Sheepdog1969 Posted March 2 Share Posted March 2 They say the camera adds ten pounds. I'm not sure what the microphone adds or subtracts, but I would rather look at a picture of my ugly mug than listen to my own voice on a recording. Yes, with some light effects, my voice sounds better than how it sound on my voice mail "leave a message" recording, but it still makes me cringe. I'm not a great vocalist, but I definitely sound better than a bag of cats being swung around overhead. (I guess that's not saying much.) Do you like hearing your own voice on a recording, or does it bug you? Is there a scientific reason that explains why so many people dislike hearing their voice on a recording? I heard that Phil Collins hates hearing his voice through stage monitors, (and headphones in studio). Apparently, he uses a chorus effect to heavily process his vocals that run through his monitors and headphones, but his vocals sent to the PA system/recording devices are far less processed. Any thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saturn Posted March 2 Share Posted March 2 Yes. I hate my own voice. And I read an article years ago explaining this phenomenon that everyone hates hearing their own voice, but I can't remember the details now. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrairieDog Posted March 2 Share Posted March 2 Oh yeah, it’s strange, but you get used to it. The effects used on a projected voice are helping replace the natural resonances your ears are hearing from both outside and inside your skull. We all have sort of a natural “reverb” built in. Relaxing the vocal path and opening the throat as you sing helps get closer to replicating the sound you hear in your head by allowing the “reverb” to be projected. But as many multi-platinum singers have proved, there is nothing wrong with using the gifts that electronics has given us to doctor things up, chuckle. Except pitch-tuning. I would like to see pitch tuning cast into the bowels of hell. There is no reason someone should be rewarded with a million bucks if they can’t be bothered to learn to sing on key like we all did in the olden days. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt. Pepper Posted March 2 Share Posted March 2 I hate Bono’s voice. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larsongs Posted March 2 Share Posted March 2 I always liked singing. My Mom had a beautiful singing voice.. She was my first inspiration.. I’ve always loved music.. I come from a musical family.. The first time I heard my voice I couldn’t believe it was me.. Sounded nothing like I thought I sound.. I thought I was pretty horrible.. I took some Voice training hoping to improve my singing.. Now after many years it’s my Voice.. All I can do is try to sing a song as well as I can. But, after years of Recording you get used to it. I still wish I could sing better.. I recall Elvis saying he wished they wouldn’t mix his voice so far in front of the mix… Even he was a little self conscious about his it seems.. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanvillRob Posted March 2 Share Posted March 2 In my head, I sound like Marty Robbins....when I listen to my singing, it's more like Ariana Grande, (without pitch control). 1 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrairieDog Posted March 2 Share Posted March 2 8 minutes ago, Larsongs said: I always liked singing. My Mom had a beautiful singing voice.. She was my first inspiration.. I’ve always loved music.. I come from a musical family.. The first time I heard my voice I couldn’t believe it was me.. Sounded nothing like I thought I sound.. I thought I was pretty horrible.. I took some Voice training hoping to improve my singing.. Now after many years it’s my Voice.. All I can do is try to sing a song as well as I can. But, after years of Recording you get used to it. I still wish I could sing better.. I recall Elvis saying he wished they wouldn’t mix his voice so far in front of the mix… Even he was a little self conscious about his it seems.. Nod, I hear you. The thing that got me over my self-consciousness was when I stopped paying attention to the over processed commercial arena, and started listening to more obscure artists in the folk/roots genre. I realized that a “good voice” doesn’t have to be American Idol power-ballad perfect, but the honest and natural expression of the singer. When I first heard Nancy Griffith sing I thought I was going to crawl out of my skin, with the weird cadences and intonations and closed off delivery. Now I get it, it’s *her* voice, and there are no gatekeepers. She sings honestly and there nothing “wrong” with it. I joined a trad signing meetup in the before times. While none of the geezers croaking out The Blackest Crow were going to fill an arena, I grew attached to and appreciate the differences in the personal delivery of each of our own songs. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdgm Posted March 2 Share Posted March 2 (edited) 3 hours ago, PrairieDog said: ......I would like to see pitch tuning cast into the bowels of hell....... Yes it certainly gets over-used, because it has become an effect which gets used whether needed or not. Recently I unearthed an old tape of me singing lead in the early 1980s. The only time I 'sang' a whole song doing both lead and backing vocals. Absolutely excruciating - I decided not to digitally archive that one! It's often said that anyone can sing and that may be true but not all of us have a 'good' singing voice. or the ability to carry a tune. But rock, folk and even country music genres all have plenty of room for whining. Edited March 2 by jdgm 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrairieDog Posted March 2 Share Posted March 2 10 minutes ago, jdgm said: Yes it certainly gets over-used, because it has become an effect which gets used whether needed or not. Recently I unearthed an old tape of me singing lead in the early 1980s. The only time I tried to do a whole song. Absolutely excruciating - I decided not to digitally archive that one. It's often said that anyone can sing and that may be true but not all of us have a 'good' singing voice. or the ability to carry a tune. But rock, folk and even country music genres all have room for whining in. Bob Dylan sure did okay with whining 😄 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gearbasher Posted March 2 Share Posted March 2 Recorded, my voice sounds very nasal. I guess I could cover Alvin and the Chipmunks' tunes. