I am extreamly skeptical of EVPs.  Generally I think they are total BS. 

Generally I believe that EVPs are nothing more than system noise, electrical feedback, or mundane sounds being misinterpreted.  The digital recorders that TAPS uses are very low quality.  Infact, they are lower than low quality.  I have some very good friends that are in an indie rock band and have been making indie music for 13 years now.  The guitarist has his own indie label and built a recording studio in his basement and has some very good recording gear.  His gear would be considered low to middle quality by industry standards(even though they have made a living at it for 13 years they don't have the resources that a record company has) and it is light years ahead of what TAPS uses.  I think this is also evident in the produced recording of the show.  Why doesn't the audience hear the EVP in the show broadcast????  Because Pilgrim has the funds for high quality gear.  The sound we hear is being recorded with a high quality, production standard boom mic.  That mic will pick up ANY errant sound.  I don't see how that digital piece of **** could possably pick up something that the boom didn't.

I also rarely see them put the recorder down while doing an EVP session and much of the time they are moving around.  On those low quality recorders who knows what a boot scrape on concrete or a jacket rustle is going to sound like on playback.  Esspecially since most of these can't be heard unless the volume is at a rediculously high level.  At those volume levels white noise could be misinterpreted into 'phantom sounds.' 

Without extreamly high quality gear and a stationary mic I will continue to believe that EVPs are BS.  There is just too much variable and potential for evidence contamination.

tickdude said:

Even if a ghost or other paranormal entity can choose the digital recorder on which to imprint, why don't the phenomena imprint on the film or video audio as often as the little digital recorders as Wes suggests?

I have to concur with Sovolis – a jacket rustle or even moving the recoding device and letting air pass by the microphone will create noise. Most of the noise is unintelligble, and only becomes "understood" once J&G "decipher" what's being said. They certainly understand how the human mind will "matrix" phenomena!

Yeah, I agree too. I know there was at least 1 or 2 EVPs they caught that certainly sounded like a voice but to me it also sounded like something scrapping across another surface. It was weird to be sure. But that's all it was. Just a random sound mixed with background noise.

This is what TAPS has to say on the subject of EVPS and their White Noise Theory, if you are interested.

You can find the following paragraph about half way down the page and cringe as you read this abomination to science:  http://the-atlantic-paranormal-society.com/articles/technical/whitenoise.html

Begin Quote: “Skeptics reasoned that the voices were caused by stray radio broadcasts or pre-recorded voices on re-used tapes. EVP researchers were quick to dismiss the second reason, affirming that they only used sealed new tapes for their recordings. And then, of course, digital recorders, which require no tapes, made that argument irrelevant [Thanks dedicated_dad for your insight!]– the voices still showed up.

Aside from outright fraud (and to be sure there is some of that taking place here and there), this left the skeptics with the one "reasonable" explanation: the voices were caused by fragments of radio broadcasts. This dismissive explanation makes it clear that these skeptics – who usually tout themselves as being scientifically minded – have never tried to record EVPs and have certainly not researched the phenomenon very well. (Unfortunately, this is very often the case with skeptics and the paranormal [What the…? We don’t do research…?. That statement just about gave me a stroke. In fact that whole paragraph does.]

If they had researched it, they would have found that the radio broadcast theory is absurd. Why? Because quite often, these voices actually respond to questions posed by researchers, comment on situations in a relevant manner, and occasionally even address the researchers by name. [Really? I was under the impression that most of them were of bad quality and ambiguous at best.] The chances of a stray radio broadcast doing this with just a few choice words are too remote to even consider by any objective person. Also, the voices are clearly not those of loudmouthed DJs or other broadcasters; they are voices of average people, children, adults, seniors, male and female. Some have accents and some are infused with human emotion. There are real personalities behind these voices, wherever they come from.  [So, what? DJs and broadcasters are people too! And what about other stray radio transmissions not just tv or music station broadcasts any radio transmissions, including walkie-talkies. Yes, walkie-talkie. It is possible for walkie-talkie transmissions to travel great distances. Rare, freakish, but possible. Really. Weird, I know.]

It is true that the quality of EVP recordings varies widely. Some are of such low quality that we're left to guess what the voice is saying. There are many, however, that are quite clear and are usually categorized as Class A recordings. These EVPs represent the best evidence for a phenomenon yet to be fully understood.” End Quote.

Now, there are so many things wrong with that I don’t know where to begin. Thanks again dedicated_dad for your information about digital recordings and their ability to possibly bleed-through. I didn’t realize they could do that! And you are absolutely right about your statistical conclusions. I've thought the same thing.

 And by the way, if any of you haven’t headed over to the TAPS website to read up on their theories and explanations you should do so immediately. I'm sure most of you already have but just in case…

http://the-atlantic-paranormal-society.com/articles/articles.html

And be stunned by the lack of research, thought, common sense, real scientific analysis, and grammar skills (Oh, the grammar. As an English major I cringe. I’m not perfect either, but God, I have a spell-checker.) In fairness, a few articles seem to have actually been somewhat researched but only a few of them.