Recording Paranormal Activity

[Girl Toes]

Has anyone ever done any haunted recording??? On purpose or accidently?? How did it happen. This is for a project I'm working on.

[earth tones]

It is interesting to set up somewhere interesting with a mic that has an extended frequency range, beyond 20 k. Supposivley trees' "talk", or at least make supersonic noises. But when you get these into an editor you can pitch them down and listen to them. Just something fun to try, and use in compositions.

[thecongostudio]

We used to get "ghost" answering machine messages all the time at the studio. The creepiest one we got after we denoised it and such said something along the lines of "In my ford, you will die by my hand." Of course it was muffled and whispery, but still sounded cool We've used them a couple times as samples in records, but nothing too remarkable.

In my studio, people have claimed to hear things coming out of the mix that have not been there before. I have heard weird noises and talking in my studio when I'm the only one there. So who knows, the dead walk among us!

[JASIII]

I've read a bit about it, I'm more into "ghost" photography myself, getting images of orbs, that kind of thing. I've heard that for paranormal sound recordings, those Officemax-style digital handheld recorders are the way to go. I think Sony makes them. Get one that has decent sized memory and sound activated recording. Also an external mic is a must, so get one with an input. The idea is that you need to eliminate any chance of sound abnormalities arising from your recording medium, so that nothing can be "explained away", thus the built in mic is a no-no. you want to get some distance between the recorder and the mic so there's no interference of any kind between the mic and recorder. That's also why digital is the way to go, so there's no weird tape noise, etc that can cast doubt on your recording. I've heard it's a good idea to set up the recorder and mic in your bedroom when you go to sleep at night, turn on the recorder using the voice activated feature. when you get up in the morning check it out., the recorder will only turn on when there is sound in the room. I've heard of people hearing some amazing things that happened in their bedroom while they were sleeping. If you talk in your sleeep it could be cool too.

[Girl Toes]

Also, could I hear any of this stuff??? Has any one done any auidio-ghost hunting, I'd like to capture this stuff on purpose.a

We used to get "ghost" answering machine messages all the time at the studio. The creepiest one we got after we denoised it and such said something along the lines of "In my ford, you will die by my hand." Of course it was muffled and whispery, but still sounded cool We've used them a couple times as samples in records, but nothing too remarkable.

In my studio, people have claimed to hear things coming out of the mix that have not been there before. I have heard weird noises and talking in my studio when I'm the only one there. So who knows, the dead walk among us!

Does it usually show up in certain recording situations??? Genre, instrument track, certain people.... ???

[JASIII]

Do a google search for paranormal, ghost hunting type stuff. lots of investigators post sound clips on their websites of noises they have captured.

[thecongostudio]

Does it usually show up in certain recording situations??? Genre, instrument track, certain people.... ???

I find that there is no real correlation of weird occurances with the same people or anything that is a constant. It more or less just appears out of no where. But when you try and isolate it in the mix, it doesn't show up anywhere. It could be something psychological with audio layers creating new noises which create different mentalities. But I do find that it always happens when I'm working late, which could be that I'm just tired, but other people have claimed to hear it with me.

The most common thing people have claimed to hear were muffled conversations that go on for short bits of time and then might start again at a later point. My studio was the first place where the famous Skinner Auctioneers got their start, so there might be some weird old vibes in the place.

I am a nutjob, but sometimes my ears just hone in on things that are not supposed to be somewhere.

As for some sound samples, I dont anything except a song where it was sampled. If you want that just PM me your e-mail so I can send an MP3.

-Aaron

[JGriffin]

I'm very suspicious of people who do the EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomena) stuff--there's a movie coming out about it in 2005. Generally they're using crapy equipment that's susceptible to all sorts of interference, and when you think of how much chatter is bouncing around the atmosphere at any given moment, it's hard to ascribe it to supernatural sources. Occam's Razor and all that. I certainly believe in the paranormal, but I can't quite buy into this aspect of it.