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B.T. Posted March 2 Share Posted March 2 2 hours ago, gearbasher said: Recorded, my voice sounds very nasal. I guess I could cover Alvin and the Chipmunks' tunes. Mine too! Drives me crazy - but it’s my voice! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RBSinTo Posted March 2 Share Posted March 2 (edited) i am always surprised and frankly dismayed by the sound of my voice when I hear it on phone messages I've left at home. It sounds very different from what I hear when I talk. And when I watched the video a fellow student made of me at our recent teacher's recital, playing and singing "Reminiscing", I cringed. I really hate the sound of my voice only slightly less than the sound of me playing guitar. Together they are a musical tragedy. RBSinTo Edited March 2 by RBSinTo 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrairieDog Posted March 2 Share Posted March 2 (edited) 40 minutes ago, RBSinTo said: i am always surprised and frankly dismayed by the sound of my voice when I hear it on phone messages I've left at home. It sounds very different from what I hear when I talk. And when I watched the video a fellow student made of me at our recent teacher's recital, playing and singing "Reminiscing", I cringed. I really hate the sound of my voice only slightly less than the sound of me playing guitar. Together they are a musical tragedy. RBSinTo And I bet everyone else thought it was great! Audience ears hear differently that we hear ourselves. They aren’t comparing the inside/outside voice we invariably do. What people impart to our voices, and hear, is the “confidence” that we can sing the song. That makes a good singer. A croaker like Dylan belting out “times they are a’changing” will always be a better received performance than a wall-flower haltingly and timidly whispering, “Whiskey in the Jar.” Edited March 2 by PrairieDog 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
'Scales Posted March 2 Share Posted March 2 If its singing with a band I neither love nor hate my voice...it's not the Chris Cornell c'94 I hear in my head, but its ok ,mostly. On the other hand, any recordings of speaking in public, interviews, or just the bloody voicemail message - I truly have an aversion to my voice. ugh. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparquelito Posted March 2 Share Posted March 2 I'm good with it. The only time I hate hearing my recorded voice is when I rushed during the recording, in order to capture the mood and the line, and didn't give it my best effort. But then it's easy to go back in and record over that track. 😉 PS I must confess, back when I still drank whiskey, there were a few recordings I would listen to the next day and say, "What in the hell was going on there??" 😔 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RBSinTo Posted March 2 Share Posted March 2 (edited) 2 hours ago, PrairieDog said: And I bet everyone else thought it was great! Audience ears hear differently that we hear ourselves. They aren’t comparing the inside/outside voice we invariably do. What people impart to our voices, and hear, is the “confidence” that we can sing the song. That makes a good singer. A croaker like Dylan belting out “times they are a’changing” will always be a better received performance than a wall-flower haltingly and timidly whispering, “Whiskey in the Jar.” PrairieDog, Whether they did or not, they were very complimentary, as we all were of each others' performances. And in the context of a recital where the students ranged in age from about 10 to 75 ( that would be me), and many were performing in front of an audience for the first time, it would have been incredibly rude for any of us not to be. RBSinTo Edited March 2 by RBSinTo 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
'Scales Posted March 2 Share Posted March 2 7 minutes ago, RBSinTo said: Whether they did or not, they were very complimentary, as we all were of each others' performances. it would have been incredibly rude for any of us not to be. Too right man! Any gigs I've played or attended people tend to be nice, especially other musicians as they know its unlikely everything will always be perfect for their own gigs either. If anything its more likely that if we play a set that we all consider a bit of a clusterf*k, and you come off and some dude goes "man, you guys were so tight!" 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rct Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 If you sing in a band a lot, a long time, you get used to it pretty quickly. When you get used to hearing it you can be honest with yourself in that one could be good to great, others not so good to great, downright terrible. If you can be honest like that because you are used to hearing yourself, you can then figure out what you have to do to make it at least better the next take or the next night out. If you harmonize a lot with a band, you not only get used to it you enjoy it very much because there really aren't that many things that feel as good as a nice couple lines of three part done well by all three. Or four or five if you are really lucky with your band. Then you look forward to it, it's that good. I have it on pretty good authority from others, not me, that moving a few hundred thousand or a mil and a half or so records with your voice on it definitely changes how you hear