Can someone explain a weird noise on audiocassette

[Rosemarie]

While we were doing our investigation on Saturday I brought my old analogue audiocassette recorder with me. At one point as I placed it on a counter it made a really strange noise. Later when I was reviewing all my recordings including the digital ones this same noise appears on 3 of my audiocassette tapes and is heard in the background on a digital recording when we were leaving a ward and again in the distance outside another ward. The audiocassette tapes did not record our conversations - just the noise so I thought it was some kind of feedback but Im not sure and as I said its on 2 digital recorders. We have tried to recreate the sound but are unable to. Its a bit hard to describe but its sort of mechanical 'whiney' almost like you are tuning in an old radio without the hissing noise.

Has anyone come across that before or got any suggestions?

[bpicofounders]

you must alway consider that with cassette recorders, you may have a high pitched squeel caused by what we call "Wheel noise" from the cassette tape turning. Different tapes may or may not recreate this effect. This is just something to consider.....I have not heard the recording. Good job detecting it in your audio review, it is sometimes hard to hear

[Rosemarie]

Yes, I thought of the 'wheel noise' but its definately not that as you can hear that separately as a very low soft hiss. All the audiocassettes I used for the investigation and for trying to recreate the noise are the same brand and batch. The noise does not appear on any other audiocassettes or other audiocassette players.

Also, the audiocassette was not turned on when we were leaving the ward but the digital recorder was because I forgot to switch it off and this is the digital recording where the noise is first heard in the background as we left the ward; when we moved to another ward thats when the audiocassette made the noise when placed on the counter.

I dont know how to upload my recordings otherwise I would so you could get a better idea of what Im talking about. So if anyone can tell me how to do that Id be very grateful.

[lowbattery71]

Yes...I recorded almost exactly what you described (I think), and caught a female voice at the very end of it. I was using a Marantz field recorder with Sony Hi-bias 90 minute cassette.

It was included in a video done by a local reporter who is following the case we're working on. Here is the video with the audio sample.



It is the clip just after it reads "This was recorded in the basement". I can't account for the hissing noise whatsoever. But like you said about yours it reminds me of a whiny feedback noise. At first we thought it was water pipes, but the building was closed for the night and nothing was operating at that time.

Let me know if it resembles yours.

[Rosemarie]

Yes its similar. But the noises I have are much, much louder and clearer in the case of the audiocassettes.

Ive only got an old RadioShack Vox Audiocassette recorder (voice activated if you want it to be). Its got pitch sliders and you can choose voice activation if you want. But I fiddled with all these things and couldnt get the noise to reproduce.

I played the affected audiocassettes on my hifi and you can hear what sounds like the click when you first press the button to record. Its bizarre.

How can I post the recordings up?

[bpicofounders]

I have heard that you can get a 3mm cord with double male ends from the headphones junction on your recorder to the microphone junction on your pc and use windows recorder on your pc to record a mono audio file. I supose you could also set it up from the headphones jack on your recorder to the microphone jack on your digital recorderand play the tape recorder and record with the digital recorder and download a wav file. I haven't actually tried this, but my tech manager says that it will work.

[Rosemarie]

Yes, Ive got that and put the audio on my computer but how do I post the recordings up here?

'Scuse my ignorance!

[bpicofounders]

I would use a third party server. I use drop.io. we download EVPs to drop.io and print a link in the forums.

[lowbattery71]

I just attached them as a file right in the post from my pc. There's a size limit, but all my clips have fit so far. make sure to attach them in a .WAV format to eliminate compression issues (unless they are already MP3 - then they are already compressed).

[Rosemarie]

Ok. There is a lot recording as the noise appears on both sides of 2 X 90 minute audiocassettes and on one side of another 90 minute audiocassette. Then you've got the digital recordings.

Also, I sat through all the recordings - it took me forever *groan* and the noise appears to subside but remains throughout the recording as a low hum-like noise and then reappears very loudly at the end of the tape. Now to me this seems something mechanical EXCEPT I cannot reproduce the sounds or account for the same noise on the digital recorders. Also, even though the noises sound identical, when you listen closely they differ slightly.

I'll see which is the best method to post the recordings and of course, I wont post all of them due to their length.

[Rosemarie]

Ok, hopefully there will be 2 digital recordings attached. The first one is as we left a ward and you can hear what sounds a bit like an owl on the recording, but when we were there it sounded much more like the noise on my audiocassette.

The you should hear a digital recording of the noise my audiocassette made and finally the recording on the audiocassette itself.

We were in an abandoned hospital (now demolished) and there was no one in the ward we had just left.

Im perplexed because I cant reproduce the noise even though I believe it to be mechanical. Also, the noise we heard as we left the ward although sounds similar may not be connected at all.

I hope some of you more tecchie types will be able to help.

[Rosemarie]

Right, that hasnt worked. I'll try the other method tomorrow cos now Ive got to go to bed as its 3.33am here. Bit of useless information for you I know.

[Rosemarie]

Ok, Im trying again. May have to be 2 posts. If not Im off to the Paranormals website to see if I can put them up there.

The first noise is when we left the empty ward - and no, there were no owls about, lol!

Attachments:

[Rosemarie]

Yey, I got the first one up. Hopefully the second one will be here. Its a bit long - sorry about that but the audiocassette noise is towards the end and its really perplexing.

It was turned on but did not record our voices - as I say it is a voice activated recorder.

Opinions/suggestions would be welcome.

Attachments:

[Rosemarie]

Can any tecchie person help? Or suggestions from anyone else? Or should I post this up on my page on the Paranormals website? :/