Whats this sound?

maccored

What do you make of this? It was recorded in a house in Carlow - basically a story had come in during research for Haunted Carlow so we went to check the place out.

There are only three people in the building - which you can hear talking in the background - but from about the end of the 1st until the end of the 4th second you can hear something else.

I actually caught the end of it at the time (so this isnt an EVP) though the other two didnt, but it sounds much louder on the recording, and to be quite frank I am amazed we didnt hear it fully at the time.

http://musicfrombands.com/kitchen2.mp3

Anyway - can anyone make heads or tails out of it?

GodlessM

That would be mild feedback.

maccored

from where exactly? and when has feedback sounded like that? (Im a musician - plenty of feedback experience)

Dont get me wrong - I totally am looking for viable explanations - but mild feedback .... that explains nothing unfortunately. How does a camera create feedback, for a start, and how come 8 other devices all recorded the same thing?

If its feedback, where did the feedback come from - and again, how come no-one heard it (well I kinda did)?

GodlessM

As musicians (I am one too) we associate the feedback we hear often as what feedback is, however how it sounds actually depends on what ses it off. You obviously had more than a camera because you have recorded sound; at the very least the camera has a mic in it. The fact that you kind of heard it but yet it is very strong in the recording further points to the camera as the source; it may have been a very low sound in the periphery but the internal mic would/could pick that up much clearer and louder. Feedback is very easy to create, and though the most common way it for a loop of sound to be created, magnetic or electrical interference can produce waves that also cause it.

maccored

Personally, I have never in my life heard feedback sounding like that - thats assuming there was a way of creating the feedback in the first place. The conditions - either in device placement, or atmospheric - werent there to create any feedback. Therefore, I would have to say feedback is quite doubtful.

maccored

GodlessM wrote: »

The fact that you kind of heard it but yet it is very strong in the recording further points to the camera as the source.

Dont forget, it was picked up clearly in 8 other devices, in different rooms.

GodlessM

maccored wrote: »

Dont forget, it was picked up clearly in 8 other devices, in different rooms.

This is further strengthens my belief that it was caused by a magnetic or electrical interference as it is possible it could have effected all of the devices. You are free to believe my explanation as much or as little as you want of course, but I have heard this sort of feedback before so I am personally convinced. The only other thing that could possibly sound like that is what might happen if a person theoretically broke the hearing barrier of the average human being; a new frequency that we can't normally hear, however since you heard it and I can clearly hear it on the recording I severly doubt it.

maccored

Fair enough. Personally though, I dont believe it to be feedback. not unless feedback can make gibberish statements ending in '.... songs eh!'

As much as I would like viable explanations, I just would have to discount feedback. It doesnt fit it at all at all.

GodlessM

maccored wrote: »

Fair enough. Personally though, I dont believe it to be feedback. not unless feedback can make gibberish statements ending in '.... songs eh!'

As much as I would like viable explanations, I just would have to discount feedback. It doesnt fit it at all at all.

Gibberish statements? There's no gibberish statements on that recording, just a very long high pitched squeel.

Fuzzy Clam

There's a voice there alright but without being able to discount any of your friends voices, who knows.
It sounds louder on the recording because it's heavily compressed.

GodlessM

Fuzzy Clam wrote: »

There's a voice there alright but without being able to discount any of your friends voices, who knows.
It sounds louder on the recording because it's heavily compressed.

The only voices are the voices in the background that are there from start to finish and it is acknowledge in the OP that the first second or so of the recording are these people.

Fuzzy Clam

GodlessM wrote: »

The only voices are the voices in the background that are there from start to finish and it is acknowledge in the OP that the first second or so of the recording are these people.

There is another voice as the op states so the only voices are not just those in the background of which I can hear only one anyway.
We only hear 7 secs of 1 recording. We don't know what exactly was picked up in the other rooms nor do we know what his friends sound like except for one.

maccored

GodlessM wrote: »

The only voices are the voices in the background that are there from start to finish and it is acknowledge in the OP that the first second or so of the recording are these people.

there are three people, two of whom are having a low volume conversation. the voice comes in over the top from the end of the first second until the end of the 4th second. its not feedback.