yourself. I have a passably ordinary voice that does only a few things well in a band and everything in the studio just well enough to get by. It is what it is, and I am used to it. rct 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saturn Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 My previous comment was made concerning my speaking voice. Not so much singing. But I know that I don't have a good singing voice. Part of it for me, is that as much of a conscious effort I put into not speaking in that horrible Bal'more Maryland accent, I can still hear it in recordings of myself. But here is some content copied from an article addressing the phenomenon: When listening to a recording of your voice, the sound travels through the air and into your ears – what’s referred to as “air conduction.” The sound energy vibrates the ear drum and small ear bones. These bones then transmit the sound vibrations to the cochlea, which stimulates nerve axons that send the auditory signal to the brain. However, when you speak, the sound from your voice reaches the inner ear in a different way. While some of the sound is transmitted through air conduction, much of the sound is internally conducted directly through your skull bones. When you hear your own voice when you speak, it’s due to a blend of both external and internal conduction, and internal bone conduction appears to boost the lower frequencies. For this reason, people generally perceive their voice as deeper and richer when they speak. The recorded voice, in comparison, can sound thinner and higher pitched, which many find cringeworthy. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rct Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 Balmer accent is the only one worse than Philly/South Jersey accent. rct Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saturn Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 7 hours ago, rct said: Balmer accent is the only one worse than Philly/South Jersey accent. rct They are very close. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rct Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 They are. We feel right at home talking whilst in Charm City. Well, we did. We haven't stayed down there in quite a few years now. We used to go to AVAM pretty regularly, and the American Craft Council show at the convention center. A lot of really good times down there, but the harbor just hasn't been good. Maybe we should try again. rct Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrairieDog Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 22 minutes ago, rct said: They are. We feel right at home talking whilst in Charm City. Well, we did. We haven't stayed down there in quite a few years now. We used to go to AVAM pretty regularly, and the American Craft Council show at the convention center. A lot of really good times down there, but the harbor just hasn't been good. Maybe we should try again. rct We attended a conference in Baltimore a decade ago, stayed at the Hilton? Down there in the Harbor. Had dinner one night at a great Japanese restaurant in that shopping complex there. Had a nice set up on an upper floor with a lovely, romantic twinkly view of the harbor and the skyline… and the helicopters buzzing the city all night. They even shined their lights right our room. We were worried what the heck was going on. Found out the next day, nah, that’s just regular police surveillance. Man, that was Orwellian. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rct Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 1 minute ago, PrairieDog said: We attended a conference in Baltimore a decade ago, stayed at the Hilton? Down there in the Harbor. Had dinner one night at a great Japanese restaurant in that shopping complex there. Had a nice set up on an upper floor with a lovely, romantic twinkly view of the harbor and the skyline… and the helicopters buzzing the city all night. They even shined their lights right our room. We were worried what the heck was going on. Found out the next day, nah, that’s just regular police surveillance. Man, that was Orwellian. Yes, a decade ago it was still pretty good, not nearly as good as the decade before that, it was starting to...I don't know. We were at the convention center one year in February for the Craft Council and got blizzarded in. It was dope as hecks, had a great time, one of many down there. We miss it. rct 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrairieDog Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 1 hour ago, rct said: Yes, a decade ago it was still pretty good, not nearly as good as the decade before that, it was starting to...I don't know. We were at the convention center one year in February for the Craft Council and got blizzarded in. It was dope as hecks, had a great time, one of many down there. We miss it. rct The same conference was held before in Corpus Christi TX one year. You can’t get much farther south, in January, right? Texas got hit with a winter storm. Lots of the attendees got trapped in the hotel with no heat, and packed for a weekend on the beach. We had already left in our rental car to see the Alamo on our way to the San Antonio airport. So driving up I35 the windshield began to mist/freeze up, we hit the wiper fluid to clear it. Guess what? Since they rarely get ice in TX they just fill the wells with plain water! Going highway speeds (such as they were in a worsening ice storm) the windshield became completely iced over. Blind as a bat. Hit the heater/defogger full blast and finally got a tiny hole to peer through at the bottom to see the trucks jackknifing off the highway in front of us. We got off at the next exit, grabbed some real wiper fluid, and helped some panicked people who were trying to pour salt on their windshields to melt the ice. Crazy good times 😆 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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