I am a drummer and often record my playing to listen to my flaws and fix them. Almost every time I play, I feel like i’m playing awesome and im doing perfectly…then when i listen to the recording it sounds AWFUL and totally uncoordinated. whats the deal here? Is it a difference of left and right brain? On a same note…why does your voice sound different on a recording than it does when you are just speaking? Thanks in advance.
Are you recording digitally or on a tape that might be stretched and wonky? Do you play along to a click track?
And your voice sounds weird because your also hearing the soundwaves through your sinuses and skull and not just hearing the soundwaves through the air. The recording is closer to the way other people hear you.
If you mean in general (like your friend’s voice sounds different too) it’s usually because the sound is getting compressed (that’s why voices sound a little “mechanical” over the phone.
Gah! I cut myself off.
Ahh if only we could all sound as we hear ourselves.
I would be the lead singer in a number of bands, and my voice alone would melt the hearts of women.
Sadly, it appears this world is determined to ruin my wishful thinking!
To the OP: As someone else posted, the recording medium and the quality of the equipment could very well change the way you sound.
As an aside:
I have noticed that my singer sounds considerably better when I listen to the playback through headphones.
When I play back through my speakers I swear I can hear my neighbor’s dog howling.
What’s up with that?
Could your speakers be out of phase? We bought a stereo for our 75-yr-old. He’s a bit too doddery to put it togther himself. We found that one of the speakers had the wrong colour coding for the wires. With the speakers out of phase we got sort of a ghostly “wuuuuuu” hum kind of effect.
Otherwise, it might be some kind of distortion in certain frequencies. Basic mikes on regular voice tape recorders (not really designed for music) don’t have the best frequency response – the diaphragms are designed for the more limited range of a speaking voice. Sometimes this can produce distortion in the really low end and really high end. You’d notice it more with speakers that have decent subwoofers, or high-quality headphones. Cheaper headphones would have the same not-so-good diaphragm so you wouldn’t be getting as much of the bad bottom end.
Sniffs_Markers has a bunch of “quick ideas” she recorded on an old ghetto blaster that sounds pretty crappy. Good enough to be able to remember the composition and record it properly later, but the overall sound is pretty bad.
Is it just the singer’s voice creating the “howling dog” noise or all of the music?