Recording EVP - technique tips and best practices

I've started doing EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomenon) recordings during my investigations and I'm getting some genuinely interesting results, but I'm not sure if I'm actually doing it right or just recording random noise and retrofitting meaning onto it.

My current method: I bring a digital voice recorder, ask questions into it during investigations, then play back the recordings at home with headphones at high volume. I've picked up what sounds like whispers and words on a couple of occasions, but I'm paranoid that I'm just experiencing apophenia.

What's the best practice here? Should I be recording in mono or stereo? Any specific recorder models that work better? How do you actually distinguish between genuine EVP and artefacts/interference? And should I have a witness present during playback to validate what I'm hearing?

Always have independent validation. Play the recording to a friend without telling them what you're 'listening for' and see if they hear the same thing. If they don't, it's probably pareidolia. Real EVP is usually pretty clear and multiple people should pick up on it without prompting.

The best EVP I've ever recorded was on a basic Sony digital recorder (about £25) in mono. Stereo actually gives you more room for interference patterns to sound like words. Stick with mono, good quality recording (no compression), and ask specific yes/no questions. Open-ended questions get more noise than actual responses.

Record in a completely silent environment first (your bedroom, a quiet room) and listen to it with no commentary. That's your baseline silence. Then record in the 'haunted' location and compare. If the haunted location recording has distinct differences - clicks, voices, patterns - then you've got something worth investigating further. Otherwise you're just picking up ambient noise.

If they don't, it's probably pareidolia.

This. Do the blind test every time. I once spent three hours 'enhancing' an EVP that turned out to be the wind noise outside the building. Proper methodology saves time and stops you looking daft to the group.

If you're serious about EVP work, look into spectral analysis software like Audacity (free). You can visualize the audio waveforms and see if there's genuine structure to the 'voices' or if it's just random noise. Most pareidolia-induced EVP shows random white noise patterns. Actual speech has distinct harmonic structure.

Honestly mate, EVP recordings are the most controversial area of paranormal research. Even believers argue about validity. My advice: do it for yourself and your own investigations, but don't expect others to be convinced by your recordings. They're too easy to dismiss and too easy to fool yourself with.