EVP with a laptop
A simple way to utilize your laptop on investigations more efficiently. By Mike Robare
Here is a short, and simple way you can utilize your laptop, with Adobe Audition/Cool Edit Pro, (or any other computer audio software) as another device to capture EVP's, in high quality audio. Please keep in mind that a good battery powered microphone is recommended.
This works best indoors, in a controlled environment, and with someone monitoring the laptop, and the surroundings being recorded.
Things you will need
- A laptop, of course, with at least a 40 GB hard drive.
- Adobe Audition or Cool Edit Pro. (or whatever program you prefer - see our Resources page for links to free audio software).
- Battery powered microphone. (shotgun, condenser, omni-directional).
Getting Started
Open your audio editing program, and plug in your microphone.
Make sure your mic is plugged into the microphone port, speakers are optional, for live monitoring.
Set up your microphone onto either a tripod, or a solid, sturdy surface.
If you can, make sure the mic has enough wire, so you can set up your mic so it's atleast 10-12 feet away from the laptop. This will reduce the noise of your computer's cooling fan greatly, so it won't be picked up in the audio files you record.
Ready to record
With your program open, and ready to go, click "File", and then click "New", to start your session.
Select your recording Waveform, and bit rate
After you've clicked on "New", you will need to select your recording bit rate. You can mess around with different settings if you choose to do so. The picture below, is what I've found to work best so far. After you've selected your settings, click "ok".
(*note* increasing sample rate, the resolution, or the number of channels will result in larger files.)
Hit the Record button
Once you've pressed your record button, it's always best to monitor you're recordings, and take notes on any spikes you may pick up during your session. Comparing your notes to the recorded file will help identify any false positives, or positive EVP. Try to keep your EVP sessions to about 30-40 minutes (or whatever is fitting for you). Remember that the longer time you record, the larger the file size will be.
Save that file!
Once you've hit stop, you need to save the file. Which will be about 80-120 MB in file size, depending on the waveform you've selected.
Once you select "Save As", you will be prompted to name the file (ex. PrivateCase_01), then just save it to an easily accessible directory, such as "My Documents". This will take a few moments to save, due to the file size, and speed of your laptop. To start another session, just repeat the above steps. Once you do it a few times, you will get the hang of it.
Here are a few samples we've picked up using this set-up: