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Lovely of you to join us. Many thanks for watching the video and your terrific questions.
As Ron will testify, I'm not the best technically minded experimenter and will gladly put my hands up for help.I'll do my best to answer your questions and comment but if you think the answers are lacking in depth, don't hesitate to say and I will try better next time!
Q1)Is it possible to increase the sampling rate of the digital recorders? This would reduce/eliminate the metallic-sounding voices of the 'real' people and the EVPs, although will reduce the length of recording time.
Q1 Ans. Yes it most definitely is possible to increase the sampling rate and I have tried numerous runs with a much higher quality recorder. However, and it is a big however, the higher the sampling rate, the fewer the EVP. When using the Olympus VN2100 which I use at the XHQ setting - 16 kHz, the captures are at their best. Using an Olympus LS10 at 96 kHz, all but the strongest EVP are missed. Only when running parallel sessions do you see how vital the noise of the lower grade recorder is as a carrier wave.
Q2) Do you have access to a reasonably good quality analogue tape recorder and microphone that you could use simultaneously with the other two?
Q2 Ans. I have an analogue recorder that is almost new, however I wouldn't say it was a good quality. I have used it in parallel with one recorder but not two. Bearing in mind that our recordings are two hours long and I have a busy job on top of research, there are only so many hours in the day and three recordings of one sitting is not feasible. If I was able to dedicate more time to research then maybe I would try this, for now analysing two streams is my limit. I can almost hear you all saying "make shorter recordings", but that's not how we work. When we sit, we sit for 2 hours, it's not for the EVP it's for the physical circle and rightly or wrongly our priority is making the sitting work.
Q3)Do the voices only ever speak in the gaps of your conversations?
Q3 Ans. Heavens no, I wish they did, they're not that considerate! I don't post samples of the voices speaking over ours as they're very difficult to understand and ambiguous. We do have plenty in the archive though.
Q4)If you are able to get frequent, reliable EVPs, I think it would be an important experiment if you could have at least one recorder with the microphone disconnected, or a dummy one of equivalent electrical characteristics (so the recorder's electronics 'thinks' a microphone is connected). The test may give clues to how the voices are 'getting in'.
Q4 Ans. Umm. Scratches head. Are you thinking to rule out an electrical anomaly or PK or to confirm the sound as a wave? It's a very good idea and I'm more than happy to give it a go on our next sitting and report back.
As in most of these recordings, the peculiar fragments of the voices are frustrating. I mean, if they can do that, why not something a bit longer - I think there's a clue there if we did but know it!
Every sitting without fail I ask the same question. If they can be so clear in making an observation, why can't they tell me something more important - tell me how we improve the link, how to record longer messages, how to know when they're ready to communicate, what equipment should we use, what's the best environment... I sometimes wonder that if I suspended my overly critical reviewing of the recording, there may well be an answer in there. I ignore and disregard most B and C grade EVP, primarily because if I can't hear it easily, it's likely to be noise. Who knows what I've missed!
BTW, did you ever confirm the existence of Percy in your house?
I am so glad you asked about Percy. I really think I should have ended the story about him;
A family member, X, was out late at night and got in a taxi to come home. X told the taxi driver where to go and after a while, the taxi driver started talking - how strange he used to live in that street. When they got to the street, the taxi driver asked what number, X told him. How odd the taxi driver said, "that's where I used live". He carried on; "did you know that house is haunted? My little sister was plagued by the ghost of an old man, Mr Thorne, who died alone in the back bedroom". X said nothing and paid the taxi driver. X didn't tell me, my Mother did, shortly before she died.
Rachel
Last edited on Sep 17th, 2013 02:17 PM by