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Date Posted: 14:51:21 10/23/00 Mon
Author: Andonyx
Subject: Re: Silly stuff on Discovery Channel
In reply to: Vince 's message, "Silly stuff on Discovery Channel" on 18:03:15 06/28/00 Wed

-Vince,

Hi, I am an audio engineer. (Actually, now I do DVD, but for six years I did strictly audio.) I've done studio work, field recording, live concerts, and, on a few occassions, even been asked to authenticate or discredit recordings of "unexplainable phenomena." (So far every single one has proved to be, if not a downright hoax, at least easily and logically explained. Sorry, but, I'll post it here the second I find something that doesn't fall into those categories.)

I didn't see the program in question, but I'm interested, partly as it is my livliehood. Just to clear up a few things. First, are you certain that the microcassette recorder may not have been a DAT recorder. The reason I ask, is that virutally every porta-DAT has an external mic input, and I've seen very few micro-cassettes with such. You may be right, but it would seem odd, since I imagine the discovery channel, doing as much on-location work as they do, has at least a few DATs lying around.

That's an important distinction since microcassettes, while theortically able to record almost the entire audible spectrum have an incredible drop off in SPL output outside of 500-1000Hz. Luckily that range contains the fundamentals of most of the sounds of human speech. A DAT however, sampled at 48kHz can adequately represent from 0-24kHz with a significantly higher signal to noise ratio that almost any analogue medium outside of a studio environment. This obviously exceeds the range of human hearing (20-20,000Hz), and should reproduce just about anything that may have occured during the event.

Be careful about generalizing microphones.

"At best portable audio equipment can only record from 20Hz to 20KHz, and microphones can record a lesser range."

Granted, many un-balanced, hi-impedence, low-end mics can't quite catch the whole audible spectrum, but almost any mic in a studio, and quite a few quality field, and boom mics can out-perform the human ear, at least in frequency response. The field mics I use have a reliable range of 12-28,000Hz.

Which kind of makes me wonder about two things:

"The EVP frequency in question was from 0Hz to 300Hz."

What exactly are you expecting to happen between 0-300Hz? Because pretty much all you will get in that range are some low throaty rumbles. The fundamentals of voice start around 500Hz, and top out with sibilants and consonants at around 4kHz. The harmonics of consonants can be found well into the 12kHz-14kHz range. I'm not defending what you saw on the program, from what you said, they sound like a bunch of quacks. When I mix audio for commercials, one of the best ways to make narration stand out fom music and background noise is to punch it a little at 1.5Khz, and then again between 10kHz, and 12 kHz, to make the consonants clearer. Perhaps that's what they were doing.

If you have more details about the program, or know when I could catch it again, I'd be happy to hear from you.

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Replies:

[> Re: Silly stuff on Discovery Channel -- Mike, 22:47:12 01/15/01 Mon

There is a lot of rubbish on EVP.sadly.
But, Pye engineering in the 1970`s couldnt work out what the phenomena was, using sound proof rooms and faraday cages etc.
And people like George Marion are doing some good work with it.
http://www.ghostshop.com/
The phenomena certainly attracts the credulous/dodgy etc.
But sadly for the intellectually constrained, there is something real at the bottom of it.
Many people couod never except the reality of the phenomena.Fair enough.
The reason is cognitive dissonance.
And thats reality. :>


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