It also isnt one of us - as I know only two people were talking (as I was there), and I also know that no-one bar myself caught any of the voice sound - and I only heard the 'eh!' bit at the time - I didnt hear the rest of it.

There was no-one else in the building, and all 9 recorders in that floor clearly picked it up - which means it wasnt from outside. The camera this particular recording came from picked it up the clearest and it was in the centre of the house.

As I say - Im not looking to be told this is a ghost ... Im looking for an explanation of what it could be. 'Feedback' it is not - though I appreciate the comment. Im thinking maybe godless somehow can't actually hear the gibberish, though its pretty clear to hear if you ask me.

maccored

Fuzzy Clam wrote: »

There is another voice as the op states so the only voices are not just those in the background of which I can hear only one anyway.
We only hear 7 secs of 1 recording. We don't know what exactly was picked up in the other rooms nor do we know what his friends sound like except for one.

The same recording was picked up in the other rooms, with the sound a good bit louder than the background conversation. Some recordings werent as clear as this one, which makes me think whatever made the sound was nearer this particular camera.

I know what my friends sound like, and as I say - i was there .. there was only me and Darragh talking lowly - the third guy was standing beside us saying nothing.

At the time I heard the eh! part and I thought I was hearing things, as the other two didnt hear it. It was only when reviewing 27 hours of tapes that I realised it had been recorded.

maccored

GodlessM wrote: »

Gibberish statements? There's no gibberish statements on that recording, just a very long high pitched squeel.

I dont hear a high pitched squeal?

loldog

maccored wrote: »

I dont hear a high pitched squeal?

Neither do I. Does that voice have a distinct Liverpool accent?

.

maccored

never thought of it that way, but i suppose it does.

What i hear is a string of gibberish ending in 'songs eh!' or something like that. Ive reversed it, slowed it down etc etc and I still cant make any sense out of it.

maccored

loldog wrote: »

Does that voice have a distinct Liverpool accent?

.

****, dont tell me its derek acorah (that was in jest btw, in case anyone thinks Im serious)

GodlessM

Now I hear the voice you are talking about but it is definitely not ESP, and is definitely 'earthly' as such, as it has resonence and everything. Sounds to me like there was someone else in the building talking, or your friends said this and you just don't remember but I guess you are going to say definitely not to both.

The squeel comes in near the end and rises in volume and pitch.

Fuzzy Clam

I ran the audio through filters. It almost sounds like someone singing as there's a certain rhythm to it.
Words at the start are difficult to make out but something like "(Well I could hear) what could be your songs,eh".
I fairly confident that the last 4 or 5 words are accurate.

maccored

GodlessM wrote: »

Now I hear the voice you are talking about but it is definitely not ESP, and is definitely 'earthly' as such, as it has resonence and everything. Sounds to me like there was someone else in the building talking, or your friends said this and you just don't remember but I guess you are going to say definitely not to both.

The squeel comes in near the end and rises in volume and pitch.

Unfortunately I cant lie to you and say there was anyone else in the building, or tell you that one of us said whatever is being said and then we all promptly forgot about it.

I heard it at the time (as Ive mentioned), but I only caught the 'eh!' bit. The other two though had no idea what I was on about. Not only was it not one of us, but it was pretty faint to my ears - yet that camera was only about 10 feet away in the next room and it recorded it pretty loud.

I honestly dont know what to make of it. Theres a dog from outside on the very very end.

maccored

Fuzzy Clam wrote: »

sounds like someone singing as there's a certain rhythm to it.

I slowed it down and brought the pitch down a bit and it does sound song-like.

maccored

this is a different recording from a different camera, but its slowed down:

http://musicfrombands.com/sound2_slowed.mp3

maccored

GodlessM wrote: »

but it is definitely not ESP

Do you mean an EVP? It couldnt be an evp considering I actually heard it at the time.

GodlessM

maccored wrote: »

Do you mean an EVP? It couldnt be an evp considering I actually heard it at the time.

Lol yea, full of typos this week :rolleyes:

I have a two theories, both involve what I would term as 'dead sound'. Sound whose waves have almost expired but still exist, however are too low to be reasonably audible. Could have been radio waves from a broadcast somewhere just tapering off, or someone who was singing/speaking nearby. A good quality mic could in theory pick this sort of thing up; you could say it is similar to how EVP is picked in the sense it is something we cannot perceive but the electronics can. Of course this does not explain why you heard it?

Question; is there a road near this house?

maccored

its in a cul de sac at the end of a housing estate. I have to say though, most houses in ireland are near to a road of some kind.

maccored

GodlessM wrote: »

Could have been radio waves from a broadcast somewhere just tapering off, or someone who was singing/speaking nearby.

I totally go with the radio interference idea, but then again, would all the devices have picked up the same interference? I dont think so. If someone was singing nearby, they would have needed to be in the house i would assume, considering the sound even has an echo.

Allyall

"So... leavin somethin pub you have to delete your songs.. EH?"

Is what i can hear.. Sounds like he's from Cork.. Could it be someone walking past the house?

maccored

the first recorder was in the front room, and since that was the first time we heard it, we assumed it may well have been someone outside. In the end though, multiple devices picked it up, the loudest being the one off the kitchen - which is virtually in the middle of the house. i can even hear echo off it - the house was stripped of furniture etc and there is a slight echo when someone talks. that makes me think it sounds whatever it is is inside the house - but that doesnt make sense as I know for a fact there was no-one else but us.

JajaD

That is definitely feedback, and its off the camera. You silly billy its so obvious.

maccored

what is feedback .... the sound that goes from the end of the first second to the end of the fourth ending in '... songs eh!'?

I dont want to sound like a killjoy, but that doesnt sound like feedback to me. As I've mentioned a few times already, the 'feedback' was also picked up on the other cameras too. None of us heard the 'feedback' at the time - though i did hear the 'eh!' bit.

I'll say it again though - what I hear isnt feedback.

Allyall

If anyone wants to edit/clean it up or try..

[audio]http://www.aviary.com/getfile?fguid=a54569ca-469a-11e0-8e27-1231390ec091&getegg=0

If you want to log in, Username: Kitchen 2
Password: 123456


or to hear direct

http://www.aviary.com/launch/Myna?fguid=a54569ca-469a-11e0-8e27-1231390ec091

It sounds like
"Now if we were in the pub i could hear your sounds.. EH!"

I tried editing it in Aviary.. not really cleaned up that much.

Doesn't explain where it came from though.. :rolleyes:

GodlessM

maccored wrote: »

its in a cul de sac at the end of a housing estate. I have to say though, most houses in ireland are near to a road of some kind.

I asked this because it could have been a simple case of a passing car radio; they may have even turned the volume up to much at that point by accident. This is grasping a bit at straws but is a valid enough explanation.

maccored wrote: »

I totally go with the radio interference idea, but then again, would all the devices have picked up the same interference? I dont think so. If someone was singing nearby, they would have needed to be in the house i would assume, considering the sound even has an echo.

Why wouldn't all of the devices pick it up? Radio waves could easily cover the whole interior of the house. As for the person singing, the echo does put that theory to rest alright.

maccored

mainly because if radio signals get commonly recorded, or if a passing car could pass a signal to not just one, random, accidental recorder (which i assume can happen) and instead found its way to all recorders then I would assume radio DJs, amateur musicians doing home recordings, and in studio and basically anyone using a video camera would find this kind of interference more commonly.

Im not trying to be an asshole - but I'm looking for a viable explanation. radio interference on one device is rare, but not impossible (though regulations does restrict electronic devices and signal radiation, otherwise it would affect your telly amongst other things). On multiple devices, i find that much harder to believe, especially since there was no passing traffic.

maccored

Im going to file this under 'i havent a baldy' for the minute.

