EVP's: What they are

EVP stands for Electronic Voice Phenomena which is the communication with the dead using digital recorders and similar devices. Reports of EVP activity has been dated back as far as the 1960's by Dr. Konstantin Raudive.      

Dr. Raudive has published a number of books about his 70,000 EVP messages which he recorded over several years of research. In fact his research became so popular that EVPs adopted a second name, "Raudive Voices". In the early 1980's a woman by the name of Sarah Estep claimed to have heard thousands of voices that she recorded from her husbands tape recorder. Shortly after the American Association of EVP was founded now spanning over 20 countries.How they work:

Sounds are merely vibrations. When you knock on a door or drop a penny to the ground, the impact will cause the air molecules to shift. This shift travels through the air until making contact with your ear drum producing a sound. Recorders work in the same exact way. A vibration occurs which is then felt by the microphone of the recorder and processed as a sound. Other factors can come into play when it concerns these recorders such as, radio waves and electronic interference. With that in mind, always try and remember where you are when you are trying to do EVP sessions. If you happen to be near a radio tower or police station you have to be able to know the effects

 EVP Classifications
There are four different classes in which to catagorize your EVPs into. The classes are titled A, B, C, and R, EVPs. The explanation on how to categorize your EVP into the proper class is listed below.

CLASS - A

For an EVP to receive a Class A rating it must be a very clear voice and everyone that you let listen to the recording agrees on what is being said by the ghost or spirit. Everyone who hears the voice must come to the same conclusion about what it is saying without being told by another investigator. These voices do not need to be amplified or cleared up using a computer, sound editing program but can be clearly heard straight from the recording devise. It does not have to be extremely loud but it must be clear on what is being said. The Class A EVPs are the best voices of the dead captured and are the rarest to record.

CLASS - B

An EVP that can be understood and most people agree on what is being said will fall into the Class B, category of EVPs. These EVPs might not be understood by everyone who listens to them and might even sound like it is saying something completely different to other people that listen to the recording. This class of EVP might need to be amplified using a computer and a sound editing program before they can be clearly understood. To get a Class B rating the voice must be fairly clear and easy to determine what most of the words are, when analyzing the voice with your computer. This is the most common class of EVP captured!

CLASS - C

The Class C, EVP will be the worst quality voices that you can capture. It is nearly impossible to understand what is being said even with the help of computer enhancement. These EVPs are often just whispers or mumbled words or might even sound robotic. The Voice cannot be understood but the investigator still knows that it is an EVP because of the fact that no one was talking during the recording session and human sounding voices can clearly be heard in the background noise.

CLASS - R

In order for an EVP to receive a Class R rating it must have a meaning to it when played in reverse. Some EVPs will have a meaning when played normally and a different meaning in reverse. When this happens it will have two classifications. For example a Class A, EVP with a excellent and clear meaning in reverse as well, would be titled a Class A-RA, EVP. This meaning it was very clear to understand both forward and in reverse. It can not have a Class A-RC beacuse this would mean that it could not be understood in reverse which would not be a Class-R EVP. You may have a Class B-RB or a Class A-RB ect.

 

Another bit of information:

This is meant to be used as a guide to help you classify your EVPs and document them properly. Each EVP you get should have 3 elements Quality, Content, and Source. By doing this you will better understand your research, and help others once your research has been submitted to others. An example of a properly classified EVP would be ex. Class B -- Content 2 -- Source X A researcher looking at that would know the following: Class B means processed but little disagreement on what is heard, the content which in this example is "2" means Unrelated but meaningful (a response that has nothing to do with what you asked), and Source "X" means FEMALE VOICE. What a great system, right? Ok so here are the classifications and explanations that will help you for the process. QUALITY GRADES: Class A - Heard and Understood clearly without ANY touch ups, signal processing, or manipulation at all. Sounds like a normal voice. Class B - Processed using analog filtering, and most who hear it can decipher the content with very little disagreement on what was recorded. Class C - Processed using analog filtering, but still hard to hear. Controversy on what it may be saying. (THIS IS THE MOST COMMON EVP) Class D - Digital Processing employed just to be able to make anything out. There may be disagreement on the content, while others may not hear anything at all. Class E - Most hear nothing. Some claim to hear a voice. Processing may result in messages being heard, but are most likely digital noise and artifacting. CONTENT GRADES: 1. Easily related to surroundings. (ex. a soldier who was killed mentioning the battle, etc) 2. Unrelated but meaningful. (ex. I love you. Could be meant for anyone, or for no one present.) 3. Gibberish. Meaningless groups of words not pertaining to questions asked, but still recognizable words. 4. Utterances. Vocalized sounds but not words. Includes grunts, groans, moans, sighs, whispers. Before you classify this, make sure the EVP is not in a foreign language, and may actually need to be classified as 1-3. 5. Non Vocal Sounds. Bangs, Pops, Thumps, Footsteps, Whistles, etc SOURCE GRADES: M. Multiple Voices. Unable to differentiate. U. The gender or age cannot be determined. W. The voice is clearly that of a child. X. The voice is clearly that of a woman. Y. The voice is clearly that of a Man. Z. The recording is an animal and/or other sound. (Barking, Meowing, Stomach growling, etc.) Many EVPS may contain portions that fall into multiple categories. Parts may be clear then fade out, or vocalizations may be preceded or followed by non-vocal sounds. Thus a particular EVP may have multiple classifications. If you are classifying an OVERALL EVP, then use the most predominate characteristics. So to sum up, when you classify an EVP, it should look like Class C --Content 3 -- Source X or Class A -- Content 1 -- Source W

We Hope this guide helps you in your studies!

 

While doing an EVP session remember to leave time between questions. Try not to shift the recorder any more than possible as this may produce a false positive. It is always a good idea to leave a recorder stationary in a room, especially a room with high paranormal activity. We recommend that every time you begin an EVP session, you should mention the time, date, room, and any persons that may be around. This will help during the review process. While reviewing an EVP it is always a good idea to wear headphones. This puts the sound closer to the ear drum allowing you to hear a little clearer. Second, you should know what your team sounds like so that you can rule out any whispers or noises. Try and remember that what you hear "may be different" then what someone else hears.

After The Investigation:

 

USING ADOBE AUDITION for EVP work