Star Trek

Jan. 7, 2005. 01:00 AM

 
Here's your very own EVP primer



What is Electronic Voice Phenomenon?: It's how the dead talk to us through ordinary electronic recording devices. At least according to the American Association for EVP.

Want to listen for the dead? Strangenation.com.au offers a do-it-yourself checklist. Highlights: 1: Get a digital recorder. 2: Get a microphone; not built-in, not condenser. 3: Headphones can help pinpoint sound. 4: Loudspeakers that can tolerate high volume levels, a stereo amplifier to drive them, and if possible, a graphic equalizer. 5: A sound source. Try tuning to a frequency between stations on an AM/FM radio. You may achieve better results on the AM waveband. Seek out areas where white noise is the dominant sound. 6: You may also try air bands used by pilots and air traffic. 7: Tape, baby, tape. 8: It apparently takes on average two weeks before tapers start hearing messages from the spirit world, so patience.

You've made contact! Eeeeh! What now? Paul Hughes of pittsburghnewage.net offers this sage advice: "When asking ghosts specific questions you should not forcefully ask them. Saying, `Give me your name you ghost you. Tell me NOW!' probably will not work. You should speak politely and nicely to the ghost. `What is your name?' Would probably be the tone you want to work with. Speak to the ghost as though they are sitting in front of you. Don't act as though they may or may not be there. THEY ARE! So talk to them like you would any other person. Sometimes it helps to let them know that you will ask them some questions and that they are given the opportunity to talk back and that you WILL be able to hear them."

Wanna hear something creepy? Check out the audio files on http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/ media/thumbnails.php?album=5 or on the following site: http://www.aaevp.com/ examples/examples_voice.htm

Apropos of nothing in particular, mentalhealth.org.uk advices that "To assist voice hearers it is important for mental health professionals to examine in detail which frames of reference and coping strategies seem to be the most useful to the voice hearer. By doing so voice hearers can be supported more effectively in their attempts to deal with their experiences."

Users of the Scepticism and Debunking section on physicsforums.com (also home to discussions on whether 2Pac is alive, the feasibility of cold fusion and whether David Bowie may be an alien and about 650 other subjects) remain skeptical and ready to debunk.

What is white noise: According to howstuffworks.com, "White noise is a type of noise that is produced by combining sounds of all different frequencies together. If you took all of the imaginable tones that a human can hear and combined them together, you would have white noise. The adjective "white" is used to describe this type of noise because of the way white light works. White light is light that is made up of all of the different colors (frequencies) of light combined together (a prism or a rainbow separates white light back into its component colors). In the same way, white noise is a combination of all of the different frequencies of sound. You can think of white noise as 20,000 tones all playing at the same time."

CDs available from purewhitenoise.com: Distant Thunderstorm, Soothing Airconditioner, Restful Rain ("each White Noise CD offers a full hour of soothing sound that creates an oasis of relaxation and calm, promotes sleep, blocks annoying noises for a more restful sleep, improves concentration, and eases the symptoms of colic, tinnitus, ADD/ADHD and hyperacusis.")

The movie White Noise is not to be confused with: Don Delillo's 1985 novel White Noise, which, according to Publisher's Weekly deals with the "Chairman of the department of Hitler studies at a Midwestern college, Jack Gladney (who) is accidentally exposed to a cloud of noxious chemicals, part of a world of the future that is doomed because of misused technology, artificial products and foods, and overpopulation." Cheery. Also not to be confused with White Noise: The Eminem Collection, a selection of essays on, well, Eminem and his, well, music. Last but not least, the movie also has nothing to do with An Innovation Approach to Random Fields: Application of White Noise Theory by Takeyuki Hida. Or maybe it does. We've no idea what the book is about. But it sounds really brainy.

 Compiled by Malene Arpe

i don't have a computer microphone nor do i have a stereo microphone.