Fuzzy Clam

Well it's not feedback, wherever that idea came from

There seems to be heavy audio compression on the clip. Is this on the original recording or was it compressed later.
I ask because if the compression was on the recording device, then the voice must have been close enough to the recorder to prevent it from amplifying. You can hear the compressor "opening up" after "Eh".

I also don't think it is rf breakthrough. First, because of the echo and secondly, I work with radio equipment and it just doesn't sound like breakthrough. You get a feel for these things and IMO it just isn't.

I know what the answer will be but I've got to ask......could it be someones ringtone or was anybody on the phone at the time??

maccored

the compression was added afterwords - i boosted the volume a bit in logic audio with some compression and then tweaked the eq a bit. The objective was to sharpen the audio up a bit.

We knock off mobiles, walkies etc when recording - walkies are a pain for static interference.

If I wasnt there at the time, I'd put this down to someone taking the piss. I was there though, and it isnt, in all honesty.

maccored

this is a longer clip from a camera in the front room - a good 20 - 25 feet away from the other camera

http://musicfrombands.com/sound1.mp3

You can hear me asking did anyone hear an 'eh' and at the end saying 'what did i just hear there? I heard an EH!'

GodlessM

maccored wrote: »

mainly because if radio signals get commonly recorded, or if a passing car could pass a signal to not just one, random, accidental recorder (which i assume can happen) and instead found its way to all recorders then I would assume radio DJs, amateur musicians doing home recordings, and in studio and basically anyone using a video camera would find this kind of interference more commonly.

Im not trying to be an asshole - but I'm looking for a viable explanation. radio interference on one device is rare, but not impossible (though regulations does restrict electronic devices and signal radiation, otherwise it would affect your telly amongst other things). On multiple devices, i find that much harder to believe, especially since there was no passing traffic.

Ok see you are under the assumption here that if it can happen, it will happen often. This is not the case. Plus I'm not talking about radio interference, I am talking about radio waves carrying a signal. There doesn't have to be a passing car or anything (that was just one idea), they can travel thousands of miles without losing potency, and in fact on the contrary to your belief, it would wierd if only one camera picked it up and not all of the others. It is not interference (quite obviously since interference doesn't create voices), it is a broadcast quite literally, i.e. plain sound carried on radio waves. This isn't about cars etc. 'passing' it, they are literally spilling the sound into the air. The voice has resonence therefore it is definitely a normal sound.

Still the wild card is you; the only thing that explains how you heard it is that it was a simple sound that the others just didn't notice. You say there was no passing traffic; if the road is a distance away how do you know? As an audio engineer, I just don't find anything in this recording to scream paranormal.

Rasmus

I'd imagine that's a taxi dispatcher or something similar. In my old house in the city centre, my TV used to pick up delivery trucks radio signals, for about a 3 second slot at a time. The trucks wouldn't even be passing the street, but maybe about 3 blocks away.

Fuzzy Clam

I have to concur in the main with GodlessM, although he's not entirely correct about radio waves

I think it may be just somebody walking past the house, possibly on the phone.

Last year I was recording ambient sounds out in the back garden, birds and the like. Listening back, I could hear, at one point, 2 voices which i didn't hear whilst recording. Now I know it was just the neighbours out for a walk as the nearest house is 1/4 mile away.

It's the only practical answer.

Fuzzy Clam

Rasmus wrote: »

I'd imagine that's a taxi dispatcher or something similar. In my old house in the city centre, my TV used to pick up delivery trucks radio signals, for about a 3 second slot at a time. The trucks wouldn't even be passing the street, but maybe about 3 blocks away.

No.

maccored

Fuzzy Clam wrote: »

I have to concur in the main with GodlessM, although he's not entirely correct about radio waves

I think it may be just somebody walking past the house, possibly on the phone.

