Digital Audio Recorder Suggestion

Let me start by saying that I'm a believer in the cleanest audio possible when trying to capture EVPs. I don't agree with using white noise or using a recorder that adds a lot of hiss and background noise.

I've used the typical Olympus digital recorder since I started ghost hunting. An Olympus VN-3100PC to be exact. It's a decent recorder but it sure does add a lot of hiss even at the highest quality settings. Thanks to the help I received from Doug I decided to purchase a Blue Snowball USB condenser mic like his. I've used it at every investigation since and have had pretty good luck with it. It's sensitivity makes it very easy to distinguish various sounds and separate normal sounds from possibly paranormal sounds. The only problem is that I need to lug around a laptop to use it. Earlier this year I decided to look into upgrading our little Olympus recorder. I learned that you can buy a studio type, handheld recorder with built-in, stereo, condenser mics. They're not cheap but they're definitely worth it. They're slightly larger than a typical recorder but still small enough to fit into a baggy pants pocket. The one I bought was made by Tascam and I would venture to say that it's more sensitive and even cleaner than the Snowball mic, plus it's far more portable. Also, the fact that it records in stereo makes it much easier to figure out where a questionable sound might be coming from. I've already used that fact to distinguish a sound made by a fellow investigator in one instance and used it to distinguish a paranormal sound in another instance. Since I've been using it I've managed to record two clean EVPs.

In one investigation I used it to test the differences between it and our Olympus recorder. We had them right next to each other in the Star Of India in San Diego which had big, industrial type fans blowing because it was so warm. The Olympus audio was rendered completely useless due to the fan and wind noise. The Tascam, condenser recorder however was perfectly fine. The fan noise was loud but you could still hear and understand the other sounds and voices being recorded.

These recorders also record to memory cards so you won't run into that situation of having to dump your data onto a computer in the middle of a long investigation. They also offer multiple formats to record to and ours has a headphone jack on it so you can listen to what's being recorded. BTW, the higher sensitivity really comes across while using the headphones. You can hear people talking from farther away than with just your naked ears. lol!

Anyhow, I just wanted to make this suggestion to anyone who might be tired of hearing all these supposed EVPs that are completely garbled and could be anything. I think more people recording in higher quality will go a long way to getting more quality evidence out there.