That said, I have heard some strange stuff coming over open mics in empty studios, and the first recording I ever made was a tape of my empty basement, inviting the ghosts to speak up...but I was twelve...

[Girl Toes]

Well, There's a lot of people who are eager to dismiss any scientific explanation, because the idea it could be a dead person is so exciting. But I believe this to a certain extent, and where do you explain these things come from??? It is possible for two people to halusenate the same thing at the same time, but to be able to play that over and over again.... And where is this chatter coming from at such obscure frequencies???

I've heard about this movie, and I am excited about it.

[Disasteradio]

Occam's Razor and all that. I certainly believe in the paranormal, but I can't quite buy into this aspect of it.

man, tell me about it. I've heard people recommending EQing and pitchshifting because the "ghosts" don't appear in standard speech frequency range. If you're going about it looking for something with that process, of course you're going to get something out of it. Orb photos have always interested me, there's something kinda uh, "basic", even "nice" about them, but if this is anything to go by they're way easy to fake:

http://www.ghostresearch.org/ghostpics/fake/orbs.html
http://www.ghoststudy.com/main/fakepagepics.html

[Bad Halen]

Dudes.

Awesome thread! I have the most bizarre thing on tape that I play for friends every now and then. Lemme set this up....

In 1986 I was in 6th grade and dubbed Iron Maiden's "Somewhere in Time" from a friend onto another a blank tape (my copy). Well, the strange thing is that during the last song of the album (I think it's Alexander the Great) during one of the long instrumental breakdowns there is this really weird voice (a man's) that says "fifteen-oh-four" deep in the mix but pretty audible. The really weird thing is that my address at the time was 1504.

I noticed it the day I recorded it and I still have it and it's still there (the "voice", that is). I listened to my friend's copy to see if it was on there (the master/"real" version) and it wasn't. I've since listened to that part of every "Alexander the Great" I've come across and have never heard "the voice".

I have no idea what this could have been. Keep in mind that this was a blank tape (one of those gold-labeled Maxells, I think). I was into hi-speed dubbing back then so maybe something got introduced that way. Don't know how it would've just picked that little piece of audio though. And who the hell said it? I hadn't even hit puberty then so who knows.

100% true, ya'll. I should post "the voice" for everyone's opinions. If I hit the bong tonight I'll do it.

-Spotty

[Girl Toes]

I'd be very interested to hear that.

Were you watching there the whole time it was dubbing??? MAybe you went to the bathroom at somepoint, and thats when somebody snuck in and said something.

Was this the FIRST time your recorded on this tape, this was a virgin tape???

Was a radio hooked up to the same stereo setup???

Do you know any of the history of your address?

[Bad Halen]

Were you watching there the whole time it was dubbing??? MAybe you went to the bathroom at somepoint, and thats when somebody snuck in and said something

I don't remember but I'm willing to bet I wasn't watching it the whole time but I'm sure I wasn't too far away. Remember though, this wasn't an "insert" in the recording. It occurs OVER the instrumental part. I.E. You can still hear the audio UNDER the voice. I don't know how this could be done without a mic and a shitty boombox.

Was this the FIRST time your recorded on this tape, this was a virgin tape???

Yes. Virgin tape.

Was a radio hooked up to the same stereo setup???

There was a radio option on the ghetto blaster. But I don't think there's any way to access the radio while doing a hi-speed dub, right?

Do you know any of the history of your address?

Not really. It was a black house though. The only one I've ever seen.

I should add that the "1504" part is somewhat subjective. Some of my friends hear something else. Perhaps I've just made it say "1504" in my head. Nevertheless, it is something. In English. In a strange man's voice.

[Girl Toes]

Do you remember if it was plugged into the wall or running on batteries?

[JASIII]

Slightly off topic , but supposedly the reason rooms often feel cold when "ghosts" apppear, is that they need energy to manifest themselves and heat is the most readily available energy form at any given time.
this is the best "on-topic" thread in this forum for a long time.