Last year I was recording ambient sounds out in the back garden, birds and the like. Listening back, I could hear, at one point, 2 voices which i didn't hear whilst recording. Now I know it was just the neighbours out for a walk as the nearest house is 1/4 mile away.

It's the only practical answer.

I wouldnt argue with the idea it could be mobile phone interference. I'd find it highly unlikely, but its a possibility. Certainly is not definitive in this case though - i dont see how phone interference could cause echo?

The main difference between your experience and this is you were outside - theres a lot of sound sources outside.

EDIT - as an experiment .. if anyone wants to see just how unlikely it is to record a clip of a mobile phone conversation on a audio recorder from a distance, have a go. set up a tape recorder or digital camera in the house, and go outside and make a phone call. If you ever manage to record your phonecall on the recorder through interference, post it up. Its much much rarer than you'd think. in fact, if its at any kind of distance and the phone is a normal phone, it's highly unlikely.

maccored

GodlessM wrote: »

Still the wild card is you; the only thing that explains how you heard it is that it was a simple sound that the others just didn't notice. You say there was no passing traffic; if the road is a distance away how do you know? As an audio engineer, I just don't find anything in this recording to scream paranormal.

haha, make up your mind. you reckoned it was feedback earlier

This is why I need to make a faraday cage. put a recorder into one of those and then at least if you pick up anything, you could rule out interference of any kind.

Fuzzy Clam

maccored wrote: »

The main difference between your experience and this is you were outside - theres a lot of sound sources outside.

Not where I live. Quiet road, nearest neighbour 1/4 mile away and thats my point. I didn't hear it but the recorder did. Same as in your case.

Fuzzy Clam

maccored wrote: »

If you ever manage to record your phonecall on the recorder through interference, post it up. Its much much rarer than you'd think. in fact, if its at any kind of distance and the phone is a normal phone, it's highly unlikely.

Not just unlikely but impossible. Mobiles use digital. Interference is very possible within a few feet but you will not be able to hear spoken audio.

When i suggested that someone could have been on the phone, I meant the recorder picked up his voice through sound waves.

GodlessM

maccored wrote: »

haha, make up your mind. you reckoned it was feedback earlier

This is why I need to make a faraday cage. put a recorder into one of those and then at least if you pick up anything, you could rule out interference of any kind.

No the squeely sound at the end is feedback; remember I initially thought the voices were your mates talking.

Again, I never said it is interference, I said it is possible a sound being broadcast by radio waves, not radio waves causing interference.

Fuzzy Clam wrote: »

When i suggested that someone could have been on the phone, I meant the recorder picked up his voice through sound waves.

Was going to point out that this is what you meant, but you've already gone ahead and done it.

maccored, you seem to be misunderstanding several posts thinking people are suggesting electronic interference when in fact we are not; seriously who would suggest electronic interference could make voices?

Rasmus

Fuzzy Clam wrote: »

No.

Rude much? Would you like to elaborate on your defiant 'No'?

Fuzzy Clam

No not rude much.
Read post #36 which predates your post and theory.

To add to my previous answer, if you listen to both recordings, the voice on the 2nd one is clearly further away from that recorder. This rules out rf interference. Also, if it were as you suggest, the op would not have heard "Eh" until he listened back to the recording. It's already been stated that he heard the voice.

maccored

Fuzzy Clam wrote: »

Not just unlikely but impossible. Mobiles use digital. Interference is very possible within a few feet but you will not be able to hear spoken audio.

When i suggested that someone could have been on the phone, I meant the recorder picked up his voice through sound waves.

Im going to put this down to suspected interference. To be honest, Im finding it hard to work out just *how* the interference got there, but its the only viable explaination.

maccored

GodlessM wrote: »

maccored, you seem to be misunderstanding several posts thinking people are suggesting electronic interference when in fact we are not; seriously who would suggest electronic interference could make voices?

Im not an expert on radiowaves, soundwaves or electronic interference so forgive me.

If its not electronic interference then is the suggestion that its plain old, everyday sound? Cus if thats the case, then who was it making the sound?