classic EVP theory that white noise seemed to help or amplify EVP's? This would seem to support that EVP's are somehow still in the auditory range, but some recorders may be more "sensitive" as in picking up something above or below the normal range of hearing but down/up converting it onto the recording. This sounds far-fetched until you consider that this is very possible due to the encoding process.

Ok, back to basics. The general belief is that spirits were once living human beings. I for one do not believe that the person would necessarily become less or even more intelligent after passing. So, if a person didn’t know how to manipulate sound when they were alive, then it is highly unlikely they would after death. Regardless of what the story tellers say. I have found no evidence that spirits look for us like we look for them. I do believe they are aware of us as we are of them but I believe their contact with us as it is with them is purely by accident to this point. Which may be one reason we only get snippets of information. A word here or a word there.

What I was getting at is simply that, spirit energy impulses (rather than physical sound) may be getting picked up directly by the mic-less recorder and the recorder is amplifying it in the heads and imprinting it on the tape. Not being imprinted directly to the tape. Basically, spirit electronic impulses are bypassing the mic and picked up by the recorder. So as to the question of what media is being imprinted. Simply put it is the electronic impulses put out by the spirit. Which is also why sometimes you get sounds and sometimes words, etc.

Yes there is a belief that white noise has an effect on the EVP. However, I have found that it really doesn’t help but rather hinders. Well at least for me. The popular story is, that white noise attracts and/or amplifies the EVP but in fact all I have found it does is creating a constant, consistent, audible sound that allows you to easily pick up something when the white noise is disrupted. I have found white noise to make it very easy to review audio because you don’t have to pay close attention. Then, when it is interrupted it is like a bang. However, I find it extremely difficult to pick up the subtle sound without cleaning it up. I don’t think cleaning up a recording of an EVP is a good thing as it alters the original and no matter how good anyone is. Anything altered will always be questioned as to its credibility.

Yes, there are many recording devices out there that can pick up most any audible sound. So too can you pick up inaudible (to the human ear) sound with a normal recorder but the fact remains that it is still physical sound and although I may be all wet on this. I have found no evidence that a spirit is capable of making physical sound on purpose.

An example of what I speak of is the sounds of animals like the Elephant and Giraffe. Both make sounds inaudible to the human ear. We only found out in recent history about the Elephant when a researcher was recording while studying elephants and made a mistake and replayed his recording at the wrong speed. Well, it was wrong for what he was recording but it revealed a sound made by the elephant that he couldn’t hear.

Keep in mind these are my beliefs based on my work and studies. These are my opinions and the path I am following and not to be misunderstood as being fact at this point. I have a lot of opinions like anyone else. Some on EVP and some on other things. I also have theories on things that may seem to contradict what I have said before. Like I think there may be a reason why people can actually hear voices from the past. Although it has to do with dead people. It has nothing to do with spirits. I also have an idea on EVP's of why different languages may be heard here and English in other countries. However, the fact remains that they are still just opinions until I can prove them and. I welcome all comments.

I also tend to go off on tangents but I hope I answered at least some of the questions. I always seem to be writing in chapters too. Sorry.

Assuming you are using a dynamic microphone, wouldn't a more accurate control experiment be to take a similar microphone and remove the diaphragm from it rather than to eliminate the microphone all together? That is unless you are using a capacitive microphone or a very expensive microphone. This way you still have the circuitry (an inductor) of a microphone but it would not be able to generate electrical signals from sound pressure waves.

This would not eliminate a false EVP from being generated by frequency cross modulation as I suspect is happening when experimenters substitute a germanium diode for a microphone.

You may be correct in your thinking for obtaining an EVP but I am an old school type person. My doctrine is the simpler the better and I am not trying to capture an EVP. I am trying to see if there are actually voices to be recorded. Besides the fact that simpler is more controlled. I can always move on from there if need be.

There is a theory that spirit voices can be imprinted directly to tape and an EVP and a spirit voice are not the same. The term EVP was coined to describe what people thought were spirit voices a long time ago but EVP's are nothing more than what the term implies; a phenomenon that makes random noise sound like words.

In my experiments I do not want any type of microphone because I don't want to capture anything I could hear with my own ears and want to see if I can get something imprinted directly to the tape. Basically, I do not want an electronic phenomenon that sounds like a voice. I want a voice if there are any.

I am just trying to get past the old ways of thinking. Besides this is for me. If it works horray for me. If not, no big deal but so far so good.