Thursday, August 1, 2019

False Positives with External Speakers

By Faye Navarro



            How many times as a Paranormal Investigator do you and /or others use portable speakers for burst sessions on investigations and events?   Over the years I have seen my share of others doing just that. We as investigators have different opinions on equipment, methods, etiquette and so on.  The differences are what makes us as a whole a great mix, as some mixes they work well with each other and others not so much but all in all, it is a learning process.  You take what works for you and discard the rest.
          As for me one of my favorite things are audio, I can spend hours and hours reviewing audio without issues. For others, it seems like a job so of course, they find something else that works best for them. With reviewing audio, we all have different preferences to what audio editing software we like. Again, we all have our favorites and we work well with what we like. Correct?  Plus, audio on cases vary with recorders being use and when to use them. Some use only for burst sessions or EVP sessions, for myself, I record all the time. I know I know some of you may say but it's not always a controlled environment, there is too much noise contamination.  I for some reason can remember what was going on and who was where and if I heard a noise or something from another area.  I will say it again that I love audio review, so hours and multiple recorders don't bother me, so I want to do my best to gather as much evidence as possible.  Through the years I have noticed that spirits tend to speak when they want to not just when we ask questions. They love to put their two cents in on a conversation we may be having at the time. 
       With that being said back to the subject at hand portable speakers. Although it is really cool to do a burst session and listen back to see if you get a response, how often do we get true results? When you go home where you can put on your headphones and have a quiet space to review audio your full focus is on that but then again that is after the investigation or event.  Some people want to get results right away in hopes to further communicate. There is nothing wrong with that at all, isn't it about further communication with spirit.
        My thing is though who thinks about the false positives using this method, does it always work?  Which speaker is the better speaker? Again, it is a preference for the investigator. We all hear at different frequencies, so at times not everyone will hear something or again upon what is being said.  So, which goes to show that at times when using a portable speaker, it can create ambient sound in itself then add additional sounds like people and location sounds. Using this method, it is difficult to say that you can fully give your attention.
       My personal observation and opinion of course, since I do record all the time. I tend to have a recorder on my person which records all the time. Depending on how long I am at the location does depend on how often I stop and start another file but on average I record a file none stop for a couple of hours. At times I have been at locations with others who randomly do burst sessions. So, on my recorder, I will have the record time of them asking questions and all the other things going on then I also will have the playback of that session.  I have noticed and came up with two different thoughts or possibilities.  Example one situation one the original recording during the burst session someone was getting the gear out of a backpack and during the replay that same time frame on the playback it sounded vocal but in actual reality, it was just the sound of the person getting the gear out of the back. So, in that case, my opinion was the ambient sound from the portable speaker caused the sound to sound vocal.  Did it hurt anyone knowing it was one or the other? No not at all but in my opinion, it has and can cause the investigator now to change gears on their questions or investigating process. Still does that hurt? No, not again just to me may delay communicating the way one would without that false positive.   Now another example once again I had gathered myself while investing with others was a different way of looking at things.  A false positive, possibly or spirit responding in delay.  I had my recorder going while someone was doing a burst session got nothing during the questions then on playback, there was a response. Now was it a delay from the spirits which I caught while the person was using the portable speaker or was it again a false positive but during the session whatever sound it could have been faint enough that I may not have taken much notice. Could very well have been, one never really knows.
       I just know that for me I don't do many burst sessions just because I like the way they put their two cents in rather than drill them with rapid questions all night. If I ever do a burst session, I don't use a portable speaker and I usually have earbuds on me which I could use to see if there is something there or just listen to what comes from the speaker of the recorder.  The only time I use a portable speaker is during a reveal at a client’s house if the laptop speakers are not loud enough for others to hear but usually, I have my earphones for the client to listen through. Like I said some use portable speakers some of us don't, I just hope that those who do want to verify a little more to rule out false positives.  This is just my opinion and observation.